Political riots in Bern in run-up to election

By Tim Kilchenmann

The Swiss political landscape has recently been marked by unusually aggressive campaigning from the main political parties ahead of the federal election on October 21. In particular the populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) has moved centre stage. While known in Gstaad-Saanenland as a benign voice of farmers' rights, the SVP's allegedly racist posters, protests, and Il Duce-like focus on its leader Christoph Blocher have become what passes for substantive election debate in 2007. But if there is one institution that is truly gleeful about this year's controversial campaigning then it must be the international press. In September the (UK) Independent’s Paul Vallely proclaimed Switzerland as "Europe’s heart of darkness." More recently the Guardian described the SVP's manifesto as Neo-Nazi literature, and the New York Times published a cartoon of a Swiss cross being perverted into a Swastika. And it's not just the global major broadsheets, mind you. The United Nations has voiced its concern about racism in Switzerland, not to mention the murmurs of grass roots organisations such as Amnesty International. The themes of this year's Swiss elections are frankly embarrassing.

Below, whatever the climate in Switzerland, Gstaad has always been a multicultural environment!

But it is not the elections that are worrisome: the problem lies with xenophobia as an emerging trend. How hypocritical would it be for theoretically secular Switzerland to forbid minarets? And what about the referendum to decide on whether to evict all naturalised criminal foreigners. One would create a society of second-class Swiss citizens, simply trampling on human rights. If nothing else, this would be an embarrassing record for the country that hosts the UN Human Rights Commission. More importantly, crime is not a cultural phenomenon, and in all its arrogance the Swiss have bluntly neglected the importance of foreigners for their economy and culture. Another dangerous development is the SVP’s blind trust in democracy. They forget that Hitler was technically democratically empowered. Democracy without checks and balances, as has been suggested for granting citizenship, is undesirable. It would undermine the legitimacy and centrality of courts as arbitrators in our society. The elections will (finally) come to an end this coming on Sunday October 21. The Swiss People’s Party will proclaim themselves as the victors, gaining over 25% of the vote. Their mandate to pursue questionable policies and discomfit Swiss abroad will be confirmed. The rest of the world will be shaking their heads, but no-one in Switzerland will be listening. They’re just foreigners after all…

Tim Kilchenmann is a Swiss from Basel, currently studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Warwick in the UK.