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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 11, 1982
PAGE 9
ON THE WORLD SCENE
"WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS" DISRUPT POLITICAL GAMEPLANS
DATELINE BONN (June 10, 1982):
Looking out the window of our office in
Bonn as I write, today is a deceptively quiet day here in the small but
bustling capital of West Germany. It is one of several religious-based
holidays (Corpus Christi Day) in this essentially Catholic part of the
country. Shops are closed; normal traffic in town is light.
Appearances are deceiving, however, for Bonn is playing host today to two
related events. First, at the nearby Bundestag (Federal Parliament), the
heads of government or state of the 16 member countries of the North Atlan
tic Treaty Organization (NATO) have gathered for a top-level summit confer
ence.
(Sixteenth member Spain is to be formally inducted on Saturday.)
Security precautions are incredibly heavy for this event, which was pre
ceded yesterday by U.S. President Ronald Reagan's visit and address to
assembled Bundestag members. West German police have mounted their big
gest-ever security operation in the capital region, drafting in 17,000
additional officers from all over the country. At key intersections one
sees police vehicles representing cities and "Lander" (states) from far and
wide. The regular police are supplemented by elements of the "Bundesgrenz
schutz" (Federal Border Police). Air space over the city has been closed to
all traffic.
Part of the unprecedented security is needed to control the second big
event, a massive "peace" demonstration. This essentially anti-NATO/anti
Reagan counter-summit is being confined by authorities to a part of the
city located across the Rhine river from the federal quarter. The demon
strators have arrived in 2,400 buses and 22 special trains, mainly from
elsewhere in West Germany, but also from other parts of Europe where the so
called peace movement is strong. Driving into Bonn this morning from a
suburb where I have been staying, I saw an incredible number of buses moving
at a snail's pace along one of the autobahns near the demonstration site.
Police estimate that traffic on the autobahn toward Cologne was stacked up
for seven miles.
In the city itself, Bonn University dismissed classes for the day. Endless
numbers of students strolled past our office, heading for the U-Bahn (sub
way or metro) entrance to get to the demonstration site. One thing is very
obvious about this demonstration, and undoubtedly others like it. It is
overwhelmingly dominated by young people who, equally overwhelmingly, wear
a readily identifiable "uniform"--what the Germans call a "Schlabber-look"
or sloppy appearance: jeans, T-shirts, loose granny-style dresses, either
long or unkempt hair, beards, etc. (Police estimates the next day placed
the crowd at about 300,000. Most were just having fun on the holiday; a
smaller but more vocal crowd is expected today for the President's appear
ance in West Berlin. An incredible amount of trash was left piled up along
the demonstration access roads this morning--a testimony to the true ideals
of the demonstrators, many of whom claim to be conservationists or natural
ists, the so-called "greens." The natural headquarters of "die Grunen" in
Bonn is overgrown with unmown grass. Must be natural, you know.)
In his speech yesterday to the Bundestag, President Reagan nevertheless
attempted to show that he understood the peace demonstrators' concern about
the threat of nuclear annihilation. "To those who march for peace," he