Switzerland is a federal republic comprised of 26 cantons
inhabited by different peoples speaking German, Italian,
French and Romansch and even practicing different religions.
It emerged as a nation based on certain common values: hard
work, personal interests and neutrality as the essence of
its foreign policy. The country's outwardly cosmopolitan
character comes from hosting international organizations and
supporting the International Red Cross presence where
disputes flare up, although in practice the Red Cross often
assists the side that best serves its interests.
The country's mixed population requires it to remain neutral
in European wars. During World War I tension formed when the
French Swiss accused the German Swiss of spying for Germany.
The Swiss always held themselves above their neighbors and
expressed patriotism. Compulsory military service is still
in place and every Swiss citizen serves several months in
the reserve army. Five hundred thousand citizens are still
members of the civilian militia and sleep with a rifle under
their bed. They are trained to blow up mountain passes to
save the motherland. In the streets one sees soldiers armed
as if they were fighting a war.
For years and years the Swiss refused to join the United
Nations, arguing the organization was unworthy of its stated
goal. Only this year in a national referendum was it decided
by Switzerland that the UN was worthy of having Switzerland
as one of its members. Yet the European Union is still
opposed. In Geneva some say because the country was neutral
during World War II, the European Union sees no need for
them to participate in European reconciliation.
The neutrality policy allowed the country to serve a unique
role among the nations of the world: to get along with
everybody and to serve as a safe haven for people and money.
Hard Knocks
During the past five years the Swiss example (which many
envied) has taken hard knocks. Suddenly it was discovered
Switzerland took advantage of its neutrality during the
Second World War to carry out dark deals, in effect serving
as the treasury for Nazi Germany. Its bank vaults were
filled with gold the Nazis stole from the central banks of
the countries it occupied. At the end of the war the Red
Cross smuggled Nazi war criminals to South America using
Swiss diplomatic passports.
Not long ago the banks lost their sterling reputation when
they were forced to pay huge sums to compensate for stolen
Jewish deposits. Now people are beginning to think twice
before they deposit money in a Swiss bank after many Jewish
depositors were left holding nothing but account numbers.
The Swiss diplomatic apparatus is spending millions on an
initiative by Yossi Beilin known as the Geneva
Understandings. Designed, some say, merely to cause
controversy and bring down Sharon, delegations working on
the project are staying in expensive international hotels
and the Swiss government is paying to drive them around in
limousines.
The age-old Swiss myth of remaining above its neighbors'
quarrels no longer stands up to phenomenon no border or
mountain--not even the towering Alps--can stop. Switzerland
is being visited by a wave of crime, drugs, illegal
immigration, financial crisis, unemployment and contempt for
political institutions and law and order. Crime has been
taken over by the Albanian Mafia. Swiss banks are facing
stiff competition from other European financial centers as
well as tax-free zones such as Luxembourg. Switzerland is
suffering from industrial problems and financial crisis.
These failures, along with the bankruptcy of Swissair,
altered the image of a thriving nation immune to the
international economic decline. As the country sinks and
slides, the Swiss, particularly the French-speaking canton
next to France, is turning to the extreme right.
Kristoff Blocher, head of the far-right populist party, is
celebrating his victory in the Swiss general elections. In
his election campaign his advisors went overboard. Campaign
ads blamed the Albanians, African immigrants and asylum-
seekers for violence and the medical insurance deficit.
Eventually the Geneva-based UN Refugee Commission denounced
the ads publicly, calling them racist. But Blocher did well
in the elections.
Now Blocher is demanding two portfolios for himself in the
new government and one for another member of his party. His
goal is to close Switzerland to foreigners. Three of the
government's seven portfolios would allow him to impose
decisions in keeping with the nationalist, anti-immigration
platform he propounded. Until now the antisemitic People's
Party had one minister, the Right Christian Centralist Party
had four and the Socialist Party two. If he doesn't get his
way Blocher is threatening to withdraw his party to the
opposition, thereby breaking the general consensus among the
parties since 1959 over the distribution of the portfolios.
If he manages to secure three portfolios and implement his
plan it would put an end to Switzerland's image as a
tolerant and open land.
Against the European Union
Europe is still reeling from the elections in which Blocher
took 55 of 200 delegates (compared to the socialists' 54).
Worried Switzerland will revert to its former status of an
isolationist state in the middle of the continent,
sheltering black money under the guise of neutrality, the
Europeans are trying to pressure Bern to join the European
Union. A few other corners remain in Europe--the
principalities of Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein--where
one can still flee the dictates of the European
commissioners. Talks about an arrangement with the European
Union have been held for years with no results. The Swiss
refuse to give up banking confidentiality, which is devoutly
guarded as the basis for the banking system.
The main platform messages espoused by Blocher and his party
were immigration and the battle to keep Switzerland out of
the European Union. Among the immigrants are wealthy Arabs
from the oil emirates or rich Europeans who arrive with
their money to live in Geneva. One and a half million
foreign residents live in Switzerland, most of whom are not
Albanians or Africans. They own factories, hotels and
agricultural lands.
Blocher is a throwback to the Switzerland of the 40s and
50s, the days of collaboration with the Nazis. By nature he
is conservative and less vulgar than Austria's Heider who is
politically similar. His support was primarily in French-
speaking cantons (in his own canton, Zurich, Blocher lost
votes).
Meanwhile the Left and the Greens also increased their power
in the elections at the expense of the center. However the
majority of Swiss still cling to a compromise approach,
forcing politicians to work together.
Blocher's antisemitic party denounced the banks' agreement
several years ago to compensate Jewish account holders as
"capitulation to Jewish organizations." Blocher's rise to
power is linked to Switzerland's lowered status as a result
of the affair. Sensing the Swiss people's resistance to the
compensation payments, he began issuing antisemitic
pronouncements not heard since the war. In the previous
elections one representative from his party received a
ministerial post and since then Switzerland has continued to
decline.
Blocher's supporters ignore the new reality, failing to
comprehend that neutrality no longer has a role to play in
the age of globalization.
Switzerland is still a wealthy and tranquil country. Its
stores command the highest prices in all of Europe and the
4.3 percent unemployment rate is among the lowest in Europe.
While the London Times warned the European Union it
would be foolish to start demonizing the Swiss government
now that Blocher has joined its ranks--as the heads of the
European Commission tend to do under the influence of the
left--the European Parliament is already preparing a
statement of condemnation. Les Temps sides with
Blocher. He deserves two portfolios, writes the Geneva
daily, because Switzerland's diversity "makes it unable to
function except through a policy of consensus."
"It is incumbent on the [European] Union to live in harmony
with its neighbor in the heart of Europe," writes the
Times. "Switzerland has a problem, but it has not yet
been seized by the extreme right. If they do not want to
transform him into a popular figure, as Heider was
transformed by ostracizing him, it would be best not to
shout out, `Switzerland is racist.' Blocher inside the
government might do less harm than from the outside,
particularly since the referendums seldom ratify the
government reforms."
Hopefully the Times is right that Blocher and his
cohorts on the right will soon be swallowed up in the
government consensus.
