Reto Thumiger
Marriage for All in Switzerland and Access to Sperm Donation for Lesbian Couples.
In Switzerland, same-sex couples should also be allowed to marry in the future. The Grand Chamber of Parliament decided so; the National Council also voted in favor of authorizing sperm donation for lesbian couples. However, the bill must overcome other obstacles. In Switzerland, same-sex couples have the option of registering… »
Farewell to the Troops of the United States. Fewer Soldiers Means more Peace.
The President of the United States has decided to withdraw up to 15,000 soldiers from Germany. This announcement by Der Spiegel at the end of last week struck the transatlantic states almost like a bomb. For half of the population in Germany, which is in favor of a complete withdrawal… »
The East-Side Gallery, CNN and Fairytales
Similar to the narrative of the “victor”, where it is claimed that the reunification of Germany was due to the USA and not to Gorbachev, CNN is trying to equate the creation of the East Side Gallery in Berlin to wishful thinking. They didn’t have to look far for a… »
Quo vadis East Side Gallery?
Despite its enormous popularity, the East Side Gallery has been neglected, left to decay, and hacked into pieces, parts sold off and the rest declared a dead museum piece. This work of art and the symbol it represents for the non-violent overcoming of walls between people and the walls in… »
An Iranian and an Israeli talking about nuclear weapons
This unremarkable title for an evening event last Wednesday at the Framed.berlin cultural centre did, in fact, draw attention. Discussion events are not necessarily a big crowd-puller nowadays and most people prefer to look away rather than listen when it comes to nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, about 80… »
Fridays the for Future: 25000 demonstrate in Berlin with Greta Thunberg
More than 25,000, mostly pupils and students, have gathered again in Berlin to give visible and audible expression to the climate strike “Fridays for the Future”. Most of the participants were not at my eye level, as they were not yet fully grown. That’s why most of the cardboard… »
INF Treaty suspension: Prevent the deployment of new missiles
One day after the USA announced suspension of the INF Treaty, Russia has followed suit and announced the development of new missiles. US withdrawal from the INF Treaty by Donald Trump breaks with a proven arms control measure, and is thus exposing the world, and Europe in particular, to an… »
Indivisible – 240,000 demonstrating for solidarity instead of exclusion in Berlin
The call of #unteilbar (indivisible) is that: “We will not allow the welfare state to be played off against asylum and migration. We will stand in resistance when fundamental rights and freedoms are in danger of being further restricted. They expect us to accept the deaths of those seeking… »
Interview with Ann Wright: “It’s your land and yet the US is using it to kill other people around the world “
Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army as a colonel and moved to the diplomatic service, where she worked for 16 years as a diplomat in US embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned in March 2003… »
Romania: a nightmare of human rights and the EU turns a blind eye
Eleven years after joining the European Union, Romania is trying to clean itself up, but poverty and corruption are still in control. Only Bulgaria, among EU member states, is below Romania on the poverty scale. Right in the centre of Bucharest, outcasts live underground in the former heating tunnels of… »