The week in Switzerland
Dear Swiss Abroad,
It’s been a challenging week for the police in the Swiss city of Lausanne: not only were they caught up in two nights of rioting, they were also accused of systemic racism and discrimination.
Dramatic images came out of the Swiss city of Lausanne earlier this week during two nights of rioting.
Early on Sunday a 17-year-old died when he reportedly crashed into a wall while fleeing on a stolen scooter from the police. On Sunday and Monday nights, hooded youths set fire to bins and containers. There were also clashes with the police, who responded with tear gas. No injuries were reported, but police said they had arrested seven people.
“It’s too easy to always talk about fatal accidents,” one young person who took part in the protests told Swiss public radio, SRF. “We want to know the truth, we demand justice.”
Separately, on Monday it was revealed that racist, sexist, anti-Semitic and discriminatory messages have been circulating among Lausanne police officers on WhatsApp groups. “There is a problem of systemic discrimination” that needs to be addressed, admitted the mayor, Grégoire Junod.
The fall-out of the infamous phone call on July 31 between Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter and US President Donald Trump continues. Some are calling for Keller-Sutter to be replaced in the tariff negotiations.
Keller-Sutter allegedly “humiliated” her American counterpart, resulting in Trump spontaneously imposing customs duties of 39% on Switzerland, according to US sources quoted by the SonntagsBlick. She is said to have given Trump a half-hour lesson in political economy. “It’s no longer a problem of the country but of personality,” Trump reportedly said.
In the wake of these revelations, some Swiss politicians have been wondering whether it makes sense to let Keller-Sutter speak to Trump again. Some in the right-wing Swiss People’s Party have called for Economics Minister Guy Parmelin to negotiate with the US president.
Not a good idea, according to the Tages-Anzeiger in Zurich. “Switzerland should not replace Keller-Sutter,” it wrote in an editorial on Monday. “A change in the leadership of the talks would only weaken the Swiss side – buckling because of a few off-the-record statements from the president’s extended circle would above all signal uncertainty. It must be clearly stated: it’s Donald Trump who is behaving irrationally. The man isn’t interested in either the facts of the Swiss-US trade deficit or the position of his own ministers. He is the ‘madman’ in this situation.”
The love of the Swiss Abroad for their homeland isn’t always reciprocated, according to Swiss public broadcaster SRF.
“I’m very proud of Switzerland. I’m also proud to be Swiss. And I consider myself as such,” said Nike Bahlmann, a young biochemist and one of 140 delegates to the Council of the Swiss Abroad, which met in Bern last weekend. Bahlmann, who has a German father and a Swiss mother, grew up in Germany and now lives in Cologne. But Switzerland is her homeland. She says she loves her grandfather’s tales of adventure, and it was in Switzerland that she met her first boyfriend. “We have first-rate universities, we’re incredibly diverse,” she said. “We’re one of the few countries with so many national languages. Switzerland thrives on diversity.”
But this love for Switzerland can often appear rather unrequited. Whether it’s Swiss schools around the world or Swissinfo, the government is always looking for ways to make savings. “There’s a certain amount of financial pressure,” admitted Filippo Lombardi, president of the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). “All of a sudden, citizens and politicians are looking more at their wallets than at solidarity, values or Switzerland’s presence in the world.”
The representatives of the Swiss Abroad say it is essential to impose a different discourse and to get away from the clichés portraying Swiss expats as scroungers. The love of the Swiss Abroad for their homeland remains strong, SRF writes, but more than ever it requires a great deal of convincing.
Six Swiss Abroad are competing at the Swiss Wrestling and Alpine Festival 2025 this weekend. Some of them are in Switzerland for the very first time, as my colleagues Melanie Eichenberger and Sara Pasino discovered.
The wrestlers – four from the United States and two from Canada – live far from Switzerland yet are involved in one of the country’s most traditional sports, Schwingen (Swiss wrestling).
The walk into the wrestling arena on Saturday will be a big moment for the six overseas Swiss. For five of them, it will be their first ever Swiss Wrestling Championships. “It’s a huge honour,” says Brendan Spahr. “Being one of four Americans to compete means the world to me,” says the middle school teacher, who is also a football and wrestling coach.
The three-day “Schwingfest” takes place every three years and is one of Switzerland’s most popular festivals. This year Mollis in canton Glarus will welcome around 250,000 fans.
The week ahead
On Monday Paulo Coelho (pictured), a popular Brazilian writer, will open a museum dedicated to him in Geneva, where he lives.
Fantoche, an international animation film festival, begins in Baden on Tuesday, running until Sunday.
On Thursday Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter will receive the heads of state of six German-speaking countries in St Gallen for a two-day annual meeting.
A climate strike will be held on Friday in Zurich, Lucerne and Neuchâtel.
Edited by Samuel Jaberg/ac
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