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Preface

December 2, 2015, Geneva. SRO (standing room only) in the city’s Auditorium Ivan Pictet. Thronging it is a group of distinguished persons. They have come to honor the four winners of this year’s Alternative Nobel Prizes. The auditorium’s building bears the name “Maison de la Paix”—“home of peace”. Rarely has the name of the venue for an event so closely accorded with its thrust. The event is kicked off by two speakers: Barbara Hendricks, who is Germany’s minister of the environment, and Michael Møller, who is Director-General at the UN in Geneva. The event’s title is “On the front lines and in the courtrooms: forging human security”.

The discussion following the two speeches is conducted by the four winners. Suddenly, one of them, Dr. Gino Strada, makes a statement of electrifying import. He states: “The UN was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its purpose was and is to liberate following generations from being hostages of unceasing warfare. Since that day, the world has experienced more than 170 armed conflicts. And you have never broached the subject of how to abolish warfare? Come on guys, this is incredible!” The audience responds with embarrassed laughter and incredulous amazement.

Gino Strada knows all too well what he is talking about. In 1994, he founded “Emergency”. This NGO provides medical treatment—often supplied at clinics built by Emergency itself—in regions roiled by conflict, and, as well, development assistance to victims of warfare. Of them, 10% are soldiers themselves—with the remaining 90% being civilians. Strada ends his statement with “You can call me a Utopian if you like. But remember, everything appears to be a Utopia until someone realizes it.”

“I have a dream.” Made by Dr. Martin Luther King, this statement is probably the one the most often quoted over the last few decades. That’s because Dr. King’s dream of a world in which justice prevails is shared by so many people. Some of them—more than we are probably aware of and yet not enough by far—have devoted themselves to employing their guts, their hearts and their minds to making this dream come true. Along with Dr. King and Gino Strada, other well-known “dreamers” include Mother Teresa and Jody Williams. Calling them “Utopians” is actually anything but an insult. Each great advance recorded by humanity started out as a Utopian idea, a hope, a vision.

This book is the second in our new series of “rüffer&rub visionaries”. We have a very clear objective in launching it. These books are going to fan the sparks emanating from the ideas and hopes propagated by these visionaries into bonfires of dedication and endeavor. The heart of each book is the author’s very personal look at her or his—highly-important— scientific, cultural or societal topic.

Each author will tell—in simple, inspiring words—how she or he got involved with this topic, and how she or he started looking for answers to its questions that made sense, for solutions dealing with its problems. These books will tell you what it means to commit yourself to a cause, to live your commitment every day, to develop and implement a vision for its realization. These visions are highly variegated—political, scientific or spiritual—in nature. All of them share their visionaries’ yearning for a better world—and their willingness to put their hearts and souls into realizing them.

All of these visions and all of the activities undertaken to make them come true share something else in common: the deep-rooted conviction that we can positively shape our future, that we can restore the health of the planet on which we all live. Another strong conviction adhered to by all of us: we are convinced that each and every one of us is capable of undertaking the steps required to make each of us part of the solution, and not of the problem.

Anne Rüffer, publisher