The Swiss Right identifies a new scapegoat: Germans

[Tender Branson]

For generations, Switzerland has enjoyed a global reputation as a place of tolerance, neutrality, democracy, and basic decency. But with a key local election approaching, it looks as if one major party is itching to trash all of that in exchange for votes.

The center-right Swiss People's Party (SVP), Switzerland's largest, captured the world's headlines last November by pushing through a nationwide referendum to ban the construction of minarets. For years it has also supported initiatives designed to slow foreign immigration and deport "criminal foreigners" on a fast track system. In doing so, it has made skillful use of Switzerland's system of direct democracy through plebiscites. Now, with the Muslims at bay, it has identified a new scapegoat for the country's ills: other Europeans, starting with Switzerland's neighbors to the north, the Germans.



"A free passport for everyone? No." - SVP posters display a single-minded obsession with the color black.

It all started in 2007, when the Swiss parliament approved "full freedom of movement and residence" for most European Union citizens. All Europeans needed in order to move to Switzerland and enjoy the society's benefits was a work contract. Since then, thousands of Europeans have moved to this landlocked Alpine nation to assume frequently high-status jobs in business, research, education, and medicine. A full quarter of a million Germans now call Switzerland their home.

This arrangement has worked out quite well for the Swiss, 63.7 of whom are already German speakers anyway. Experts claim that without German doctors, the exemplary Swiss healthcare system would fall to pieces. But last November, Christoph Blocher, the SVP's chief strategist, issued an announcement stating:  "It is intolerable that now - in the midst of the recession - thousands of Germans are still coming into Switzerland every month." The timing was no accident, because the city of Zurich is already gearing up for local elections in March, which will represent an important test for the 2011 parliamentary election. So on December 15, the SVP duly published ads in the daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, proclaiming: "German sleaze is spreading: Because Germans mostly hire other Germans - in universities and hospitals." Other ads shouted: "More and more arrogant foreigners. Stand up for Switzerland!" and "Arrogant foreigners are driving up our rents!"

Unlike the Muslims, who have scarcely any lobby in Switzerland, the Germans have been fighting back since late December with an ad campaign of their own. Two hundred German professors and researchers living and working in Switzerland signed a statement grandly claiming that "the racist and xenophobic rhetoric, ideology, and policies of the SVP are sabotaging our youth's education and is endangering our future."

Over the past few days the SVP has counter-attacked with a new campaign making fun of the professors' protest. "Are Germans a 'race'?," the news ads ask, pointing out that it was "exalted professors who first introduced racial superstitition to the world in the first place" - a reference to the German "racial hygienists" of the early twentieth century who not only legitimized but in many cases also perpetrated Nazi war crimes. It's hard to imagine a greater insult to present-day German academics. No one knows what will happen next, although some of the party's critics claim that a boycott of German instructors and even German-owned restaurants may be next. Already, individual Germans are claiming to have received anonymous threats.

So are we likely to witness an anti-German Kristallnacht in the near future? Hardly. Until the bricks start flying, there is no reason to expect this conflict to expand beyond newspaper pages and websites. But the emotions behind it are real. German nationals hold a great many prestigious positions in Switzerland, including half of all professorial chairs, and already represent 10 percent of Zurich's population (the city is now 30 percent foreign). Official statistics show that 1,600 Germans moved to Switzerland every month last year. 30,000 have moved in since 2007 alone. Many qualified Swiss do indeed feel as if they are being "elbowed out" by their big neighbor. And as East Germans already learned to their despair after 1989, (West) Germans really do believe they know everything better. But the SVP campaign plugs into broader trends and fears.

Since the attack on Swiss banking privacy laws in the wake of the global recession, the Swiss - who have so far resisted complete integration into the EU - have become aware of how privileged they have been so far and how much they have to lose in a united Europe and an increasingly globalized, networked world. Trained professionals feel the pinch more than anyone else. Why even strive for an academic or medical career when there are thousands of better-qualified Europeans trained in places like Munich, London, and Paris lining up for their turn to move across the border? The Zurich city government is even hiring bus drivers in Berlin. Moreover, Switzerland is being swamped by foreign cultural influences, symbolized by the High German spoken by their northern neighbors, which is increasingly displacing the distinctive Swiss dialect. After centuries of true or at least perceived isolation and neutrality, the Swiss are now facing global competition on a scale never imagined before. Not everyone regards this state of affairs as an opportunity.

The Swiss government and business interests have not responded well to these challenges. Instead of investing more in the training and qualification of their own people, they have found it easier to import foreign talent wholesale. Nor have they given much thought to integrating foreign workers and developing a new understanding of what it means to be Swiss in a rapidly changing world.

The SVP has been cultivating these worries for years now and has been taking tips from its more experienced allies, which include the US Republican Party, the British Conservative Party, and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. As a result, its traditionally cautious conservative platform (calling for law and order, tough anti-drug policies, the strengthening of traditional authoritarian values and gender relations) has steadily been creeping rightward to embrace outright xenophobia. And yet, the SVP's mindset is hardly new in Switzerland, which has a hidden tradition of racism and exclusion that the country's leaders have so far been adept at hiding. For example, few people recall that it was the Swiss (seconded by the Swedes) who asked the Nazis to print a prominent black "J" in the passports of Jews to make it easier for Swiss officials to turn Jewish refugees away at the border.

So it is worth keeping an eye on the SVP as a test case for the rest of Europe as the continent faces the double challenge of globalization and recession. While Switzerland's current situation may be unique, the concerns the SVP is exploiting - and the populist anger it is tapping - are universal.

http://open.salon.com/blog/lost_in_berlin/2010/01/14/the_swiss_right_identifies_a_new_scapegoat_-_germans

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm not sure if arguing that the SVP represents a 'test case' for anything outside Switzerland is a good idea.

[minionofmidas]

For generations, Switzerland has enjoyed a global reputation as a place of tolerance, neutrality, democracy, and basic decency.

News to me... (OK, apart from the "neutrality" thingee. Switzerland hasn't been an above-averagely democratic place for Western Europe for any extended period after 1789, or even an averagely democratic one really, though that depends on definition.)

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

Wow, after Muslims and French they go against Germans...audacious!

Also, isn't that poster...typisch? (damn I use this German word that I like in a nasty context).

What a good ambiance there seems to be there...

[Middle-aged Europe]

For generations, Switzerland has enjoyed a global reputation as a place of tolerance, neutrality, democracy, and basic decency.

News to me... (OK, apart from the "neutrality" thingee. Switzerland hasn't been an above-averagely democratic place for Western Europe for any extended period after 1789, or even an averagely democratic one really, though that depends on definition.)

Yeah, they didn't let women vote in federal elections until 1971.

[k-onmmunist]

So basically, they just hate everyone?

[Хahar 🤔]

I'm not sure if arguing that the SVP represents a 'test case' for anything outside Switzerland is a good idea.

As goes Switzerland, so goes Austria, no?

[Gren]

I'm not sure if arguing that the SVP represents a 'test case' for anything outside Switzerland is a good idea.

As goes Switzerland, so goes Austria, no?

Not sure. I think that far-right trend started in Austria before it did in Switzerland. But whoever said that this may be a test case for Europe is not completely wrong. Just look last year European election.

[Bo]

Aren't most Swiss German? If so, then they're hypocrites. Or do the Swiss right just dislike all foreigners?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Aren't most Swiss German? If so, then they're hypocrites. Or do the Swiss right just dislike all foreigners?

They speak a version of German, but that isn't the same thing at all...

[The Mikado]

Aren't most Swiss German? If so, then they're hypocrites. Or do the Swiss right just dislike all foreigners?

In before Lewis makes a joke along the lines of, "Whatever they speak in Switzerland, it sure ain't German!"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Aren't most Swiss German? If so, then they're hypocrites. Or do the Swiss right just dislike all foreigners?

In before Lewis makes a joke along the lines of, "Whatever they speak in Switzerland, it sure ain't German!"

Swiss accents are funny.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Aren't most Swiss German? If so, then they're hypocrites. Or do the Swiss right just dislike all foreigners?

They speak a version of German, but that isn't the same thing at all...

I wouldn't so much call it German as much as "I have the God given ability to speak as if my mouth is full of soda crackers even though it isn't!"

[Tender Branson]

I'm not sure if arguing that the SVP represents a 'test case' for anything outside Switzerland is a good idea.

As goes Switzerland, so goes Austria, no?

To some extent, yes:

German students swoop down on Austrian universities

In some border university towns, the student population is as high as 12%, as German students escape the various clauses in their own universities and enrol ‘abroad’ for subjects like medicine and psychology. A common tongue and the abolition of tuition fees are the fundamental attractions.

18.000: that’s the estimate of how many German students are currently enrolled in Austrian universities, according to the Austrian press agency. The figure has been on the rise over recent years, making Austria the second most popular country for German students who choose to study their entire degree, or at least part of it, abroad. Germans represent 5% of the total student population in Austria, with this rising as high as 12% in cities like Salzburg, which are close to the German border.

The migratory phenomenon is nothing new: for years Austria has welcomed German students who sought to escape the ‘various clauses’ lurking in their country’s university system. Medicine and psychology, which don’t require entrance examinations in Austria, are the most popular choice among German students. ‘I am one of those fugitives,’ states Beltram, 23, a German student enrolled at the Medical university of Vienna. ‘I chose to study medicine after working with the Red Cross and doing a work placement with the ambulance service. In Germany though, it’s very difficult to get a place at university.’ ‘In Austria, you can study whatever you want,’ sums up Stella, who is originally from Saarbrücken in Germany, and now studys in Vienna. ‘In Germany, only the students with the highest marks can choose the more popular courses.’

It is not just subjects like medicine and psychology that are attracting foreign students; communication studies, political sciences, education and law are all popular too. ‘In Germany, you have to sit state exams to become a lawyer, the first after you finish your studies, and the second once you’ve completed your two year placement. In Austria, you take the exam after you’ve studied each subject; it works out best for everyone,’ explains Shahanaz, who is studying law at the University of Vienna after having been enrolled at Mainz in Germany for four weeks. ‘Thankfully, I was able to transfer my credits,’ she explains. ‘It’s thanks to the EU that I was able to study here,’ adds Beltram. ‘It’s only been possible because of Europe.’

If the geographical proximity and the mutual language between the two languages has facilitated the arrival of German students to the small Alpine country, the abolition of tuition fees, passed into law in March (and applicable from the start of the 2009 - 2010 academic year) following the accession of a new Austrian coalition has only intensified the flow.

Reintroduced in 2000/ 01 after 29 fee-free years, tuition fees had reached 363 euros (£3326) per semester for Austrian and EU citizens. In September, this was reduced to the sum of 16 euros (£14) per year. As a result, the university of Salzburg has recorded a 20% increase in the number of students applying to study psychology since the summer.

Far from welcoming the increasing interest, Austrian universities fear that there will not be enough space to accept all applicants. Austrian taxpayers have also been quick to criticise, complaining about having to fund the education of foreign students. The rector of the university of Innsbruck addressed these issues on Austrian channel ORF in October: ‘Is it reasonable to expect taxpaying Austrians to offer up their university infrastructure to a large part of central Europe?’ he asked. Nevertheless, the impact of the abolition of tuition fees on the number German students enrolling in Austrian universities remains difficult to evaluate.

Proportionately, there are more Austrian students who jump the border to study in Germany than Germans who move to Austria for university! In 2007, 2% of Austrian students enrolled at German universities, whereas only 0.6% of Germans chose to study in Austria (according to unesco and German and Austrian national statistics). Worried about this migratory phenomenon, the Austrian authorities still tend to favour accepting their own students, to the detriment of the EU’s non-discriminatory policy of European citizens.

Having already been pinned up by the European court of justice in 2005 for discrimination towards non-national European citizens, in 2006 Austria introduced a new measure which is seen as favouring the admission of Austrian students: the quota policy. These quotas apply more stringently to fields of study attractive to German students. That is certainly the case with medicine, where 75% of places are reserved for Austrian students, 20% for EU citizens, and 5% for non-EU citizens. ‘The entrance exam for us is even harder still,’ complains Beltram, who in order to obtain one of the few places reserved for EU students on the first year medicine course, has had to achieve a better mark than her Austrian counterparts. And for no particular reason. Austria has justified the policy by pointing out the shortage of medical professionals throughout the country. It is an argument that has convinced the EU, at least for the meantime. The quota policy is to be allowed until 2012.

http://wien.cafebabel.com/en/post/2009/11/12/German-students-swoop-down-on-Austrian-universities

[Verily]

Hopefully this backfires spectacularly on the SVP and they die a horrible death.

Also, center-right? The CVP is center-right. The FDP is center-right. The SVP is fascist.

[minionofmidas]

Aren't most Swiss German? If so, then they're hypocrites. Or do the Swiss right just dislike all foreigners?

In before Lewis makes a joke along the lines of, "Whatever they speak in Switzerland, it sure ain't German!"

Swiss accents are funny.

Swiss Germans speak two languages. One that until fairly recently completely dominated airwaves, parliament, education, etc (and still dominates education, just not completely anymore) and which they mistake for High German and some Germans mistake for Swiss German (because it's what they'll speak to Germany Germans). It's close enough to High German to be almost completely intelligible even to the untrained ear. Certainly closer to High German than to Swiss German.
The other is Swiss German, which is almost as divergent from German as Dutch, which means I get the broad gist of what is being said from the third sentence on or so, if people are speaking clearly and slowly without any disrupting background noises.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Damn f-cking retarded racist country.