Switzerland’s Alpine dams are a source of electricity – and tension Maggi – the Swiss-made seasoning that became a kitchen staple around the world Albinen – the Alpine village opening its wallet to attract new residents SWISS REVIEW The magazine for the Swiss Abroad February 2022 The publisher of “Swiss Review” is the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 Do you knowwhat the Council of the Swiss Abroad does on behalf of Swiss citizens living abroad? © Adrian Moser Our partners: Join their next meeting on Saturday 12 March 2022 via live stream to find out. For more information, visit the website of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad: www.swisscommunity.org
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 3 The Spitallamm dam built in 1932 closes off a small rocky gorge in the Bernese Alps. Behind it lies the five-kilometre long Lake Grimsel. Over the years, the damhas evolved into 840,000 tonnes of concrete in the shape of a 114-metre high monument, a reminder of when Switzerland met its growing demand for energy by damming upmountain streams and turning them into lakes providingwater to power the turbines in the valley below and generate electricity. The Lake Grimsel damdoes not currently look quite as undisturbed as it appears on our cover. A new, leaner arch dam is being constructed just in front of the old one. On its completion, probably in three years, the old dam will be flooded. Then the new construction will have to hold back the lake’s considerablewater pressure. Lake Grimsel will thus remain a reliable source of electricity production over the coming decades. Times have changed since 1932. Nowadays major hydroelectric projects are harder to get off the ground in Switzerland. Conservation and landscape preservation groups strongly oppose plans to erect new mountain dams or to use free flowing rivers for electricity generation. The use of hydropower has attracted growing criticism over the years. People are now more aware of how hydropower can exert a negative impact: dam construction is detrimental to nature, it submerges landscapes, takes water away from rivers, changes the natural hydrology. This edition’s Focus article (from page 6) explains how hydropower expansion in Switzerland is being limited for those reasons. This raises an issue, given that Switzerland is looking to increase its use of renewable, CO2-free energy sources, i.e. water, wind and sun. The conversion process is proving to be anything but straightforward. While Switzerland has a tradition of constructing all types of large power plants, it is less effective when it comes to decentralised, small-scale solar energy use. The gap between knowledge and action in this area is sobering to say the least. In fact, many Swiss municipalities have accurately calculated howmuch solar energy shines onto the existing rooftops. This often exceeds the needs of the municipality’s inhabitants. In spite of that, new constructions can still be erected without solar panels on the roof. It is this type of inertia that makes the lack of support for new dam construction in Switzerland more understandable. MARC LETTAU, EDI TOR- IN-CHIEF Editorial 5 Mailbag 6 Focus Hydropower in Switzerland – a source of pride and concern 10 Economy The rise of the mini bottle – howMaggi entered the culinary consciousness 12 Society Albinen – the Alpine village offering cash incentives to prospective new residents 14 Politics The “Strong healthcare” initiative – a historic success for nurses 16 Switzerland in figures News from your region 17 Literature Iris von Roten’s fight for Swiss women’s rights 18 Swiss extremes Erstfeld and Bodio – connected by the world’s longest railway tunnel 21 Images “Mundaun” – a handcrafted Swiss horror game 25 SwissCommunity news 25 Notes from the Federal Palace 30 Books / Sounds 31 Top Pick / News Contents 840,000 tonnes of concrete Cover photo: The Spitallamm dam on Lake Grimsel in the Bernese Oberland was built over 90 years ago. Photo: 13 Photo AG, Claudio Bader “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad.
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 zkb.ch/auslandschweizer Bedürfnisse sind verschieden – deshalb behandeln wir alle Auslandschweizer wie Unikate. Wir bieten Ihnen eine persönliche und professionelle Betreuung, die höchsten Qualitätsansprüchen genügt. “SWISS REVIEW” – THE APP IS JUST THREE CLICKS AWAY! Get “Swiss Review” free as an app! It’s really easy: 1. Open the store on your smartphone or tablet. 2. Enter the search term “Swiss Review”. 3. Tap on install – all done! SWISS REVIEW SWISS REVIEW Switzerland’s Alpine dams are a source of electricity – and tension Maggi – the Swiss-made seasoning that became a kitchen staple around the world Albinen – the Alpine village opening its wallet to attract new residents SWISS REVIEW The magazine for the Swiss Abroad February 2022 The publisher of “Swiss Review” is the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad Switzerland’s Alpine dams are a source of electricity – and tension Maggi – the Swiss-made seasoning that became a kitchen staple around the world Albinen – the Alpine village opening its wallet to attract new residents SWISS REVIEW The magazine for the Swiss Abroad February 2022 The publisher of “Swiss Review” is the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 5 Mailbag Priya Ragu conquers the music world Thank you for your article on Swiss/Tamil artist Priya Ragu. Every success story involving an immigrant to Switzerland or their children, whether refugee or not, is another step towards more tolerance in our society. Ms Ragu’s story is particularly interesting for us. RAOUL IMBACH, SWISS EMBASSY, SRI L ANKA Advancing the cause of music is always a good thing, whatever type it may be. You will realise your dream of having a music festival in Jaffna. Here’s to making the most of your opportunities! DIDIER MEHENNI , CRANS MONTANA , SWI TZERL AND This is very beautiful in the journey she is on, the music, the positive forwardmovement, and all the inclusiveness. Maywe all see and encourage themerits in each of us, and the common humanity we have that binds us beyond all other differences. LOUISE GOGEL, VERMONT, USA The Swiss arms industry is on the defensive Switzerland should think more about where it buys weapons for its own army and less about its arms exports. Switzerland’smilitary exports are somewhere between modest and insignificant. As you point out, Switzerland is not allowed to export arms to countries at war, or that occupy other countries and abuse human rights. But what about the arms imports? How can a supposedly neutral country like Switzerland buy Israeli drones and F-35 fighter jets from the US? And that’s not all, the F-35s technically remain under US control, although Switzerland has paid the full purchase price. WALTER GASSER, USA I’ve always found it immoral that Switzerland sells arms, even after the easing of the rules governing exports to countries experiencing civil war, and each time a popular vote rejects a more restrictive proposal, I tell myself that every voter is responsible for deaths in different countries throughout the world. It’s totally unacceptable for a neutral country. SERGE LEUBA , ALTEA , SPAIN The golden jackal appears in Switzerland Thank you for the great article. I always like to hear about a new type of animal appearing in Switzerland. It shows just how resilient some animals are.With somuch agricultural land and construction everywhere, there isn’t much left for the wildlife. Unnatural living space in new developments means the animals are losing their habitat. URSUL A DOUGHT Y, USA Switzerland’s paradoxical love affair with cash Once again, we see the needs of the Swiss Abroad being completely overlooked. It would have been helpful if our National Bank would have come to an agreement with banking institutions in other countries about taking over the noteswithdrawn from circulation. Many Swiss Abroad have not inconsiderable sums stashed away because Swiss banks dissolved their accounts. There are also other ways in whichmoney could be exchanged in any given country. It is both impossible and unreasonable to expect the Swiss Abroad to travel to Switzerland with their money. HANS PETER STEINER, MAKOTRASY, CZECH REPUBL IC Cash is freedom and independence. J IRI CETTL, SWI TZERL AND I read about the banknotes in “Swiss Review” on 15 December, but the banknoteswere recalled inApril. That wasn’t ideal.We still have some francs in cash, sowe canmakeminor purchases on arrival inZurich. But we haven’t been able to travel because of the Corona pandemic. LUTZ VENZL AFF IRVINE, CAL I FORNIA , USA IMPRINT: “Swiss Review”, the magazine for the Swiss Abroad, is in its 48th year of publication and is published in German, French, English and Spanish in 14 regional editions. It has a total circulation of 431,000, including 253,000 electronic copies. Regional news appears four times a year. The ordering parties are fully responsible for the content of advertisements and promotional inserts. This content does not necessarily represent the opinion of either the editorial office or the publisher. EDITORS: Marc Lettau (MUL), Editor-in-Chief; Stéphane Herzog (SH); Theodora Peter (TP); Susanne Wenger (SWE); Consular Directorate, Innovation and Partnerships, responsible for the “Notes from the Federal Palace” section. EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Sandra Krebs TRANSLATION: SwissGlobal Language Services AG; LAYOUT: Joseph Haas, Zürich; PRINT: Vogt-Schild Druck AG, 4552 Derendingen POSTAL ADDRESS: Publisher, editorial office, advertising: Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne, Tel.: +41313566110. Account: IBAN CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 / KBBECH22 Email: revue@swisscommunity.org COPY DEADLINE for this edition: 8 December 2021 All Swiss Abroad who are registered with a Swiss representation receive the magazine free of charge. Anyone else can subscribe to the magazine for an annual fee (Switzerland: CHF 30 / abroad: CHF 50). Subscribers are sent the magazine direct from Berne. www.revue.ch CHANGES TO DELIVERY: Please advise your local embassy or consulate. The editorial team cannot access your address and administrative data. Editor’s note: Some readers have expressed concern that their eighth-series banknotes are now worthless. That is not the case: they can still be exchanged at the Swiss National Bank and its agencies. See: revue.link/banknotes
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 6 Focus JÜRG STEINER Are the planks under foot shaking in the stiff breeze, or is itmountains that are moving? You are never quite sure which of the two it is on the Triftbrücke – thewindy suspension bridge in the Bernese Oberland that spans themouth of the green Triftsee glacial lake at a dizzying height of 100metres. The Triftbrücke is situated in a side valley above Innertkirchen (canton of Berne), 1,700metres above sea level in one of Switzerland’s most tranquil Alpine areas. Anyone with the nerve to stand halfway along the 170-metre-long pedestrian bridge will see a ruggedwater-soakedmountain basin, at one end of which hangs the remainder of a once-mighty glacier high above. It is a thought-provoking place, because this natural amphitheatre epitomises the controversy surrounding hydropower. Rapid transition from glacier to lake The TriftGlacier, which used to fill the entire basin, receded all of a sudden due to climate change, leading to the formation of the Triftsee lake. Because hikers were no longer able to use the glacier to access the Trifthütte (a mountain hut belonging to the Swiss Alpine Club), the aforementioned suspension bridge was built in 2005. However, the retreating glacier also left behind a unique, pristine mountain landscape. The Triftsee is attracting considerThis has opened up a can of worms. KWO plans to produce zero-carbon energy – the type of power needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But it would have to desecrate virginmountain terrain in the process. A small, dogged group of conservationists has raised objections to impede the project, albeit in the knowledge that Switzerland has high-emission gas-fired power plants on stand-by to cover any gaps in power supply – which, in turn, is counter-intuitive to the aimof combating climate change. There appears to be no way out of this conundrum. Hydropower, once the clean-energymainstay of Switzerland’s self-styled “reservoir of Europe”, is having to fight for its green credentials. How has it come to this? Driving the economic boom Switzerland lacks its own natural coal, so hydropower has always been the major energy staple. Yet hydroelectricity only really came into its own in Switzerland during the economic boom of the post-war years. Enormous dams sprang up in the Alps, providing a stable electricity supply that underpinned economic growth. Thanks to audacious feats of civil engineering in remote corners of the Alps, Switzerland achieved a certain degree of energy independence. Indeed, hydropower accounted for around 90 per cent of Swiss energy in 1970, before the first nuclear Hydropower has lost its clean image Hydropower has traditionally been the cornerstone of Swiss electricity. Logically, it should be underpinning the country’s switch from nuclear and fossil fuels. However, it first needs to deal with the damage to its reputation in recent decades. able interest. Local hydropower company Kraftwerke Oberhasli (KWO) would like to use the young body of water to create a reservoir with a 177-metre-high dam that would supply electricity to around 30,000 households. Will Switzerland run out of electricity? Will Switzerland have sufficient and uninterrupted power supplies in future? This question is on many people’s lips. Continued growth in electricity demand seems inevitable, with energy group Axpo predicting a 30 per cent rise by 2050. Conceivably, the switch from nuclear and fossil fuels could drive this growth. Using heat pumps instead of oil-fired boilers to heat buildings, or driving electric instead of petrol cars – this means lower CO2 emissions but greater electricity consumption. It is hard to gauge the extent to which efficiency gains and behavioural changes can curb demand. According to a new study by the Federal Office of Energy, Switzerland could experience brief winter power outages from 2025 onwards due to electricity demand outstripping supply. The Federal Council has exacerbated the situation with its decision to abandon talks with the EU on a framework agreement. Consequently, the EU refuses to conclude the electricity agreement that it has already negotiated with Switzerland. As it currently stands, Switzerland will find it harder to obtain emergency supplies from the European grid as a result.
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 7 The Trift Glacier has melted away to reveal a new, pristine Alpine landscape. A local energy provider wants to build a hydroelectric dam on this very spot. Photo: Keystone (2009) also happens to be the president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad – made a name for himself in 1965 with the elegantly curved Verzasca Dam, which was pioneering on account of its slimline design. The dam became iconic after James Bond bungee jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film “Goldeneye”. Lombardi, who later built the Gotthard Road Tunnel, provided the benchmark for other spectacular civil engineering feats until his death in 2017. The unifying effect of water levies Besides cementing national pride, hydropower was also the inconspicuous glue that bound Switzerland together. This is because dams generate significant revenue for the Alpine regions, with themunicipalities inwhich they are situated receiving remuneration for use of their water resources – a total of aroundhalf a billion Swiss francs a year. Thesewater levies help to transfer wealth from the economically strong Central Plateau region into the mountains, enabling the Alpine cantons to invest in infrastructure and counteract depopulation. To see how effectively hydropower is able to transcend the urban-rural divide, one only needs to travel to the Bregaglia Valley, where the Zurich-based utility company EWZ, which built the Albigna Dam in the 1950s, remains one of the biggest employers. Fierce opposition However, it is sometimes easy to forget amid the fanfare that hydropower projectswere subject to fierce local opposition in the early days. The story of power plants had begun producing electricity. Amid the hydro zeitgeist of the 1970s, families would drive down to Valais, maybe stop in Sion, then head up to the Hérémence Valley to gawp at the enormous Grande Dixence Dam. The dam’s imposing 285-metre-high wall remains the highest building structure in Switzerland. It weighs an incredible 15million tonnes –more than the Great Pyramid of Giza – and is enough to withhold the several-kilometre stretch of water in the adjacent lake. Imagine if it burst. Hydropower gained its appeal thanks to a number of illustrious civil engineers who turned dam construction into a high-performance discipline. For example, the Ticinese Giovanni Lombardi – father of politician Filippo Lombardi (The Centre), who
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 8 Focus Marmorera is legendary. It was only after several expropriation proceedings that this Grisons village situated on the Julier Pass was destroyed and flooded to make way for a dam of the same name. From as early as 1920, there were plans to flood the entire Urseren Valley in the canton of Uri and turn it into a dam. Prompted by power supply shortages, the project got up and running after the Second World War. But the valley community violently resisted, hastening the project’s eventual demise. “Nuclear subsidiaries in the Alps” But it is 1986 that is the key year in understanding why hydropower lost its aura. Back then, utility company Kraf twerke Nordwestschweiz scrapped its plan to turn the Greina plateau between Grisons and Ticino into a reservoir – after years of strong resistance from a coalition of conservationists and countryside campaigners on the one hand and local opposition on the other managed to bring this remote Alpine highland to the attention of national policymakers. Greina became a symbol of environmentalist objections to the hydropower industry’s practice of prioritisingprofits,whichhad led toadalliance with the contentious nuclear industry. The drill is as follows. Inexpensive, surplus nuclear energy during offpeak hours is used to pump water up into Switzerland’s reservoirs. Hydroelectric plant operators can then produce expensive electricity during peak hours and maximise their profits. Do profit-oriented “nuclear subsidiaries in the Alps”, as critics dub the hydropower plants, justify selling off the country’s last natural mountain and river landscapes? Limits to growth? Proponents and opponents of hydropower development have disagreed on this fundamental question for over 30 years. The Federal Supreme Court sometimes has to intervene, as in the case of the Grimsel Pass Dam, where attempts to raise the dam wall have been blocked until now. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), 95 per cent of Switzerland’s technically feasible hydropower potential is already being exploited. Although the federal government has imposed stricter environmental controls on residual water f lows, Switzerland has “long passed” the critical point. The WWF adds that 60 per cent of the country’s native fish and crab species have died out or are close to extinction. And yet hundreds of hydropower upgrades and newbuilds are still being planned, much of these small-scale. The biggest and therefore most hotly debated of these has been earmarked for the site of the recently shrunk Trift Glacier. Increased pressure on hydropower Since Greina, the picture has become evenmore complicated. There are two newchallenges. Firstly, climate change and glacial melt nowmean that water run-off mainly occurs more in the spring than in the summer. Secondly, Swiss policymakers ratcheted up the pressure on hydropower by deciding in the aftermath of the Fukushima reactor disaster to phase out nuclear power and replace it with renewable energy – as part of their commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Is it at all possible to gain even more from hydropower, which currently accounts for just under 60 per cent of Swiss electricity production, Heavier than the Great Pyramid of Giza – the enormous Grande Dixence Dam is the highest building structure in Switzerland. Photo:Keystone
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 9 without crossing the environmental red line? “Essentially, yes,” says Rolf Weingartner, professor emeritus of hydrology at the University of Berne. Weingartner has broken down the problem into its constituent parts and put them back together again in order to lend objectivity to an emotive subject. A new role for hydropower? Given that hydropower is virtually CO2-neutral, it continues to play an indispensable role in preventing power shortages, particularly inwinterwhen solar power plants are less productive. Global warming is also making us re-evaluate the importance of reservoirs, he explains, because the contribution ofmeltwater to run-off, mainly in the summer months, will decrease as glaciers recede. Summer water shortages will be the consequence. In future, overall water run-off will remain more or less at current annual levels. But the seasonal distribution of run-off is becoming less favourable, because both glacier melt and snowmelt are diminishing. “This means we must replace natural Alpine water sources with artificial ones,” says Weingartner. In other words, existing hydropower reservoirs can also help to deliver a sustainable approach to water management in the climate change era by providing a source of water in the hot, dry summer months for things like farm irrigation. Meanwhile, large-scale photovoltaic plants are nowbeing installed on the walls of dams. The solar panels at Muttsee in the canton of Glarus, for example, will produce electricity all year round because they are at high altitude above the low clouds. Consequently, hydropower has more than one role to play. “Hydropower should not only serve the purpose of generating energy but also help to provide a sustainable answer to water supply issues. This includes the environmentally responsible use of residual water,” says Weingartner, adding that the practice of pitting environmental and economic interests against each other every time there is a new dam project in the pipeline is unhelpful. Weingartner therefore favours a new, holistic approach, not least because glacial melt due to climate changewill result in over 1,000 new Alpine lakes that could potentially be used as resources. “We should take it upon ourselves to identify priority areas,” he says. The federal government should divide the Swiss Alps into different zones according to priority: energy production, environmental protection, tourism, or agriculture. This would ensure a physical separation of interests and quell controversies. Weingartner knows that his hydro peacekeeping vision could be difficult to sustain amid the rough and tumble of Swiss realpolitik. Initially, at least. But as long as its energy consumption continues to rise, Switzerland will have to change tack sooner or later. The Greina plateau situated between Grisons and Ticino was a turning point on the Swiss hydropower map. Conservationists prevented it from being flooded into a reservoir, scuttling a power plant project in 1986. Photo: Keystone
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 ment, relying on new innovations such as posters, signs, bonus point schemes, collectable picture cards, and tastings. The boss also penned the slogans himself at first, before hiring the then unknown poet Frank Wedekind in 1886, who obliged with the necessary rhyming jingles. Here is an example inGerman: Das wissen THEODORA PETER When 23-year-old Julius Maggi inherited his father’s flour mill in 1869 in Kemptthal (canton of Zurich), the milling industry was in crisis. Industrialisation and the advent of steamships and railways meant that increasing amounts of cheap grain and corn were being imported to Switzerland. Forced to come up with something new, Maggi invented a range of instant soups made from protein-rich legumes. “Leguminose” was aimed at improving public nutrition and preventing malnourishment in the Swiss workforce. However, the newfangled artificial broths failed to catch on. The lower classes still preferred potatoes and ersatz coffee, while the middle classes turned up their noses at what they viewed as tasteless slop with a curious name. The young man’s breakthrough came in 1886with the invention of an umami-rich, plant-based liquid seasoning that immediately made the soups taste (and sell) much better. It would become world famous. Julius Maggi not only loved creating these and other products. “He also recognised the importance of marketing,” says historianAnnatina Tam-Seifert, who has researched the origins of the Swiss food industry. “Customers were unable to touch or smell instant food products such as these, so packaging played an important role.” Maggi was pioneering in this regard. He designed the liquid seasoning’s iconicmini bottlewith its yellowand red label himself. The design has barely changed ever since. Advertising slogans written by a poet Maggi’s company was one of the first to set up its own advertising departHow Julius Maggi took kitchens by storm Liquid seasoning, stock cubes, instant soups – Maggi, a success story that began over 150 years ago in the canton of Zurich, revolutionised eating habits worldwide. Economy 10 Still an iconic design – Maggi isn’t Maggi without the bottle. Photo: Archives Historiques Nestlé, Vevey
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 11 while painter Pablo Picasso immortalised the iconicMaggi stock cube in his 1912 “Paysage aux affiches” (Landscape with posters). Indeed, the stock cube also became a worldwide hit after being launched in 1908. Largest Swiss landowner Julius Maggi not only had tomake his instant food appeal to consumers, he also had to win over farmers who would supply himwith his raw ingredients. “He found it difficult to find enough vegetables for his products in the vicinity,” Tam-Seifert explains. The farmers first had to be convinced of the benefits of new, mechanised growing methods. They were also sceptical of the food industry. In the end, Maggi decided to grow the ingredients himself. He bought out smallholders, whom he often then appointed towork at his rapidly growing factory in Kemptthal. With over 400 hectares of fields, Maggi went on to ownmore land than any other private individual in Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century. His company, meanwhile, developed independent factories and distribution networks in Germany, Austria, Italy and France. JuliusMaggi died in 1912 aged 66, after which his firm was transformed into a holding company with branches in various countries. During the Second World War, the German subsidiary was the biggest food producer in the Third Reich and a major supplier to Hitler’s armies. Regarded as a “model National Socialist operation”, the factory in Singen also used forced labour. Maggi has belonged to food group Nestlé since 1947, and Maggi liquid seasoning is now exported to 21 countries around the world. The company also has production plants in China, Poland, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and Mexico. selbst die Kinderlein: MitWürzewird die Suppe fein. Darum holt das Gretchen munter, die Maggi-Flasche runter – which loosely translates as, “children know seasoning improves the soup, so Gretchen goes to fetch theMaggi bottle”. But the young bard quit the job after eight months because, as he wrote in a letter to his mother, he felt exploited. The collected original manuscripts of Wedekind’s ad copy are now kept at the Aargau Cantonal Library. Maggi was already influencing tastes back then. The liquid seasoning was soon to be found in cooking recipes, including the reference works of the iconic German cookbook author HenrietteDavidis. However, the exact recipe for making Maggi remains a well-guarded company secret to this day. Its basic ingredients are vegetable protein, water, salt, and sugar. Flavourings and yeast extract are also used. No lovage is included, despite many people associating its tastewith Maggi. This is why German speakers often refer to the herb as “Maggi-Kraut”. Maggi has also been known to inspire artists. Joseph Beuys used a bottle of it for his 1972 artwork “Ich kenne kein Weekend” (I know no weekend), Recommended reading (in German): – Annatina Seifert: Dosenmilch und Pulversuppen. Die Anfänge der Schweizer Lebensmittelindustrie. Verlag Hier und Jetzt, 2008. – Alex Capus: Patriarchen. Über Bally, Lindt, Nestlé und andere Pioniere. Verlag dtv, 2007. Julius Maggi, circa 1890. Photo: Archives Historiques Nestlé, Vevey On the left: Factory workers wrapping Maggi bottles in white paper before delivery. On the right: Farm workers planting vegetables near Kemptthal. Julius Maggi was one of the largest landowners of his time Photos: Archives Historiques Nestlé, Vevey
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 12 Society MIREI LLE GUGGENBÜHLER Pierre Biege sets off for work every morning in the canton of Valais, arriving in Berne two hours later. A very long commute by Swiss standards. But Biege, who runs a fashion label, is perfectly happy. “I use the time on the train to work,” he says. Biege lives in Albinen, a small village situated 1,300 metres above sea level on a sunny south-west-facing slope near the well-known spa resort of Leukerbad.With its closely packed, sun-faded buildings, this Alpine settlement amid the pastures of the Pfyn-Finges nature reserve is regarded as quite a gem and therefore enjoys protected status. Living in a tiny house Biege lives in a so-called tiny house on the edge of Albinen with his wife and two children. Comprising amere 27 square metres, this abode is the only custom-built, downsized living space in Albinen. Building a tiny house is not an easy thing to do in Switzerland, given thatmicro homes fall outside the normal statutory framework. Many municipalities have banned tiny houses, not least because of their visual impact. Albinen, on the other hand, gave the green light to Biege’s unusual house. After many years of living and working in different Swiss cities, Biege has consequently returned to the village of his childhood. “Our dream has become reality,” he says. Albinen proved amenable on account of its concerted efforts to attract families who are seeking to build or buy a new home. The village wants to stop the exodus of residents and bolster its population, which has been slowly falling since the 1940s – from 370 back then to the current figure of 250. Since 2018, Albinen has tried to attract new inhabitants by paying a housing grant to every individual moving into the village. Adults receive 25,000 Swiss francs each, provided themoney towards the cost of buying, building or renovating a property worth at least 200,000 francs. New residentsmust also remain inAlbinen for at least 10 years – otherwise they have to pay the money back. An initiative by the young – for the young This proactive approach to enticing families is down to the initiative of a group of young residents, whose efforts have clearly paid off. Since the scheme began in 2018, 19 grant applications have been submitted, accounting for a total of 38 adults and 11 children. The young incomers – individuals, couples and families – hail either from the canton of Valais or from other parts of Switzerland. Albinen has now approved cash payments totalling 880,000 francs, facilitating 6.6 million francs of investment in the process. “Around 70per cent of people in the canton of Valais live in their own home. Only 30 per cent rent flats or houses,” says the mayor of Albinen, The Alpine villages paying outsiders to move in Various Alpine municipalities in the canton of Valais are trying to combat depopulation. Two of these – Albinen and Zeneggen – are now offering cash incentives to attract families. they are aged under 45. They receive an additional 10,000 francs for every child they bring with them. That makes a grand total of 70,000 francs for a family of four, for example. This cash is contingent on recipients using Albinen allows alternative housing: the micro house of Pierre Biege and his family. Photo provided Beat Jost, president of Albinen municipality: “We received inquiries from all over the world.” Photo: Keystone
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 13 Beat Jost. “Hence, it made perfect sense for us to promote home ownership, not least because the village has a significant amount of unused property and building land at its disposal.” Concerns and misgivings Despite the settlement scheme having proved a success to date, not everyone in Albinen was pleased at first. News of the village’s unusual plan spread far beyond Switzerland. “People contacted us from all around the world,” says Jost, adding that much of the foreignmedia coverage was misleading – to the extent that people from abroad arrived in the village believing they could get free cash and an apartment for nothing on top. In viewof themany enquiries as well as the random visitorswandering aroundAlbinen, some villagers feared that the floodgates would open. The municipality therefore published a letter in various languages, explaining that only foreign nationals with the necessary residence permit would have access to the scheme. The furore seems to have died down since. But a new challenge awaits: Albinen no longer has its own school. “Eight out of ten queries that we receive frompeople considering amove to Albinen relate to this very issue,” says Jost. Any village school that the canton reopensmust be of aminimum size, which is why the municipality is looking at the possibility of establishing an alternative type of school that would also be accessible to children in the valley below. Cash incentives also elsewhere Zeneggen is situated around 40 kilometres fromAlbinen. Its village school remains open for now, but the upper grades risk being shut down due to a lack of pupils. AlthoughZeneggen has not seen the same depopulation as Albinen in recent years, most new residents have no children. Now the village is resorting to cash incentives like its counterpart. Every family that moves to Zeneggen will receive 3,934 francs per child. (The village postcode is 3934.) Fernando Heynen is a father of five and one of the village councillors in Zeneggen, hence he has a stake in trying both to save the school and to attract new residents. “If the school closes, it will be even harder to get young families to move here,” he says. Unlike Albinen, Zeneggen only has a small number of properties for sale at any one time. So tenants are the answer. The village is currently building a complex comprising rental apartments designed for families. We already have expressions of interest – and we hope to start paying out cash awards soon, says Heynen. Tiny house attracting attention Meanwhile, interest inAlbinen’s grant scheme continues unabated. In particular, the Biege family’s dwelling has pricked the curiosity of possible new residents. Pierre Biegewouldwelcome anyone moving in next door with their own tiny house, but there is no sign of this happening yet. Irrespective of this, he and hiswife are pleased to have moved to Albinen. The currently very wintry Albinen municipality, 1,300 metres above sea level, is particularly concerned about the future of its village school. Photo: Keystone
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 14 Politics EVEL INE RUTZ “Applause is not enough” rang the slogan a fewmonths ago, as nurses campaigned for better working conditions. The majority of Swiss voters share this view, after some 61 per cent approved the “Strong healthcare” initiative on 28 November 2021 (see also “Swiss Review” 5/2021). The Swiss Abroad were also clearly in favour, with 58.3 voting yes. This result is remarkable in a number of ways. A trade union proposal has succeeded at the ballot box for the firstever time at national level. It is also only the 24th popular initiative that has been passed since the birth of the modern federal Swiss state, attracting an unusually high level of support and democratic participation. Voter turnout was 65.3 per cent – the fourth highest since 1971, when the electorate approved the introduction of women’s suffrage. The Covid-19Act was another reasonwhy somany people voted – this matter was also included on the ballot paper after being the subject of heated debate. The public has voted to give nurses more than just a round of applause Swiss nurses want better working conditions, more autonomy and greater recognition. The public has listened to them. The “Strong healthcare” initiative, championed by the Swiss Professional Association of Nurses (SBK-ASI), scored a historic referendum victory at the end of November. Implementation is the next challenge. Covid numbers began to surge again before the polls, reminding voters of the important job that nurses do. This contributed to the resounding yes vote. Photo: Keystone
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 15 mittee has suggested a different approach to get the ball rolling quicker: start investing in education and further training as soon as possible (as parliament unequivocally agreed) and just leave the remaining points to the Federal Council. New rules already established by parliament in line with a counterproposal to the initiative, governing when nurses can prescribe and invoice treatments themselves in future, should not be up for renegotiation either, say the referendum winners, adding that their introduction should not be delayed. The Social Democrats have submitted amotion to this effect. The Centre has not ruled out giving the motion its backing. One of its National Councillors, RuthHumbel (canton of Aargau), nevertheless toldRadio SRF that such a solution will also take time. “If everything goes well with this first, uncontroversial part, I can see the legislation coming into force in two to three years.” Not so fast, say the centre-right and right-wing parties. Parliament made compromises in order to get the authors of the initiative to step back, noted FDP National Voters back Covid-19 measures – again The electorate has endorsed the pandemic policy of the Federal Council and parliament for a second time, with 62 per cent of voters giving their backing to the Covid-19 Act, which governs things like the Covid-19 certificate requirement and financial support for businesses. The “Fifth Switzerland”was evenmore clearly in favour, with 68.5 per cent voting yes. Commentators said it was a vote of confidence for the government’s handling of the pandemic, after what was a fractious referendum campaign at times. The result was more emphatic than in June, when the Covid-19Act was first put to the people. The yes vote accounted for 60.2 per cent then. Switzerland is the only country in the world that allows people to vote directly on measures to curb the pandemic. The referendum on the Covid-19 Act came after numerous rallies against the measures, some of them violent. No drawing of lots to appoint judges The Justice Initiative was decisively rejected by 68.1 per cent of the electorate. All cantons said no to the idea of drawing lots in future to choose themembers of the Federal Supreme Court (FSC), with 65.3 per cent of Swiss Abroad also voting against. Political parties will therefore continue to influence the process of appointing FSC judges. Judges in Switzerland must belong to a political party, to which they pay an annual subscription fee. (ERU) Yes in almost all cantons Early opinion polls had shown that the public was very sympathetic to nurses’ demands, but no one was sure whether the proposal would achieve the necessary cantonal majority – often a stumbling block in plebiscites. But the initiative easily cleared this hurdle. All cantons voted in favour apart fromAppenzell Innerrhoden. Therewas a general consensus that healthcare reforms are necessary. More and more nurses are reaching breaking point. Many are leaving the profession early, often at a young age. HR departments are finding it hard to recruit people – the additional nurses that Switzerland’s ageing society will need in future. Without effective reforms, the shortfall in nurses is therefore likely to be around 65,000 by 2030, warn experts. Pandemic brought the situation into focus The “Strong healthcare” initiative, launched by the Swiss Professional Association of Nurses (SBK-ASI) back in 2017, also owes its resounding success to Covid. The media have reported extensively on the situation in hospitals and care homes, reminding the public of the job that nurses and carers do around the clock. Many people now realise that they or their loved onesmay also need looking after one day. The situationwithCovidworsened again in theweeks running up to the vote. Case numbers soared – just as reports of the newOmicron variant were about to come through. And by the time of the referendum, hospitals were saying they would probably soon have to resort to triage and make deeply uncomfortable life-or-death decisions on whom to treat. Esteem and appreciation “Inmoments like this, nurses demonstrate to each and every one of us how important they are,” said Health Minister Alain Berset on the day of the vote. The emphatic yes at the polls was a collective show of esteem and appreciation, he added. Nurses celebrated the result, with SBK-ASI Managing Director Yvonne Ribi (see “Top pick”, page 31) hailing public solidarity. Themeasures that had been passedwould help to address the nursing crisis, she said. “What we now expect from politicians is that they take our wishes seriously and act swiftly.” No time to lose Normally, the Federal Council would nowmake a proposal on how to implement the initiative. But the initiative com61 % Yes 39 % No The people gave a resounding yes to the strong healthcare initiative. The “Fifth Switzerland” vote was similar with 58 per cent in favour.
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 16 Politics Switzerland in figures Noisy cities, empty hotel beds 60 Geneva is Switzerland’s noisiest city: 33 per cent of all its apartments are exposed to more than 60 decibels. That is equivalent to running a lawnmower permanently outside your front door. Lugano and Lausanne come in at number two and three, respectively. The cities in the German-speaking region are quieter. Berne is almost suspiciously quiet, with a mere 4.6 per cent of apartments exposed to a high level of noise. 279, 248 People need to recover from all that noise. We wondered: if everyone in Switzerland wanted to holiday in a Swiss hotel for a year, would there be enough room? Swiss hotels have a total of 279, 248 beds, which is enough to guarantee everyone almost two weeks’ holiday. 72 The hotels would welcome a massive influx of tourists from within Switzerland, as visitors aren’t coming from outside the country. In 2020, room occupancy was a mere 28 per cent, so 72 per cent of rooms on average stood empty. The last time that Swiss hotels were so underutilised was in the 1950s. 11:1 Spending more holidays within Switzerland would bring city and rural dwellers closer together. The notorious urban-rural divide would diminish. The rural communities claim the jumped-up city dwellers are imposing their political will on the country. This assertion has been put to the test and we discovered that, out of the 12 last hotly contested popular votes, the “rural side” has come through 11 times, compared to just once for the urban voters. Don’t always believe what you hear. 41 Is this the place to comment on “Swiss Review“? Here goes: air cargo in Switzerland fell off a cliff in 2020. In April 2020, it contracted by 68% and 41% on average over the year. The post was particularly affected, as it is transported in the cargo hold on passenger flights. If the planes are grounded, the post will be days, weeks, even months late. We realise that you will have noticed this. RESEARCH: MARC LETTAU Councillor Matthias Jauslin (canton of Aargau). These compromises are up for debate again. “The legislative process is at square one,” he said. Under the terms of the initiative, both chambers have four years to complete this process. Unresolved questions on staffing and pay The Federal Council’s role in this two-track process is to flesh out the additional pointswithin 18months and, in particular, provide a roadmap to ensure greater job satisfaction and longevity in the nursing profession. For example, the federal government will have to address the issue of wages including overtime pay for night and Sunday shifts, not to mention specify nurse-to-patient ratios. Delivering solutions that commandmajority support will be anything but easy. Yvonne Ribi said the initiative committee would not sit back and watch parliament water down the initiative. “We will not let up,” warned the SBK-ASI boss. Meanwhile, opponents of the initiative have vowed to scrutinise costs. Theywill hold the Yes camp to the promise that these will not balloon. Role of the cantons When and how the proposals are to take effect not only depends on the government, however. The Federal Council only has the authority to provide guidelines. Responsibility for implementation lieswith the cantons and partlywith the municipalities. This federal structure makes it more difficult to push through reforms quickly and consistently. Hence, it could still take a few years before nurses notice any tangible improvement. Health Minister Alain Berset sees the people’s resounding yes as an expression of appreciation and gratitude towards the nursing staff. Photo: Keystone
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 17 Literature ist crowds got too much for her. In the end, she turned to painting and decided to create 100 flower still lifes, of which she ultimately completed 56. Von Roten was an uncompromising aesthete like no Swiss feminist before or after. “I have an unquenchable yearning for beauty every day,” she confessed. Worn down by illness and insomnia, Iris von Roten committed suicide on 11 September 1990, half a year before “Frauen im Laufgitter” was rereleased and became a bestseller. This was her final radical expression of the very independence that she had championed all her life. “Just as a guest has to know when it is time to depart, a person should rise from the table of life while there is still time,” she wrote in a farewell letter. Von Roten, whose feminism was neither bigoted nor dogmatic, has long since become a Swiss icon of women’s rights. In 2007, she and her husband were rehabilitated in Wilfried Meichtry’s wonderful biography “Verliebte Feinde” (Enemies in love). The book’s adaptation into a film in 2012 attracted fresh interest in the couple. Camille Logoz also published “Femmes sous surveillance”, a French translation of “Frauen im Laufgitter”, in 2021. BIBL IOGRAPHY: Iris von Roten, “Frauen im Laufgitter”, eFeF-Verlag, 2014 CHARLES L INSMAYER IS A L I TERARY SCHOL AR AND JOURNAL IST BASED IN ZÜRICH CHARLES L INSMAYER “I wanted it all. Wild adventures to appealing, faraway places. Daring encounters. Independence. Freedom. Life in all its glory,” said the Basel-based lawyer Iris von Roten in a 1979 interview, when asked what she dreamed about as a young girl. Born in Basel on 2 April 1917, von Roten began rebelling against female stereotypes when she was at grammar school in Zurich. She studied jurisprudence to secure an independent life, but then threw herself into journalismwith great conviction. “Writing a good article is more important to me than sleeping or eating.” But this elegant young woman was no bluestocking, and an encounter with Valais lawyer and aspiring politician Peter von Roten, who was one year older, marked the beginning of a love story which, through its highs and lows, provides one of the 20th century’s most fascinating examples of the stormy push-and-pull between man and woman. Although each afforded the other complete freedom, Iris von Roten converted her husband to her radical, forthright brand of feminism. And more than anyone else, it was her husband who encouraged and supported her in 1948 when she began to write a book in the USA. This work, a tour de force demanding complete legal, political and sexual equality for women, was published in 1958 under the provocatively humorous title “Frauen im Laufgitter”. “The book is a masterpiece,” said Peter von Roten. “Her thirst for equality is simply irrepressible. All she wants is fairness.” However, for Switzerland and not least for the meek women’s movement of the time, the book came 50 years too early. Despite pleasing a small minority of fans such as Laure Wyss, “Frauen im Laufgitter” mostly attracted public scorn and hatred. This was a traumatic experience, but Iris von Roten was not deterred: she published her “Frauenrechtsbrevier” (Guide to women’s rights) in 1959 before stepping away from the issue for good. Von Roten subsequently drove to Turkey, North Africa, and the south of France in her own car, and in 1965 published a travelogue about her adventures called “Vom Bosporus zum Euphrat. Türken und Türkei” (From the Bosphorus to the Euphrates. Turkey and the Turks). She later flew to Brazil, Sri Lanka and other countries – until the tour- “All she wants is fairness” In 1959, lawyer Iris von Roten lent a new and ultimately successful direction to female equality in Switzerland with her book “Frauen im Laufgitter” (Women in the playpen). “If we understand ‘interests’ to mean self-assertion and personal fulfilment at the expense of others, then political equality for women is directed against the privileges and, yes, the interests of men. Nevertheless, full democracy is also in the interests of men when viewed from a wider perspective. Having to stop and listen now and again runs counter to male self-assertion. But that is good medicine, because the obligation to listen brings him down a notch, making him more engaging and sympathetic.”
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 18 Report
Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 19 Report STÉPHANE HERZOG As they exit the little station of Erstfeld, visitors step out onto the historic road of the Gotthard Pass. On the left, the SBB staff canteen, which used to be open 24 hours per day. On the right, the Frohsinn hotel. At one time this hotel recorded 12,000 overnight stays per year, but nowadays it is closed to travellers. There is nowhere to stay overnight in this little commune of Uri, which saw the growth of a village of labourers and railway workers during the construction of the first Gotthard Pass railway tunnel, opened in 1882. “Erstfeld steht und fällt mit den SBB” – the commune lives and falls with the SBB – says Pia Tresch-Walker, the mayor. “I had no doubt that the opening of the Gotthard Base Tunnel posed a risk to us. We have lost almost everything now. The number of jobs has fallen with the opening of the tunnel and Erstfeld has ended up a provincial town once again.” What’s more, the SBB’s hold on the commune’s land has restricted its real estate development, a situation that Erstfeld is trying to change by negotiating with the SBB with support from the canton. Before 2016, the first year of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, Erstfeld and its large train depot welcomed over 600 SBB employees. Today, the centre for maintenance and security for the tunnel employs 80 people and the station only around 50. The commune has witnessed the closure of several of its restaurants and shops. The former mayor of Erstfeld, Paul Jans, knows this story off by heart. In 1949, his father bought the Frohsinn hotel; Jans went on to manage it himself until 2014. The Gotthard Pass line saw 300 trains go by per day. “The opening of the first tunnel brought running water and street numbering,” recalls Jans. There was at least one SBB employee in every family. The engineers who came to live in Uri took up roles in the communal council or on the school boards, contributing their skills to the communities. “Today, the SBB doesn’t accept apprentices in Erstfeld,” laments Pia Tresch-Walker, whose husband is a train driver. An invisible tunnel At Erstfeld, the northern gate of the construction is blocked by barriers. Paul Jans takes us to visit it. From a distance, we can make out the sharp angles of the concrete opening designed by Ticino architect Flora Ruchat-Roncati. In fact, it is also possible to go to see the trains pass by from an access gallery located in Amsteg, which houses a special windowed area. But Covid-19 has put the brakes on this tourist activity. In all honesty, hopes of prosperity for Erstfeld were extinguished from the moment the construction sitewas opened for the base tunnel by Alp Transit, a subsidiary of the SBB. Engineers andworkers were grouped together in a space located outside the commune, further north. “It was like a sort of barracks, with 350 beds and a canteen. Theworkers, some of whomcame from Austria, worked flat out for four days, then returned to their homes to rest,” explains Paul Jans. All Erstfeld received from this presence was a share of the withholding taxes taken from the workers’ salaries. What’s more, the new railway line through the Alps does not even connect Erstfeld to Ticino. To get to Bellinzona, you first have to travel back towards Flüelen. But this doesn’t stopmayor Pia Tresch-Walker from using the connection approximately 15 times per year. On Sunday, the town’s inhabitants also head to Bellinzona to make themost of a low-cost buffet on offer there. The train takes them there in just 36 minutes. What changes beyond the tunnel? “Thementality is more relaxed, the food is good, and the wine, too,” says themayor, who also likes to take In the shadow of the largest railway tunnel in the world The Gotthard Base Tunnel links Erstfeld (UR) and Bodio (TI) and stretches for 57 kilometres. It is the longest railway tunnel in the world. Its inauguration, in 2016, turned the spotlight on the two municipalities at either end. But the anticipated economic boom never arrived. Report. Higher, further, faster, more beautiful? In search of the somewhat different Swiss records. Today: at the entrance to the world’s longest railway tunnel. Erstfeld: Pia Tresch- Walker, president of Erstfeld municipality (above left) believes Erstfeld has gone back to being a provincial village since the tunnel opened. Admittedly, it wasn’t exactly vibrant on the day of our visit. Bodio: Stefano Imelli (left), the president of Biasca, wants to see at least some fast trains stopping in the municipality. The working day of train driver Cédric Jacob (below) still centres on the tunnel: he transports the maintenance staff to the tunnel tube at night. Photos: Stéphane Herzog e tremes Swiss
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