Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

In today’s briefing, some updates on the political habits – both apathetic and extreme – of Swiss youths. But first, as always, the news.

Keystone / Martin Ruetschi

In the news: pricy holiday homes, free vaccines, and weapons clearance.

• The average price of a holiday home in the Alps rose sharply over the past year as hybrid working and a need for nature boosted demand, a ski property index said today. The average price of a four-bedroom chalet jumped by 5.8% across 23 leading resorts in Switzerland, France, and Austria. In Switzerland, chic Gstaad, St Moritz and Verbier remain most expensive.
• AstraZeneca has given 10,000 doses of a nasal flu spray to Switzerland for free. The vaccine, for use on children and teenagers, had led to a pricing spat between the pharma company and Swiss regulators; following the disagreements, AstraZeneca decided to simply give up on efforts to put the vaccine on the Swiss market and to give the 10,000 doses away, rather than waiting until they expired.
• The government approved funding of CHF2.59 billion ($2.74 billion) for a large-scale clearing of an old ammunition depot in the Bernese Alps. The decision to clear the stockpile in Mitholz was made in 2020, after experts found that 3,500 tonnes of ammo stored in the underground site posed a bigger threat than previously assumed. The depot, built during World War II, was the site of an explosion in 1947 which killed nine people.

© Keystone / Ennio Leanza

Youth fervour: bending slowly away from mass movements.

For the past few years, even in quiet Switzerland, it seemed like every week saw a new demonstration on the streets (this wasn’t just an impression). Whether for women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, or the climate, online activism has been matched by real engagement, notably by young people. But is the wave cresting? A study by Easyvote – a youth political participation group – and the gfs.bern institute reported today that 15-25-year-olds are losing some belief in the efficacy of protest movements, while gaining in scepticism towards media and political parties. More and more report a complete lack of desire for future political engagement.

Political expert Fanie Wirth told SRFExternal link public television that this could be linked to the fact that “political movements often take off quickly, but lose steam over time”; people fall away when things don’t change as quickly as hoped. However, it might not mean a new apolitical generation, or an extremist one (see next section); youths might also be coming around to the benefits of the existing system. One of the rare points in the survey to see an upwards movement was on the desire to vote: 86% of those with voting rights (i.e. over-18s), said they were keen to participate in the next referendums. Great – but in a country where turnout rates are often below 50%, whether they actually do this is another matter.

© Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Radical fervour: not bending at all.

One area where youth political apathy is however not lacking is at the extreme political fringes. Here, business is booming. The Tages-Anzeiger reports todayExternal link on the “Junge Tat” (“Young Act”), a far-right group which has been much in the Swiss press in recent weeks after it hijacked a drag-queen event in Zurich. The Tages-Anzeigerreckons the group is getting away lightly when it comes to clampdown by police, even while Europol keeps it on its radar. Why? Regional and federal police point the finger at each other, the paper writes; as for the intelligence services, they can only follow up on violent acts, not on cases of holding an extreme ideology. And so far, despite some Junge Tat members taking photos of themselves with guns, all-out violence has not been part of the modus operandi.

And just to show that the media (and the extremist muse), is inclusive, the NZZ this week reported onExternal link another uncompromising group: Barrikade, an “extreme-left internet portal”. The site published an article last week in which it “outed” a Swiss policewoman who played music in left-wing venues during her spare time: printing her name, email address, and telephone number, Barrikade wrote it was “not acceptable to be putting people in jail during the week and then earning applause at the weekend”. The NZZ says it is the latest in a series of cases of leftist groups targeting people like private security employees, or asylum centre workers. Who are these groups? Barrikade, keen to publish the names and details of its targets, is not so keen to publish its own: articles are signed anonymously.