Social issues

“We cannot say we didn’t know.”

A child psychologist’s account of her work in Gaza

by Georg Koch*

(3 July 2026) Katrin Blatz Brubakk is a German-Norwegian child psychologist who specialises in trauma. Since 2014, she has been deployed repeatedly by “Médecins Sans Frontières” to various locations. Gaza was her first mission directly in a war zone. Consequently, the rules had to be strictly adhered to:

“Never go outside the walls without being accompanied by a security guard.” – “Always wear the white vest of Médecins Sans Frontières.” – “Never stray more than 50 metres from the road.”

Assange Archive

Why physical archives matter in an age of disappearing truth

“Who controls the past controls the future.” – George Orwell

by “Julian Assange Archive e.V.”

(3 July 2026) (CH-S) In 2024, the fearless Australian investigative journalist Julian Assange was released from Belmarsh Prison in London. He had exposed US war crimes. Since 2010, the year of his unlawful arrest, people around the world had worked tirelessly to ensure that he was not forgotten. They stood outside embassies and courts, organised protests, wrote letters, held vigils and continued to speak out about his “case” even after it had all but disappeared from the public eye.

Jean Ziegler – the man who refused to turn a blind eye

by Sabiene Jahn*

(26 June 2026) Jean Ziegler has died. An unusual podcast obituary by Tahir Chaudhry** pays tribute to a great Swiss human rights activist and to an almost lost form of moral radicalism: the courage to call hunger, exploitation, and indifference by name.

SRF – “uniform reporting”

One-sided reporting on the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany

by Helmut Scheben*

(19 June 2026) The US base is a blessing for Germany, according to the news magazine “Echo der Zeit” published by Swiss public broadcasting agency SRF. The message sounds like a NATO press release.

“These young people aren’t celebrating together. They aren’t building anything. They aren’t defending any idea. They’re destroying.”

by Marie-Estelle Dupont,* France

(19 June 2026) (CH-S) France has long been familiar with violent riots following major events, even when, for example, a football match has ended in victory for the French team. Nationwide, 22,000 police officers were recently deployed; hundreds of rioters were arrested; and there was widespread damage to property and several injuries.

Digitisation in education has produced a generation with limited intellectual abilities

by Norbert Häring,* Germany

(12 June 2026) US schools are already spending ten times as much on digital learning software and hardware as they do on textbooks. Instead of increasing pupils’ academic achievement, as promised, it has actually declined. An analysis of PISA results confirms that academic achievement decreases as screen time at school increases.