An anecdote from President Zelenskyy's school days tells of a sketch competition in which teachers competed against students.

Volodymyr Zelenskyj, then in the eleventh grade, was captain of the student team and was extremely confident of victory.

When a teacher asked how he got there, he replied: “Because you are the teachers.

You can only say what you are allowed to say.

But we are free to say what we really want.” At the tournament that followed, the teachers chose their words with care, as always.

The students, on the other hand, were truly and completely devoid of diplomacy.

They won hands down.

Karen Krueger

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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A good 28 years later, truthfulness, dosed with diplomatic flair, has become Selenskyj's trademark.

For a good two weeks he has been making speeches in front of the world's parliaments almost every day via video transmission in order to further boost or maintain the mobilization for Ukraine: Selenskyj shames his audience and in the next sentence makes them proud, touches on honor and morality and invokes the despair of his Landes without asking for pity or letting his emotions get the better of him.

Even on the 27th day of the war, it's a Wednesday, and he shows no signs of emotional instability or frustration.

He sits at his desk and speaks politely but firmly to the Italian parliamentarians in the Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome.

He speaks on behalf of his people, who are fighting back because they want to live a self-determined life.

It asks for help and thanks everyone who mobilizes in solidarity in the name of the same values.

Zelenskyj's speeches will be broadcast live.

Later they are available as a video on the Internet.

Anyone who wants can see them.

It is an internationalization of the message, a new form of public debate about the war that is diametrically opposed to the isolation of the autocrat Putin in the Kremlin bunker.

It not only forces politicians to answer the question of which side they want to be on, but everyone who listens to Zelenskyy.

His speech marathon began on March 1st in front of the EU Parliament.

Barely a week later he spoke in London, then before the Canadian Parliament, on March 16 before the American Congress.

Then it was Switzerland, Germany, Israel, France, Japan and Sweden.

In every country in which Zelenskyj has performed, there has been media coverage before and after the event, as if a pop star were on tour: What can we expect from the speech?

Which members of parliament might stay away from the performance?

How did the head of state react to the speech?

These were the recurring questions.

The images from the parliaments were similar: in venerable halls you could see rows of women and men in suits standing and applauding before and after the speech.

One saw Zelenskyj, oversized on the screen,

sitting and talking at his desk in army uniform and unshaven, with the Ukrainian flag next to him.

This picture alone unfolded great emotional power every time.

It said: It's a matter of life or death.

The viewer is right in the middle

Many things that Zelenskyy had previously been refused were suddenly promised to him after his speeches: more military aid, financial aid, sanctions.

Only in Germany was the performance met with indifference (Olaf Scholz needed a week to name this a mistake), which seemed to inspire Italy the week after to receive Zelenskyj respectfully.

A new we, a new kind of connection is thus emerging, beyond NATO or the EU.