Opinion: winning campaign loses the argument

The Palais de Nations in Geneva is the UN’s European Headquarters Keystone Archive

Gordon Martin, a long-standing British observer of the Swiss political scene, gives his view on the campaign ahead of the United Nations vote.

In the overseas press, Swiss politics are dismissed as parochial, irrelevant, dull and predictable. But there is nothing dull or predictable about the poster war now raging ahead of Sunday’s vote on UN membership. Even after 14 years as an observer of the Swiss scene, I would not bet on the outcome.

There’s no doubt that the opponents of entry, led by the Zurich industrialist, Christoph Blocher, have produced hard-hitting, thought-provoking and eye-catching slogans.

The campaign is undoubtedly superior to the somewhat moralising and high-minded tone taken by the advocates of entry, whose efforts seem relatively lacklustre.

Effective communicator

Blocher is seen by many as a primitive, populist, self-seeking dinosaur. But in my view it is a mistake to demonise or underestimate one of the most effective communicators in a country where such abilities are not common.

He has been at his most compelling on the issue of Swiss neutrality, which lies at the heart of the debate.

Blocher’s argument is that membership would demolish Switzerland’s most cherished principle – and his poster vividly shows an axe splintering the word “neutrality”.

He claims that entry into what he calls the “political” – as opposed to the “humanitarian” – UN would turn Switzerland into a lackey of the “great powers” on the Security Council, and force Bern to apply sanctions or even supply troops at the Council’s behest.

Misleading voters

The message has great resonance but it is at best misleading and at worst downright wrong. The former UN secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, told me recently that no member state could be compelled to join any international action against its will.

Yet the government, which supports membership, has done little to demolish Blocher’s assertion.

In my view, and I think most outside observers would agree, the time has come for the Swiss people to reverse the 1986 decision to stay out of the UN.

Sixteen years later it makes no sense for Switzerland to persist in being the odd man out, aloof from the 189 other countries that have joined. As a country with far-reaching economic and financial influence, it is fitting, and indeed essential, that Switzerland should have a say in decisions affecting its own interests.

Backseat observer

The chief Swiss diplomat in New York, Ambassador Jenö Staehelin, said recently that his status as a backseat observer at the UN made him feel like someone using an old typewriter while everyone else had a computer.

Whatever the outcome of Sunday’s vote, most of the outside world is likely to view the result with its usual indifference.

A “yes” vote, though, would be welcomed by Switzerland’s many friends, and especially by her European neighbours.

A “no” would have the effect of perpetuating the isolation or sidelining of Switzerland, add substance to the “gnomes-of-Zurich” caricature, and confirm the impression that the Swiss are self-absorbed and self-satisfied.

As I look out over Geneva from my desk in the Palais des Nations, I am reminded of the contradiction of a country which houses the European headquarters of the UN and yet is not a member.

by Gordon Martin