Dr. Douglas Sears (YL '00), Associate Provost, Boston University, reports on Swiss headlines and offers his commentary on the latest in Swiss-envy and Swiss diplomatic music.
I don't have cable TV in Boston and have long since fallen out of the habit of watching the US evening news. So I don't really know how different Swiss coverage of unfolding events in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, et al is from US coverage. SF.TV has provided extensive coverage from various vantage points, including on-the-scene coverage from Benghazi, Libya. On-the-scene coverage has been augmented with commentary from academic experts at various Swiss universities. Swiss coverage of Libya seems particularly piquant and extensive, perhaps the after-effect of the long-running dispute over the two Swiss businessmen held by Qaddafi after his son, Hannibal, was arrested in Geneva.
On May 3 the SF.TV webpage included a headline story about a 1.5 million franc payment made to Hannibal Qaddafi by the Confederation. This was first reported on the Tribune de Geneve website and confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The payment was part of an "action plan" agreed upon by Libya and Switzerland to secure the release of the second Swiss hostage, May Goldi. The Confederation agreed to make the payment if the individual responsible for releasing the mugshot of Qaddafi that resulted from his arrest for allegedly assaulting one of his domestic staff could not be identified. The release of the photo was a violation of Qaddafi's privacy. The funds had been placed in escrow and when efforts to identify the leaker failed, the payment was conveyed a savings account in Germany. Makes one wonder what options Lindsay Lohan might pursue. Hostage-taking might not be available in the armamentarium of her publicists.
SF.TV also carried a brief video clip--no voiceover--of the train carrying atomic waste from the nuclear power plant near Basel to the temporary storage location in Canton Aargau. Accompanying text stories described the utter lack of interest of the Swiss public in the transport of nuclear waste. This is in sharp contrast to the intense controversy that accompanies transport of nuclear waste in Germany, with activists blocking rails, staging multiple public demonstrations, and more.
For those who read my report this past summer on the Tages-Anzeiger story--"Wie schoen doch waere es, Schweizer zu sein"--loosely, "wouldn't it be great to be Swiss"--there's disappoinment. Here's the headline, "Schweizer zu werden wird schwieriger"--it's getting more difficult to become Swiss. In the design for a fully revised "Buergerrechtsgesetz" (citizenship law) there will be more binding pre-conditions for acquisition of Swiss citizenship. Among these will be formal expression of respect for the federal constitution, acquisition of one of the national languages, and readiness to participate in economic life or to secure an education. Meanwhile American legislators and pundits delicately question the constitutional legitimacy of anchor babies. No talk of jus solis in any corner of the Swiss press.
One of the more entertaining shows among the riches to be found on SF.TV is this one: Aus dem Geheimarchiv ("From the Secret Archive"). I don't know if it is still on the air, but old episodes can be found. The basic premise of the show is that many of the world's great inventions and discoveries were made by Swiss. These include the electric lightbulb, the television, the first steps on the moon, rock and roll, and the miniskirt. The secret archive is maintained by the Federal Commission for the Rehabilitation of the Heroic Legacy of Switzerland. The various broadcasts--which mix genuine archival footage with whimsical fiction--describe, for example, the true history of the first flight across the Atlantic--turns out it wasn't Lindbergh. In most cases, noble Swiss explorers and inventors are cheated out of their proper places in history--usually by the Americans. The ludicrous playfulness of these broadcasts is surely a sign of a kind of cultural self-confidence.