Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 10/13/2003
Masterminds, and a new Marshall Plan
Stuttgart Declaration for better global justice proclaims Europe's duty
BY BARBARA GÄRTNER*
Stuttgart - The Stuttgart House of Literature and the ivy-entwined Harvard University buildings have little in common. Nor does Surjo R. Soekadar, looking like a business consultant in his youthful, dynamic outfit, resemble George Catlett Marshall, the U.S. general and foreign minister who presented the policy named after him, which made possible the reconstruction of Europe, at Harvard nearly 57 years ago.
Nonetheless the situation strongly reminds him of that moment, as he appears before the public this Saturday afternoon. "The Marshall Plan changed the face of the world," the young representative of Initiative Weltfrieden states. Like then, on this Saturday morning, "the face of the world" shall be changed.
"Global Marshall Plan" a colorful flyer says, showing a single globe, presenting the Stuttgart Declaration which is to become worldfamous according to Soekadar's wish. For its public release, a considerable number of notables have been invited, after all. On the stage of the House of Literature, the elegant, graying figure skating princess Marika Kilius, dressed with a rosy costume, sits next to the seriously looking Attac executive Sabine Leidig and Ervin Laszlo, president of the Club of Budapest. Solely Sir Peter Ustinov, who was going to sign the declaration in front of the media, couldn't share in the event on grounds of ill health.
[...]
At the glamorous Club of Budapest Awards ceremony that takes place in Stuttgart New Castle in the evening, it is the former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher who recalls Stuttgart's historical connection to the Marshall Plan: "In September 1946, the world watched this city," he explains, remembering that Marshall's predecessor, foreign minister James F. Byrnes, presented the concept later known as the Marshall Plan right here. "It is not uncommon that successors take the credit."
*
Translated by the Coordination Office, Global Marshall Plan Initiative.
