Social issues

Developing courage for peace

Impact of propagandistic narratives of good and evil and how we can counter them

by Marita Brune-Koch

(4 April 2025) The destruction of the economic basis of our society, the restriction of our fundamental rights and freedoms, and even the instigation and support of wars that could affect and destroy us all – why do people go along with so much of this almost without contradiction? Much has already been said about this, and analyses of propaganda and its effects are available. But what about the individual? Why do people not object, but submit – obediently or enthusiastically – to the looming destruction of their economic and even physical existence and that of their loved ones? Why do many demonstrate against the far right – as is the case in Germany – rather than for peace?

The EU’s propaganda machine

New report out on how the EU funds NGOs to promote itself and lobby for “more Europe”

by Thomas Fazi*

(28 March 2025) (CH-S) Independent journalist Thomas Fazi works his way through the jungle of EU-funded “non-governmental organisations” (NGOs) to find that the EU uses taxpayers' money to fund propaganda for its own ends, often in contradiction to the EU states themselves.

Fazi's article is also of interest to Switzerland, which is increasingly coming under fire from the EU and where various lobby organisations have been deliberately pursuing a rapprochement with Brussels for years.
Germany

Preparing for war

“The psychopaths currently in power want to plunge their populations into disaster”

by Wolfgang Bittner,* Germany

(21 March 2025) On 11 March, I read about war preparations in my local newspaper over breakfast and I almost choke on my food. “We are a hub for NATO”, it says. “In the event of defence, Lower Saxony would be a centre for the logistics of the Bundeswehr”, and with the “Germany Operation Plan”, the country is preparing for a “possible military conflict”.

“For a neutral Germany”

Press release from the Cologne-based working group «AG Frieden dieBasis Köln» on the campaign it initiated

(28 February 2025) (CH-S) In Germany, too, more and more people are realising that a consistently neutral policy would protect the population from being drawn into the wars of foreign powers. The spectre of a war against Russia, which is being conjured up by European and Swiss media and Russophobic politicians, would see Germany as a battleground.

Against the reckless risk-taking of a next pandemic

We must not accept the risks of gain-of-function research

by Roland Wiesendanger,* Germany

(28 February 2025) (CH-S) Roland Wiesendanger is a professor of physics at the University of Hamburg and a member of numerous national and international science academies, including the “Leopoldina” and “acatech”. In the following article, he suggests – as he did four years ago – a public debate on the so-called “gain-of-function” research. Switzerland must not shirk this debate either.

Digital, self-directed learning in primary schools must be stopped!

by Daniel Wahl,* Switzerland

(28 February 2025) Countries that have pushed ahead with the digitalisation of schools are backpedalling. But not Switzerland, despite worrying indicators regarding the mental health of our children.