In a display of solidarity with Ukraine, several hundred radio stations across Europe simultaneously played the John Lennon song Give Peace a Chance on Friday morning, including around 200 in Germany. 

Give Peace a Chance played simultaneously in 25 countries

At 8.45am, in an “audible sign of solidarity against the war in Ukraine,” numerous radio stations in more than 25 countries across the continent cued the famous anti-war song by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band. 

Around 200 public and private broadcasters in Germany took part in the initiative, including many RTL radio stations and regional stations in Germany’s federal states. The song was also played on radio stations in France, Italy, Latvia, Iceland, Poland and Croatia, among others, as well as the Radio Promin broadcaster in Ukraine. 

“An audible signal that we stand for peace”

“The war in Ukraine makes it clear how fragile peace and democracy are in the Europe that we have built over the last few decades,” said Grit Leithӓuser, managing director of Radiozentrale, one of the campaign’s organisers. “But at the same time, it also shows how important it is to stand up together, stand up for values and condemn war in every form. That’s why we, as the entire radio landscape, want to give an audible signal that we stand up for peaceful coexistence.” 

“The horrors of the war against Ukraine are clearer to us every day,” added Patrician Schlesinger, chairperson of ARD. “Our solidarity, our humanity and our support are in demand.” 

The song Give Peace a Chance, released by the Plastic Ono Band in 1969, was originally recorded in a hotel room in Canada during the legendary “bed-in” peace protest done by John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono. In the 1970s it became an anthem of the anti-Vietnam war movement.