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The timing could not be worse for the SVP: three weeks before the national elections, the country’s largest party has to accept the accusation that it is not keeping sufficient distance from right-wing extremist forces.
Last week, SonntagsBlick announced that Winterthur SVP President Mariawegelin (44) enlisted the Junge Tat group for her media work, and now the affair is expanding. New research shows: The Junge SVP Thurgau also collaborates with right-wing extremists: its head Manuel C.* (23) designed posters about the National Council elections for the cantonal department. In fact, he himself is a party member of the Junge SVP Thurgau.
C., founder and initiator of Junge Tat, was expelled from the Zurich University of the Arts in 2020 because he and his like-minded people disrupted an online lecture with cries of “Heil Hitler”. The public prosecutor convicted him of hatred of Jews and the police seized weapons during house searches.
Why does the Junge SVP Thurgau hire a well-known right-wing extremist for its election campaign? In a written statement, the leadership of the cantonal department explains that it is dependent on its own resources to provide services to the party. C. accepted the job after an internal call.
The young party claims to know nothing about C.’s background almost two months ago, when the contract was awarded. Insiders dispute this account. What the management admits: “Manuel C. has been a member of the Junge SVP Thurgau since the beginning of 2023.” However, it is beyond our capabilities to conduct a background check on every new member. The young party has 220 members. “The board will discuss the matter at the next board meeting and decide how to proceed.”
No clear distance
In contrast to the case of the SVP president of Winterthur, who also had her political content formulated by the Junge Tat, C. van de Junge SVP Thurgau’s assignment was mainly limited to graphic work. However, the young party cannot bring itself to clearly distance itself from the group. The management writes: “The Young SVP conducts its political discourses objectively and tries to enforce its demands within the framework of the normal political process.” It distances itself from “politically motivated actions that deviate from this factual and orderly political process.”
Mariawegelin has even more difficulty distancing herself from right-wing extremists. In an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” she announced that she continued to work with Junge Tat: “We noticed that we had certain things in common.”
The new case raises the question of how systematic the connections between Junge Tat and SVP circles are. One thing is clear: the right-wing extremists are looking for proximity to the party. And this with increasing success. In recent months, Junge Tat activists have repeatedly appeared at SVP events. The group now maintains good contacts, especially with the Young SVP. The choice of words and the content are also somewhat similar.
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For example, when the Young SVP Aargau writes about the refugee crisis in Lampedusa: “Stop replacement migration and reject everyone!” The party also adopts two stories from the Junge Tat. On the one hand, there is the conspiracy theory of population exchange, according to which a secret elite wants to exchange the white population in Europe for Muslims and African migrants. And on the other hand the right-wing concept of remigration, which the Junge-Tat also propagates.
A look at the X account (formerly Twitter) of the Junge SVP Switzerland also shows that she has liked several problematic posts from the Junge Tat leaders in recent days.
Goal: joining middle class circles
David Trachsel (28), chairman of the Junge SVP Switzerland, refuses to distance himself from the Junge Tat and its content. The SVP is on course to win the elections, he says. The media would like to prevent this and therefore try to “forcefully place the SVP in a right-wing extremist corner”. He does not want to comment on contacts with the boy.
The tactics of Manuel C.’s group seem to be working. To the outside world, the radicals appear hip and in love with their home country. Their goal: to connect with middle class circles. But the boy’s act is anything but innocent.
The Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) is monitoring the group, and the European police authority Europol recently warned about their new communications strategy. Various criminal cases are pending against C. and his colleagues, including for incitement to hatred, property damage and trespassing.
However, the SVP leadership remains silent. SonntagsBlick asked party chairman Marco Chiesa (48) several times, but there was never an answer.
A week ago, Chiesa posed with activists from the right-wing extremist women’s collective Nemesis in the Federal Palace. The group recently toured Bern together with Junge Tat.
*Name known
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
