Brief van Tutu aan de Duitse Kirchentag

Van 3 tot 7 juni is in Sturtgart weer de Duitse Kirchentag. In een open brief aan de leiding en bezoekers van de Kirchentag doet bisschop Desmond Tutu een bewogen oproep om op te komen voor de rechten van het Palestijnse volk en zich aan te sluiten bij de Palestijnse Kairos-beweging:

"As Christians, it is our duty to side with the oppressed, the downtrodden, the poor, the prejudiced and unjustly treated - ALWAYS. There is no place for neutrality, because it favours the oppressors. Always." " BDS [boycott, divestment, sanctions] is not antisemitism. Do business with Jews, organize with them, love them. But don't support - militarily, economically or politically - the machinery of an apartheid-state. We can't do business as normal because conditions in the Holy Land are totally abnormal. Please tell your government that mere words of concern are insufficient. They don't change anything. The appropriate response when confronting injustice is to take real steps to confront and eradicate it." "Beware of anti-semitism, and all other forms of racism, but beware also of being cowed into silence by those who seek to stifle criticism of the oppressive politics of Israel by labeling you anti-Semitic. I implore you to listen carefully to what Kairos Palestine is saying. Our Christian sisters and brothers in the Holy Land cannot use balanced synod statements expressing sympathy for oppressor and oppressed alike. They are asking all of our help to win their collective freedom back."

Lees meer: Open brief Tutu aan Kirchentag