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Show 162 funeral oration of Pericles and as Americans memorize their Gettysburg Address. Let me read you a few lines of the final message of the accused Huber: «As a German citizen, a German educator and as a politically-aware person, I regard it not merely as a right but rather as a moral reSponsibility to participate in the determination Of German history and to uncover and Oppose apparent evils. . . circles, not by means Of an organization, . What I fostered was to alert student but by candid talk, not to stimulate an act Of violence but rather to prompt moral insight into the exist- ing heavily ravaged political life. A return to clear moral principles, to the rule of law, to a mutual trust between one person and another, that is not illegal but rather the opposite, the re- institution Of legality. "I have asked myself in the manner Of Kantcs categorical imperative, what would happen if these subjective maxims of my conduct became a generally observed rule. There is only one answer: then order, security, and trust in the conduct of our government would return. Every morally reaponsible person would raise his voice in unison against a rule which threatens naked force against the right, naked deepotism against the cause of virtue. "The claim to free self-determination even for the smallest nationality has been violated in all EurOpe no less than the guarantee of racial and ethnic individuality. The fundamental basis for a true ethnic community has been destroyed by the systematic undermining Of trust Of one person to the other. There can be no verdict Of an ethnic community more terrible than the admission that we must all make, that no one any longer feels secure from his neighbor, any more than a father feels secure from his sons. That is What I wanted and had to say. "All external legality has a limit where it loses credibility and becomes immoral. It lies at the point where it becomes a cloak for cowardice which does not dare to Oppose an open violation of the law. A government which Suppresses the least sign of free expression Of Opinion and morally justified critique and any preposal aimed at |
