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History
600,000 years ago, temperatures sank and Europe was covered by 1km thick glaciers.
30,000 years ago, early hunters left traces of their stone and bone weapons and tools in various natural caves.
Around 3000BC, lake dwellers erected houses made of wood and clay on posts on the shores of Swiss lakes.
By 2000BC, copper, hardened by 10% tin formed an alloy called Bronze which replaced the stone and bone weapons and tools.
By 1000BC, iron, stronger, harder, lighter and easier to mine but requiring much higher temperatures to melt replaced bronze.
Around 500BC, a Celtic tribe from the east called the "Helvetians" colonized Switzerland. The Celts were ancient peoples of Europe that lived during the Iron Age.
The Romans from the south eventually gained control of Switzerland and its 200,000 inhabitants. The Romans were pushed out at about 400AD by the Germanic tribes the Romans called barbarians. The Germanic tribes from the east and north called the Burgundians and the Alamannen joined the Helvetians who over the centuries adopted their culture and language.
400AD-800AD was dominated by small kingdoms, dukes and local noblemen who set up a feudal system and founded monasteries for political, social and religious purposes.
In 1291, in the middle of the dark ages, and just before the 100 years war that was about to be played out in the rest of Europe, the valley communities of the central Alps made an alliance and a commitment not to fight among each other. Their motto was “One for all and all for one”.
The neighboring warring countries in Europe welcomed this new buffer zone between them because it facilitated management of common interests like trade and tourism and ensured peace on the important mountain trade routes. The Helvetii as these people were called acquired a reputation of invincibility characterized by their folk hero William Tell.
They became known as the Swiss, and their invincible country was called the Confederation of Helvetia or Switzerland for short.
In 1349, the Black Death, one of the worst pandemics in human history killing half of the population reached Switzerland and the Swiss blamed the Jews for starting it, accusing them of poisoning water wells. A systematic extermination program was started and Jews were burned alive at the stake and their wealth was expropriated. This fear, hatred, blame, extermination and expropriation spread with the plague to the rest of Europe like a wild fire.
By 1450, the Swiss controlled most of the territory south and west of the Rhine to the Alps and the Jura mountains. The alpine people, especially from the canton in the middle called Schwyz, were very strong and highly demanded as mercenaries.
In 1480, 100 Swiss were selected as bodyguards for the French king. They were called the Swiss Guard. Their service later expanded to include guarding the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church.
While other countries insist on separating the church from the state, Switzerland embraces the church as a welfare agency for those who fall thru the state sponsored welfare net and end up on the streets.
In 1515, Swiss soldiers were defeated and slaughtered at the Battle of Marignano. It was only the second time that they were ever defeated since 58BC when Julius Ceasar drove the Helvetii back to the Swiss plateau when they tried to migrate to western France after being harassed by the Germans.
1500 years later at Marignano, Italy, the Swiss soldiers with the hope of plunder, helped the Pope fight against the French. The Swiss were greatly outnumbered, and fought newly available canons and rifles with swords and spears. Despite being slaughtered, the Swiss showed such courage and might, that they gained a long lasting reputation for being the very best fighters. For the next 300 years, the Swiss were in great demand as mercenary soldiers fighting for guaranteed pay instead of promised plunder.
Between 1523-1536, Zwingli from Zurich and
Calvin from Geneva, both much more radical than
Martin Luther from Germany, started a movement to reform the catholic church of its open and widespread corruption.
This reformation divided Switzerland into two factions, protestant and catholic. Switzerland became an asylum for the many Protestants persecuted in inquisitions of cruel tortures in France, Italy, Spain and Britain. Many of these refugees were skilled watchmakers, goldsmiths and bankers.
In 1648 other European countries recognized Switzerland’s neutrality and independence from the head of the Holy Roman Empire, the Catholic Church. This helped fuel the protestant movement headed by Martin Luther of Germany.
The 30 years war fought by all the European countries between Catholics and Protestants had greatly benefited Switzerland who stayed out of the fighting and provided provisions for the fighters.
When the fighting stopped, the Swiss suffered a sudden decline in their income which was not reflected in their taxes, so they rebelled. The rebellion was put down in 6 months, but the ruling cities nevertheless made concessions that ended up uniting the Swiss more than they were before the conflict.
In 1798, the revolutionary French government conquered Switzerland and imposed a new unified constitution which was very unpopular with the Swiss. When war broke out between France and its rivals, Russian and Austrian forces invaded Switzerland. The Swiss normally fought for whatever side offered more money. But in this case they went on strike and refused to fight for anybody. The European powers eventually agreed to permanently recognize Swiss neutrality in 1815.
In 1847 when some of the Catholic cantons tried to set up a separate alliance, civil war broke out. It lasted only a few weeks, but it convinced most Swiss of the need for unity and strength towards its European neighbors. Swiss people from all strata of society, Catholics, Protestants, conservatives and liberals realized that their cantons would profit more if their economic and religious interests were merged.
Thus, while the rest of Europe was plagued by revolutionary uprisings, the Swiss drew up a constitution in 1848 which provided for a federal layout, much of it inspired by the American example. This constitution provided for a central authority while leaving the cantons the right to self-government on local issues.
They built a building for their parliament in Bern and took 50 years to make it beautiful.
It housed both upper house representing the 26 cantons and the lower house of politicians who legislate laws on behalf of the people.
4 languages were protected and made official languages of Switzerland, German, French, Italian and Retoroman, an old Latin dialect.
Culture
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Switzerland is a very special country with very special people.
Home to 8 million, with over 20% foreigners, the Swiss can be very distant and appear to be very cold in the beginning. They never call each other after their first meeting by first names. They always use the formal form of "you" which is like using the old English "thou". Once they develop a sense of trust, they go thru a ritual of inviting each other to use first names and to use the informal form of "you". After that, they develop a closeness and warmth that is difficult to match.
People of opposite sex then kiss each other on the cheeks 3 times every time they meet, even if it is only pecking in the air like mating birds.
Even though they decorate their diner tables with leaves,
they clear all fallen leaves around their houses. Not because they are bothered by them, but because they might blow into their neighbor's yard.
When visiting, being "on time" is most important to them. If they are 10 minutes early for a visit, they wait outside even if it is raining and cold or very hot. If they are delayed, even if it is only by 10 minutes, they phone to let you know. Spontaneously dropping by for un announced visits is considered very impolite as the Swiss like to clean their house any visitors arrive.
Visiting empty handed, without a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates or a bouquet of flowers is to the Swiss like visiting without dressing up.
Entering the kitchen, unless it is to admire it is to the Swiss like entering an occupied bathroom without knocking. The Swiss have their special meals that they prepare depending on the season.
During summer, they like their sausages, especially when it is barbecued on an outside grill.
In winter, fondues are very popular. They mix a mixture of cheese with a mixture of wines in a ceramic pot, melt the mixture into a gooey soup and place it on a warmer in the middle of the table so that people could dip cubes of bread into it. If your piece of bread falls into the pan, then you are obliged to do a pre agreed activity; like kissing the members of the opposite sex, singing a song, or paying for a round of drinks if you happen to be in a restaurant.
Saying "goodbye" after a visit, even if it is a short one is a long ritual. Many times, the prolonged conversations at the door of the house is even more interesting than that at the table during the meal. These conversations continue to the doors of the cars and they wave goodbye till the visitors are out of sight.
While police are usually out of sight, they never-the-less seem to be informed of everything that happens in the community.
Many old ladies feel it is their duty to guard their neighborhood by observing everything and informing the police of any activities that they find suspicious. Many young Swiss feel it is their duty to apologize to foreigners about things they are ashamed of. Like the old spying ladies and the banksters involvement with stolen gold from the last war.
Recycling is one of Switzerland's favorite pastimes and most Swiss proudly want to excel at it. Disposing household garbage requires specially marked garbage bags that are expensive, so great care is taken not fill the garbage bags with paper, carton, glass, metal, wood, plastic and food waste that can be brought to the community recycling centers and disposed of for free.
All food waste is separated and either put out into the garden to compost, or put in special community compost containers. The remaining household garbage is stuffed into 35l plastic garbage bags which are squished to their minimum volume by standing and stomping on them.
Each community has facilities where people can take their fallen leaves, lawn clippings, bush trimmings, weeds and anything else they pull out and cut from their manicured gardens. They proudly haul their garden waste to special community facilities and as a reward, they dutifully line up to document how many bags they have brought.
Despite Switzerland being among Europe's biggest waste producers, the country does more recycling than most. More than half of all waste is recycled or composted. In 2016, there were 8,000,000 people living in Switzerland and each year each person, weighing about 80kg, recycled
- 165kg paper,
- 152kg compost,
- 43kg glass,
- 15.4kg electronics,
- 6.2kg textiles,
- 4.5kg PET bottles,
- 1.6kg tin cans,
- 1.5kg aluminium, and
- 300g batteries.
Switzerland has a lot to teach. If you are tolerant, then you earn trust. And with trust you have peace and time to think and develop quality ideas and products.
One of the most beautiful places in the heart of Europe, Switzerland, had become a safe haven for the wealthy that trust the Swiss with their money. The Swiss have always attracted rich tourists who have built castles and private schools for their privileged children.
The Swiss are ingenious people who make good quality reliable products and inventions like cow bells, alp horns, the art of yodeling, watches, breads, cheeses, wines and a universal pocket tool that can cut bread and cheese, open wine bottles and do everything else.
The Swiss have 3 unique national sports: wrestling on a ring of sawdust, hornussen, a sport between golf and baseball and boulder and flag throwing, and bell ringing.
“Schwingen” which is “the swing” in German is a dance of strength on a bed of sawdust where the object is to get your opponent on his back. If you do that, you win and have to help the loser up and brush the sawdust off his back. There are many moves and points are given for each one.
One move with one of the highest points is a very quick series of moves called “the short”, perfected by Fritz Schwander, shown in the white in the photograph above. The move has the following steps.
- use the force that your opponent has against your force to suddenly
- change direction and like a tango dancer
- lead him backward to the floor, and
- fall on him
- just to make sure he stays there for a while.
Politics
Switzerland was not invaded during either of the world wars. In 1920, Switzerland joined the League of Nations, which was based in Geneva on the condition that it was exempt from any military requirements.
When the Jews of Germany were trying to escape extermination just before WWII, the Swiss pressured the German government to have their passports marked with a “J” so that Jews could be easily detected and rejected when they tried to flee into Switzerland. The Germans ended up exterminating the Jews and expropriating their wealth. They removed the gold fillings from their teeth before they were burned in ovens, and placed the gold for safe keeping in Swiss banks. During WWII, Switzerland was never attacked. The banks refused to return the gold after the war because papers documenting who the gold fillings belonged to were missing.
One reason that Switzerland is such a peaceful country is the involvement of the church. Unlike in the other countries which have in their constitution clauses separating the church from the state, Switzerland employs the church by giving it tax money to act like a welfare agency catching any homeless who fall thru the state's social welfare net.
Another reason that Switzerland is such a peaceful country is that all interest groups are represented by political parties and all their voices are heard.
- From the rich and privileged represented by the FDP (Liberals) to the poor and needy represented by the SPS (Social Democrats).
- The CVP (Christian Democrats) protects the Christian’s way of life, while the GPS (Green Party) protects the environment.
- The SVP (Swiss People's Party) protects Switzerland’s culture, sovereignty, neutrality and its unique example to the rest of the world of the only real functioning direct democracy.
Perhaps the main reason for Switzerland's success at keeping its peace as long as it has is its unique direct democracy. While other democratic countries are democracies only on voting day when citizens delegate their democratic rights for the next 4 or 5 years to politicians, the Swiss practice direct democracy and vote on any issues that come up with immediate plebiscites.
Direct democracy
The Swiss people vote around four times a year on about 20 national issues and more referendums in cantons and communes, touching on very local matters. There are 2 ways to consult the people depending on the nature of the issue: the popular initiative, and the referendum.
Popular initiatives
Popular initiatives are initiated by the citizens. They are considered the driving force behind direct democracy.
Any Swiss citizen has the right to propose new legislation or change existing legislation by launching an initiative. If they manage to gather 100,000 signatures in support of their proposal, it must be put to a nation-wide vote. Initiatives are usually a call for a ban of something in order to protect something else, or a demand for action that the parliament has failed to make. In the past 145 years, there have been only 166 initiatives with only 18 of them accepted, about 1 in 10.
6 “demand” initiatives have been accepted.
- proportional representation (1918)
- a way out of international treaties (1921)
- improving and quickening direct democracy (1949)
- price control (1982)
- UN representation (2002) and
- expulsion of foreign criminals (2010).
12 “ban” initiatives have been accepted.
- ban for inhumane slaughter of animals in 1893,
- use of absinthe in 1908, and building casinos in 1920 which were later overturned.
After the women got the right to vote in 1971, many bans were initiated and accepted.
- developing marshlands (1987),
- 10 year moratorium for new nuclear stations (1990),
- working on the national day (1993),
- increasing traffic in the Alps (1994),
- sexually abusing children (2004 and 2008),
- moratorium for genetically modified agriculture (2005), and
- building new minarets (2009).
Initiatives are usually rejected for proposing any changes to the status quo, like:
- changing tobacco, alcohol and hemp laws
- limiting the number of foreigners entering Switzerland
- banning weapons exports
- adding more lanes to autobahn
- adding more tunnels thru mountains
- increasing or reducing speed limits
- increasing social welfare
Referendums
The Swiss have referendums to challenge or to authorize legislation proposed by the government. If any person or group opposed to the proposed new law manages to collect 50,000 signatures within 100 days of the official publication of the proposed legislation, the Swiss citizens must decide to approve it. The authorities are obliged to hold a referendum if the proposed legislation involves an amendment to the constitution initiated by the government or any proposal for Switzerland to sign a major international agreement which cannot be rescinded.
There has to be a "double majority" for referendums to pass, meaning a majority of the people and a majority of the cantons must approve it. Critics point out that the "double majority" rule gives an unfair advantage to the smaller cantons which tend to be conservative. Only about half of all proposals are accepted by the people in referendums. Voter participation is usually around 40 per cent. Moves are now underway to experiment with electronic voting, in the hope that this will raise participation.
Women's suffrage was approved by parliament in 1959, but rejected by an entirely male electorate. Men only agreed to accept it in 1971. Laws normally accepted by referendums are those that subsidize railways, support banks and entrepreneurs and facilitate extradition of foreigners.
Laws normally rejected by referendums are those that facilitate foreigners to become Swiss, propose more welfare for the Swiss poor and make close ties with foreign countries.
Direct democracy allows the people to voice their concerns so that politicians have a better feel of the mood of the people. In the first 135 years from 1866 to 1990, the messages voiced were:
Let’s be fair to ourselves, to our foreigners and to our animals. Let’s exercise our rights. “No” for reducing the work week to 44 hours. “No” for government intervention. “Yes” to female voting rights. (1971).
With the inclusion of women, the message and tone of the Swiss has drastically changed. In the last 20 years from 1990 to 2010, the messages voiced have changed to:
Let’s stop building more nuclear generators, have a holiday and protect our mountains, and let's not worry about fixing things that are not broken. Let’s provide more social welfare to the Swiss who are poor. We trust our government, we trust our people. Let's make some close ties with foreign countries. We do not trust the rest of the world but we need them.
Since 1971 when women started voting, it is as if the Swiss, having been raised up in single father families, have suddenly a mother.
Demands for more protection have been the result:
- Protection against price increases, against foreign intervention, against foreign criminals.
- Protection for the environment, for the poor, for future generations, and for the culture they will inherit.
There has been controversy over two recent initiatives: to ban minarets in 2009 and to deport criminal foreigners in 2010. They have been seen as a violation of both the Swiss constitution and international human rights law. As a result, the government has drawn up proposals to give parliament greater powers to reject initiatives that are against constitutional and international law. Of course these proposals have to be passed by a referendum.
While the first most important lesson Switzerland offers is to be tolerant and allow for direct democracy, the second most important lesson is the need of the women’s vote for a more long term, fair, social, and maternal approach to politics.
THE END
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