Frankfurt aM (epd). The writer Juli Zeh, together with three scientists, is calling for an examination of German Corona policy. “Mistakes were made not only in the selection of certain measures that, in retrospect, seem downright absurd, but above all in the way the citizens were treated,” write Zeh, the sociologist Svenja Flaßpöhler and the law professors Elisa Hoven and Frauke Rostalski in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (Thursday).
The guest article entitled “We must finally come to terms with the Corona years” states: “Certainties were feigned, mistakes were not admitted and not corrected, there were calls to follow ‘the science’, although there was disagreement on many fundamental issues and although politics itself influenced science.” It is fundamentally to be expected that mistakes will happen when reacting to something new. However, it is important to recognize these mistakes and understand the reasons why they were made.
“There is something to be learned from this. For the crises that are yet to come,” write the four women, adding: “Reflecting on decisions and communication during the pandemic is not a step backwards, but a necessary step towards one another, in the interest of social peace.”
From the point of view of the four authors of the guest article, leaked protocols from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and a strategy paper from the Federal Ministry of the Interior that was made public in 2020 reveal “an extremely dubious understanding of politics’ role and its relationship with citizens”. The leaked papers reveal a view of humanity “that has little to do with the democratic idea of the responsible citizen”.
The Interior Ministry’s strategy paper from March 2020 assumes that the state must trigger “primal fears” in order to get people to comply with the corona measures. “The RKI protocols document a similar view,” write Zeh, who works as a volunteer judge at the Constitutional Court of Brandenburg, Flaßpöhler, Hoven and Rostalski. “As many people as possible should be persuaded to comply with the measures and to get vaccinated,” they write, criticizing: “But those who resort to intimidation, manipulation or false framing are not treating citizens as sovereigns.” They treat them as part of a mass that needs to be directed and protected in order to enforce a path that supposedly has no alternative.
