Democracy in the Hanseatic City of Lübeck is a high good, which our ancestors already had inscribed on the Holsten Gate with the Latin words Concordia domi foris pax (“Harmony inside, peace outside”).
Democracy is Alive
Around 180 organizations, associations and initiatives in our city help to ensure that our democracy remains alive, that politics constantly receives impulses from outside and that important issues are negotiated.
In Lübeck’s council meetings, the members debate the issues and I, as chairman of the city parliament, always try to do justice to each member and give them room to express their own opinions.
Respect
It’s not always easy, but for me, respect for each other comes first. I enjoy working with the many different people and ultimately achieving a good result for our citizens.
Everyone can get involved in the one cause they are convinced of. This is probably the best way to remain capable of acting in times of crisis. To make one’s own contribution to ensuring that our cohesion remains stable, that people on the fringes of society are included, that we approach each other again and again, that we seek contact and conversation, that we expose ourselves to other opinions: All of this is no “small contribution” to a vivid democracy.
The communication of political content and decisions and the formation of opinions can strengthen democracy – but also weaken it. It is important not to give up, to work on it and to readjust it again and again.
Democracy lives from participation!
