Switzerland: Rechtsrutsch in "the country of dwarfs"

Switzerland held its election yesterday and, as predicted, the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) scored a major victory, completing the nation's Rechtsrutsch ("slide to the right"). How did they achieve this?  By whipping up fear of "foreigners":

During the election campaign, the SVP rallied against Swiss reforms to deal with asylum seekers, even though in Europe's current migrant crisis Switzerland is having to handle far fewer migrants than some other nations such as Germany.

With slogans like "Stay free!" the SVP has also played to fears that Switzerland may head towards EU membership, while also producing tongue-in-cheek YouTube music videos in a bid to appeal to younger voters.

The other day the Swiss writer Lukas Bärfuss had a terrific rant in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung about his homeland that put the noses of a few of his fellow Swiss citizens out of joint.  I have only read one novel by Lukas Bärfuss - Hundert Tage - about the Rwandan genocide and thought it was quite good (see my review).  Here is an excerpt from his FAZ piece Die Schweiz ist des Wahnsinns ("Switzerland Has Gone Mad"):  

Vertrauen kann ein Schweizer Bürger heute eigentlich nur noch auf die Justiz. Allerdings nicht auf die schweizerische, sondern auf die amerikanische. Sie sorgt regelmäßig dafür, dass die Eidgenossenschaft den Kontakt zu den zivilisatorischen Nationen nicht ganz verliert. Ohne die Staatsanwälte aus Übersee hätten die Banken das Gold der ermordeten Juden bis heute nicht zurückbezahlt. Die internationalen Steuerhinterzieher würden sich immer noch auf das Bankgeheimnis verlassen können. Und korrupte Sportfunktionäre könnten weiterhin unbehelligt von Zürich aus die Jugend der Welt an den Mammon verkaufen. ....Ein Volk von Zwergen will man hierzulande sein und bleiben

("Today Swiss citizens can only put their trust in the justice systems.  But in the American system, not the Swiss justice. The American system makes sure that the Swiss nation doesn't completely lose contact with civilized nations. If it weren't for the prosecutors overseas the banks never would have repaid the gold stolen from murdered Jews. International tax-evaders would still be relying on the bank secrecy laws. And the corrupt sports officials would be still be using Zurich as the venue for selling out the world;s youth to the God of Mammon ... We are destined to remain a nation of dwarfs.")

The election results yesterday only confirm Lukas Bärfuss' worst fears....

Comments

[Hattie]

I lived there for 13 years and loved it. But that was only because I never fit in and had all that Narrenfreiheit. They kept things very nice for me.
Living in my own country, the U.S, with the indigenous fools as I now do, is more difficult, because I feel some sense of responsibility for the situation.
Anyway, who would want to be Swiss?

[David]

"Anyway, who would want to be Swiss?"

Marc Rich :)

[koogleschreiber]

"Anyway, who would want to be Swiss?"
A lot of people would.

My nephew is living there whith his family. You wouldn't believe how much money he makes working as a craftsman. It's probably 3x more than in Germany.
Working and living in Switzerland, shopping in Germany.

[James]

"Who would want to be Swiss?"

Tina Turner.

The Swiss are more than justified in their pride of being Swiss.