Page 4 - DIVA_3 2021

Sommaire Editorial

international culture

Back in the office

6 Interview with 32 Geneva and Back in the office after a long break, my
Dr Mohammad bin Joseph Conrad colleague, joyful and full of energy, remarked
that he had the impression that he was starting
Abdulkarim Alissa to live a more “normal life”. Just being able to
36 King, Churchill, Tyndall, get out of town, travel and visit friends and
11 Interview with Witch and… The Pope family, despite some constraints, had definitely
M. Jürg Lauber All Saving a Fragile Titan made him feel like he was back in pre-covid
times. Coming back home with the familiar
traffic jam was also something he cherished
14 Interview with 40 Interview with all of a sudden.
Mr. Indra Mani PANDEY Rolf Assev
Traffic is a strange thing, he said. Apparently
20 A Call to Address the UN’s 44 Rhaetian Railway urban planners use traffic as a tool to
Double Standards in discourage people from using their cars to Geneva has tried this, and the only problem
go to work. When I first heard it, I could not is that the public transport system is the
Human Rights 48 Jumelage des maisons de simply believe my ears but after reflecting a bit victim of its own success. Every time the TPG
Sand et Tolstoï and putting myself in their shoes, I see their increases service, extending hours and lines
24 A joint declaration on the point of view. How can you reduce the use of and adding new lines, the ridership goes up,
role of women in peace and 54 The Morozov cars if there are no queues, nor constraints? which attracts more people. This, in turn,
diplomacy Collection This is how they think… he explained to makes it necessary to increase service.
me. Everybody wants the comfort, ease and While the traffic is still heavy, the move into
26 Interview with convenience of a good life. The easiest way public transportation has reached dimensions
Michael S. Karlen to get to work would seem to be to take your undreamed of only ten years ago. The overall
car and drive off. It might take ten minutes, system is one of the densest in Europe and is

29 Reflections in relation to whereas the bus ride may take 20 minutes in slowly being extended well out beyond the
a crowded bus where you may not always be Geneva area. The new train line under the city
Mikhail Gorbachev’s 90th able to get a seat. with the extension to Annecy is an example of
birthday this extension. Opened in January 2020, it was
It’s only when the driving experience becomes very slow to catch on owing to the pandemic
a nightmare, because of the traffic jams and confinement, but now it is acknowledged as a
endless queues, that people might consider resounding success, with yet more extensions
leaving the car at home and using public yet to come.
transportation. So, what do the urban planners
do? They create constraints that make driving As COP in Glasgow looms on the horizon and
more and more onerous. Most people would more and more countries are woefully behind
The views expressed are the Mailing address: Graphic Design: Iris Hariz not even think that this would be a plausible in fulfilling their 2015 commitments to tackle
responsibility of the authors and DIVA International Diplomat approach, but here we are, creating problems global warming, the example of Geneva is
do not necessarily reflect the views p/a Salle de Presse 1 Contributing to this issue: and constraints in order to create a change of worth keeping in mind. If one of the most
of DIVA Palais des Nations Evelina Rioukhina, Mario perception. motorized cities in the world can successfully
© www.divainternational.ch 1211 Geneva 10 Apostolov, Ryan Kennedy, ® challenge the automobile society, there is yet
Tel: +41 22 917 43 01 Oleksandr Svirchevskyy, Sanjay However, my colleague said, what about the air some hope of changing our habits to attenuate
DIVA International is a publication Acharya, Ekaterina Pinchevskaya, pollution coming from these types of measures? the harm being done and -- one can hope even
of Graficim Media Ltd E-mail: Marit Fosse, Ita Marguet, Christian Do they take that into consideration? I simply further! -- even stop it.
29 Linconl’s Inn Field, Holborn, diva.international@gmail.com David, Ronald Barnes, Robert J. wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to undertake
WC2A3EE, England Parsons, Celhia de Lavarène, Jean a major push to make public transport so Upon these notes we wish you a very pleasant
Editor: Marit Fosse Claude Pallas, Pierre Virot attractive that it simply draws people out of day!
ISSN: 1660-1934 Deputy editor: Evelina Rioukhina their cars. Marit Fosse

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