The Peaceful Revolution of 1989 – for which the setting and citizens of Leipzig were such decisive factors – espouses so many of the values that we in the internationalist community hold dear: solidarity, tolerance, and a will to organise and fight for what people believe to be right.
It is fitting, therefore, that the Leipzig International School community, led by the tireless passion and zeal of Frauen Schleif and Börner, participated in a creative workshop this past Sunday, 22nd September, and then, on Monday evening, a demonstration through the back streets of the city, culminating in a colourful poetry slam outside of the old Stasi headquarters.
Students chanted in multiple languages celebrating the freedom of the individual to speak and be heard, to include and tolerate those from different backgrounds and cultures, and reinforced the message of the global youth protest about Climate Change, all of the time standing and marching toe-to-toe with students from Germany, India, Egypt, Russia and Syria. Bearing the banner, ‘International is Colourful’, L.I.S. embodied the International Baccalaureate’s vision of young people celebrating each other’s common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, striving towards a better and more peaceful world: a message that needs to be heard now as much as at any other time in the fifty year history of the programme.
This was a wonderful event and a great advertisement for our school and our values. Huge congratulations and thanks go to Susanne Schleif and Nadine Börner as well as all of our students who made this happen. Their work has been honoured with an invitation to the official concert and ceremony celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the peaceful revolution, on the 9th of October in the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig.
