Letters from readers: Israel, public transport, Switzerland, French language

Israel

About Cyrus Schayegh’s reflection “What October 7 changed in Israel» (“24 hours” of October 8).

Some things have changed in Israel since October 7, you write, relying in particular on articles published in the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz”, whose journalistic work is remarkable and exemplary. What is happening in Gaza and Lebanon is widely described and explained. Just as internal tensions are recounted, the attacks against the Palestinians carried out by certain inhabitants of the West Bank, the rise of intolerance, particularly towards those who criticize the war or still advocate dialogue. Likewise, the demonstrations against the government and its judicial reform throughout 2023 and those, since October 7, of the families of the hostages are tolerated, filmed, reported in media which are not censored. Perhaps weakened, Israeli society remains democratic.

What has not changed since October 7, however, is the impossibility, for those among the Palestinians who criticize Hamas or Hezbollah for their governance, their strategy, their rigorist ideology, for the attack on October 7 October with predictable dramatic consequences, to make their voices heard. No free media to express themselves, and above all the fear in their stomachs of being violently repressed or, worse still, designated a collaborator, at the risk of their lives. It would promote the path towards peace to formulate balanced criticism of all parties to the conflict.

Francine Brunschwig, Lausanne

Public transport

Many years ago, I responded very favorably to a TL survey relating to the quality of its services. But that was a long time ago. Last August, “24 Heures” told us that bus travel in Lausanne is among the slowest in Switzerland, something we have every opportunity to experience daily. But, for months, the reliability of the service has only been matched by that currently in force at the SNCF.

On line 2 which I take regularly and which must be cursed, we are informed every day that, for operational problems, for technical reasons or for lack of staff, buses are canceled… and all this in us Thanking you for our understanding. To tell the truth, I have stopped understanding and, listening to them, most of the users have too: they are exasperated.

Certainly, the network has developed generously, of course, the fact of not being able to circulate on its own site does not help anything, certainly, we have to deal with the numerous and endless construction sites in Lausanne. What’s more, vehicles are put under heavy strain and are subjected to severe strain on a number of poorly maintained city roads, which inevitably leads to repeated breakdowns. In this regard, going down Avenue du Gray is like experiencing a strong earthquake, which is a lot of fun for the children but which puts a strain on our backsides and our bodies.

We know all these arguments well and we can understand them. But even if we have to tolerate a certain number of hazards, it seems to me that within the TL we should do better. And if, for this company, the reliability of the service and the management of schedules are perhaps a real headache, it must react and must understand that, for users, it has become a real headache.

François Pasteur, Lausanne

Suisse

Once again, fall arrives with its share of bad news, particularly the rise in health insurance premiums. These vary considerably from one canton to another, as do taxes, which can be up to 30% cheaper depending on where you live. The worst of the worst is that the expensive cantons impose high taxes and impose huge premiums on policyholders while the cheapest cantons favor their inhabitants from both points of view.

Considering what has just been said, I no longer feel Swiss because I believe that a nation which treats its inhabitants in such a discriminatory manner is not a country, in the sense in which this term is described as a “political, cultural, social and economic entity” in which the citizen must be able to recognize himself. Switzerland, a true exemplary democracy? The adage, probably accepted throughout the world, is not appropriate.

The icing on the cake is that this deeply unfair system favors the rich with second homes who choose at their leisure (more or less) the canton in which they will pay the least. They have fun, the others are prisoners and ordered to pay their dues! Is it necessary to demonstrate this? The system is completely sick of the legitimacy it grants to the cantons.

Finally, it goes without saying, the migratory flows which promise to be ever more significant and costly in terms of social assistance (but, again, distributed very unequally according to the cantons) will further accentuate the problem. Those who pay can’t take it anymore!

Nothing really new in what has just been said, but it must be repeated with a faint hope that this will change.

Florence Aellen, Préverenges

French language

Concerns the editorial by Claude Ansermoz “The dictatorship of the use of words» (“24 hours” of September 28).

You are right, Sir, not to complicate the use of words. However, sometimes, by simplifying their use, we reduce the person to a reductive terminology. Thus, to cite a few examples, “old” or “old man” to indicate a person of great age; “unemployed” to indicate a person deprived of work; “handicapped” to indicate a person deprived of certain physical, intellectual or psychological faculties. Accompanying these three examples is the word “person.” And I think that, by reducing the person to their condition through a term that is, in my opinion, pejorative, we prevent them from recognizing themselves other than in this gaze that we impose on them. Like a weight to carry which prevents him from feeling recognized as a human being capable of giving us and receiving from us unsuspected riches.

Jean-Sébastien Etchegaray, specialist educator, Vufflens-le-Château

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