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Liberal Pascal Couchepin, a member of the federal council from 1998 to 2009, expressed deep concern about the politics in his nursing home in Valais: “Two rigidly led polar parties, the SP and the SVP, are damaging the liberal culture that has always shaped this country. “
Proposal for Switzerland. But also a proposal for peace.
There are more and more enemies of liberal culture, both within the liberal West and beyond. Their stated goal is to destabilize and, where possible, destroy democracy.
Many consider this conclusion to be alarmist.
In his speech at the German Book Trade Peace Prize at Frankfurt’s Paulskirche on October 22, the writer Salman Rushdie said: “We live in a time I never thought I would experience, a time in which… Freedom (…) is being attacked on all sides by reactionary, authoritarian, populist, demagogic, half-educated, narcissistic and careless voices.”
Salman Rushdie knows what he’s talking about. On August 12, 2022, he was seriously stabbed by an Islamic killer. He lost an eye. His words are both a concern and a warning.
They are also addressed to all those who consider Couchepin’s warning to be exaggerated.
Hostility to the West manifests itself in two bloody terrorist attacks: by Russia on Ukraine and by Hamas on Israel. Not least of all, this is manifested in the expressions of sympathy of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes for the aggressors. There is a spirit of optimism among rulers and dictators, especially in the world of Islam.
But the West has also become an enemy within the West itself. Salman Rushdie said in his speech in Frankfurt: “And there are even progressive voices who are advocating a new version of conformist censorship, censorship that creates the appearance of virtue and which many people, especially young people, also consider to be virtue. Freedom is under pressure from both the left and the right…”
The exhorter of Paul’s church and the exhorter of Valais, the world-famous thinker of freedom and the Swiss liberal speak with one voice. What political mandate can come from this? For example, the desire of Swiss liberals to actively defend the political culture of liberalism.
This debt has a compelling historical background: on September 12, 1848, 175 years ago, the FDP created modern Switzerland – in the middle of monarchical and princely Europe, surrounded by enemies of democracy. By creating a modern federal state, Switzerland paved the way for the development of freedom in Europe.
Because the fight for democracy and the rule of law – and we are experiencing it again – never ends, the commitments of liberal forces remain relevant. In Switzerland, she will have to shape the policies of the founding party. Is she doing this? Does Swiss liberalism represent a militant liberal culture?
FDP politicians represent liberal economic interests. Even when it comes to interpersonal tolerance, such as sexual morality, they are on the side of progress.
But liberal political culture is more than that: it means leading the debate about an open society. However, for several years now this debate has been dominated by left-green academia, which actively combats liberalism as colonialist, structurally racist, patriarchally driven by the “old white man” – the figure of evil itself.
This illiberal Studenteska pits its group interests against individual freedom: gender preferences, religious, ideological and lifestyles of all kinds must be protected from any form of emotional abuse through special rights such as quotas or criminal protection. If the group feels insulted, the offender must be punished. Talking, eating and moving must also be subject to the code of civility set by minorities.
Thus, the basic free principle of equality is eliminated: the individual is no longer equal and free, but the group imposes its claims on the individual.
The left-green academic caste wants to return to the historical phase before the Enlightenment. In universities, especially private elite universities in the United States that are hardly accessible to ordinary citizens, the ideology of “forward to the past” is systematically practiced. In Switzerland, many educational institutions also support the reactionary crusade of the wealthy generation.
Political culture is increasingly dominated by illiberal forces. Meanwhile, liberalism is limited to considering the small and minute aspects of everyday economic life.
Once upon a time everything was different – it was not so long ago. This era, when liberal voices largely defined the political and cultural scene, is represented by names from the recent past such as Gilles Petitpierre, Otto Schoch, René Rinow, Andreas Iten and Franz Steinegger, as well as Pascal Couchepin.
During this period of the heyday of liberal political culture, it was even taken for granted that influential businessmen supported international philosophical relations. So, member of the National Council of Zurich Richard Reich with Manes Sperber, thinker of social psychology and author of the political-historical novel “Like a Tear in the Ocean”. Or the Council of the States of Ticino Sergio Salvioni, a rebellious, radical liberal politician who spent philosophical days in Lugano.
At that time, the president of the FDP parliamentary group was Uli Bremy from Zurich, probably the most influential Swiss business leader. He had a fundamentally liberal habit of always calling for opposing opinions and demanding contradictions. He called colleagues with different arguments “my border fortifications.”
This “Bismarck of Swiss Economics” staged Dürrenmatt’s play “Hercules and the Stable of Augeneas” by a very young director for the 700th anniversary of the Confederation – in the National Council Hall! A stage work that could only be understood and enjoyed through a critical eye on Switzerland.
Freethinking today is in dire need of culture. And an illiberal culture, be it right-wing populist or left-wing elitist, needs freedom.
Source: Blick
I am David Miller, a highly experienced news reporter and author for 24 Instant News. I specialize in opinion pieces and have written extensively on current events, politics, social issues, and more. My writing has been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and BBC News. I strive to be fair-minded while also producing thought-provoking content that encourages readers to engage with the topics I discuss.
