Geneva, City of Peace – Sunday, June 21, 1998
What is the spirit of Geneva? What magic has made the name of this city on a lake a byword for peace? We speak of “the Geneva accords” and “the Geneva conventions”—the word itself has come to stand for a process of mediation and compromise, the reasonable resolution of unreasonable disputes. Robert de Traz describes the “spirit of Geneva” as “a practical, down-to-earth belief that peace does not come through major declarations . . . but rather through hard, unglamourous work . . . cooperation in a hundred different areas . . . expecting no miracles.”1
The very existence of Geneva is a miracle. It was home to John Calvin, a man who tried to model an entire community on the precepts of the Prince of Peace. In the mid-1500s, as the Protestant reformation took shape, melodies now beloved throughout the world were fitted to new translations of the Psalms as Genevan disciples added new dimensions to the Christian faith. It was the home of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, that relentless advocate for the poor, that tireless voice for the voiceless. Perhaps it is true that both Rousseau and Calvin dreamed beyond the grasp of most mortals. Each also left behind a world utterly transformed by the power of their dreams.
Since Rousseau, Geneva has continued to exert its transforming power. Geneva became home to the International Red Cross. Geneva later brokered its first international peace accord as the United States and Great Britain resolved a dispute involving the battle cruiser Alabama. Years later, the first Geneva Convention was signed in the Alabama Room. And Geneva was home to the League of Nations and the hope for international cooperation and peace that body represented.
And so today, Geneva remains the favored site for summit meetings and disarmament talks and international negotiations of all kinds. Geneva remains a city of peace.
ERIC SAMUELSEN
1Robert de Traz, cited by Aarmi Ali, The Story of Geneva (Geneva: Editions Slatkine, 1989), p. 209.
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June 21, 1998
Broadcast Number 3,592