The three musicians turn up the heat. Two accordions, one cello. They perform folk tunes from Central Switzerland. The performance is so loud that the guests in the panoramic hall of the Rössli inn almost have to scream if they want to understand each other. The oval room in the Rössli in Beckenried, right on Lake Lucerne, is well filled.
The national conservative Swiss People’s Party of the canton of Nidwalden invited. Topic: The asylum system in Helvetia. On the cool evening shortly before the Swiss parliamentary elections on Sunday, SVP candidate Roland Blättler wants to draw the last doubters into his camp.
Blättler actually doesn’t have to convince anyone present that he belongs in the large parliamentary chamber, the National Council. “We are all for the SVP and vote for Roly,” shouts a gnarled pensioner as he drinks his sweet cider.
Jan Dirk Herbermann has worked as a correspondent in Geneva since 1998. He reports on the United Nations and Switzerland.
Here in Nidwalden, the SVP, the strongest political force in wealthy Switzerland and one of the most successful right-wing populist parties in Europe, celebrated sensational triumphs. In the 2015 National Council elections, the then SVP candidate accumulated almost 83 percent of the votes.
Nationwide, the SVP led by its grandfather, the billionaire Christoph Blocher, achieved the best result in its history: 29.4 percent. However, Blocher and his loyal followers suffered a setback in the 2019 elections: they lost a few percent of the vote. According to surveys, the SVP is likely to make gains again in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The SVP stirs up fears of decline in the middle of society and presents migrants and refugees as a threat to prosperity.
Damir SkenderovicZeithistoriker
The SVP offers a homely, feel-good atmosphere; many Swiss people, not just in the Rössli, are all too happy to immerse themselves in it. The party swears by the country’s neutrality and takes a hard line against the EU. And she routinely relies on the fear of strangers.
“The SVP paints scenarios of an impending loss of prosperity and the onset of social crises,” explains contemporary historian Damir Skenderovic. “It stirs up fears of decline in the middle of society and presents migrants and refugees as a threat to prosperity that needs to be fended off.”
It’s a classic scapegoat policy. With this strategy, the SVP has pushed itself upwards; it has been part of the immovable political inventory in the Alpine republic for decades.
“There has never really been a serious discussion as to whether the SVP with its right-wing populist positions should be represented in the government at all,” says Skenderovic. And so the SVP provides two of the seven ministers in Helvetia’s government.
Asylum seekers are even said to be to blame for traffic
The music in the Rössli falls silent. SVP helpers distribute apples. Mostly grey-haired men sit at the tables; the average age is estimated to be 60 years. “Dear SVP family,” candidate Blättler greets his followers. He distributes his “extra sheet”, a large print SVP election postille:
“Do we just want to watch how around 80,000 additional people come to our little Switzerland every year?” is what you can read there. “These mostly young asylum-seekers from Africa and Arab countries live at the expense of the working population.”
The candidate and his party colleague Martina Bircher, National Councilor from Aargau, are taking part in what they describe as an “interesting discussion”. Of course, both agree completely.
“Excessive immigration” only brings disaster in almost all areas of life: housing shortages, congested streets and trains, ever-increasing medical costs, imported violence and crime.
Asylum in Switzerland
Also in Switzerland the number of asylum seekers is increasing: For 2023, the State Secretariat for Migration expects a total of 27,000 new ones in its “most likely scenario”. In August 2023 alone, the authorities counted 3,001 asylum applications. Around 24,500 asylum applications were submitted in 2022, and almost 15,000 in 2021.
The most important countries of origin of the asylum seekers in August 2023 were Türkiye, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria and Algeria. A total of around nine million people live in Switzerland, including: around 2.3 million Foreigners.
Blättler says: “Too many people are coming to Switzerland and the wrong people are coming.” A listener hisses under his breath: “Catastrophe.” Another visitor rushes out of the room and complains: “The only thing that helps is the hunting law.” What does that mean? means, can only be guessed at. During the break, a tall gentleman appears, wearing a checkered jacket and with a penetrating look. He says: “In Germany I would vote for the AfD.”
Two SVP supporters in front of a Swiss flag. © Jan Dirk Herbermann
The SVP stronghold is rich
The 44,000 people of Nidwalden think highly of their mini-canton. The so-called original cantons of Unterwalden (Nidwalden and Obwalden), Schwyz and Uri are considered the cradle of the Confederation from 1291. The people of Nidwalden also count one of the greatest Swiss heroes, the myth-shrouded Arnold von Winkelried, among their own.
More on the topic at Tagesspiegel Plus
Unfriendly conditions for families “Compared to Switzerland, Berlin is a paradise” Increasing numbers of asylum seekers These are the five hurdles in limiting migration No “little Germany” This is how German emigrants live in Switzerland
People still maintain their customs today, from driving cows to the pastures to swinging, a rustic martial art, to yodeling. People are also doing well economically: just 189 women and men in Nidwalden had no job last year, which corresponds to an unemployment rate of far less than one percent.
The election event ends in the Rössli. The SVP overdid it by an hour. Abruptly the folk music starts again. Most visitors are satisfied and feel strengthened in their world view. “We have to be very careful with the foreigners and asylum seekers,” one of them grumbles as they leave. “We don’t want to have conditions like those in France or Germany.”
2023-10-21 20:50:39
#Switzerland #votes #fear #strangers #folklore
