DECEMBER 2023 The magazine for the Swiss Abroad Elections 2023 – Switzerland shifts to the right, but the SP keeps the red flag flying Climate action for human rights – when Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti and other “grannies” went to court From 0 to 100 km/h in less than a second – the electric car built by Swiss students
© www.pexels.com Consular services anywhere, conveniently on your mobile devices www.fdfa.admin.ch Petra, Jordan (2022) For a sustainable future for the Fifth Switzerland With a bequest, you make it possible for the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad to continue to support and represent the rights of the Swiss Abroad. www.swisscommunity.link/bequests More than 800,000 Swiss live abroad: a symbolic number, but an important one! We look forward to continuing to promote the interests of the Swiss Abroad with energy and enthusiasm. The team of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, SwissCommunity, wishes you happiness and success in 2024. May joy and prosperity accompany you throughout the year. Scan the QR code and dive into the colorful world of our greeting card! VIEW OUR 2024 WISHES Our partners:
“Swiss parliament shifts to the right” is the simplest way to sum up the federal elections of 22 October 2023. The hardline conservative SVP, the party that won the biggest voting share, was jubilant. But was this actually just a shift to the right? Not necessarily. The Swiss Social Democratic Party also made gains. Both the Right and the Left improved on their performance of four years ago. Here’s my take on why. The world has changed incredibly since the 2019 elections, as has the prevailing mood in Switzerland. The pandemic turned life on its head, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended the geopolitical order, and, most recently, the IsraelHamas war has shocked everyone. Meanwhile, the cost-of-living crisis and the collapse of big bank Credit Suisse have undermined our belief in a prosperous, stable Switzerland. Things are not as they should be. According to political scientist Michael Hermann, we turn to political parties promising refuge in times like these: “‘We will protect you from high costs,’ says the SP. ‘We will protect you from the immigrants and other dangers,’ says the SVP.” The losers this time – including the Greens, the Green Liberals and the FDP – instead told people what to do: go without this, go without that, adapt to change, do more. The majority of voters, 53.4 per cent, skipped the elections completely. You could say they also didn’t want to be told what to do. They let the politicians do their thing – then shrugged their collective shoulders. How about a change of subject? I can make a half-decent rösti. It’s all in the detail – and the potatoes. Ideally, the spuds need to be slightly floury. Just parboil them until they are al dente. Then leave them in the fridge for two to three days, after which they will have lost moisture and taken on perfect consistency. Grate them, then add pepper, plenty of salt and a copious amount of butter. Transfer to a pan and fry on a medium heat without stirring. Now for the main trick: add peppermint to season. My rösti can release endorphins – when I get it right. Unfortunately, we cannot escape reality – even with rösti in our stomachs. Switzerland had another bad potato harvest this year. Farming experts are already predicting further misery: in about 100 years, it may no longer be possible to grow potatoes in Switzerland at all (see page 9). Climate change and politics have implications for us all, regardless of whether we vote or not. MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 4 Focus Elections 2023 – parliament shifts to the right 8 Top pick / News A visit to Santa’s Swiss post office 10 Nature and the environment Potatoes suffering from climate change – and a lack of water 14 Literature 15 Culture A journey through the history of Swiss multilingualism 16 Profile Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti, a 73-year-old climate activist, takes Switzerland to court 18 Knowledge How a Swiss electric car cracked the one-second acceleration barrier 20 Report Switzerland’s salt industry – protected by a centuries-old state monopoly 23 Books / Sounds 24 Notes from the Federal Palace Putting Swiss art and culture on the international map 27 SwissCommunity news 31 Discussion A shift to the right, and other hot potatoes The 2023 elections – by Max Spring, the “Swiss Review” cartoonist. www.maxspring.ch “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad. Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 3 Editorial Contents
THEODORA PETER For the Swiss Greens and Green Liberals, 22 October 2023 was a day to forget. Four years after their unprecedented triumph at the ballot box, the environmental parties suffered losses in the National Council. The Greens dropped below the symbolic 10 per cent mark – from a record 13.5 percent to a 9.8 percent share of the vote. The party was still able to defend two thirds of the National Council seats that it won in 2019 – a small consolation. Nevertheless, the Greens were undoubtedly the losers of the election. The same applies to the Green Liberals (GLP), who also relinquished a third of their seats with a voting share of 7.6 percent. But the October sun shone on the SVP. The right-wing Swiss People’s Party increased its share of the vote from 25.6 to 27.9 percent, having been the big loser in the “climate elections” of 2019. Four years on and it has regained three quarters of its National Council losses of 2019 in one fell swoop. Minds go back to 2015, when the SVP celebrated its biggest-ever election victory with nearly 30 percent of the vote. Given the uncertain geopolitical situation and the rising influx of refugees, the party was able to campaign successfully on its anti-immigration platform. In the run-up to the elections, it launched a “sustainability initiative” aimed at limiting Switzerland’s population to 10 million. Switzerland shifts to the right The SP remained the second-strongest party with an 18.3 percent share of the vote – a 1.5 percent increase that reversed most of its previous election losses. But this did not offset the collapse of the Greens. Overall, the 2023 elections have weakened the left-green camp. In the forthcoming legislative period, the left-wing parties will have to rely even more on referendums and popular initiatives to push through their policies at the ballot box. As was previously the case, the SP and the Greens will have to make alliances in parliament – particularly with the Centre. The Centre – in the kingmaker role Founded in 2021 following the merger of the CVP and BDP, the Centre skilfully sold itself during the election campaign as the main centrist alternative to the Left and the Right. It will continue to play the kingmaker role in forging parliamentary majorities. Under its new name, the party improved slightly with a voting share of 14.1 percent – almost catching up with the FDP on 14.3 percent. With a loss of 0.8 percent, the FDP election performance was as underwhelming as it was four years ago. This gradual decline is hard to digest for the once proud FDP, one of the founding parties of the Swiss federal state. While the Swiss Evangelical People’s Party (EVP) suffered losses, other small parties gained ground. These inThe right-wing SVP focused on immigration to win the national elections as the green wave ebbed. The SP and the Centre also benefited from voter concern – over soaring healthcare costs. Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 4 Focus
2023 2019 SP 18.3% SP 16.8% Greens 9.8% Greens 13.2% GLP 7.6% GLP 7.8% EVP 2.1% BDP* 2.4% Centre* 14.1% EVP 2.0% CVP* 11.4% FDP 14.3% FDP 15.1% SVP 27.9% SVP 25.6% Other 6.0% Other 3.4% 5 The new balance of power in the National Council – this chart shows the number of seats as well as the percentage share of the vote for each party. The smaller semi-circle shows the results of the 2019 elections. “Other” now consists of the EDU (2 seats), the Geneva Citizens’ Movement (2 seats) and the Ticino League (1 seat). *The Centre was created following a merger between the CVP and the BDP, which ran separately in 2019. 41 39 23 28 10 16 3 25 3 28 28 62 53 4 5 ing premiums most effectively into votes were the Centre and the SP. Both have submitted their own initiatives to counter rising health costs. These will be put to voters in 2024. Climate policy no longer a green monopoly Astonishingly, 23 percent cited climate change as an important issue in the post-election survey despite the Greens losing. Why the discrepancy? There is no comparison between the current situation and how things were four years ago, says Bütikofer. “There was a progressive mood in the air in 2019. Climate change was the hot topic, prompting many people to vote for a party with the word Female representation in the National Council has fallen from a record 42 percent to 38.5 percent – due to the resurgent, male-heavy SVP. clude the Geneva Citizens’ Movement (MCG) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), both of which belong to the right-wing camp. However, critics of Covid restrictions running on the “Aufrecht” and “MassVoll” tickets missed out on the National Council by a clear distance. The SVP attracted new voters Why has parliament shifted to the right? According to a post-election survey by the Sotomo research institute, 26 percent of voters said that immigration was a decisive factor in how they voted. The SVP has always been able to mobilise the electorate by focusing on immigration, says political scientist Sarah Bütikofer. “But in this election campaign they were able to gain new voters beyond their traditional support base – and across the party political spectrum.” Besides immigration, healthcare costs also influenced voting choice. The rise in health insurance premiums was a key issue for 25 percent, with dissatisfaction with how the issue was being tackled accounting for a third of voter defections. “However, no single party is able to set the agenda here in the way that the SVP has made the issue of immigration its own,” said Bütikofer in an interview with Radio SRF. The parties able to translate concern over soar2 29 Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6
The 46 seats in the Council of States have not all been filled, with a second round of voting to decide 13 seats scheduled for mid-November – after the editorial deadline of this edition of “Swiss Review”. It was a neck-andneck race between the FDP and the Centre in a smaller chamber that will continue to be conservative-dominated. In the last four years, the Council of States has repeatedly blocked decisions by the more progressive National Council – e.g. on increased funding for day-care centres. With the National Council shifting right, the two chambers are now a little less politically divergent. Elections to the Federal Council in December Switzerland’s newly elected parliament will convene at the start of December. To mark the beginning of the legislative period it will appoint the seven-member federal government, the Federal Council, for a new term on 13 December. Who from the SP will succeed their party’s outgoing Federal Councillor Alain Berset? As the secondstrongest party, the Social Democrats have two Federal Council seats – which will remain uncontested by the other parties. Distinctly greener and a little more to the left – how the fifth Switzerland voted How to describe the voting preferences of the Swiss Abroad in the October 2023 elections? Distinctly greener, slightly more left-wing, and a bit more liberalfriendly compared to the domestic electorate. The SP secured the biggest share of the expatriate vote on 20.4% (compared to 18.3% in the overall result), followed by the SVP – the most popular of the centreright and right-wing parties in the “Fifth Switzerland” – on 18.5% (overall: 27.9%). Hot on the SVP’s heels were the Greens on 18.4% (overall: 9.8%). The FDP ended on 13.6% (overall: 14.3%), while the Green Liberals bettered their domestic result, attracting 11.4% of the expatriate vote (overall: 7.6%). The Centre, meanwhile, accounted for a modest 7.7% (overall: 14.1%). Compared to the 2019 elections, the “Fifth Switzerland” also shifted a little to the right but not as much as Switzerland as a whole. The SP, the Greens and the Green Liberals secured just over 50% of the vote combined, as opposed to nearly 53% four years ago. No luck for the election candidates from the “Fifth Switzerland”, who were mostly way down on the votes needed to claim a National Council seat. Some expatriate candidates who achieved respectable results in 2019 were crowded out this time by a flood of other candidates on myriad election lists. Notably, voter turnout in the “Fifth Switzerland” was lower in many cantons than four years ago – but was significantly higher in Basel-Stadt, where expatriate voters were able to use the new e-voting system: 23.8% (2019: 19.2%). Turnout also increased slightly in St Gallen, another canton in which e-voting is being trialled. MARC LETTAU “green” in their name.” The world has completely changed since then. First the pandemic, then war, then the recent collapse of big bank Credit Suisse – “There was one crisis after another.” To compound this, the Greens no longer have exclusive rights to climate and environmental policy either. The Climate and Innovation Act was the result of a broad-based compromise supported by all parties except the SVP, she points out. Overview of results (Federal Statistical Office): revue.link/elections2023 The 2023 elections saw a record number of candidates, with 5,909 people competing for 200 National Council seats. There were 618 election lists – another new high. According to an unwritten rule known as the “magic formula”, the three parties with the most votes are entitled to two seats each, and the fourth-strongest party to one seat. Based on this logic, the existing composition of the Federal Council – 2 SVP, 2 SP, 2 FDP, 1 Centre – continues to apply. The two serving FDP Federal Councillors – Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis and Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter – can expect to be re-elected in December. But with the Centre Party closing in on the FDP, questions surrounding the magic formula are likely to resurface sooner or later. The Greens will have to postpone their dream of joining the Federal Council for another four years – their chances of stepping into the breach are low. Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 6 Focus
Transparent election campaign funding – an important first in Swiss democracy This year’s parliamentary elections saw parties, candidates and election committees having to publish details of budgets and major donations. A statutory duty of disclosure has been introduced to make political funding in Switzerland more transparent – but loopholes were already apparent. SUSANNE WENGER The Greens received a record donation of one million Swiss francs, most of which they used for their election campaign. The donor was Carmita Burkard, heir to the founding family of building materials group Sika. On the other side of the political spectrum, former Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher invested 550,000 francs in the SVP election campaign. There had long been speculation about Blocher being a party donor. This was the first-ever specific donation of his to be disclosed – courtesy of a new statutory provision that came into force in 2022 and debuted in this year’s elections to the National Council and the Council of States. How much money goes to which parties before every vote? How much do pressure groups give and to whom? Swiss voters could only make an educated guess until now, as there was no duty of disclosure at federal level. Such questions were all the more pertinent because state party funding in Switzerland is rudimentary at best, and parties very much rely on money from private sources instead. Since the 1970s, this lack of transparency had attracted criticism not only in Switzerland but also from GRECO, the anti-corruption arm of the Council of Europe. SVP and FDP with the biggest war chests Yet parliament continued to reject calls for change – before changing its mind in 2021 in the face of a popular initiative by the SP and the Greens. Parties must now disclose their expenditure and name donors who contribute 15,000 francs or more. Funding for elections and popular votes must be disclosed to the public if it amounts to at least 50,000 francs. The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) is responsible for oversight. Parties must disclose details to the SFAO, which then publishes the data on its website. None of the information disclosed before the elections was earth-shattering, but at least the facts were there in black and white. Take campaign spending. The FDP and SVP were the parties that spent the most on the 2023 election campaign. The SVP had 4.9 million francs at its disposal at national level – the most money – followed by the FDP on 2.5 million. Factor in the budgets of the cantonal parties and candidates, and the FDP narrowly led the way on almost 13 million compared to almost 12 million for the SVP – although final accounts were not completed until after the elections. Lack of transparency over benefactors From 2024, the duty of disclosure will also apply to popular votes. Swiss democracy will become more transparent from the electorate’s point of view. However, there are already ways in which the new guidelines can be creatively interpreted to circumvent the spirit (if not the letter) of the law. In some cases, benefactors have already started hiding behind privately run legal entities with names like “Verein für lösungsorientierte Politik”. Consult the SFAO list to see who is behind this and similar funding vehicles, and you will find no more information. But how much impact does money actually have on election results? If you have more funds, you can mobilise support and win more votes, write political scientists Rahel Freiburghaus and Adrian Vatter in Berne. On the other hand, voters ultimately have to trust parties on the issues that matter. The Greens have fallen out of favour despite receiving the biggest donation. And the candidate with the biggest individual budget, Zurich’s Donato Scognamiglio from the EVP, missed out on a National Council seat despite a war chest of 365,000 francs. The election posters are gone, but the transparent political funding is here to stay. From 2024, the funding disclosure rule will also apply to popular votes. Photo: Keystone Information on political funding (SFAO website): revue.link/fiko Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 7
The Catholic Church covered up over 1,000 cases of sexual abuse The Swiss Catholic Church is guilty of having systematically covered up or played down sexual abuse for decades. This is the conclusion of an investigation by historians at the University of Zurich, which has uncovered serious transgressions as well as “the most severe, systematic abuses that went on for years”. The inquiry was commissioned by the Swiss Bishops’ Conference and its findings published in mid-September. The academics identified a total of 1,002 cases of sexual abuse, involving 510 accused and affecting 921 people from 1950 to 2022. But this was only the “tip of the iceberg”, they said, adding that not all Church archives have been examined yet. Many people in the Swiss Catholic Church were devastated by the findings, prompting a mass exodus of members. (MUL) Federal Council considers banning Hamas after the attack on Israel The reaction in Switzerland to the attack on Israel by Hamas and the resultant Israeli-Palestinian escalation was one of shock, with the Federal Council consequently deciding to explore whether Hamas can be listed as a banned organisation. Any formal ban would require a change in the law. In addition, the government said it was reviewing the development aid that it sends to the region, and Palestinian NGOs in particular. Switzerland also gives 20 million Swiss francs every year to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA). Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said there was “no alternative” to UNWRA, and that no other NGO could do what it did with regard to health care and education. Around 28,000 Swiss nationals currently live in Israel. At least one Swiss-Israeli dual citizen has been killed in the violence. (MUL) Swiss Olympic wants Switzerland to host a sustainable 2030 Winter Olympics in various locations The Swiss Olympic Association (Swiss Olympic) believes that Switzerland is fit to host the Winter Olympics in 2030 – or 2034. It came to this conclusion in a recently published feasibility study, saying that the Winter Olympics in Switzerland would be a highly sustainable event held around the country at existing facilities – an antidote to the bloated, economically burdensome games of recent times. In the past, Swiss bids to host the Winter Olympics have mostly fallen foul of a sceptical public. Many have been rejected in popular votes, often due to concerns over the resulting costs and environmental impact. Swiss Olympic wants to avoid a plebiscite on the 2030 Games and believes the event can be funded almost entirely by the private sector. (MUL) Walter Thurnherr Over the last eight years, the Federal Council’s chief of staff, Federal Chancellor Walter Thurnherr, has been at the centre of political power without actually being a member of the federal government. The Federal Chancellor has a direct line to the executive, which is why Switzerland’s political parties regard the office as important. Thurnherr belongs to the Centre party. It was a surprise when he announced he would not be standing for election in parliament again. Thurnherr, 60, is well respected. Commentators agree that he threw himself into the role and exerted influence despite the purely advisory nature of his remit. Thurnherr always belied the assumption that you exercise such offices by being seen and not heard. He has an agile, analytical mind and is a popular and witty public speaker. Humour allows him a certain distance and reminds him that there is a world outside the Federal Palace, he once said. Thurnherr, a native of the canton of Aargau and son of a master builder, is no stranger to the world outside Switzerland either. After studying physics, he embarked on a diplomatic career that took him to Moscow and New York. The Swiss Abroad constituted his area of responsibility at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Many expatriates believe he was too slow in implementing e-voting later as Federal Chancellor. Thurnherr, who has plenty of digital savvy, countered by saying that e-voting needed majority backing, which took time in the Swiss political system. He has now stepped down of his own accord. The last legislative period had been difficult amid all the crises, he told the media. Thurnherr was non-committal on his future plans. He may now have more time to post on social media about strange mathematical and physical phenomena, as is his wont. SUSANNE WENGER Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 8 Top pick News
9 THEODORA PETER It just says “Father Christmas at the North Pole” on the envelope – the recipient has no fixed address. Nor does he need one. The post will end up in Ticino. Every year, a dedicated team of around eight “elves” in Cadenazzo near Locarno have the job of sorting all the letters to Santa that have been painstakingly handwritten by children in Switzerland. One of these elves is 55-year-old postal worker Moritz Succetti from Camorino, who says he gets a kick out of giving joy to so many children. His normal day job at Swiss Post in Cadenazzo consists of handling undeliverable mail from all around Switzerland. More than 30,000 letters Tens of thousands of letters to Santa are set to arrive in Cadenazzo again this December. Some 33,000 items were counted last year. There were nearly 36,000 in the previous year – a record. The letters often include drawings, wish lists – or even the odd baby’s dummy that the child in question has promised to stop wearing. “We get a lot of touching messages,” says Succetti. For example, children will write about losing one of their parents or mention that one of their family has fallen ill. “I remember reading a letter from a girl whose sister was seriously ill. It almost brought me to tears.” Recent things in the news, like war or Covid, are not lost on children either. “Many kids were worried for Father Christmas’s health during the pandemic, writing that they hoped he wouldn’t catch the virus.” The Cadenazzo elves make sure that all children receive a signed reply from Santa in French, German or Italian – with a small gift enclosed, like a colouring book for example. If the child has not provided an address, the elves do their best to find one. The Swiss Post directory comes in handy, while the postmark on the envelope can also provide clues. They are able to get a match in 90 percent of cases, but there will always be letters that cannot be traced. “This is why it is important that children give their full address,” says Succetti. Cultural differences The amount of mail to Santa has almost doubled in the last ten years. Nearly three quarters of the letters come from French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, and around 20 per cent from German-speaking Switzerland. Another five per cent are written in English – Santa naturally also replies to these. Cultural differences come into play as well: children in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland write to Father Christmas, German-speaking children traditionally address their letters to the “Christkind” (Christmas angel). Regardless of recipient, all the young authors of these letters want their wishes to come true. Santa’s post office Every year, thousands of children in Switzerland write letters to Father Christmas just before the festive season. They receive replies from Ticino. Letters to Father Christmas from Switzerland have become more numerous in recent years. The largest proportion of them come from French-speaking children. Photo: Swiss Post/provided Dressed for the occasion – in Swiss Post yellow. The Christmas elves in Cadenazzo search meticulously for every child’s missing postal address. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 Profile
STÉPHANE HERZOG Potatoes are a staple of the Swiss diet. Take the rösti, for example. And a picnic is not a picnic without a good packet of crisps. Swiss farmers are also fond of potatoes: in good conditions, they offer unparalleled returns to farmers on the Swiss Plateau. But it takes 10,000 Swiss francs to cultivate a hectare. “The potato is the best crop for transforming sunlight into calories, and it can also be consumed directly, which is a bonus,” comments Patrice de Werra, potato expert at Agroscope, the centre of excellence for agricultural research in Switzerland. The potato also needs water, much more than wheat or sweetcorn, Union of Potato Producers (USPPT). Potato growers have seen their income fall markedly, by 40 percent in some cases. Switzerland now has to import the foodstuff from neighbouring countries. More than 50,000 tonnes were imported in 2021, year of the worst harvest since the turn of the century, at only 380,000 tonnes, against more than 500,000 tonnes in the good years. The accumulation of these bad harvests is starting to weigh on farmers’ morale so much that some of them are thinking of giving up on the potato. Droughts in a country rich in water It all comes down to water, even in Switzerland, with its wealth of rivers and lakes. “It is a major problem,” acThe potato crop is suffering from the heat and threatening to trigger water shortages Switzerland’s roughly 4,000 potato farmers have seen three years of mediocre harvests. The potato plant needs water in summer. It is suffering from the scorching summer months as water scarcity becomes an issue. knowledges Ramseyer of the USPPT. “We’re getting more rain in winter and less in summer. If a river’s water level goes down, the farmers using surface waters may have this source denied to them by the authorities,” he remarks. The USPPT is lobbying for the installation of sprinkler systems wherever possible. About 45 percent of holdings do not have such a system. “Only a fraction of them will be able to install sprinklers,” explains de Werra, due to the gradient of the land and the proximity of water sources. Niklaus Ramseyer is pushing for new solutions. “For example, we could use dams to store the water in the winter, so that we can irrigate more effectively in the summer,” he suggests. Farmers can also try planting more robust or early blooming crops. In any case, the potato growers are It was a difficult year for Swiss potato farmers, with rain at the wrong time as well as very high temperatures that stunted growth and parched the soil. Photo: Keystone for example. The water must also come at the right time – in summer, when the potato variety grown for chips and crisps sinks its tubers into the earth. However, ever since 2021, there has been one heatwave after another. And potatoes don’t grow at temperatures over 30 degrees. In fact, the rain has also sometimes come at the worst possible moment, as in the summer of 2021, when it impeded the planting season. “The worst thing for the potato plant is extreme weather conditions,” comments Niklaus Ramseyer, general secretary of the Swiss “The worst thing for the potato plant is extreme weather conditions.” Niklaus Ramseyer, general secretary USPPT Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 10 Nature and the environment
“The potato may no longer be here in 100 years’ time.” Patrice de Werra, Agroscope A question of timing Usually, the early potato varieties are planted in February, whereas the potatoes used to make chips and crisps are planted between March and May. The first harvest is in June and the second in September. The potatoes are then stored until the following spring. Some growers had to plant late in 2023 – around early June – because of the waterlogged ground. This interfered with root development. June was dry and hot. The potatoes, however, were not able to withstand these extremes in weather. Then, August was hot again. The Swiss Union of Potato Producers predicts a bad harvest and believes the country will have to import again. Every winter, small potatoes of the size used for raclette are imported from the south, especially from Egypt. (SH) fighting tooth and nail to defend the potato. “There is strong demand and we want to meet it. And we are against importing. The main thing is to preserve the arable land that is devoted to growing potatoes,” emphasises Ramseyer, adding that Switzerland has fertile land and enough rain for the potato crop. Switzerland does not measure its water “We’ll always have enough water in Switzerland, albeit not necessarily in the right place and at the right time,” remarks Bettina Schaefli, professor of hydrology at the University of Bern. These dry summers are a novelty in a country where having to water the potato crop was unusual a few decades ago. Schaefli predicts a trade-off among the regions, with agriculture being a priority, as it feeds the people. Water will need to be measured and distributed fairly between agriculture, industry and private use. However, Switzerland does not measure its water. “Farmers have to provide statistics on everything they do, except for water consumption,” bemoans Schaefli, adding that farmers do not waste this resource, which they pay for. Will dams save the potato? The hydrology professor sees two distinct issues to consider, given how disparate these two activities are. “The main thing is rain and snow,” she says. Swiss potato fields like this one in Burgdorf (canton of Berne) depend increasingly on irrigation. But that means increasing competition for what water there is. Photo: Keystone In any event, the Swiss potato faces an uncertain future. The length and intensity of heatwaves, the lower rainfall in summer and the level of evaporation will reduce available water volumes at key times. “The challenge affects vegetable cultivation as a whole, as this needs even more water than potato farming. As for the potato, if climate disruption accelerates, the potato may become a delicacy in 70 years. In 100 years, it may no longer be here,” says Patrice de Werra. Swiss farmers will favour less water-intensive agriculture, such as sweet corn or lentils. “They can adapt; meanwhile, countries like Russia will acquire more arable land,” he concludes. Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 11
“Foudre”, an Alpine tale of temptation 12 Images
“Foudre”, director Carmen Jacquier’s debut movie, is set in a remote Alpine valley in the summer of 1900. It was filmed in the Binn Valley (canton of Valais). Elisabeth, 17, is about to take her vows as a nun when she has to return to help on the family farm after the sudden death of her oldest sister, Innocente. The exact circumstances of Innocente’s death remain a taboo until Elisabeth stumbles upon her sister’s diary one day. “Foudre” (which means bolt of lightning in French) is a vivid tale of religious piety and sexual awakening – among a devoutly Catholic community in which sensuality and female lust are regarded as the devil’s work. After premiering in Toronto in 2022, the film was screened at numerous festivals and has already won a number of awards. Now it is Switzerland’s entry at the Oscars in the Best International Feature Film category. We will find out at the end of December whether “Foudre” is on the Academy shortlist. The next Oscars ceremony will take place in March 2024. The last Swiss feature to win best foreign-language film was “Journey of Hope” in 1991 directed by Xavier Koller, which captured the plight of refugees. Regardless of whether it bags a prestigious Oscar nomination, the film is to be released in the United States under the title “Thunder”. The US rights have already been signed. THEODORA PETER Film trailer: revue.link/thunder Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 13
CHARLES LINSMAYER On 13 August 2023, 20 German-speaking Swiss writers gathered at the water tower overlooking the Basel suburb of Bruderholz. Standing on the tower’s upper platform, they took turns to read out excerpts from the novel of an author who jumped off the water tower and committed suicide before any of them were born. Rewind 80 years. One of the entries submitted for the 1943 Büchergilde award was a manuscript called “Der barmherzige Hügel. Eine Geschichte gegen Thomas” (The merciful hill. A story against Thomas). The jury would have probably put the manuscript quietly to one side had they not been informed that the anonymous sender was Lore Berger, born in 1921. Berger, whose father was a high school teacher, had earned notoriety that year on 14 August after jumping to her death off the Bruderholz water tower. Although it was the type of book to make readers during wartime even more depressed, it was voted in fifth place by the jury and then printed in autumn 1944. A novel secretly written on the back of court records Lore Berger had studied German for three semesters and published a series of children’s stories. But no one had an inkling that she had written a novel secretly on the back of court records while serving in the women’s auxiliary service of the Swiss army at Territorial Court 2B between February 1942 and June 1943 – 250 pages centred on a failed romance that had practically driven her to anorexia. Her account of this and of life in Basel as a student during the early war years was as poetic and sarcastic as it was accomplished. Yet it is unlikely that Berger’s unfaithful lover was the reason for her suicide. More likely “The depths of despair” Basel-born Lore Berger, who died in 1943 at the age of 21, only wrote one novel. But this solitary work resonates deeply even today, particularly among women. she felt shackled as a young woman – by society in general, a lack of understanding from her parents, an agonising sense of loneliness, and a lack of equality. Esther, her alter ego in the novel, experiences the “depths of despair” after being jilted by boyfriend Thomas. Herein we see the symbolism of the water tower and the “merciful hill” overlooking Bruderholz on which it stands – from which Berger found release from her shackles. Until the end of the story, the tower remains the focal point of an unrequited love that can only be reciprocated in Esther’s dreams and fantasies. Indeed, the book’s strength ultimately lies in the poetic way in which it juxtaposes a love story with the real-life contours of Bruderholz, starting as early as the preface (and continuing to the end): “People cry like others would do, grieving the loss of their happiness. But ignore that. Gaze instead at a field of barley as it ripples and sways in the breeze. Let it soothe your tired, ailing, tear-soaked eyes. Realise that this wide expanse is a home for you, offering a kindness and compassion of which you have heard all your life and in which you never believed.” This year’s literary vigil at the Bruderholz water tower reaffirmed how Lore Berger’s only novel has stood the test of time and how her cry for help still reverberates generations later. BIBLIOGRAPHY: “Der barmherzige Hügel. Eine Geschichte gegen Thomas.” Complemented by fragments of the author’s intimate diary. Verlag Th. Gut, Zurich 2018 (volume 35 of the “Reprinted by Huber” series)/French: Lore Berger: “La tour sur la colline”, translated from German by Martine Besse; Zoé poche, Éditions Zoé, Geneva 2007. CHARLES LINSMAYER IS A LITERARY SCHOLAR AND JOURNALIST BASED IN ZURICH “One can write a book for different reasons. Out of vanity, out of poverty, or as a calling. I, for one, like to recite a phrase that I once read: the dancer dances, the artist creates, the musician plays. Because all three wish to be freed from tension. This is how they find their release. By communicating to others.” (Excerpt from “Der barmherzige Hügel”, Lore Berger, Th. Gut Verlag, Zurich 2018) Lore Berger (1921 – 1943) Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 14 Literature
The exhibition reminds visitors that Switzerland also has other languages that go back a long way. One of them is Yenish, which features on a wooden display. Furthermore, an embroidery sampler containing Hebrew lettering is proof that a form of Western Yiddish was spoken in the Surb Valley in Aargau until the last century. “Multilingual Switzerland” also looks at today’s polyglot Switzerland beyond the four national languages. Over 20 per cent of the Swiss population have a first language other than one of the official ones, while two thirds speak more than one language. Visitors get to hear nine people who are able to communicate in more than one language – including Swiss writer Usama Al Shahmani, who is originally from Iraq: “For me, writing in German is a bit like ‘arriving’.” The exhibition website contains video recordings of all nine people talking – with subtitles in five languages. Dialects of the past Visitors to the “Multilingual Switzerland” exhibition at the National Museum can also listen to audio recordings of rare and extinct Swiss dialects. Here are three examples: Gisèle Pannatier from Evolène explains how patois is spoken within her family (2001, Valais Media Library, Martigny): revue.link/gisele Jacques Gruet’s 1547 pamphlet, recited in patois by Oliver Frutiger (2023): revue.link/jacques Don Francesco Alberti speaks in the Ticino dialect of Bedigliora (1939, phonogram archives of the University of Zurich): revue.link/francesco 15 THEODORA PETER German, French, Italian, Romansh – or English. Visitors first choose the audio language in which they want to be guided around the exhibition. On their headphones, they then catch the voices and sounds of a virtual railway station – conversations and sentence fragments in a variety of languages and dialects as they walk through the entrance hall. Language standardisation The “Multilingual Switzerland” exhibition at the National Museum Zurich offers an audio-visual insight into how Switzerland’s national languages have evolved over the centuries. It shows how most of the regional patois in French-speaking Switzerland was suppressed by the end of the 17th century, a process influenced by the standardisation of language in neighMuseum pays homage to Swiss multilingualism Multilingualism is part of Switzerland’s identity. Featuring interactive sound technology, the “Multilingual Switzerland” exhibition at the National Museum Zurich offers visitors a journey through the history of Switzerland’s four language regions. Like this milk carton from the 1970s, most food packaging in Switzerland continues to be multilingual. Labelling in more than one language has no longer been a statutory requirement in the EU since 2021. Photo: Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, ZHdK Dating back to 1917, this caricature from the satirical magazine “Nebelspalter” symbolises Switzerland split along the Franco-German language border. Languages were seen as a major point of difference even back then. Illustration: Nebelspalter Multilingual Switzerland. National Museum Zurich. Until 14 January 2024. www.landesmuseum.ch/ multilingual-switzerland bouring France. A grammar textbook from Geneva dating back to 1790 records how local words and phrases were eradicated from French language teaching. The Reformation and the printing press also led to the advent of a standard written language in German-speaking Switzerland, although dialects were less stigmatised. Indeed, the opposite was true from the 19th century onwards, with the first-ever dictionary of Swiss-German vernacular being published in 1881. In the 15th century, notaries in Italian-speaking Ticino discarded Latin and began writing in a lingua franca derived from the Lombard vernacular. Ultimately, it was the Tuscan Italian championed by Dante that established itself as the written and administrative language, and later as the spoken language through teaching in schools. The Romansh language region used to stretch to the shores of Lake Constance but was quickly outmuscled by German. Romansh is now composed of five different dialects spread along the valleys of Grisons. Rumantsch Grischun evolved into the unified written language in the 1980s and has been used as the official form of Romansh since 2001. Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 Culture
SUSANNE WENGER A residential area in Basel on a very warm autumn day. The climate activist who welcomes us warmly into her home has grey hair. She has been campaigning on environmental issues for half a century. Retired nursery teacher and parent advisor Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti has eight grandchildren. She and other female peers have taken Switzerland to court because they believe Berne is not doing enough on climate change. They have given the climate debate a new twist by arguing that their rights have been violated. Wydler-Wälti and her husband live together in their terraced house. We can see a small garden from the lounge window. Books about the climate crisis are piled up on the sofa. One of them is called “How Women Can Save the Planet”. “This house is my one climate crime,” she proffers. It is too big for two people, even if it does have solar panels. Wydler-Wälti has always tried to live sustainably. She gave up flying long ago and only buys what she needs. She also keeps “every little bag and piece of string”. Recycle it, don’t throw it away, she learned from her parents. Duty of care Wydler-Wälti joined the green and women’s movements when she was a young mother. She calls 1986 a “traumatic” year in which the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and the Schweizerhalle chemical accident near Basel influenced her thinking. “The children were unable to go outside, because we didn’t know whether there were chemicals in the air.” Wydler-Wälti is not a member of any political party. She has never held political office. But when Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland was founded in 2016 in response to an idea by the environmental organisation Greenpeace, she jumped at the chance of becoming co-chair – a position she shares with Anne Mahrer, a 75-yearold former Green Party National Councillor from Geneva. The group currently has around 2,500 members, all of them female, whose ages range from 64 to over 90. These women are united by one cause: Switzerland must show greater ambition in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and achieving the goals of the Paris climate agreement. The retirees are using the Swiss constitu- “Grannies” take Switzerland to court to demand more action on climate change A group of older women called Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland has brought a case before the European Court of Human Rights to force Switzerland to do more on climate change. We talk to the group’s co-chair Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti, 73. tion and the European Convention on Human Rights as the basis for their action, arguing that the state has a duty of care to protect the right to life. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense as a result of climate change. Older people are more susceptible to their effects, they say, with older women particularly at risk of illness and death. Deadly heatwaves Statistics show that heatwaves are more dangerous for older women. According to a recent study conducted by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute on behalf of the FedRosmarie Wydler-Wälti (left) and Anne Mahrer presenting their case during a Grand Chamber public hearing at the European Court of Human Rights in March this year. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 16 Profile
“This house is my one climate crime. It is too big for two people.” Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti standing in her back garden in Basel. Photo: Keystone tracted attention from outlets like Al-Jazeera and the “New York Times”. The day after she spoke to us, Wydler-Wälti took the train to Strasbourg again – this time to express solidarity with another climate lawsuit taking place at the ECHR. Six young people from Portugal have taken 32 European countries including Switzerland to court. From young to old – climate action is important regardless of demographic, says Wydler-Wälti. “If we win our case, everyone wins in the end.” eral Office of Public Health and Federal Office for the Environment, there were 474 heat-related deaths in Switzerland during the record-breaking summer of 2022, all among the over75s, with 60 percent of fatalities being women. Excess deaths due to heat were higher in older women than in older men. There are, therefore, good legal reasons why membership of the group is restricted to older women. “It means that we are bona fide claimants,” says Wydler-Wälti. The group took its case to the Federal Office for the Environment, then to the Federal Administrative Court, then to the Federal Supreme Court. It lost three times. According to the Federal Supreme Court, the women’s rights had not been sufficiently affected. Then came Strasbourg. In 2020, the group and four individual women took out a lawsuit against Switzerland at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The ECHR’s Grand Chamber of 17 judges conducted a public hearing in March this year, with Swiss government representatives and the claimants’ team of lawyers making their respective cases. In particular, the Swiss government argued that action on climate change is a complex challenge for politicians, not for courts. “We have already lost a lot of time” “Wow”, thought Wydler-Wälti as she sat in the courtroom. They were finally being taken seriously. Not only that, but she and her fellow claimants were potentially on the way to setting a legal precedent across the member states of the Council of Europe, of which Switzerland itself has been a member since 1963. This is because the court in Strasbourg was deciding for the first time whether there is a link between climate change and human rights. But why were the women not trying to win majority support for their cause through democratic means in Switzerland, i.e. gain the sort of backing that saw voters approve the Climate and Innovation Act earlier this year? “We have already lost a lot of time,” the co-chair replies. Popular votes, elections, demonstrations, lawsuits – anything that will help their cause is welcome. The “grannies” are being “played” by Greenpeace, some people have said. This is an insult as far as Wydler-Wälti is concerned. Yes, they are in contact with Greenpeace. Indeed, the environmental organisation is covering their legal costs. But the women make their own decisions. They have come together with a wealth of expertise and experience and have many years of campaigning already under their belt. Solidarity with the young generation Appearing at the ECHR in Strasbourg has put Wydler-Wälti and friends in the public spotlight. People have praised them for their courage and tenacity. Others have been less flattering, suggesting they should go home and look after their grandchildren. Someone sent them an anonymous email saying old women like them used to be burned at the stake. Wydler-Wälti: “Being compared to a witch is a compliment in my book. They were strong women.” A ruling from Strasbourg is not expected until 2024. Meanwhile, the women are giving talks, organising events and fielding media inquiries from around the world. They have already atLink to the Strasbourg hearing of 29 March 2023: revue.link/hearing Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 17
DÖLF BARBEN What a strange sight. Zip away, then brake. Like breathing in and out just once. Barely three seconds elapsed before the electric car and its driver Kate Maggetti came to a halt again. The vehicle needed just 0.956 seconds and a distance of a little over ten metres to reach a speed of 100 km/h. On 12 September, students from ETH Zurich and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts set a new world record at the Switzerland Innovation Park in Dübendorf. Never before had an electric car accelerated faster from zero to a hundred. A team from the University of Stuttgart had notched the old record of 1.461 seconds one year previously. From zero to a hundred A group of Swiss students have broken the world record for the fastest 0-100 km/h acceleration by an electric car. High-power suction is the key to their success. The Swiss car, now entered in the Guinness Book of Records, is called “Mythen” – named after the two iconic Mythen mountains in the canton of Schwyz. It only weighs around 180 kg, including driver, and has in excess of 300 hp. All of the vehicle’s components – from printed circuit boards (PCBs), to four wheel hub motors and the chassis – were developed by the students themselves. “They spent every moment of their free time working on this project,” says Matthias Rohrer of the Academic Motorsports Association of Zurich (AMZ). Founded in 2006, AMZ gives students the opportunity to build a racing car from scratch with which to compete in events every year. The A very fast but extremely brief acceleration – Kate Maggetti driving electric car “Mythen” on the track at Dübendorf. Photo: ETH Zurich, Alessandro Della Bella “Swiss Review”, the magazine for the Swiss Abroad, is in its 49th year of publication and is published six times a year in German, French, English and Spanish in 13 regional editions. It has a total circulation of 431,000, including 253,000 electronic copies. “Swiss Review”’s regional news is published 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. All Swiss Abroad who are registered with a Swiss representation receive the magazine free of charge. Anyone else can subscribe for an annual fee (Switzerland: CHF 30/Abroad: CHF 50). ONLINE EDITION www.revue.ch EDITORS Marc Lettau, Editor-in-Chief (MUL) Stéphane Herzog (SH) Theodora Peter (TP) Susanne Wenger (SWE) Paolo Bezzola (PB, FDFA representative) FDFA OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS The editorial responsibility for the “Notes from the Federal Palace” section is assumed by the Consular Directorate, Innovation and Partnerships, Effinger- strasse 27, 3003 Berne, Switzerland. kdip@eda.admin.ch | www.eda.admin.ch EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Nema Bliggenstorfer (NB) TRANSLATION SwissGlobal Language Services AG, Baden LAYOUT Joseph Haas, Zurich PRINT Vogt-Schild Druck AG, Derendingen PUBLISHER The “Swiss Review” is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). The postal address of the publisher, the editorial office and advertising department is: Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne. revue@swisscommunity.org Phone: +41 31 356 61 10 Bank details: CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 / KBBECH22 COPY DEADLINE FOR THIS EDITION 26 October 2023 CHANGES OF ADDRESS Please advise your local embassy or consulate. The editorial team cannot access your address and administrative data. Thank you. Imprint Swiss Review / December 2023 / No.6 18 Knowledge
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