Fulvio Pelli - l'ultimo vero liberale
In Svizzera, i partiti liberali e radicali che avevano sempre formato una famiglia politica nel senso sociologico (forti dissensioni al interno ma anche consenso sul fondo della libertà d'espressione, della tolleranza e della risponsabilità individuale) si sono finalmente riuniti per rinforzare la presenza liberale nel equilibrio politica fortemente polarizzato fra i popolarismi della destra (UDC) e della sinistra (PS) e per marcare una distanza chiara dalla formazione ameboide del PPD.
La nuova formazione si chiama in Svizzera tedesca "FDP.Die Liberalen" usurpando in un certo modo la denominazione protetta del partito liberale di Basilea-Città.
I liberali Ginevrini e Basilesi, federalisti e tradizionalmente opposti al centralismo del corrente radicale del "Freisinn", fino adesso non hanno avuto oglia di unirsi sotto la presidenza del Ticinese Fulvio Pelvi, ma potrebbero cambiare la loro opinione in seguito all'intervista che Fulvio Pelli ha dato alla radio DRS sabato, 28 febbraio 2009. Pelli, voce solitario in una clamorosa cacofonia politica e mediatica dopo i malfatti della UBS, ha detto chiaramente le cose che erano da dire:
1. La situazione presente e stata creata da elementi criminali al interno della UBS che sono perseguitati dall giudizia degli Stati Uniti. La Svizzera non è identica all'UBS malgradi il fatto che quest'ultima e la piu grande banca del paese.
2. La situazione e particolarmente grave grazie al antiamericanismo della nostra ministra del estero, Mme Calmy Rey, che ha fatto tutto per distruggere il Goodwill tradizionale che la Svizzera, "Sister Republic" degli Stati Uniti dall'indipendenza degli Americani del Nord, ha sempre avuto a Washington.
3. Il segreto bancario non esiste per proteggere atti criminali, ma per mantenere un minimo di libertà privata e per questa ragione non deve essere scrificato sul altare
dell' imagine della Svizzera al estero. L'evasione di tasse e un atto criminale, ma
il fatto che esiste non giustifica la libera circolazione di informazioni su ogni cittadino di una paese che mantiene un regime di tassazione contraprodottivo.

Attraverso la sua analisi, Fulvio Pelli si è rivelato un rappresentante degno del liberalismo classico in un'atmosfera di caccia di streghe, di collettivismo, di protezionismo e di ultranazionalismo.

Breaking Swiss bank secrecy and The Opening of Pandora's Box
When Mephisto declared in Faust I: "...ich bin ein Teil der Kraft, die stets das Böse will und stets das Gute schafft..." his statement demonstrated a contrario the vanity of the human effort to do good and to be good when it comes to guaranteed success. Barak Obama's government and the present US administration are trying to do good and to be good. What they need in the first place, is cash. Where can you find cash if not on Swiss Bank accounts? Breaking the Swiss banking secrecy may be hailed from many honest people around the world, but the side effects of this effort are largely unknown. If 52,000 U.S. citizens are indicted and ultimately condemned for tax fraud, the damage on entrepreneurship in the US and elsewhere will exceed the effect of the subprime crisis, hundreds of thousands of small and medium businesses will go bust within the next weeks and months, and the process might spark revolutionary upheaval throughout the industrialized world.
The grounding of Switzerland's Banking business and of the country's overall credibility might eventually be considered a footnote in an ensuing scenario that could best be compared to the French Revolution. The "Ancien Régime" in France crumbled after the costly military support of the French to the American Independence movement.
America's strength as the leading industrial nation has been lost as a consequence of costly military interventions and financial mismanagement. Barak Obama was elected President by those who suffered most of the errors of the Bush adminstration and it might become very difficult for President Obama to calm the spirits that supported him. To direct the fury of the "middle American" towards an external enemy will the most probably be chosen as the best tactic, and Switzerland - adorned with a new label as "financial rogue state" might provide the ideal target for diversive action. However, as stated before, a frontal attack against the "Smaller Sister Republic" by the US might prove as risky as stepping into a mine field of unknown dimensions. If the UBS goes bust thanks to the attacks from the US judiciary, and if the Swiss taxpayers have ultimately have to pay the bill, the witch hunt might continue within Switzerland, leading to a final implosion of Pandora's Box.

Once again, Sardinia surrenders to soft fascism
Una volta di piu, la Sardegna si arrende al fascismo dolce


On September 29, 2007, I wrote on this blog a short comment on the life and work of Emilio Lussu, with special emphasis to the fierce resistance of his native Sardinia against the first wave of fascism and to the surrender of the Island's political elite to the seduction of the second wave which tried to hid the ugly face of Mussolini's movement behind a mask of gentle bourgeois style.
And in a later comment - on February 24, 2008 ("Uses and Misuses of the NAZI-KEULE")on the differences between Italian fascism and German Nazism I mentionned the fact that the judiciary's independence in Italy was protected even during the Mussolini years thanks to the constitutional monarchy.
In recent times, Berlusconi has continuously, and with a certain success, tried to
discredit the judiciary's independence and has even sought the support of the ultra-conservative and revisionist Pope Benedict XVI for his attacks on tribunals and judges.
Last Sunday, with the success of the party of the self-declared Cavaliere per la Grazia di Dio Berlusconi in Sardinia's regional elections, once again, proud Sardinia has surrendered to
soft fascism.

Il 29 settembre 2007, su questo blog, avevo scritto un breve commentario sulla vita e l'opera di Emilio Lussu, con attenzione speciale sulla resistenza della Sardegna
contro la prima ondata del fascismo, ed alla capitolazione dell'elite politica dell'isola alla seconda ondata che aveva nascosto la faccia bruta del movimento di Mussolini sotto una maschera di borghesia gentile.
In un altro commentario del 24 febbraio 2008(sulla "NAZI-KEULE") avevo menzionato che l'indipendenza del sistema giudiziario era rimasta protetta dalla monarchia costituzionale anche durante gli anni del fascismo.
In tempi recenti, Berlusconi continua di sconfessare sistematicamente giudici e tribunali, e senza srupulo cerca l'aiuto del Papa ultra-conservatore e revisionista
Benedetto XVI per arrivare al suo obiettivo.
Domenica passata, col successo del partito del auto-dichiarato Cavaliere per la Grazia di Dio Berlusconi nelle elezioni regionali, la Sardegna fiera, una volta di piu, si è arresa al fascismo dolce.

February 8, 2009 - Switzerland's or Europe's Doomsday?
Fears are growing in Switzerland that the popular vote of February 8, 2009, concerning the bilateral accord on freedom of movement within the EU and Switzerland (which is not an EU member) will end in a NO.
When two weeks earlier, opinion polls showed a 55% YES majority, the margin is now down on 50% YES, 7% undecided and 43% NO.
What strikes the OSSERVATORE PROFANO most, is the complete blindness of the discussion within Switzerland for the effects of a NO on the EU itself. Isolationists
want to redraw the line between Switzerland and it's neighbours, they are convinced that the semi-permeability of the frontier between "Us" and "Them" will remain untouched by a NO and that all the options for negotiating whatever subject with the EU will even be greater than ever before, confounding the tolerance for negative votes of member states such as Ireland (whom the EU cannot afford to loose) or for the erratic behavior of some members in Eastern Europe with the situation of Switzerland, which is not a member and which is considered - not only in Europe - as a shameless profiteer.
What is most striking: the NZZ, in it's management of the "letters to the editor" page, appears to lean toward a NO, or at least unwilling to stem the tide.
What we must fear most, and much more than the reactions of EU towards Switzerland, is the stimulus for desintegration within the EU that is initiated by a Swiss NO on February 8, 2009. This country bears a heavy responsibility not only for it's own fate but for the fate of Europe too, and the price of a NO will be high for all of Europe.

Switzerland in Search of an Identity - Shall we become the Center of Europe, try a remake of Albania under Enver Hoxha, or end in a hostile environment, comparable to that of Israel or of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip?

When casting their vote in the next federal referendum on February 8, 2009, the Swiss will take one further step in their never-ending search for a national identity. They can say YES to the extension of the convention on free circulation of persons throughout the European Union to the citizens of new member states of the UE, namely Bulgaria and Romania, or say NO, thereby putting at risk a series of bilateral conventions on subjects such as free trade, mutual recognition of professional qualifications, scientific and technical cooperation etc.etc. which define the "bilateral way" of step by step cooperation with the European Union onto which the country has been steered by Chrstoph Blocher and his Swiss People's Party.
A series of questions arise in this context.
Will Switzerland continue to be a "special zone" in the heart of the European Union, at best developping over the years into a "District of Switzerland" (in analogy to the "District of Columbia - D.C." of the United States of America) or will it become
a pariah country, a kind of remake of Enver Hoxha's Albania which isolated itself completely from the European continent and sought refuge and consolation as a special ally of Maoist China? Will Switzerland continue to consider itself as a kind of "Promised Land" unable to understand positive signals from it's neighbours and therefore driving itself into a more and more violent defensive behaviour, quite similar to Israel, or, even worse, will it be forced into isolation by a European Union which could become more and more unwilling to discuss special favours for an unreliable partner? Will this isolation eventually lead to more and more violent internal dispute and dissensions, to a civil war and to a chaos of the type we now can see in the Gaza Strip?
The outcome of the popular vote of February 8 is still uncertain, the latest polls indicating a narrow majority for YES with 55%.
Whatever the result, it will not end the continuous effort of a country that has an impressivee record of high quality direct democracy to make difficult choices on it's priorities, political, economical, cultural as well.
Another aspect, our voters should take into account: Switzerland's political choices do not pass unnoticed in European capitals, and a negative vote on February 8 is likely to unleash more internal dispute within the European Union where some partners have become particularly vulnerable to populist tendencies.

Thank You, Hans Saner!

Swiss Philosopher Hans Saner (1934), in an interview with the Basel newspaper "Basler Zeitung" (bazkulturmagazin, 28 october 2008) on the financial crisis,has made a fine statement on the misconception of democracy that has prevailed during the second half of the twentieth century and continues to prevail in the 21th century.
When the citizens of the German Democratic Republic took to the streets before the fall of the Berlin wall, they used to cry: "Wir sind das Volk!" (We are the People).

We all, Hans Saner says, use to cry: "We are the People!", but we should cry: "We are the Economy!, we are Politics, we are the Culture!" instead.
In fact, pseudo-religious neo-liberal prophets have tried to outdo the marxist hope for the inevitable death of the State by nurturing the hope that global wealth and well-being could be achieved by the forces of the market alone. In contrast to this concept, classical liberalism has always asked for a minimal coherence between regulatory interventions and the market forces.
In this context, it is refreshing to hear a philosopher say that democracy must not stop short of the concept of "The People" (or "The Nation"), but has to include, Economy, Politics, and, last but not least, Culture.

Peer Steinbrück and the weight of history: "Die Schweiz, das kleine Stachelschwein, die nehmen wir auf dem Rückweg ein.."

German minister of finance Peer Steinbrück must have slept back in 1968 and 1969 when during his training as a reserve officer of the Deutsche Bundeswehr the subject of the relations between the German Reich, the Wehrmacht and Switzerland was discussed. The above slogan was used by members of the Wehrmacht to explain why they did not invade Switzerland between 1939 and 1942.
Switzerland, when frontally attacked, is no easy adversary. The questions that are to be discusse these days are neither the inappropriate behaviour of Swiss banker Joe Ackermann at the helm of Deutsche Bank nor the behaviour of hundreds of milliardaire German citizens that have evaded German taxes by buying houses in the Swiss Alps, but the excellent cooperation of the Swiss Federal Reserve (Schweizerische Nationalbank) with the European Central Bank and the anger of hundreds of thousand of Swiss citizens and foreign inhabitants working in Switzerland who pay heavy taxes on the communal, cantonal an federal level over
unqualified remarks by a member of the German government.
The Swiss are themselves very well aware of the imperfections of their tax system, but they are absolutely adamant in asking for the right to fix this mess themselves.
Peer Steinbrück may be reminded that e.g. in the Canton of Basel-City, taxation is not negotiable, whereas such solutions are in use in certain Central Swiss Cantons.
An excuse not only to the Federal government, but to the ordinary Swiss citizens by Peer Steinbrück is overdue.