“Krone” interview – The dream of a world without war and poverty

What they would like was the final question to former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and his predecessor Heinz Fischer after a long conversation with the “Krone”. A world where people listen to each other and their rights are respected, where no one is poor, where men and women are equal and where wars are forbidden, they agree. Ban even dreams of global citizenship. Just as John Lennon did in 1971 in his peace ballad “Imagine”: Imagine there are no states and no property, nothing to kill or die for.

Unfortunately, that’s unrealistic, explains Ban, not least with his Korean homeland as an example. He was internally displaced as a child, but the state of war between North and South Korea continues to this day and the former UN chief unfortunately sees no reason for optimism on this point. A reunion is just unrealistic. All the top-level summits have come to nothing.

The same goes for Taiwan, which sees itself as an independent state but is seen by China as a breakaway province. “A solution,” says Heinz Fischer, “is not in sight.” You could only hope that there is reason and that there is no reason for war.

Van der Bellen: “Dangerous developments”
The problem today, according to Alexander Van der Bellen, is that there are so many crises at the same time. The pandemic is not over yet. Nobody knows what winter will bring. The Russian war in Ukraine is pushing up energy prices. This is a problem for the economy as well as for the individual. These are all dangerous developments.

“People are worried,” said the federal president. “And they have every reason to.” Still, he tries to calm down. The EU responded in a coordinated manner and addressed Russia with one voice: “That surprised Putin. He had not expected that.” Yet we should not be under any illusions: “The war will last even longer.” But that’s not the only reason we need to get rid of fossil fuels, this should have happened decades ago, so we wouldn’t be dependent on Russian gas now.

Ban: ‘It is the job of politicians to give people hope’
“We were a bit of sleepwalkers when it came to climate change,” explains Van der Bellen. “Too many people didn’t take him seriously.” It’s not just on this point that we need a “global vision,” Ban says. There is so much frustration in the world: “It’s the job of politics to give people hope.”

Fischer: ‘In the end there are only losers’
The lesson of history is that war doesn’t solve problems, Fischer adds: “In the end there are only losers. Even the winners are losers in reality.” After all the deaths, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen concludes: “We all want peace.” Which brings us back to John Lennon’s beautiful dream