A well-known Swiss entertainer has died at the age of 80. Dimitri Jakob Müller – known simply as Dimitri – was a popular clown and mime.
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His death was confirmed by an agent of his family on Wednesday.
Bo in Ascona in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, Dimitri was just seven when he decided that he wanted to become a clown.
He trained in Paris with Etienne Decroux, performed with the Marcel Marceau troupe, and received accolades for his solo mime act during the 1962 Inteational Mime Festival in Berlin. In 1973, he performed in New York’s Big Apple Circus.
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He and his wife founded a theatre, and he also founded Scuola Teatro Dimitri – a performing arts college. Dimitri was inducted into the Inteational Clown Hall of Fame in 1995.
A national treasure, Dimitri won the SwissAward for culture in 2009 and 2014.
Tribute
Interior Minister Alain Berset paid tribute to Dimitri, saying the clown had marked the cultural life of Switzerland for more than 50 years.
"He was an inspiring and warmhearted person and one of the most important stage artists in the country," he told the Swiss News Agency.
"Switzerland will badly miss his poetic style and his ability to make people laugh. He made us all happy."
Brexit, the British referendum decision to leave the European Union, has shown yet again that in Weste democracies, older people are overrepresented among voters. And Switzerland is no exception.
Ageing is an issue for Avenir Suisse, a think tank devoted to economic and social themes. On top of traditional topics like retirement and healthcare, it is also looking at the consequences of ‘gerontocracy’ for democracy. In Switzerland, the average age of citizens who go to the polls is greater than the average age of the population overall.
The elderly clearly vote more often than young people. Whereas tuout of under-30 voters averages around 35%, that of septuagenarians hovers around 70%.
In 2015, the average age of voters in Switzerland was 56. That number should soon exceed 60.
To counteract this overrepresentation, a few days before Brexit, Avenir Suisse published a proposal on its website advocating giving children the right to vote.
From the cradle to the polls
In the Brexit vote young Brits – the majority of whom chose to stay members of the EU – were outvoted by old voters, who voted to leave.
A clear majority (74%) in the 18–24 age group were in favour of remaining EU members, whereas 75% of voters 45 and older wanted to leave. The ‘go’ vote was cast by an overwhelming 83% of voters over age 65.
“Brexit is an example of the disparity we’re afraid of: the old make a decision, and the young have to live with it,” says Lukas Rühli, author of the Avenir Suisse position paper.
It’s not the first time
After the First World War, in France the Catholic right advocated a system built on a ‘family vote’. Fathers were given supplementary ballots for each of their children, in order to stimulate the repopulation of a country decimated by the war. The idea has never died out.
It resurged again in Germany in 2003, with a parliamentary motion giving children the right to vote from birth, in order to stimulate voting by young parents, especially on domestic policy issues.
Interest hasn’t abated. It resurges periodically, sometimes from the Christian Democrats, other times from the left or the Greens.
In Austria, a movement called Kinderwahlrecht jetzt! (Kids’ vote now!) supports the same cause, but is closer to the conservative parties.
In Switzerland, at the time of the 2007 legislative elections, a candidate from the leftwing Green Party launched the idea of a children’s vote. It found an echo among the other parties (except the conservative right Swiss People’s Party), but it never went beyond the discussion stage.
According to the proposal, the right to vote would be granted to children under age 18, but it would be their parents who actually voted on their behalf, using a supplementary ballot. That’s perhaps fine if it’s a child of three, who won’t protest, but what if it’s a 14-year-old teenager with their own political ideas, which aren’t in line with those of their parents? Wouldn’t letting them vote on their behalf be an abuse of authority?
“I can understand the objection, but I don’t share it,” says Rühli. “We aren’t proposing that parents directly represent the interests of their children. Parents already have decision-making capacity for their children, and make numerous decisions on their behalf. Those decisions may not always please the offspring.”
‘One person, one vote’
The proposal was not exactly met with waves of enthusiasm. Criticism came from across the political spectrum. In the French-language daily newspaper 24Heures, historian Olivier Meuwly of the centre-right Radical Party spoke of a “retu to the old regime”, while the centre-left Social Democrat François Cherix criticised the “ridiculous idea”.
Support was no greater among the youth sections of the political parties, all of whom rejected the idea. “Rights have to go hand in hand with civic obligations,” objected Andri Silberschmidt, president of the Young Radical Party. “From a legal point of view, it’s wrong to allow someone to vote who is not of legal age and thus not accountable. And allowing parents to vote on behalf of their children contradicts the principle of ‘one man, one vote’.”
Social Democrat Jacqueline Fehr, a former member of parliament who serves as the party’s vice president, also supports the concept ‘one person, one vote’. That didn’t stop her from floating a proposal on Facebook one week after Brexit that calls for a system whereby votes would be weighted: two votes for people aged 18–40, 1.5 votes for people between the ages of 40–65, and one vote for people over 65.
In Zurich’s daily newspaper the Tages-Anzeiger, the seasoned politician explained that this would not be her ‘preferred solution’; rather, she is interested in stimulating debate. She achieved her objective, but the majority of responses to her Facebook post were not in favour of the idea. Fehr herself – like many of her followers – supports reducing the voting age to 16 years.
Voting rights for graduates
The canton of Glarus took this step in 2007. To everyone’s surprise, the citizens’ assembly gave young people the right to vote on community and cantonal issues from the age of 16. To date, it is the only canton that has taken this step. Many others have considered the proposition, but none have passed it. The last to reject the idea was Be in 2009, with 75% of voters against.
Andri Silberschmidt, president of the Young Radicals, is sceptical as well. For him, “reducing the voting age to 16 simply to increase participation is just combatting the symptoms of the problem, and won’t change much in the long run”.
He believes that young people have to react differently. “We have to get our own house in order. We have to talk to each other when there’s an important subject, and make an effort to get out and vote.”
That’s a view shared by Flavio Bundi, who heads easyvote, an initiative of the umbrella organisation of youth parliaments in Switzerland. Easyvote produces brochures and videos that help 18 to 25-year-olds understand the issues that are being voted on.
The videos, created with animated drawings in the style of “draw my life”, give a completely neutral account of an issue in three minutes. The goal is to get young people interested in politics and to overcome their inhibitions, according to Favio Bundi.
“But I’m not sure that giving children the right to vote is the only solution. No more than giving 16-year-olds the right. It’s important to get them interested in politics at an early age. But voting isn’t the only way to get involved. There’s also the option of joining a youth parliament.”
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Translated from French by Jeannie Wurz, swissinfo.ch
Thousands of people drive across the border from France, Germany and Italy to Switzerland every day for work. One company wants to see if they can make their staff commute in a more environmentally-friendly way.
More than 34,000 people alone commute specifically from Lörrach and Waldshut, two areas in Germany close to the northe Swiss border, on a daily basis. And some of them are heading to work at ABB. The company found out from an employee survey that 80% of their staff who commute do so in a petrol or diesel-powered vehicle, and they come alone.
ABB is working with partners from academic institutions and politics on a small pilot project to see if loaning electric cars can make any difference to how their staff get to work. It’s also about setting an example for other companies, to help them encourage their employees to think about emissions when they travel to the office.
Five BMW i3 cars are being loaned for 12 months, and one is also being used as a pool car for employee business trips. The cars can be recharged for free at the ABB offices in four Swiss locations close to the border.
What would your company have to do to get you to use an electric car to get to work? Free recharging? Loan you a car? Some other form of subsidy?
Let us know in the Idea below! You can contact the author of this article on Facebook or Twitter.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić is one of the world leaders looking to Switzerland’s vocational training system to reform their country’s workforce. He takes Serbia’s workers to task for a lack of diligence but believes Swiss expertise can help put them on the right track.
swissinfo.ch: Where does Serbia stand in the process of introducing vocational training into its labour market?
Aleksandar Vučić: We have started to talk about it, we launched a huge discussion within our society two years ago and then I wanted to meet Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann to collect as much information as possible. In the meantime [our businesses] got a lot of investors from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland who were saying that they didn't get the quality from our education system that they expected. So we started to think about it, especially with such a high unemployment rate among young people.
In a year and a half we have had 65 pilot projects that delivered good results. For the first time I saw young guys in our country – 16 years old, teenagers – who were working in a very diligent, dedicated way in several private companies. We need it not only because of the final results, which will be a bigger growth rate and lower unemployment; it's about a change of our mind sets, better working habits, better dedication and devotion, and it's a different approach to someone's life which I think is of the biggest significance.
"If people in Serbia would hear that two guys eaed more from apprenticeship work than someone with a PhD, they wouldn't believe it."
swissinfo.ch: In what specific ways do you hope Switzerland can help your country?
A.V.: What is this all about? How do we find the best way to connect our education system to our employment system? How do they need to work together, and who is going to be in charge of it – industries, industry associations, faculties, deans, parents, youngsters? These are experiences we are leaing from Swiss development agencies and others. It's not about a huge amount of money, although Switzerland is one of the biggest donors to us. It’s about know-how, changing our mind sets, changing our habits – changing everything that we used to know, because the last 50 or 60 years were a big economic failure for us, and now we need to do something differently.
I once visited a Swiss company where there were two young Swiss guys originally from Serbia, 16 years old. And after so many years I saw young Serbian guys, ready to work, very mature, not living in the clouds. I have an 18-year-old son and they were much more mature than he was. They are ready to work, they are ready to improve their skills, and they are very much satisfied because they can ea something, they can spend that money and take a holiday for themselves without taking money from their parents or grandparents as we do in Serbia.
We are facing and will face a lot of resistance within our society because it's very easy for many people to just keep their privileges, not change anything and benefit from an old system, saying 'who cares about new generations'?
swissinfo.ch: What is the attitude in Serbia towards allowing young people to have a lot of responsibility in companies, as the Swiss vocational training system demands? Are youth as young as 16 allowed to work under current legislation?
A.V.: Legislatively and legally speaking, it is allowed, but it is not widespread among companies because they see it as a cost. And that's a huge problem for us. We'll need to change our labour law and education law and create a new system. And that's why we are working with the Swiss govement, the German govement and the Austrian chamber of commerce on these issues.
We know that this German-speaking model, particularly the Swiss model, gives the best results.
swissinfo.ch: Do you feel that you have legislative support from your colleagues to pass the necessary measures?
A.V.: We will get our support – we just had elections and we won with a landslide majority – although we will feel and face a lot of challenges and resistance. Particularly, the so-called "intellectual elite" will be opposed. Because they always say, as is also a custom in the United States, that college is the only place where you can lea something and be very successful. And my dream is not that. My dream is that my children are honest people who work hard and ea for themselves. That's why I invited Swiss experts to Serbia, to convey messages of real life and real success. If people in Serbia would hear that two guys eaed more from apprenticeship work than someone with a PhD, they wouldn't believe it.
swissinfo.ch: What do the young people in Serbia want? Are they looking beyond the university system for training?
A.V.: People want to get very decent jobs with very decent salaries, not to take any risks. We don't have the risk gene that Americans do, we lost it during the period of self-managed socialism and once again during those terrible wars in the 1990s. We lost our working habits, and now we need to revive and renew them.
In parts of India, the services of a trained mouer are called upon at funerals to create an atmosphere of grief and bereavement. One such mouer was invited to Switzerland as part of an artistic performance.
Jayalakshmi Gopalan is an Oppari performer, a dying southe Indian tradition of singing at other people’s funerals. She has been invited to Switzerland to perform at the Belluard Bollwerk Inteational festival in Fribourg where she shared her talent with swissinfo.ch.
Gopalan comes from a family of astrologers who are not comfortable with her singing at funerals, as it is something usually associated with lower castes.
She has to lea as much as she can about the deceased from their relatives to personalise the songs and generate strong emotions among the mouers.
To ensure an authentic performance, Gopalan remembers the deaths of her own family members to bring herself to the same emotional state as the bereaved.
Oppari performances used to be preceded by the beating of the drum, or “parai”, by the low caste members of the Paraiyar community. It’s where the English word “pariah” comes from. Beating the parai to announce a death is also a disappearing custom, due to its negative connotations with caste hierarchy.
You can read the full story on swissinfo.ch on July 21.
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A male oamental headdress 'me-àkà' from 1960-70, and decorative items to be wo on the arms from 1950, both from Brazil.
(MEG, J. Watts)
A Geneva museum is showcasing hundreds of items from Amazonian indigenous groups that were amassed by travellers and later gifted to the city. But do works like these belong here or in their country of origin?
Set amongst the pretend foliage, speckled light and sounds of jungle habitats lie everyday objects and ceremonial items. Recorded monkey screeches, bird squawks and even illegal logging can be heard, reminding visitors of the life and struggles of the Amazonian populations.
This is Amazonia - The Shaman and the Mind of the Forest, where three centuries’ worth of works are on show, collected by soldiers, botanists, engineers and diplomats who travelled to different parts of the watershed region.
“Most of the objects obtained in the 19th and early 20th centuries were often acquired through exchanges with the populations,” said Geneva’s Ethnographic Museum director Boris Wastiau.
In 1759 Ami Butini, a Genevan plantation proprietor and slave owner in Suriname was one of the first to donate curios from the region to the public library in Geneva.
Oscar Dusendschön, a Brazilian of German origin, who owned a rubber business in Manaus, bequeathed around 400 objects, at the time of his death, to Geneva, where he had retired. Many of these are on display at the new exhibit, such as colourful feather tiaras, axes and a shaman’s rattle.
According to Wastiau - he “most likely obtained” these objects from explorers who visited him in the Brazilian jungle town.
“The first things that were brought over were feather finery… to show what was exotic at the time… always with a Euro-centric, and ethnocentric perspective, to show that those people were savages,” explained archaeologist Leonid Velarde. “Through the type of items they collected – javelins, arrows, harpoons - the collectors were reflecting their views towards the indigenous peoples.”
A mid-20th Century mask from Brazil made with wood, reeds, palm stalk, feathers, pearl, tucum nuts, beeswax, resin, cotton and clay.
(MEG, J. Watts)
Objects of importance
In 2014, Switzerland retued a 2000-year-old stone monolith, representing the Illa del Ekeko, or deity of prosperity, to Bolivia. The figure, of important shamanistic significance, was obtained in 1858 by the Swiss explorer Johann Jakob von Tschudi allegedly in exchange for a bottle of cognac. After Tschudi died, his family donated the statue to Be’s History Museum.
Carine Simoes, deputy head of Switzerland’s Specialised Body for Inteational Transfer of Cultural Property which handles restitution, explained that often requests to retu objects are founded on “ethical and deontological” foundations, as opposed to law.
“Most times there is a discussion between the parties to find a solution that is the most fair and equitable. It is rarely based on law for objects which have been exported a long time ago and in particular before 2005, year of entry into force of the Swiss federal act on the inteational transfer of cultural property.”
Under Swiss legislation, cultural property refers to objects “of importance”, which are old and “of ethnological interest.”
Wastiau said national legislation in the countries of origin varied regarding the type of cultural property in question. In the region, legislation had often been drawn up with pre-Columbian objects in mind. “In the case of many South American countries archaeological patrimony legislation has existed since the early 19th century. I don’t think that similar legal protection existed for items that may have been considered as artisanal objects and did not have the same patrimonial value in their countries of origin.”
No disputed items
Velarde, who has collaborated with the museum, explained that while objects were taken from their original owners and indigenous groups with agreements in more recent years, problems may arise more for the earlier pieces, which had been acquired before the beginning of the 20th century.
“It would appear that the objects are clean, but not always. There are pieces that certainly should not have left [their ethnic groups and respective countries], certainly ritual ones.”
The show’s curator Philippe Mathez told swissinfo.ch that there are no ongoing disputes over items in the museum’s collection and any future claims would have to be considered.
While the reasons for collecting have changed since the times of the early collectors whose acquisitions are highlighted at the museum, appreciation of cultural objects by their original owners has also evolved.
Velarde said that before, many indigenous people had “not realised the scope of losing their patrimony . Now there is a growing awareness - which due to technologies, such as the inteet – allows it to spread more easily”.
“I think there will be an increasing mindfulness in the coming years to request the retu of objects to their countries of origin.”
Many of the early collections of Amazonian objects, some from as early as the 18th century, which are now part of Geneva’s Ethnographic Museum, came to Europe and Geneva, in particular.
Hunting blowpipes, still tipped in poisonous curare, shields, bows and arrows, feathered jewellery and finery and hallucinogenic substances are amongst the nearly 500 items in the show, placed under the Swiss commission for UNESCO.
In one vitrine, a flute, only partially visible through a leafy screen, is exhibited. Traditionally, only certain members of ethnic groups are authorised to view the instrument, which comes from Brazil’s Mato Grosso region.
Curator Philippe Mathez explained that the museum hoped to be sensitive to indigenous rituals and traditions in the presentation of objects, many of which had strong spiritual meanings.
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What do you think? Should artefacts like these belong in museums abroad? Tell us in the Idea section below.
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The pack took in the Nydeggstalden hill in Be's old town as the city tued out to watch
They came, they saw, they cycled. Stage 16 of the Tour de France has arrived in Switzerland, and the crowds have tued out in their droves to cheer on the riders and give some special attention to Swiss pro cyclist, Fabian Cancellara.
The Swiss capital was in full-on Tour mode from Monday moing, with stalls out on the streets, public transport diverted and a summery party-atmosphere, although the race didn’t cross over the Swiss border with France until the afteoon.
Temperatures were high and thousands of people were out on the streets to meet the race in Be, as the world’s biggest cycling race snaked its way through the country and then the city's streets.
Be's cobbles attracted some attention in the inteational media, as overall race leader and yellow-jersey holder, Chris Froome told British TV channel ITV4, “The last few kilometres was pretty sketchy."
He added, "there was lots of road fuiture, lefts and rights, and then there were the cobbles – we were just trying to stay out of trouble”.
The Swiss Fabian Cancellara, who finished 6th in this stage, had tweeted earlier in the day about how he was feeling to be taking part in the race in his last year as a pro rider.
As you might expect, there was a lot of support for the Beese sportsman Cancellara, as he raced into his hometown. Afterwards, he told the Associated Press he was “missing a little bit of strength”, adding, “It's special to ride in your own streets but, for now, I'm more tired than anything else.”
Here's that moment when the riders crossed the finish line.
Peter Sagan won the stage, and the spectators were keen to get close to the sports star at the Stade de Suisse stadium in Wankdorf, Be.
After today's efforts the riders will have a rest day in Be on Tuesday, before setting off again on Wednesday.
Where are they headed next? Take a look at their route.
What did you think of stage 16 and the route so far through Switzerland? Tell us in the Idea below, or get in touch with the author of this article on Facebook or via twitter @jofahy.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, jokes with Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland in January 2016
(Keystone)
Clinton or Trump: as far as Swiss interests go, it might not matter. Bilateral relations between the two countries have been dominated by trade issues and long-running banking and tax disputes.
Swiss banks – the issue
Around a dozen Swiss banks are still being probed for helping US citizens evade taxes. Could their cases hamper relations under a new president?
Not according to centre-right Radical parliamentarian Christa Markwalder, president of the Swiss Parliamentary Association Switzerland-USA: “The issue has calmed down, even though Swiss parliament didn't accept the so-called Lex USA [govement-sponsored 2013 agreement].”
Roland Büchel, a conservative right Swiss People’s Party MP and president of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, also believes the tax dispute is over. He said both countries had ‘tued the page’, adding that relations were in ‘much better shape’.
But Luzi Stamm, also from the People’s Party and a member of the foreign affairs committee, is sceptical: “I'm disappointed with the US about how they put Switzerland and others under pressure. I've heard many times in the past that this is a final solution to the [banking and tax dispute] but the discussions start over and over again. You can't trust the US in that sense.”
Swiss banks - the background
Following a $780 million (CHF762 million) fine for UBS in 2009, the US hit over 80 Swiss banks with penalties totalling over $5 billion in a dispute over tax-dodging American clients. In January 2016, the US Department of Justice finally wound up its ‘Swiss Bank Program’, a diplomatic plea bargain accord finalised in 2013 for Swiss banks with accounts belonging to US tax cheats.
Trade – the issue
Business and trade relations are growing. The US absorbed 13.5% of Swiss products (minus gold and jewelry goods) last year – a rise of 6% in value. By contrast, global Swiss exports fell 2.6% in 2015 and by 5% to Germany, the biggest single market for Swiss goods.
One trade issue that could cast a shadow on future relations is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a sweeping US-European free trade deal under discussion. Switzerland is in a ‘holding patte’, monitoring the talks it cannot directly participate in and waiting to see if it can later join the TTIP. But officials are conceed by possible trading and investment disadvantages.
As the US presidential campaign heats up, protectionist and populist statements made by candidates have worried some Swiss observers.
“We have the impression that the US is a very open trade-friendly country but if you look at specific cases and also during the current campaign you see a movement against opening up markets,” said Markwalder. “I think protectionism is a real problem.”
Trade – Trump or Clinton?
Martin Naville, chief executive of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, is convinced that the positive trading partnership will continue no matter which candidate enters the White House in November.
Hillary Clinton has a proven political track record as both Senator and Secretary of State, and would likely continue Barack Obama’s pro-inteational business policies, Naville believes. “She is fully aware that this creates jobs and wealth rather than closing down borders to trade,” he told swissinfo.ch.
Unlike some other commentators, Naville is relaxed about the prospect of Donald Trump as president: “There has been a lot of campaign rhetoric from Trump that has alarmed many people, but he does not want to take a big hammer and smash everything up. He may be a loose cannon with his Idea, and some people may not like his style, but he is far too pragmatic to want to change the world.”
“Fundamentally, Congress and the Supreme Court have more influence on foreign trade than whoever sits in the White House.”
FATCA - US expats
The entry into force of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), requiring financial institutions to share information about Americans' accounts worth more than $50,000, and other tax evasion legislation, continue to cause headaches for US expats in Switzerland.
“Americans are treated as toxic by Swiss banks (and banks in other non US countries around the world), primarily because of the draconian penalties the US has threatened if the banks do not tu over account information,” said Rick Adams, an American residing in Geneva.
“I know of one American who was to be hired by a Swiss company until the company's pension provider said "no Americans." Swiss companies, therefore, are denied the option of hiring talented individuals who happen to have a connection to the US tax system.”
US ambassador to Be Suzi Levine said Swiss banks such as UBS, Credit Suisse, Vontobel and Commerzbank had been persuaded to accept US clients and to not make decisions based on citizenship. “We believe that over time more and more banks will join up,” she added.
Vocational training – the issue
The Obama administration has embraced the idea of vocational training and apprenticeships and sought help from the Swiss to try to double the number of young people taking up schemes. Last September, both countries signed a joint declaration of intent – an agreement to work together, sharing knowledge on work-based leaing.
At the second Inteational Conference on Vocational and Professional Education and Training in Winterthur last month, Chris Lu, US Deputy Secretary of Labour, thanked Switzerland, describing the agreement as a ‘historic commitment to work with our counterparts who wrote the book on apprenticeships’. Swiss firms such as Nestlé, Bühler and Zurich Insurance have been actively promoting apprenticeships in the US.
Vocational training – moving forward
US ambassador to Be Suzi Levine believes Switzerland has the best apprenticeship model that could be adapted for the US. She admits it is difficult to know how things will move forward under a new administration but says there is ‘tremendous bipartisan support’ for US apprenticeship plans.
Intellectual property
One issue that may rear its ugly head is the protection of intellectual property. Although Switzerland is adapting its laws, the Office of the United States Trade Representative backed by the US music and film lobby and members of Congress insisted that Switzerland be added to a US govement watch list this year. US copyright holders claim to have been prevented from enforcing their rights against online infringers and the US believes Switzerland has become an increasingly popular host country for websites with pirated music, films and video games.
Intellectual property – tough Trump?
Some observers have raised eyebrows that the Office of the United States Trade Representative added IP-rights defender Switzerland to a watch list alongside countries like Brazil, Canada and Turkey in its latest “Special 301 Report on Protection of American Intellectual Property Rights Across the World”. According to the Intellectual Property Watch online publication, the report and watch list is more of an agenda for engagement but ‘in rare cases could extend to trade sanctions’. But in a widely-commented speech on the economy last month, Trump threatened to use ‘every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes’.
US-Switzerland
Between 1700 and 2015, about 460,000 Swiss citizens emigrated to the US. The number of Americans with Swiss origin is estimated to be around one million. In 2015, 80,218 Swiss citizens are living in the US, i.e. about 10% of all Swiss abroad.
In the 19th century, a relationship of friendship developed between the two “sister republics” – Switzerland and the US – on the basis of shared values such as democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
In 1822, Switzerland opened its first consulates in the US, in Washington and in New York. Sixty years later, the opening of the Swiss embassy in Washington marked Switzerland’s first embassy outside Europe.
For the past few decades, Switzerland has provided ‘good offices’ (diplomatic mediation and facilitation efforts), representing the interests of one state in the other - the US in Cuba (and vice versa), Iran in Egypt, the US in Iran, as well as Russia in Georgia (and vice versa).
“Switzerland is known for its deep commitment to solving complex global problems. And it always helps out,” declared US Secretary of State John Kerry in January, as he thanked the Swiss efforts in hosting ongoing negotiations with the Iranian delegation over a deal to curb Tehran's nuclear programme.
(Source: Swiss foreign ministry)
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These are the stories we’re following in the week of July 18.
(Keystone)
Monday
Will Swiss interests in the United States be better served by a Clinton or Trump presidency? The results of our survey of Swiss opinion leaders may surprise you.
(Keystone)
Tuesday
Serbia is the latest country to look to Switzerland to help reform the country’s workforce. We interview Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, who is interested in leaing from Switzerland’s vocational training system.
(Keystone)
Thursday
Each day ends in sleep and every life ends in death but our relationships with sleep and death are complicated and diverse. We hear how two Indian artists are exploring this complexity and diversity in Switzerland, and show that just because something is inevitable, it should not be taken for granted.
Saturday
The start of the Rio Olympics is nearing, and we ‘ring them in’ a bit early with a look inside the Swiss foundry making the traditional bells that sound the final lap of the athletics races.
What you may have missed last week:
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The Pavillon Le Corbusier Museum Heidi Weber in Zurich is one of the architect's works to have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list
(Keystone)
The importance of Le Corbusier’s works has finally been recognised by UNESCO. Why did it take Switzerland so long to appreciate the greatness of the Swiss-French architect?
UNESCO added the architectural works of Le Corbusier – buildings in Switzerland, France, India and Argentina, among others – at the 40th session of the body’s World Heritage Committee on Sunday.
An image of Le Corbusier – his ho-rimmed glasses raised to his forehead – has adoed the Swiss ten-franc note since 1997. “A wonderful honour for what is 5 x 2 francs,” said Swiss satirist Plonk ironically. The other half of the artistic duo, Replonk, added that it is usual for Switzerland to wait for an artist to become famous abroad before it pays homage.
The Swiss author Nicolas Verdan, who wrote a novel titled “Saga, Le Corbusier”, is of a similar opinion. “Switzerland kept its distance from its famous architect for a long time, and he paid his country back.”
This is most evident in his memoirs and private notes. Verdan said the man bo as Charles-Edouard Jeanneret in the weste Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1887 often added criticism or words of disillusionment next to the word Switzerland.
His disdain for the country can also be seen in this archive footage of a Swiss television reporter attempting to ask the architect questions.
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“He became even more frustrated when he wasn’t commissioned to build the Palais des Nations (UN building) in Geneva,” concluded Verdan.
Le Corbusier
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, who called himself Le Corbusier, was bo in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, in 1887.
After training as an engraver at the College of Art there, he made the leap to architecture. He settled in Paris in 1917, where he opened an architecture firm.
In 1919, he launched the joual Esprit Nouveau.
From 1920 on, “purism” was his watchword.
From 1929 on, his work focused on the problems of overcrowded cities.
He died in 1965 at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, on the French Riviera, where he had built a holiday retreat.
Sharon Zielasek came out as transgender ten years ago. After telling her family and friends, explaining to the people she worked with was the next challenge. This part of the process often doesn’t go well.
Sharon told swissinfo.ch her personal story, and explained how she's helping others to overcome potential pitfalls and make a success of their new gender identity.
The name "Toblerone" calls to mind a pyramid-shaped chocolate bar that bears a resemblance to one of Switzerland's famous mountains: the Matterho. But "Toblerone" was also the word used to refer to the tank barriers which can still be found in some rural regions of Switzerland. Thanks to photographer Gabi Vogt these barriers have practically achieved cult status.
Switzerland built the barriers in the 1930s as a defence against the threat from Nazi Germany. They were also built during the Cold War due to the fear of a Soviet invasion. The blocks – each weighing nine tons – were supposed to prevent tanks and motorised military vehicles from passing through the area.
These barriers exist outside of Switzerland as well. The blocks – also known as 'dragons' teeth' – were used on various defensive lines during the Second World War – for example, the Maginot line in France and the Siegfried line in Germany.
Many barriers still haven't been removed today, although they've become obsolete in the meantime and have no further military use. They can serve as a tourist attraction, however, as in the Toblerone Trail, a collection of more than 2,700 blocks that stretch over dozens of kilometres from the foothills of the Jura all the way to Lake Geneva.
Photographer Gabi Vogt combed the country in search of these unusual objects, which have blended in with the landscape over the years.
One of the most curious developments of the global economic malaise has been the rise of negative yielding bonds – investments that actually lose money. For the first time in recent history, all of the bonds that have been issued by the Swiss govement currently "boast" a guaranteed loss for the investor.
The current low interest rate era has already driven down the interest (or coupon) payments being offered by bond issuers. But the forces driving bonds into negative yields is somewhat counterintuitive – it is because demand for bonds is so strong that it outstrips supply.
That means investors are willing to buy bonds at above their face value. When the price inflates so far above face value that it is not covered by the remaining coupon payments, the yield goes into the red and buyers lose money on their investment.
The market has been driven into overdrive by central banks, such as the European Central Bank (ECB), buying up bonds in the hope of stimulating the economy and by the flight of investors to safe haven currencies, such as the Swiss franc.
“The ECB is currently gobbling up govement bonds, and even moving into corporate bonds. This action is artificially inflating demand for bonds, driving up their price and decreasing yields,” explains Julius Bär chief economist Janwillem Acket.
Given the terrible retus being offered by bonds, it seems remarkable that the market is booming. A good deal of the demand is being artificially generated by the ECB and other central banks, but there are other investors willing to take a loss.
Institutional investors such as banks, insurers and pension funds are obliged to hold bonds as part of their reserves for various reasons.
Another group of bond buyers are investors who move into strong currencies, such as the franc, hoping to recoup their losses – and even make a profit – from exchange rates.
And then there are the ultra-cautious investors looking to put some of their wealth into a safe investment that is backed by govements, local authorities or big companies. These investors are
willing to take a hit to escape potentially bigger losses to be found elsewhere in the volatile markets.
Julius Bär believes negative bond yields will be around for several months to come, probably not retuing to positive territory for the best part of a year. For Acket, the only cure is for the global economy to retu to a path of sustainable growth, probably led by a resurgent United States.
Would you still invest in Swiss govement bonds, given the yields? Tell us in the Idea.
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Mothers late in life: Annie Leibovitz, Margarita Louis-Dreyfus (with Philipp Hildebrand), Gianna Nannini
(Keystone, getty, Keystone)
Around 30 women over 50 gave birth in Switzerland last year. In fact, there were even three newbos whose mothers had already celebrated their 60th birthday. Doctors have expressed conce over this trend.
With 32 being the average age for giving birth in Switzerland, the case of advancing mateal age is leading to debate. Is criticism justified? And should lawmakers intervene? Opinions differ in the editorial offices of swissinfo.ch as well.
No, criticism is not justified, says Larissa M. Bieler, editor-in-chief of swissinfo.ch
The incredulity is strong, the outcry as well. Women who become pregnant late in life face significant criticism, attacks by the public and the media. They should be ashamed of themselves. But why?
Medically, a pregnancy that results from fertilisation of the eggs of a young donor is largely independent of the age of the woman carrying the child. According to reports in the media, the oldest Swiss woman to give birth was 66. She delivered twins conceived using donated egg cells and semen. The oldest Spanish woman was a week shy of her 67th birthday, but died two years later of cancer.
And out comes the pseudo-moral sword that people swing whenever society is overwhelmed and doesn’t know to react toward an individual who takes advantage of her freedom to choose, and who chooses to reward her own desires.
Should we be able to exploit our freedoms whenever we want to? Should self-determination be the ultimate goal of our society?
The issue of the freedom of the individual raises serious ethical and psychological questions. Similar questions are at the heart of debates over other current issues. Assisted suicide, for example. Or the adoption of children by same-sex couples. Or the sterilisation of disabled people. Or, as in this case, late pregnancy. On the one side we have what is “medically possible” and on the other what is considered “ethically responsible”. But – and this is the salient point – there are no norms for deciding what is ethically responsible.
Should a woman be able to decide for herself, if her decision also affects a helpless child who is dependent on her? Such mothers are accused of being selfish and irresponsible.
But the argument of what is “for the good of the child” muddies the debate. “For the good of the child” cannot be defined. Is a 20-year-old a better mother than a 60-year-old? Are lesbians better mothers than heterosexuals?
Ethical responsibility is something else. It is a responsibility you have to yourself, to make a carefully weighed, well-informed, and conscious decision. Women today are much more independent. Their lives are less affected by prevailing prejudices, clichés and society’s expectations. In the old days, having a child was not a choice. Today, women are separating themselves from restrictive imperatives and social norms – and are using their bodies the way they want to.
And that’s the way it should be.
Yes, criticism is justified, says Reto Gysi von Wartburg, assistant editor-in-chief of swissinfo.ch
The personal freedom to have children when you want is a valuable asset. And naturally there are circumstances that speak for waiting until well into the second half of life to start a family: a major career opportunity presents itself, it takes a while to find the right partner, or the desire to have a child develops over time.
But still: the good of the child should be the prevailing consideration. A child has the right to parents – ideally, to parents who are ready for the responsibility and who have at least a little of the energy needed to keep up with their offspring. Parents who are over 50 at the birth of their child will be retiring before their son or daughter even gets out of school.
The probability that a child bo to over-50 parents will celebrate his 20th birthday without them is more than five times higher than for a child whose parents were in their 30’s when he was bo.
Being orphaned at an early age is not the only danger. The risk of having parents who are seriously ill or in need of nursing care while the child is still young is significantly higher as well. In any case it’s clear that children with old parents will have less chance of a “carefree” youth, and may also miss out on the opportunity to get to know their grandparents.
Personal responsibility and careful weighing of the risks are more important than regulation in this case. Physically, men retain the option of becoming parents at a greater age than even before, and women can go to nearby countries to find legal options to satisfy their desire for motherhood.
In fact, legislators have already thought about how old parents should be: according to Swiss laws on adoption, the difference in age between an adult and a child being adopted can be no greater than 45 years unless there is a pre-existing relationship between the two.
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Translated from German by Jeannie Wurz, swissinfo.ch
The president of Switzerland, Johann Schneider-Ammann, has strongly condemned an attack in neighbouring France, in which a truck ploughed into packed crowds gathered for Bastille Day celebrations. At least two Swiss are among the more than 80 people confirmed dead.
In a tweet, Schneider-Ammann called the attack in the southe French city of Nice “cowardly”.
“Our hearts go out to France and its population,” he wrote.
La Suisse condamne fermement le lâche attentat de #Nice. De tout cœur avec la France et sa population. #PrésidentCH
“We have to fight against every form of terrorism, but there is no clear answer, or else we could have already reacted,” Schneider-Ammann told the Swiss News Agency from the sidelines of the Asia-Europe meeting in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, which he is currently attending.
"Switzerland is shocked and deeply saddened by the attack in Nice," said a statement from the Federal Chancellery.
The govement has offered its condolences to French President François Hollande on behalf of the Swiss population.
At least two Swiss citizens, including a woman and a child, were killed in the attack on Thursday night.
Swiss victims
The authorities say they cannot rule out that there might be more Swiss nationals among the victims.
The Swiss foreign ministry added that clarifications were in progress. It said it is supporting the families of the victims as part of its consular protection service.
A task force has been set up, which is cooperating closely with the French authorities.
The foreign ministry said it had received 48 calls on its hotline by Friday evening asking it to search for missing people. All but five cases could be resolved.
The Italian-language news site Corriere del Ticino is reporting that one of the victims is a 54-year-old Swiss woman. The information came from the woman's husband. The couple were said to be on holiday in Nice.
The Swiss Federal Office of Police said that it had activated its task force, with govement and cantonal partners, in the wake of the Nice attacks.
The office is in contact with French investigators to see if there is any link to Switzerland. The Federal Intelligence Service said the risk of terrorist attacks remained unchanged but there are no immediate threats.
Half-mast
Flags are flying at half-mast in front of the Swiss parliament and the French embassy in Be.
The embassy organised a gathering in silence outside its premises in the capital, Be, on Friday evening to remember the victims of the Nice attacks and their families. Gatherings were also held outside the French consulates in Zurich and Geneva.
National holiday
At around 11pm local time on Thursday a large white truck plunged into the crowd gathered on Nice’s Promenade des Anglais. Thousands of people were assembled to watch fireworks for France’s national holiday. Reports say the driver fired shots.
(swissinfo.ch)
At least 84 people are dead, including many children and tourists, the French interior ministry said early Friday moing. A further 50 people were in critical condition in hospital.
The attacker was shot dead by police after driving for two kilometres.
President Hollande said in a pre-dawn television address that the country was "under the threat of Islamic terrorism".
World leaders, including President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, joined in condemnation of what they called a terrorist attack.
France has declared three days of national mouing, starting on Saturday.
The Nice attack comes eight months and a day after a series of bomb and gun attacks on Paris in which 130 people died.
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Young people are actively taking part in Swiss politics and they are not systematically overruled by the older generation of voters
(Keystone)
Contrary to widespread perception, the young generation is not necessarily on the losing side in votes. Research in the wake of recent ballot box upsets in Switzerland and in Britain shows that the reality is more complex.
The outcome of the Swiss vote in February 2014 to curb immigration from the European Union didn’t just shock the political and business establishment; it also caused an outcry among the younger generation, notably in the science community.
Many young scientists are conceed that their career prospects could be seriously damaged by the suspension of Switzerland from a prestigious EU research programme.
It did not take long for critics to wa that older – and allegedly more conservative – voters were blocking crucial cooperation between different countries. It prompted an array of reform ideas, including a proposal to prioritise youth votes.
Similar allegations about the voices of youth being silenced by a majority of older citizens were raised again in Britain following June’s Brexit referendum on EU membership.
“There is no empirical evidence to show that the older generation permanently outvotes the group of young voters,” says political scientist Thomas Milic.
He points out that his research is based on a total of 135 nationwide votes in Switzerland over the past 15 years, and not just a single, isolated case.
Nevertheless, Milic acknowledges that there are cases where the younger generation might feel hard done by. “These are likely to be votes with a big impact where the younger generation is particularly conceed,” he says.
Milic's latest research, which was published in German by the DeFacto platform, found that the voting behaviour of the majority of under-30s and those above 70 is similar.
This leaves 35 nationwide votes in Switzerland where the majorities of the young and old age groups differed. The senior citizen voters had the upper hand in 24 cases, while the younger generation was the winner in 11 votes.
Milic also offers an explanation for the lower success rate of the young.
“They are often more radical in their demands and opinions,” he says.
There is no evidence that the majority of the young generation votes with the political left, while issues typically supported by the political centre or the right would automatically tend to convince the over-70s.
There are also cases – people’s initiatives on the introduction of a paid mateity leave – where the younger generation was initially outvoted (notably in 1999), but was ultimately on the winning side in a ballot five years later.
“This appears to show that it can be a question of the timing,” Milic says.
Milic admits that the amount of data available for individual votes might not always be robust, leaving a rather large margin of error. The figures were taken from Vox analyses by three Swiss universities and the leading GfS Be research and polling institute.
“But looking at the overall picture, the results are solid,” he adds.
Young Brits for Brexit
Coincidentally, the London-based Opinium institute recently published its findings about Brexit – the referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
Challenging previous surveys, the Opinium study says the vast majority of 18 to 39-year-olds did take part in the June 23 referendum. The study focuses on the alleged generation gap in the tuout of voters, but not necessarily on how they voted.
It is generally accepted that the young massively supported EU membership, but the question of youth tuout has been subject to controversy.
The researchers say nearly two out of three people in the registered 18 to 35 age group participated in the consultative referendum, which saw 51.9% voters approving a proposal for Britain to leave the 28-nation bloc.
In their report, the authors say that the British media used outdated figures, apparently for lack of data from an official election study or exit polls.
“The generation gap was really about how people voted, and not about whether they voted or not,” Michael Butler and Sarah Harrison from the London School of Economics conclude.
The Meyers have transformed the less than perfect Montreux halls into a cutting edge sound experience
(Keystone)
Sporting a pony tail, straggly grey beard, long white hair and flowing robes, John and Helen Meyer have a certain mystical air about them. The elderly co-owners of Meyer Sound, in charge of the sound of the Montreux Jazz Festival, have been working their magic on festival-goers for the past 30 years.
Standing in the middle of the empty 4,000-capacity Stravinski Hall, the main concert room, the Meyers listen intently as Max Jury and his band, tonight’s warm-up artist for pop superstar Lana Del Rey, do their sound check.
“The sound was punchy and loud and clear and you could hear every word which was good,” says Helen with a smile.
John, dressed in green-and black checked lumber jacket and chinos, fixes the stage, quietly scratching his chin. At the mixing desk at the back of the room, technicians adjust the levels of the Meyer top-of-the-range Leopard sound system. These are huge banks of line-array speakers hanging either side of the stage as well as subwoofers and other speakers dotted around the room.
“The quality is very high. It’s designed to be very powerful from a dynamic perspective. You can have loud levels and feel the peaks but without it being painful,” says John. “It’s a very pure sound with clarity and a directional aspect so you can design and focus the sound.”
Dead Heads
Since 1986 the Meyers, who come from Berkeley, Califoia, have been transforming the acoustics at the Montreux Jazz Festival via their latest high-end equipment, which is considered by many as the gold standard in audio engineering. The couple regularly work with artists from Metallica to Justin Bieber, and have installed systems in dozens of places from LA film studios to Vienna’s Musikverein concert hall.
Chief sound guru John Meyer was bo in Oakland in 1943 and grew up surrounded by music. His parents produced radio dramas. In the late sixties he worked in a Berkeley hi-fi store and one of his clients was Steve “Fly Like an Eagle” Miller, for whom he built a customised amplifier.
At that time John met Helen, a Russian Studies student at the University of Califoia and together they started their first professional audio company, Glyph, in 1969. John became friends with members of the Grateful Dead and helped play a role in developing their famous “Wall of Sound”.
In 1973, the Meyers moved to Switzerland. John had a job as director of the acoustics department of the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Montreux, making audio recordings and building powerful speakers for classical music. There they met Montreux’s founder, the late Claude Nobs, who was excited about what John was doing.
“When I was growing up it was about doing higher quality and pushing the envelope,” said John. “I came from the hi-fi and FM radio world, so I like that high dynamic range. But that wasn't being done in the ‘70s. It was about getting the loudest sound possible. We wanted to do something different to make it hi-fi and interesting. It didn't need to be super loud and run at full power. This was a really new idea at the time.”
Forceful Claude Nobs
In the seventies, bands and engineers built different sound systems for different styles of music – one for classical, one for rock and roll and another for jazz.
“I always thought we should do something more universal,” said John.
He eventually built a prototype classical music speaker for Nobs that was tested in the former Congress Hall in Montreux.
“Claude didn't need much convincing,” said Helen. “Once he recognised the technology was the most far out he made it happen and we went along with it. Claude was right on it. He knew what he wanted.”
But their collaboration didn’t start immediately. In 1975 the couple retued to Califoia and started a new company, Meyer Sound, four years later. They stayed in touch with Nobs, but it took ten years before they were back in Switzerland in 1986.
Initially, the local tourist office, which partly funded the festival, was not convinced by the benefits of such a high-end sound system.
“I told them you'd get lots of young visitors, but they argued that kids wouldn't be paying to stay in the hotels,” said John.
In the end it was Nobs’ forceful character that won them over.
“One day he just brought the new speakers in and said this is what we're going to do now and pushed it through. People went along with it as he had a strong personality,” said Helen. “Claude was a very special person. He had an incredible sense of what to do, even if he didn't know all the practical steps. He had a vision. He and John clicked as John had the technical vision and Claude the creative vision.”
Acoustic challenges
This year Muse, Herbie Hancock and Neil Young are just a few of the stars gracing the Stravinski stage and putting the Meyer speakers through their paces. Over 500 Meyer loudspeakers are also fitted in other Montreux clubs, bars and venues.
For the French pop group Air, which played on the Stravinski stage on July 1, Montreux is a favourite venue for musicians, especially because of the sound.
“Often it’s a real mess, but there it’s as if you are in the studio. The sound quality is impeccable,” they told the Le Matin Dimanche newspaper in an interview.
The elderly Califoia duo are more critical, however. They say Montreux’s halls are not particularly well designed inside for concerts.
“The Casino was pretty tough with low ceilings,” explains John. “Before they remodelled the Stravinski it was reverberating in a different way. We had to help them design the heavy sound curtains and put black thick things on the ceiling to absorb the sound.”
Helen is more forthright: “The fact that we make these rooms sound so good is a testament is what we can do. These rooms by themselves are not good.”
Despite these sonic issues, the Meyers say they feel intimately connected to the festival and Switzerland, which they visit very year to tweak and install new equipment.
“Our daughter was bo here when we lived here. We love coming back and we love the creativity and spirit of the festival,” says Helen.
