It is time… to stand up for an open-minded Thuringia
Initiative to establish a support association for our SOCCER City Soccer Boarding School (FISC)
Since our association began its work in 1974, we have sought to draw attention to the global problems facing the countries of the Global South. It was clear from an early stage that if we did not overcome hunger in the world, an unstoppable increase in refugee flows to Europe would begin, with people trying to escape their misery.
And just as predicted, that is what happened. Today, we are confronted every day with the consequences of our “failure to act” and believe that we can solve the problem by closing our borders.
Nor does chanting slogans such as “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out” bring us any closer to solving the problem. On the contrary, it merely distracts us from searching for real solutions.
The election result in Thuringia, where a far-right party such as the AfD creates the impression through simple slogans that problems can be solved with them, has left us somewhat astonished. How can anyone come up with the idea that something like this could work?
In a globalized world, different solutions are needed, whether we like it or not. We must learn how we want to deal with our racism and our widespread hostility toward foreigners. What frightens us, and why does it frighten us? Is our fear justified, or is it merely imagined? And are there ways to better deal with our fear of the “unknown”? How can integration succeed more effectively?
It is true. People from other countries and backgrounds “tick” differently from us “Germans,” and it is not always easy for us to understand and accept that. Nor do we have to accept deviations from our legal norms.
But just as we want to understand why our fellow human beings behave toward us as they do, it can sometimes also help to explore the nature of cultures that are less familiar to us. This does not resolve all conflicts, but perhaps a few.
Our International Soccer Boarding School in Lengenfeld u. Stein has existed since 2006. And since we have hosted young people from all parts of the world, we know that encounters between different cultures and religions are never free of conflict, but soccer has an inner strength that unites us all and enables us to resolve conflicts and pursue new paths.
Not everything has gone well over the past 18 years, as we have often been overwhelmed by our human resources, and we would like to do better in the coming years.
Our association bears the ambitious name “SOCCER City – Educational Center for Soccer,” and it would be wonderful if, in the coming years, we could develop our soccer boarding school into a place of international exchange and understanding among peoples. A place where intercultural and global learning takes place, a global village where the unifying character of soccer for people and nations has a home, where young people gain insight into our culture and we into theirs. A place where we help young people mature into individuals who shape the future with a keen interest in the world, as Dr. Hanel so beautifully expressed it.
This form of education costs money, which we are not able to raise on our own. Therefore, we ask you to become a member of our support association.
With your support, we would like to contribute within our means to overcoming racism, nationalism, and hostility toward foreigners, whose existence makes peaceful coexistence in the “ONE WORLD” permanently impossible.
On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, the day on which the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 79 years ago, we want to establish the support association at our boarding school campus in SOCCER City at 4:00 p.m. We cordially invite you to join us.
We look forward to your arrival!
Bernward Seipel
Dr. Johannes Hanel
Markus Metzger