by Norbert Häring,* Germany
(12 July 2024) NewsGuard, presumably an important service provider for the government’s censorship campaign against independent, critical media, is facing a parliamentary investigation in the US to clarify the company’s relationship with the government and its handling of conflicts of interest. The so-called fact-checkers are also facing massive headwinds.
by Dr Stefan Nold,* Germany
(5 July 2024) “Is this some kind of Christ thing?” a young guy asks me as I walk through Darmstadt-Arheilgen on a Monday evening, a large poster with “12 commandments for peace” around my neck. There are only a few of us. A fitter from Berlin, a master craftsman, a retired vocational teacher and a few others. An emeritus maths professor holds up the white flag. “Put up passive resistance, resistance wherever you are, stop this war machine from continuing before it’s too late,” said Petra Kelly, one of the founders of the Green Party, in 1983. She is dead, just like Rudi Dutschke and Antje Vollmer; her party now sings in favour of the arms lobby. The peace movement has died and Alexander Gauland, Walter Wallmann’s former under secretary, who made his new party big by stirring up nasty resentments, is giving speeches in the Bundestag on the war in Ukraine that Willy Brandt would have given in the past. I no longer understand the world.
by Suzette Sandoz,* Lausanne
(5 July 2024) Were the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans aware of the end of their civilisation? And did all the peoples who perished, whose ruins remind us of their former greatness, consciously accept their destruction?
by Marita Brune Koch
(5 July 2024) The feeling to be “in the wrong bod”, not clearly belonging to any gender – according to our media, many people, especially young people, are preoccupied with the question of whether they are male, female or something else. For all those who didn’t want to admit it until now, this year’s ESC (Eurovision Song Contest) has hyped the topic: The winner was the Swiss singer Nemo, a young person who identifies as “non-binary", i.e. who defines himself as neither male nor female. This is also referred to as “gender fluidity”. Now, American doctors are calling for a reversal.
by Robert Seidel,*
(21 June 2024) Some news items in the flood of current reports seem like a nightmare from times gone by: In spring 2024, one European politician after another announced that they would supply more weapons to Ukraine and, if necessary, send their own soldiers. Today, all signs point to the fact that some European governments are willing to fight the war for the USA on European soil. It is inconceivable that it is still possible to organise something like this in the 21st century – inconceivable after two catastrophic world wars and the threat of nuclear overkill.
by Michael Felten,* Germany
(21 June 2024) (CH-S) Doctors have the Hippocratic Oath to which they must adhere. After all, we trust them with our health and, not least, our lives. We entrust teachers with our young people, our most valuable asset, our future.
Wouldn’t it be time to think about a “Basic Law for teachers”, analogous to the Hippocratic oath? Scholar Michael Felten does this with regard to Germany, but his thoughts are no less important for Swiss teachers.