MAY 2024 The magazine for the Swiss Abroad Dayana Pfammatter– blazing a trail as Switzerland’s first-ever yodelling graduate Switzerland – an island of prosperity where many households are buckling under the cost-of-living crisis Football in Switzerland is a vehicle for integration, but its treatment of women still leaves a lot to be desired
You can enjoy a clear, easily readable version of “Swiss Review” – even offline – on your tablet or smartphone. The app is free of charge and contains no advertising. You can find the app by searching for “Swiss Review” in your App Store. Read it on a palm beach. SWISS REVIEW MAY 2024 The magazine for the Swiss Abroad Dayana Pfammatter– blazing a trail as Switzerland’s first-ever yodelling graduate Switzerland – an island of prosperity where many households are buckling under the cost-of-living crisis Football in Switzerland is a vehicle for integration, but its treatment of women still leaves a lot to be desired Join us ! Programme Speakers Registration 100th Congress of the Swiss Abroad from 11 to 13 July 2024 in Lucerne Our partners: Photo: Son Tung Tran, pexels.com Consular services anywhere, conveniently on your mobile devices www.fdfa.admin.ch Barcelona E-Paper Jahresabo für nur CHF 99.– statt CHF 149.– Ihre Abo-Vorteile: •Jeden Donnerstag als E-Paper • Zugriff aufs Online-Archiv QR-Code scannen für mehr Infos und Abo-Bestellung. Jede Woche abwechslungsreiche Unterhaltung mit neuen Ideen für Freizeit, Ferien und Ihr Zuhause, mit spannenden Reportagen, interessanten Menschen und Wissenswertem aus der Tier- und Pflanzenwelt.
More and more families in Switzerland are struggling to make ends meet. Surely that’s a misprint. We are talking about families who live in Switzerland, one of the world’s richest countries, right? How can they be struggling? They should try living somewhere less prosperous. We can react dismissively, but the simple truth is that money is too tight to mention for many families around the country. So let me spell it out again. Despite impressively high salaries and high employment levels, more and more families in Switzerland are struggling to make ends meet. And many such households are supposed to be comfortably ensconced in the middle-income bracket. What has gone wrong? I can offer one hypothesis off the top of my head: Switzerland has very high standards in many areas of life. The prices of goods and services reflect this, to put it mildly. Unfortunately, we often have no other choice but to dig deep into our pockets. This particularly applies to tenants, for whom astronomically high rents have become a fact of life. Obviously, Swiss standards extend to housing. Bargains are few and far between. It is a similar story with healthcare. The quality of Swiss medicine is second to none, but we pay for this through eye-watering health insurance premiums. Rents and healthcare premiums are the biggest monthly expenses for many families. Our lead article on page 4 tells you about all the other little and not-so-little factors that are fuelling a very Swiss costof-living crisis. Dayana Pfammatter provides us with our feel-good story. The yodeller pictured on our front cover is the first person in Switzerland to have completed a master’s degree at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts with yodelling as the main subject (see page 10). When yodelling became an academic subject at Lucerne, there were fears it would set up an overly polished aesthetic. But Pfammatter has allayed any concerns with her love of traditional, natural arrangements. MARC LETTAU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 4 Focus Prosperous Switzerland has an acute cost-of-living crisis 8 Top pick / News Confusion over the financial situation of the military 10 Culture Yodelling graduate Dayana Pfammatter wants to pass on her knowledge 12 Society Antisemitism in Switzerland on the rise amid the war in Gaza 14 Sport Does successful integration in Swiss football also apply to women? 18 Politics Emphatic yes to state pension increase is a historic result News from your region 22 Images “Nothing” – an exhibition that makes a lot out of zilch 24 Notes from the Federal Palace Switzerland wants to grow its digital public services 27 SwissCommunity news Berne academics develop an e-voting solution for the “Fifth Switzerland” Launch of two new stamps dedicated to the Swiss Abroad 31 Discussion The cost of living on an island of prosperity Cover photo: yodeller Dayana Pfammatter. Photo: Alain Amherd “Swiss Review”, the information magazine for the “Fifth Switzerland”, is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad. Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 3 Editorial Contents
4 Schwerpunkt THEODORA PETER Many people imagine that Switzerland is a rich country where no one has any financial worries. After all, Swiss living standards are among the highest in Europe. Luxembourg and Norway are the only two countries on the continent with higher disposable income. But Switzerland is a haven of prosperity for only 20 per cent of households – i.e. where monthly gross income exceeds 8,508 Swiss francs for a single person, or 17,867 francs for a family of four. All other households have to get by on less. Households in the lowest 20 per cent income bracket have to make do with under 3,970 francs (single person) or under 8,338 francs (a couple with two children unRich Switzerland and its cost-ofliving crisis Switzerland is considered to be an island of prosperity, but life in one of the world’s richest countries is more expensive than ever. Even middle-income households are buckling under the high cost of things like healthcare and housing. a family of four. For an idea of how much a lower-middle-income family have to pay in living expenses, meet the fictitious Meiers on page 6. Money is tight for families The 2024 Family Barometer, published by the umbrella association Pro Familia Switzerland, reveals that financial pressure is increasing particularly for parents with children. In this latest survey, 52 per cent of respondents said their income was insufficient or barely sufficient. This is compared to 47 per cent last year. Most families are scarcely able, if at all, to save for a rainy day or pay voluntarily into a Pillar 3 pension scheme, with two thirds saying they der 14). These latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) relate to the year 2021. Gross income means the total income earned or received by a household, i.e. wages, pension or other sources. According to the FSO, middle-income households account for around 60 per cent of Switzerland’s resident population. But there are also huge differences between the highest and lowest middle-income earners, because the middle-income bracket refers to households with gross income of between 70 and 150 per cent of the national median: including both a single person who earns 8,500 francs a month and a pensioner with an income of just under 4,000 francs, while ranging between 8,338 and 17,867 francs for Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 4 Focus
5 can put no money or no more than 500 francs away at the end of the month. For four out of 10 families, high living costs are even a reason not to have more children. One or both parents in around half the families surveyed are considering working longer hours. Doing so is worth it in many cases – but not if the children need day care. This is because the high cost of preschool and child care in Switzerland compared to other countries can potentially eat up any additional earnings. Soaring health insurance premiums, rising rents, higher energy costs, and the general increase in living expenses are placing a strain on budgets. There is growing anger about this, says Switzerland’s official price watchdog Stefan Meierhans, who has received a record number of complaints in the last two years. He counted 2,775 messages in 2023 – including from people who can no longer afford to pay their bills. “There are growing fears of general financial insecurity,” Meierhans said at his annual press conference this spring. Price rises are the new normal It is the job of the price watchdog to tackle rip-off prices, particularly in areas where there is a lack of competition. Last year, for example, Meierhans intervened on the issue of public transport ticket prices. People with a 2nd class GA Travelcard consequently ended up paying less than what the Swiss public transport sector wanted to charge. Instead of a whopping 4,080 francs, the 2nd class GA Travelcard will now “only” cost 3,995 francs – 135 francs more than before. Despite this, public transport ticket prices have still risen by around four per cent. Price watchdog Stefan Meierhans can see that people are struggling. He is receiving more and more complaints from concerned citizens. Cartoon: Max Spring Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3
When prices increase for justifiable reasons like expensive electricity or necessary investment, even the watchdog has to take a step back. “We have to get used to the new normal of price rises,” he says. This year, Meierhans wants to ensure that consumers are not disproportionately affected by the increase in VAT. He will convene a purchasing power summit with representatives of the business community in the middle of the year to discuss the issue. The biggest worry for millions of Swiss is the cost of healthcare, where Meierhans believes there are savings to be made on things like medicine and hospital and laboratory charges. The problem is that healthcare expenditure is increasing by around three per cent every year. This is because Switzerland has an ageing population, with people going to the doctor more often. Health insurance premiums have more than doubled in the last 20 years as a result. A family of four now pays up to 1,250 francs a month for the minimum basic health insurance package. Health insurance is also a long-running political issue. Until now, decision-makers have been unable to agree on reforms to reduce costs. Parliament wants to provide relief with a new funding model that incentivises outpatient treatment to prevent expensive Above all, people in Switzerland are worried about the high cost of healthcare. Health insurance premiums have more than doubled in the last 20 years. Living costs for a middle-income family The Meiers are a family of four who live in a major Swiss city. Both parents work part-time, earning a combined monthly net income of 9,000 Swiss francs. The cost of keeping a roof over their heads makes the biggest dent in their household budget. The Meiers pay 2,200 francs in rent every month, ancillary costs included, for their fourroom apartment. An electricity and gas bill of 150 francs comes on top of that. Premiums for healthcare and other insurance policies amount to 1,300 francs. And the Meiers have to set aside around 1,000 francs a month for tax. Food and household items cost 1,200 francs. Internet and mobile phone bills and the Swiss television and radio licence fee run up to 250 francs. Clothes, shoes, hairdresser/ barber, and leisure activities cost the Meiers around 1,000 francs a month on average – not including the 250 francs in music tuition fees that they also pay for their eight-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter. The parents work 80 and 60 per cent. They take turns to do the family chores and cook for the children on three weekdays. The kids attend allday school on the other two days, which costs 800 francs a month. Before the children reached school age, the parents paid more than double that for day care. The Meiers have no car. Public transport travel cards, occasional car sharing, and costs related to their bikes set them back around 750 francs every month. They have 600 francs in reserve to cover any miscellaneous or unexpected costs – and particularly expenses over and above their basic health insurance: besides the deductible and co-payment amount, other things like optician and dentist fees can quickly add up. Dental braces for children cost several thousand francs each. All these expenses potentially add up to 8,500 francs a month, leaving the middle-income Meier family with 500 francs to spare for holidays and to put towards retirement. Families on lower incomes often have nothing left at all. (TP) Cartoon: Max Spring Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 6 Focus
hospital stays. Two political parties have forwarded their own solutions: the Centre would like to introduce a cost control mechanism, while the SP wants to boost state relief with a cap on health insurance premiums (more on page 7). Their respective popular initiatives will be put to voters on 9 June. Affordable housing is rare Rents are another big household expense. Unlike in many other countries, only a minority of the Swiss population can afford to buy a home of their own – 58 per cent live in rented accommodation. However, it is becoming increasingly hard to find affordable places to live due to a general scarcity on the housing market. The average rental price has increased by 20 per cent in the last 15 years. In major cities like Zurich and Geneva, it is no longer unusual for new tenants to have to pay well over 3,000 francs a month. Property speculators are the culprits, says the Swiss Tenants’ Association. To date, politicians on the left have been unable to push through a government cap on rents, although the Federal Council recently indicated that the rules on rental prices could at least be re-examined. Food prices have less of a significant impact. In 2021, the average Swiss household spent 6.8 per cent of its income on food. Food expenditure is almost double that in many European countries. And in Romania, it accounts for over 28 per cent of household income. Nevertheless, people in Switzerland have seen things like their weekly supermarket shopping, a coffee at a restaurant or a stamp from the post office become more expensive. This everyday inflation is a psychological hammer blow because it is much more noticeable. So much for Switzerland being an island of prosperity. Two popular initiatives to combat soaring healthcare costs On 9 June, voters in Switzerland will decide on two popular initiatives to address the problem of soaring healthcare costs: the SP’s health insurance premium cap and the Centre’s cost control mechanism. 1. An initiative to boost state relief The SP wants to introduce a cap on health insurance premiums. Under its proposal, no policyholder would have to spend more than 10 per cent of their disposable income on health insurance. The state would then have to finance the difference. Premium relief is already applied at cantonal level but in extremely different ways, and the authors of the initiative believe it is insufficient. They also want relief for middleincome as well as lowincome households, enabling a family of four to save up to several hundred Swiss francs a month. This left-wing initiative goes too far and merely papers over the cracks by tackling the symptoms, not the causes, say the centre-right and right-wing parties. More importantly, it would lead to a whopping 4.2 billion francs in extra costs every year, they argue. Nevertheless, parliament has decided that the cantons should provide more money to subsidise premiums – but nowhere near the sum the campaigners want. This indirect counterproposal will be implemented if voters reject the SP proposal. Link to initiative: bezahlbare-praemien.ch 2. A cost control mechanism to save money The Centre is proposing a different way to reduce healthcare costs, with a cost control mechanism that would oblige the Confederation and cantons to intervene if healthcare costs rise faster than wages. It hopes that this measure will put downward pressure on mandatory health insurance costs. The party believes, for example, that there are potential cost savings to be made on medicine, which is expensive to buy in Switzerland, and that more should be done to incentivise outpatient procedures, which cost less than inpatient treatment. Opponents of the initiative – which include the Swiss medical associations – warn of the “harmful side effects” of any cost control mechanism, saying that it could, at worst, lead to long waiting lists and a twotier health system. Both the Federal Council and parliament have dismissed the proposal as being too inflexible. But again, they have drawn up an indirect counterproposal that would see the government stipulate cost and quality targets every four years while taking account of factors such as ageing demographics and advances in medical technology. The idea is that this would increase transparency around which costs are justified on medical grounds. Link to initiative: die-mitte.ch/kostenbremse-initiative Cartoon: Max Spring Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 7
Court rules that Swiss climate policy shortcomings violate human rights In a landmark decision that could trickle down to influence climate law around the Europe, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on 9 April in Strasbourg that the Swiss government’s alleged inaction on climate change violates human rights. This was after a group of older Swiss women (see Review 6/2023: “‘Grannies’ take Switzerland to court to demand more action on climate change”) argued that the state has a duty of care to protect the right to life, and that the Swiss government’s weak climate policies are failing them in this regard. The ECHR agrees that Switzerland has underdelivered on reducing carbon emissions and combating the existential threat of climate change. The ruling could now force Switzerland to act quicker and more decisively in cutting greenhouse gases. (MUL) Switzerland and the EU open talks on a new agreement On 18 March 2024, Switzerland and the European Union (EU) began fresh talks on an agreement to govern Swiss-EU relations. There has been a protracted period of uncertainty since the Federal Council unilaterally abandoned negotiations with the EU on a new framework agreement three years ago. Following an arduous series of exploratory talks aimed at picking up the pieces, Switzerland and the EU now have a basis to resume formal negotiations. The aim is to complete these negotiations by the end of this year. The process will be anything but easy with many issues still unresolved, said President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd as the negotiations began. An agreement on relations with the neighbouring EU is of great importance to Switzerland not only regarding the free movement of people and goods, but also in terms of science and research. (MUL) Gantrisch Nature Park is very dark Gantrisch Nature Park, which is roughly situated in a triangle between the cities of Berne, Fribourg and Thun, received the “Dark Sky Park” certification in March from Dark Sky International. It is now the first and only area in Switzerland to have been certified for its night-time darkness. The Gantrisch Dark Sky Zone is the protected dark heart of the nature park, covering 100 square kilometres. Gantrisch project manager Nicole Dahinden called the certification a “big deal”, while Lydia Plüss of the Gantrisch promotional association said it was a pat on the back for all those who “help to preserve our nightscape”. The Gantrisch area is a key stopping-off point for migrating birds – who also rely on night-time darkness, just like amphibians, insects and other nocturnal creatures. “Swiss Review” covered the Gantrisch project back in 2019: revue.link/night (MUL) Onur Boyman Some people continue to suffer the long-term effects of Covid-19 months after they have had the infection. Symptoms include fatigue, breathlessness, and brain fog. The Federal Office of Public Health calls this “post Covid-19 condition”, also known as Long Covid. The phenomenon has left medical professionals scratching their collective heads. The symptoms are varied and hard to quantify. Doctors often do not know how to diagnose or treat it. Many with Long Covid have to take long-term leave from work. To date, over 5,000 people with Long Covid in Switzerland have claimed on their disability insurance. “Those affected are hit hard,” says Onur Boyman, professor of clinical immunology at the University of Zurich. Unfortunately, symptoms are often easily dismissed as a psychosomatic condition. A team of researchers led by Boyman has now shown in a study published in the world-renowned “Science” magazine that a part of our immune system called the complement system plays an important role in Long Covid. “In patients with Long Covid, the complement system no longer returns to the resting state as it should,” Boyman explains. The researchers were able to prove that excessive complement system activity causes damage to different cells in the body, including red blood cells, platelets and blood vessels. This discovery paves the way for diagnosis by blood test. It also opens up new avenues for the development of more targeted therapies, says Boyman. But more research is necessary, and this will take time. Nevertheless, Boyman and his Zurich colleagues have now removed some of the stigma attached to the condition. SUSANNE WENGER Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 8 Top pick News
9 CHRISTOF FORSTER First came the bombshell. Due to challenging financial circumstances, the army announced the cancellation of various events including a major air show in Emmen. Politicians and the media wondered what was going on. Chief of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Thomas Süssli tried to explain. What did “liquidity bottleneck” really mean? Days passed until Defence Minister Viola Amherd intervened. The dust has now settled, but of one thing we can be sure: there is room for improvement with regard to communication at the top of the army. Süssli would not have called off an air show and other high-profile events without good reason. Such events cost nothing compared to funding new fighter jets. But they are popular. Süssli certainly got the attention he wanted. He said that “liquidity” was one of the factors on which he had based his decision. But what did he really mean? Is the military about to run out of cash? A one-billion black hole? Coincidence or not, but news came out on Swiss public radio a few days later of an internal memo from the Armed Forces Staff, which stated that the army has one billion Swiss francs less than it needs in 2024 and 2025 to pay for defence purchases that have already been made. According to Radio SRF, the internal document spoke of a “liquidity bottleneck” – a bottleneck that is partially self-inflicted due to the military deviating from its budget. Military planners have already known for years that buying new fighter jets and strengthening air defence systems would be a big challenge within existing budget constraints. Hence the decision was taken to make barely any new arms purchases, if at all, over a number of years in order to free up money. But the military veered from this plan. From 2020, the Federal Council and parliament approved new arms orders over and above what was originally earmarked. The army has been living beyond its means since then. An unexpected solution appeared to surface in 2022, when parliament decided to boost defence spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The aim was to increase the country’s military budget to 1 per cent of GDP by 2030, from 5.3 billion to 9.5 billion Swiss francs a year. The finance ministry put on a brave face – and the military began to prepare a new shopping list. Plans hit the brakes But the Federal Council pulled the emergency cord only one year later after seeing how stretched federal finances had become. It advocated that arms expenditure now rise to 1 per cent of GDP by 2035 instead of 2030. Parliament accepted this slower timeline – a five-year delay that seems negligible on paper but has major implications. The army will have significantly less money – “only” around Confusion over Swiss army funding The Swiss Armed Forces – do they or don’t they have enough money? A question on many people’s lips at the beginning of 2024. Lost in translation? Chief of Armament Urs Loher, Chief of the Armed Forces Thomas Süssli, and Defence Minister and President of the Swiss Confederation Viola Amherd speak to the press in Berne. Photo: Keystone 5.3 billion francs – to buy new arms from now until 2035. The military has agreed purchases for which it no longer has a budget. And the top brass wanted to draw attention to this fact. Unfortunate choice of words The communication could nonetheless have been better. An unfortunate choice of words (“liquidity bottleneck”) gave the unwanted impression that the army would soon be bereft of funds. Amherd rowed back a few weeks later in an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, explaining that the military interpretation of “liquidity bottleneck” differed from general usage. This is what had caused the confusion. It did not mean that the army could no longer pay its bills. In the short term, the number crunchers can solve the issue by repeatedly postponing projects and their associated costs. But this does nothing to treat the underlying problem: the military lacks the financial means to fund all the capabilities it wants. Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 News
SUSANNE WENGER Dayana Pfammatter Gurten, 31, comes from Mund, a village perched on the mountain overlooking Brig. She embodies a new chapter in Swiss folk music, having recently completed a Master of Arts in music with a major in yodelling. Pfammatter is the first person to have graduated from a new degree pathway that was launched at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2018. “Many people think I yodelled all day long,” she says. But it was a very broad-based degree. In addition to vocal training and body work, she spent five-and-ahalf years studying subjects like music theory, rhythm, and music history. Pfammatter played in a folk music ensemble with other music students and learned how to compose and arrange. “I was able to develop a strong musical acumen.” She already had yodelling experience, because yodelling has been part of her life since childhood. Her family yodelled. She also learned to play the “Schwyzerörgeli”, the accordion typically used in Swiss folk music, at a young age. Pfammatter did an apprenticeship as a pharmacy assistant after leaving school, but yodelling remained a passion. The first-ever yodelling graduate Dayana Pfammatter Gurten from Valais is the first person in Switzerland to have earned a master’s degree in yodelling. Does a university course risk turning this quintessentially Swiss singing technique into something a little too polished? Not at all, says Pfammatter, who wants to pass on her knowledge to young people. Making a living from yodelling She attended courses given by the Swiss Yodelling Association and, at the tender age of 23, became head of Safran yodelling club in Mund. While receiving further tuition, she found out about the new music degree at Lucerne offering yodelling as the main subject. No other Swiss university had ever unveiled such a degree. Pfammatter applied and was accepted. “It was a chance for me to be academically trained as a music tutor.” Pfammatter has been making a living from yodelling since completing Yodelling is her day job, but Dayana Pfammatter also likes to spend time looking after her Valais Blacknose sheep. Photo: Alain Amherd Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 10 Culture
the next generation of yodellers in mind. Pfammatter also teaches yodelling to school children, putting into practice the musical early education skills that she acquired in Lucerne. Yodelling courses in demand Above all, Pfammatter is a fan of natural yodelling without words – the purest, most primal form of yodelling. “Natural yodelling is dear to my heart.” It moves her deeply, she says, and gives her goosebumps. Others feel the same way. After the Second World War, yodelling was long dismissed by the progressive urban set as quaint and parochial. But it has become hugely popular in recent years. Yodelling courses are booming in both rural and urban Switzerland – no surprise to Pfammatter. “Many people want to return to their roots and rediscover themselves in these stressful, fast-moving times.” Some people meditate or do yoga. Others yodel. “Yodelling is very natural and primeval. It helps people to touch base,” she says. Besides teaching and practising every day, Pfammatter still runs her village yodelling club, Safran, which has the honour of hosting next year’s cantonal yodelling convention. There is a lot of preparation and planning to do. She also continues to perform in small ensembles. Her master recital in Bettmeralp at the beginning of the year – featuring two female musicians from eastern Switzerland – went so well that another performance by the trio is in the offing. Pfammatter also has a passion for Valais Blacknose sheep. “They keep me close to nature and my roots,” she says. came an academic subject six years ago, there were fears that the degree course could set up an aesthetic that was too polished, blurring the regional differences in singing that have been passed down through the generations. Preserving old arrangements If there are still any such misgivings, Pfammatter no longer hears of them. In fact, she has done a lot to dispel the doubts. Pfammatter is deeply immersed in the Swiss yodelling scene. She says she used to perform with her sister “at the yodelling strongholds”. The Swiss Yodelling Association regularly hires her as a course leader and as a judge at yodelling festivals. In autumn, she will become the main person responsible for training future choir leaders in two regions of Switzerland. Pfammatter teaches yodelling – requests for her services are coming in thick and fast. Photo: Alain Amherd Dayana Pfammatter: “It is great to be doing this on a full-time basis.” Photo: Alain Amherd Link: klangwaerch.ch her master’s degree at the beginning of this year. She works as a vocal coach at a music school and teaches yodelling on a freelance basis. People also book her as a singer. She has deferred her back-up plan to help out at the pharmacy, because requests for her tuition services are coming in thick and fast. “It is great to be doing this on a full-time basis,” she says. From grassroots to academic Yodelling – once used by herdsmen to communicate in the mountains – was not invented in Switzerland. Yet this haunting form of ululation that rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch from the vocal chest register (or “chest voice”) to the head register (or “head voice”) has been practised here with gusto since the 19th century. There is a lively grassroots yodelling community of local choirs and clubs. Qualified choirs compete at the Federal Yodelling Festival every three years – the most recent event attracted around 10,000 singers and over 200,000 visitors. Yodelling is a part of Swiss culture and identity, which is why people keep close track of it amid the push and pull of tradition, innovation, and popular culture. When yodelling be- “People know me,” she says. “They know how steadfast I am.” During her studies, Pfammatter focused on experimental contemporary folk music and traditional yodelling melodies. “We listened to old, crackling recordings and transcribed the songs to preserve them for posterity.” Safeguarding and passing on the tradition to others is important to her, particularly with Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 11
STÉPHANE HERZOG Ever since the shocking events of 7 October, followed by the outbreak of war in Gaza, anti-Jewish remarks and acts have been rising significantly in Switzerland. The two Jewish umbrella associations in Switzerland (one French and one German-speaking) recorded over 2,000 incidents in 2023, including assaults, insults, threats and online hate speech. In French-speaking Switzerland, the Intercommunity Coordination against Antisemitism and Defamation (CICAD) highlighted a 68 percent increase in these incidents as against 2022. Between October and the end of the year, the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) reported six physical attacks on Jews, compared with only one in 2022. “Stepping out as a Jew in public often entails worry, restraint or even fear,” the federation laments. It has called on the Swiss state to commit further War in the Middle East has stirred latent antisemitism In Switzerland, antisemitism tends to be whispered rather than shouted. However, the 7 October 2023 attacks and the war in Gaza have unleashed hate speech, sometimes leading to acts of violence. There has already been one knife attack. Jews say they are living in fear. Reactions in waves Is the high number of antisemitic acts in Switzerland since 2023 unprecedented? Historian Marc Perrenoud feels we lack the necessary perspective. Antisemitic tensions come in waves. Switzerland was slow to give equal rights to Jews (in 1874). In 1893, the first popular initiative in Switzerland, which prohibited ritual slaughter, stemmed from antisemitic sentiment, he recalls. During the interwar period, Switzerland felt threatened by “Judeo-Bolshevism”. Between 1939 and 1945, antisemitism was one of the key elements of migration policy. “Authorities claimed that they were fighting to prevent the Jewification of Switzerland, although Jewish people have never made up more than one per cent of the Swiss population,” says the historian. During the Six-Day War, in 1967, public opinion tipped in Israel’s favour. “Swiss people were able to identify with such a small democracy being attacked by its neighbours,” is how Perrenoud sees it. 1995 saw the unclaimed Jewish assets scandal. This was triggered by Swiss banks dragging their feet when it came to returning bank accounts to victims of the Nazi regime. At that time, “the Swiss felt their very identity was being attacked, and some of their immediate reactions triggered an undeniable surge in antisemitism”, according to historian Brigitte Sion. Since then, she believes, “antisemitism has been expressed at every level of society... and no longer in hushed tones: it is now being expressed on the political stage, in the media and other public forums.” (SH) to “monitoring antisemitism and racism”. CICAD has asked for regular visits by community representatives to schools to discuss the issue of not accepting other people. The association feels that this sort of action is more useful than taking security measures outside synagogues. CICAD has reported that, in schools, the word “Jew” is sometimes used as an insult. For example, there was one incident in a gym in Geneva where a school pupil sprayed a boy with his deodorant, threatening to “gas him like all the Jews”, according to Johanne Gurfinkiel of CICAD. Words are followed by actions. The stained-glass windows of the synagogue in La Chaux-de-Fonds were smashed using large blocks of frozen snow. In Davos, the refusal of a restaurant owner to rent out sports equipment to Jews caused a scandal that went international. On Saturday, 2 March, in Zurich, a young Swiss man of Tunisian origin seriously injured an Orthodox Jew with a bladed weapon. In a video posted prior to the attack, the 15-year-old swore allegiance to the Islamic State, calling for a “global war against Jews”. He said his act was linked to the situation in the Middle East. Inflammatory graffiti in Geneva In her recent work on the history of Jews in French-speaking Switzerland*, historian Brigitte Sion notes that antisemitism has always existed in Switzerland, albeit rarely in a violent form. “It’s more like a dull background noise that manifests itself in things people say, discrimination in hiring or promotion, ridicule or caricatures, and anonymous written messages.” Since 7 October, people have been starting to voice their feelings against Jews. “Thanks, Hamas” was written on a wall at the University of Geneva. “Antisemitism does not need Jews to exist. It functions as a world view,” remarked sociologist Illana Weizman during a debate that took place in Geneva in February. She published a podcast titled “Qui a peur des Juifs?” (‘Who’s afraid of the Jews?’). This podcast covers the whole range of antisemitic expressions, such as in connection with Covid-19, where lockdown and mandatory vaccination were compared to the persecution of the Jews. “What worries me is the ignorance about the history of the Jews and the Shoah,” bemoans historian Marc Perrenoud. Antisemitism comes to the fore in times of crisis. In Lausanne, editor and left-wing militant E. G. (name redacted) expresses her bitterness: “My daughter got married and I’m delighted that she changed her name,” she says. She herself feels wounded by the antisemitic comments on social media: “There was very little empathy for the victims of 7 October.” Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 12 Society
“Antisemitism is a series of small wounds,” argues Félix, a Geneva-based specialist in social affairs who discovered some antisemitic graffiti at the entrance to his block of flats one morning in November. It showed a swastika combined with a Star of David. That same day, Félix posted a request on his Facebook page. “If you did this, come and talk to me about it. I will receive you as one human to another,” said the post, whose author is the sole Jew in the building. “I was afraid for my 15-year-old daughter, who lives with me,” says Félix, although his daughter is not Jewish. “People think it’s my entire identity, even though I’m not a member of any community,” the Geneva resident says. His first exposure to antisemitic comments dates back to his school days. The council acted quickly and removed the graffiti. The new rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Community of Geneva, Nathan Alfred, compares antisemitism to an illness, like racism or sexism. “Misogyny does not come from women. The victims are not the problem. Society as a whole is responsible for resolving these issues,” he says. Members of his congregation have been sharing their concerns with him. Is it safe to hang a mezuzah – a Jewish religious item – on the door? The rabbi himself took the decision to hang his mezuzah inside his home. “Six months ago, I would have hung it outside,” he says. * “Albert, Esther, Liebmann, Ruth et al. – Présences juives en Suisse romande”. Francine Brunschwig, Marc Perrenoud, Laurence Leitenberg, Jacques Ehrenfreund, Ed. Livreo-Alphil, 2023 Several hundred people gathered in Zurich to show solidarity with the Jewish victim of a knife attack on 2 March. The rally was organised by Gemeinsam Einsam, a group promoting dialogue between Muslims and Jews. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 13
Severino Minelli Milaim Rama Xherdan Shaqiri BENJAMIN STEFFEN* Another Swiss men’s international football match. Many of us know the routine. Busy restaurants and bars. A cacophony of chanting and cheering. A red sea of Swiss flags and shirts. September 2023 in the Kosovan capital Pristina. Another Swiss men’s international football match. Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, the most famous Swiss footballers of their generation, are sons of Kosovan immigrants. “Xhaka, you’re in the heart of Kosovo,” says a placard held by a child in the crowd. Xhaka has told the media that Pristina feels like home from home. His parents moved to Switzerland to give him and his brother a better life. Younger sibling Taulant plays football for Albania. He and Granit met on opposing sides of the pitch at Euro 2016. Then you have Breel Embolo, who was born in Cameroon but grew up in Basel just like the Xhaka brothers. Embolo played against his country of birth at the 2022 World Cup. He even scored the winning goal. “Breel is like a little brother to me,” said the Cameroon coach after the match. Football is a vehicle for integration, uniting people and countries. Switzerland jumped on the integration train earlier than other nations. It started with players like Severino Minelli, who was born in 1909 and whose father had arrived in Switzerland with the first wave of Italian immigrants. Minelli made his debut for Switzerland in 1930 and went on to Excitement ahead of Euro 2024 (and Euro 2025?) June will see the Swiss men’s national football team competing again in the finals of a major tournament. The multicultural squad has been hailed as a success for integration – overshadowing their female counterparts who still struggle for recognition. make 80 international appearances – a national record at the time. SwissKosovan hero Granit Xhaka is now the most capped Swiss player in history. The first player with Kosovan roots to pull on the Switzerland shirt was Milaim Rama back in 2003. Members of the Kosovan diaspora in other countries received their first caps later. Kubilay Türkyilmaz was the first Swiss international of Turkish descent, making his debut for the national side in 1988. It was not until over ten years later that Mustafa Dogan became the first player with two Turkish parents to play for Germany. After Türkyilmaz came the Yakin brothers, Hakan and Murat, the latter now being the national coach. Murat was born in Basel in 1974, but it took almost 20 years for him to obtain Swiss citizenship. The then Federal Councillor Adolf Ogi, no less, called Yakin’s naturalisation a matter of “considerable national importance”. At least that is how the story went. Admittedly, it was a good story. Ogi Granit Xhaka Murat Yakin Breel Embolo Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 Sport 14
Hakan Yakin Or Manuel Akanji at 2023 Champions League winners Manchester City in the English Premier League. Football in Switzerland has been booming in recent years. Junior teams at many amateur clubs now have waiting lists to join. Pitches around the country are booked out most weekends during the football season – shared by young and old with family backgrounds from near and far. The numbers are impressive on the face of it. Around 300,000 footballers representing 179 different nationalities were registered with the Swiss Football Association (SFA) in August 2022. Some 34 per cent had foreign passports, a proportion of whom were dual citizens. At around the same time, the SFA published the results of a comprehensive study on social integration in Swiss football clubs. Despite the tangible progress that had been made, the study also found that discrimination within football clubs was “much more common” against members from immigrant backgrounds than against those from liked his football. But this is not actually what happened. Ogi, on behalf of the Federal Council, was merely quoted as saying that citizenship applications could be “accelerated” in “exceptional circumstances”, primarily if there was “significant public interest” in doing so. But no efforts were made to expedite the naturalisation process in Yakin’s case. Swiss football’s role as a vehicle for integration is exaggerated at times. Türkyilmaz played for Switzerland but experienced racist verbal abuse. He retired briefly from international duty, although his teammates probably could not have cared less about his Turkish heritage. “Essentially, everyone has the same goal. It makes no difference whether your parents come from Switzerland or not,” Hakan Yakin told the “NZZ am Sonntag” in 2016 after being asked whether things like that were an issue inside the dressing room. “You just focus on the next game when you are with the national team,” he replied. “Or do you get the impression that the players want to sit around a table and talk about it?” Yann Sommer Manuel Akanji Kubilay Türkyilmaz Stephan Lichtsteiner Players like Minelli, Türkyilmaz and Xhaka remind us how much the identity of the national football team is intertwined with real life. War and politics trigger immigration – and Swiss football has been the beneficiary. Immigration from Eastern Europe, as a consequence of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, has had the most recent lasting impact on the fortunes of the national team. Nowadays, Switzerland regularly qualifies for the World Cup and the Euros. Yakin’s men will also be at this year’s Euro 2024 in Germany, which starts in mid-June. Euro 2012 is the only major tournament that they have missed in the last 20 years. And unlike Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, Belgium and Croatia, the Swiss have survived the group stage at every finals since 2014: the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups; and Euros 2016 and 2020. Our footballers can more than hold their own in elite company. Take Granit Xhaka, who plays at Bayer Leverkusen, a top team in the German Bundesliga. Or Yann Sommer at Italian Serie A giants Internazionale. Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 15
Nico Elvedi Svenja Fölmli non-immigrant backgrounds. Ten per cent of the former had reported it. Women’s football is another issue. Switzerland’s female players are not only starved of the limelight but also discriminated against. Gender equality is lacking. But at least the SFA are aware of this. Ahead of the Women’s World Cup in summer 2023, they published a promotional video featuring a family at the dinner table. The daughter asks her dad whether they are going to watch the World Cup together. “There is no World Cup this summer.” Yes, there is one, says the daughter. Ah, you mean the women’s national team. Does anyone even know them? Does anyone even know them?! Until recently, Ramona Bachmann scored for Paris Saint-Germain, one of the top teams in the French Division 1 Féminine. She now plays for the Houston Dash (USA) in the National Women’s Soccer League. Lia Wälti stars for Arsenal in the English FA Women’s Super League. Riola Xhemaili signed for serial German Bundesliga winners VfL Wolfsburg in 2023. Like Murat Yakin’s citizenship application, women’s football in Switzerland is stuck in the slow lane. No “significant public interest”? Professionalism remains a distant goal for the Swiss Women’s Super League. Those in the know say that equal opportunities for girls in terms of access to good-quality coaching and school-and-sports environments are virtually non-existent. There have been stories of women setting up all-girl teams, only for the male club members to dismiss the idea. Men still get the best training slots, the newest kit and the best pitches at some clubs. Female coaches are still a rarity, because there were far fewer female players 20 years ago than there are today. And there are barely any female coaching courses, despite women stressing repeatedly that a coaching course is not always the most pleasant of experiences if every other attendee is male. This is the status quo. And this is where we lag behind other European countries. Switzerland will host the Women’s European Championship in summer 2025. It promises to be a celebration of football featuring all the sights and sounds of a major tournament. Euro 2025 will be a litmus test of whether successful integration in Swiss football also applies to the women. *The author reported on the men’s national team as a journalist from 2004 to 2024. Photos Pages 14 to 16: Alamy, Players Forumfree, Schweizerischer Fussballverband/football.ch Fabian Schär Remo Freuler Céderic Zesiger Alisha Lehmann Noah Okafor Lia Wälti Ramona Bachmann Riola Xhemaili Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 Sport 16
One country, one ticket. Swiss Travel Pass: Criss-cross the entire train, bus and boat network in Switzerland to your heart’s content – including free admission to numerous museums and discounts on mountain railways. MySwitzerland.com/swisstravelsystem The Wengernalp Railway in front of the Staubbach Falls in Lauterbrunnen, Berner Oberland
THEODORA PETER The electorate has never backed a left-wing initiative to expand the welfare state. Until now. Over 58 per cent of voters – as well as 15 out of 23 cantons (see map) – approved the proposal for an additional monthly old-age and survivors’ insurance (OASI) state pension payment. There was jubilation among the authors of the initiative and their allies, the SP and the Greens. “This is historic,” said Pierre-Yves Maillard, head of the Swiss Trade Union Federation. Only a decade ago, a similar initiative calling for a 10 per cent increase in the state pension failed resoundingly at the ballot box. But the balance has shifted. More and more people do not have adequate pension income – state, occupational and private – to maintain their standard of living in retirement. The rising cost of rents, electricity, and health insurance are also making pensioners worse off. The additional OASI pension payment, which equates to a pension increase of 8.3 per cent, offsets this drip-drip loss of purchasing power, say the authors of the initiative. It was a sobering referendum result for the political right, which had massively underestimated the depth of feeling on the issue. The SVP, normally good at reading the room, was blindsided by its rank-and-file voters. Representatives of business argued that the pension boost was too expensive and would lead to higher social security contributions and higher taxes. But that didn’t sway the voters this time. Green light for the 13th state pension payment The Swiss want bigger state pensions. In a historic result on 3 March, voters emphatically approved a trade union initiative calling for an additional 13th pension payment. The Swiss Abroad and their pensions With 65 per cent voting yes, the Swiss Abroad approved the initiative even more emphatically than their domestic counterparts. This was after the No campaign had focused attention on the “Fifth Switzerland” (and on foreign workers who return to their home country after retirement). The SVP warned of the “luxury pensions” that retirees abroad would supposedly rake in, or were already raking in, due to the strong Swiss franc and a lower cost of living. This provoked a strong reaction from expatriates – retiring on a tight budget is motivation for many to move to a different country in the first place. Our magazine received numerous messages from expats saying they would struggle to make ends meet in Switzerland – even though they could have been claiming supplementary benefits had they not emigrated (which, ironically, would have cost the taxpayer even more). Effective from 2026 The additional pension payment would be paid out from 2026 in accordance with the Yes campaign’s wishes, the Federal Council assured the country after the vote. At the time of our editorial deadline, there was still uncertainty on how to backstop the state pension increase. Higher salary deductions or a further increase in VAT are two possible options. The Centre has also broached the idea of a tax on financial transactions. According to government estimates, the 13th OASI pension payment will cost around four to five billion Swiss francs every year. The annual state pension bill currently amounts to some 50 billion. No increase in the retirement age Raising the retirement age is now off the agenda after a proposal from the Young Liberals was rejected on 3 March when a whopping 75 per cent voted against it. The authors of the initiative wanted to initially increase the male and female retirement age from 65 to 66 and then peg it to average life expectancy. However, the idea failed to find support among the electorate. SP politician and head of the Swiss Trade Union Federation Pierre-Yves Maillard was elated at the result. Photo: Keystone Swiss Review / May 2024 / No.3 18 Politics
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