Robin Parisi, author for Le Regard Libre

Author: Robin Parisi

ROBIN PARISI

Switzerland

«Le Centre»: debate between two young centrists

written by Robin Parisi

At the start of 2021, the Swiss political landscape undergoes a major turning point. The historic Christian Democratic Party (CVP) welcomes into its ranks the young Bourgeois Democratic Party (PBD). This merger, mainly in German-speaking Switzerland, is accompanied by a veritable earthquake as the party changes its name to Le Centre. Nathan Bender of the Jeunes démocrates-chrétiens (JDC) in French-speaking Valais and Sascha Zbinden of the Jeunes bourgeois-démocrates (JPBD) in Bern cross swords, sharing their visions and thoughts on this new party and the challenges it will face in the coming years.

History

Frédéric Guerne, humanitarian engineer

By Robin Parisi · December 30, 2020

An enthusiast of weapons and explosive devices since his earliest childhood, Frédéric Guerne develops, builds and deploys remote-controlled mine-clearing machines for African, East Asian and even European minefields. As part of the Digger Foundation, based in Tavannes in the Bernese Jura, he created the Digger DTR machines. These armored monsters are capable of cleaning large contaminated surfaces without sacrificing precious human lives.

Switzerland

Vocational training: a university affair?

By Robin Parisi · December 03, 2020

LONG FORMAT ARTICLE, Robin Parisi | Swiss education is conceived as a system with two main parallel, but mutually permeable, routes. The so-called «vocational» route starts with the famous CFC and can end with ES, Brevets Fédéraux or Diplôme Fédéral diplomas. The second route takes students from Matura, gymnasium or specialized schools to the universities and HES. And yet, as is mainly the case in French-speaking Switzerland, the universities of applied sciences - with the benevolent blessing of the French-speaking cantonal authorities - are monopolizing the privilege of vocational training. Without, however, relinquishing the «university» prestige that the Bologna Process has brought them.

History

European civilizations

By Robin Parisi · September 24, 2020

«Westerner»: that's what Europeans, North Americans and Oceanians are called outside their own civilizational sphere. Latins, Anglo-Saxons and Slavs are all united under the same intriguing label. In our vocabulary, too, the notion of «Westerner» implies kinship, even group cohesion. Born during the Cold War in opposition to the Eastern bloc, at the start of the 21st century the Ponant is experiencing numerous internal tensions, which are probably due to the fact that it is not homogeneous. Originally, it was merely a temporary alliance between two civilizations: «Germanic/Protestant» and «Latin/Catholic». Nothing is more useful than a look at the history of Western civilizations.

World