Switzerland today
Greetings from Lausanne!
“Don’t forget your sun cream," I shout to my youngest son as he heads off for an afternoon by the lake. Lucky for some. Thursday is expected to be the hottest day of the year in Switzerland.
Back to reality – more Covid, Afghanistan and Monte Verità. Enjoy!
In the news: The Taliban are once again on the offensive in Afghanistan. Switzerland reacts.
- This powerful reporting by the BBC’s Secunder KermaniExternal link from Taliban territory paints a picture of their brutal rule as they strike for power. The violence has raised fears in Europe of more refugees arriving there. Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have said they would not, for now, deport Afghans seeking asylum.
- The Swiss authorities are using Israeli spyware in certain investigations, according to an RTS reportExternal link. But it is unclear if it is the infamous Pegasus software that made the headlines last month.
- Swiss trade unions are demanding an increase of wages in 2022 across sectors, with bigger boosts for workers in sectors that helped weather the pandemic and are driving economic recovery.
- The pandemic may have closed restaurants but the Swiss meat industry hasn’t suffered too much, as an SRF report showsExternal link. RTS also reveals a growing taste for olive oilExternal link. Imports of olive oil into Switzerland have doubled over the past 20 years – half of it from Italy.
What’s trending – No jab? No free Covid testing!
Yesterday’s announcement that the government proposes to halt most free Covid-19 testing for people who are not vaccinated from October 1 made headlines across the country on Thursday. The Le Temps newspaper described it as a “bet” designed to encourage the faltering vaccination campaign – only half of the population are double-jabbed. Young people and nightclub owners are said to be especially unhappy about the plan. The Luzerner Zeitung called it a “rational” decision that sends a clear message to the unvaccinated: they face certain disadvantages in the future. The paper wondered whether this autumn Swiss residents may need a Covid pass/certificate to visit a local restaurant or cinema, as in neighbouring France and Italy.
The Covid situation in Switzerland remains “uncertain”, according to Health Minister Alain Berset (the man in black above). Since the end of June, new cases have risen steadily to over 2,000 a day due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, especially among young people. Hospitalisations have started to creep up. Berset says such an increase was expected but insists that it’s too early to lift remaining pandemic restrictions, such as the compulsory wearing of masks in public spaces. The authorities will review the situation in September.
People are being encouraged to get vaccinated and tested after their holidays. The Federal Office of Public Health has launched a campaignExternal link via the three main mobile phone operators that sends an SMS to Swiss returning to the country from abroad. In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZExternal link), the outgoing head of the scientific taskforce, Martin Ackermann, says the rising numbers of new cases could encourage more people to get vaccinated and urged greater caution all round. The crisis is not over yet.
More
Culture corner – Monte Verità’s flower power community comes to life again.
Monte Verità is a verdant hill that overlooks the tourist resort of Ascona on Lake Maggiore. The beautiful location in Italian-speaking Switzerland has been getting a lot of attention this year. At the nearby Locarno Film Festival this week movie fans have been learning more about the alternative sanatorium and proto-hippie Utopian movement that lived there 100 years ago in Stefan Jäger’s historical drama, Monte Verità, which premiered last Saturday.
Earlier this year, after a lengthy restoration process a 26-metre circular painting Il Chiaro Mondo dei Beati [The clear world of the blessed] by Estonian artist and LGBT pioneer Elisàr von Kupffer (1872-1932) was unveiled at the Monte Verità museum complex. The work, which was produced in the region, was rediscovered by legendary art historian and curator Harald Szeemann in the late 1970s, and has been renovated several times.
Here is our reporting on the 2021 Locarno Film Festival.
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