Why Swiss People's Party (SVP) would be happy to see Switzerland becoming a target of hate campaigns
The popular initiative to ban minaret construction in Switzerland will most probably win the majority of Swiss voters on this Sunday, 29 November 2009, with the exception of liberal cantons like Basel and Geneva). By imposing a nation-wide ban for the construction of minarets, it is a logical step in the strategical objective of the party: to turn back Switzerland from a modern, liberal,multiethnic, tolerant country back into a extremely nationalist, reactionary, intolerant, xenophobic nation. To achieve this ultimate objective of the party, it is very important that Switzerland becomes the target of hate campaigns from outside. This would be helpful to create a climate of fear and intolerance and to unite the citizens under an authoritarian political regime.
Swiss People's Party greatest satisfaction would be a terror attack of the Nine Eleven type on our country, and if such an attack is not imminent, SVP politics are consciously designed to provoke just that. While SVP tries to convince our citizens that it is the only political group acting in the general interest of the country, and likes to accuse opponents of high treason, the question might be justified if the Swiss People's Party is not itself a major agent of hight treason against the general interest of our country.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
In memoriam Sergei Magnitski - and a hommage to Fyodor Dostoyevsky and to Leos Janacek
When back in 1862 Fyodor Dostoyevsky published "The House of the Dead" (Russian: Записки из Мёртвого дома, German: "Aufzeichnungen aus einem Totenhaus"), an account of his years as detainee in a Siberian prison camp, he probably did so hoping that some day in the future, the horrors he described would come to an end in Russia.
His description of the far worse conditions under which prisoners in custody are hold in comparison to those already convicted, are echoed, 147 years later, in the wording of a report by Markus Ackeret (Neue Zürcher Zeitung Nr.275, Thursday November 26, 2009, p.5) on the Case of Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitski: "Die Zustände in den Untersuchungsgefängnissen gelten als bedeutend schlimmer als in den Strafkolonien. Besonders berüchtigt ist das Butyrka Gefängnis in Moskau..."
The libretto of Leos Janacek's opera "Z mrtvého domu" ("Aus einem Totenhaus")written in 1927 is a collage of citations from Dostoyevsky's original text. Under the direction of Calixto Bieito on the opera program of Theater Basel 2009/2010, the opera is put into the context of the continuity of inhumane criminal punishment throughout the 19th and the 20th century to this day.
And, in a surprising way,Janacek, Calixto Bieito and the fantastic musical performers at Theater Basel can be seen as a bow before the latest victims of Russian criminal justice which seems to be unable so far to overcome a terrible tradition. President Medvedev, who, in an act of personal courage, has ordered an investigation on the case of Sergei Magnitski, should be graciously asked to invite Calixto Bieito and the Theater Basel to show Janacek's opera in Moscow.
Foto Copyright Hans-Jörg Michel and Theater Basel
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Swissness as the Swiss People's Party defines it
banning minarets, walling the country against immigration
The political megatrend in Switzerland, as demonstrated by the latest politician's rating published by Neue Zürcher Zeitung, shows a clear polarization towards the extreme poles on the left (social democrats SP and greens GP) and the extreme right (Swiss People's Party SVP/UDC). No wonder the climate is rapidly deteriorating, the political propaganda is becoming increasingly aggressive in style.
The popular initiative launched by SVP which aims at the country-wide prohibition of erecting minarets has unleashed an aggressivity unknown in Switzerland since the times of the Sonderbund war in 1847.(In Europe, the type of propaganda in use has been first seen in Germany during the Weimar Republic -1918 to 1933- with avantgarde artists like Heartfield and Grosz on the forefront, and was brought to perfection later by the propaganda machines of the Soviet Union and of Nazi Germany). This "Shock and Awe" propaganda style disappeared after World War II. It reemerged in the Sixties, and later has been used for commercial advertising (e.g. by BENETTON)
The latest victim of the SVP propaganda machine has been the Roman-Catholic bishop Kurt Koch who is accused of being a traitor after having declared his opposition to the initiative.
The term of "Landesverrat" (high treason) has become more and more fashionable lately inside of the SVP and is used every time a member of that party vocalizes the slightest dissension from the official party line.
One question arises from this political trend: is the SVP consciously trying to put this country on a path that could end in a either a reenactment of the German Democratic Republic which had to protect it's territorial integrity by a wall and an order to kill anybody willing to cross the border, or produce a copy of the wall the Israelis put up against the Palestinians?
The Swiss People's Party has given proof of exploiting xenophobic and racist tendencies since the arrival of Christoph Blocher at it's commands and continues to show a will to proceed to a political and ethnical homogenization of the country under the cover of protecting a liberal market economy, and it consciously takes the risk of triggering readiness for ethnical cleansing in the brains of modest citizens by it's propaganda methods.
The left has been surprisingly shy and has failed to come out massively against the minaret initiative, but on the other hand has tried to copy the SVP propaganda style by publishing a poster displaying a photography of Doris Leuthard, federal minister of the economy, with hand full of blood, as an illustration for the argument to ban export of weaponry from Switzerland, another popular initiative to be voted on november 27, 2009.
Meanwhile, the fact that posters of the minaret initiative have been banned from public advertising areas in some cantons has led to a well orchestrated outcry by the initiative committee over repression of free speech and censorship...
Poor Switzerland.
banning minarets, walling the country against immigration
The political megatrend in Switzerland, as demonstrated by the latest politician's rating published by Neue Zürcher Zeitung, shows a clear polarization towards the extreme poles on the left (social democrats SP and greens GP) and the extreme right (Swiss People's Party SVP/UDC). No wonder the climate is rapidly deteriorating, the political propaganda is becoming increasingly aggressive in style.
The popular initiative launched by SVP which aims at the country-wide prohibition of erecting minarets has unleashed an aggressivity unknown in Switzerland since the times of the Sonderbund war in 1847.(In Europe, the type of propaganda in use has been first seen in Germany during the Weimar Republic -1918 to 1933- with avantgarde artists like Heartfield and Grosz on the forefront, and was brought to perfection later by the propaganda machines of the Soviet Union and of Nazi Germany). This "Shock and Awe" propaganda style disappeared after World War II. It reemerged in the Sixties, and later has been used for commercial advertising (e.g. by BENETTON)
The latest victim of the SVP propaganda machine has been the Roman-Catholic bishop Kurt Koch who is accused of being a traitor after having declared his opposition to the initiative.
The term of "Landesverrat" (high treason) has become more and more fashionable lately inside of the SVP and is used every time a member of that party vocalizes the slightest dissension from the official party line.
One question arises from this political trend: is the SVP consciously trying to put this country on a path that could end in a either a reenactment of the German Democratic Republic which had to protect it's territorial integrity by a wall and an order to kill anybody willing to cross the border, or produce a copy of the wall the Israelis put up against the Palestinians?
The Swiss People's Party has given proof of exploiting xenophobic and racist tendencies since the arrival of Christoph Blocher at it's commands and continues to show a will to proceed to a political and ethnical homogenization of the country under the cover of protecting a liberal market economy, and it consciously takes the risk of triggering readiness for ethnical cleansing in the brains of modest citizens by it's propaganda methods.
The left has been surprisingly shy and has failed to come out massively against the minaret initiative, but on the other hand has tried to copy the SVP propaganda style by publishing a poster displaying a photography of Doris Leuthard, federal minister of the economy, with hand full of blood, as an illustration for the argument to ban export of weaponry from Switzerland, another popular initiative to be voted on november 27, 2009.
Meanwhile, the fact that posters of the minaret initiative have been banned from public advertising areas in some cantons has led to a well orchestrated outcry by the initiative committee over repression of free speech and censorship...
Poor Switzerland.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Will Roman Polanski get a fair trial?
Evidence has been growing during the last 48 hours that the accusations on which Roman Polanski's prosecution are based on are more severe than what could be assumed earlier. While the mediatic fog over the quality of the crime he is indicted for is passing away, a lot of questions arise: was it sex with a minor or was it rape? Under what circumstances did it occur? what was the role of the girl's mother in the process? Was she conscious of the danger she put her child in? Was her risk management sufficient? Was the act premeditated? What was his mental state before and during the crime? It will be extremely difficult to reconstruct the facts after such a long time, and it will be even more difficult to get back to where everything started: with the traumatic childhood and adolescence of a Jewish child during and after World War II, which has to be seen in direct connection with Nazi Germany's aggression of Poland.
Read Jerzy Kosinsky's (1933-1991) book "The Painted Bird" (L'oiseau bariolé, der bemalte Vogel) and you will understand the horrors that must have haunted the survivors of the Holocaust and of the life in occupied Poland, a country full of
open antisemitism not only during the war but even afterwards, during the communist regime. Or go to see Polanski's film "Repulsion of 1965...
The central question is:
If Roman Polanski is extradited to the United States, how fair will the trial be?
Finally, his trial will be the trial of the United States Judicial system, and if it ends in bringing not only justice but peace of mind to a man who suffered probably more than anyone of us can imagine throughout his life while putting on a mask of clown, then and only then this trial will be a success...
Evidence has been growing during the last 48 hours that the accusations on which Roman Polanski's prosecution are based on are more severe than what could be assumed earlier. While the mediatic fog over the quality of the crime he is indicted for is passing away, a lot of questions arise: was it sex with a minor or was it rape? Under what circumstances did it occur? what was the role of the girl's mother in the process? Was she conscious of the danger she put her child in? Was her risk management sufficient? Was the act premeditated? What was his mental state before and during the crime? It will be extremely difficult to reconstruct the facts after such a long time, and it will be even more difficult to get back to where everything started: with the traumatic childhood and adolescence of a Jewish child during and after World War II, which has to be seen in direct connection with Nazi Germany's aggression of Poland.
Read Jerzy Kosinsky's (1933-1991) book "The Painted Bird" (L'oiseau bariolé, der bemalte Vogel) and you will understand the horrors that must have haunted the survivors of the Holocaust and of the life in occupied Poland, a country full of
open antisemitism not only during the war but even afterwards, during the communist regime. Or go to see Polanski's film "Repulsion of 1965...
The central question is:
If Roman Polanski is extradited to the United States, how fair will the trial be?
Finally, his trial will be the trial of the United States Judicial system, and if it ends in bringing not only justice but peace of mind to a man who suffered probably more than anyone of us can imagine throughout his life while putting on a mask of clown, then and only then this trial will be a success...
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Case Polanski: When a State of Law masturbates in public
The arrest of Roman Polanski on arriving at Zurich airport is an example of a perverted use of the law. If there had been a clear will to respect the law and to avoid an international scandal, the direction of the Zurich festival should have been warned beforehand that Mr. Polanski was persona non grata in Switzerland because of the still pending prosecution in the United States. The ambush organized to arrest Polanski was a full blow in the face of the Swiss federal culture authorities which depend of the Federal Department of the Interior during a period of transition between Mr. Couchepin and his successor Burkhalter.
From the purely theoretical point of view, the prosecution of child abuse independant of the standing of the person under suspicion might be the central point for our Justice minister, but the way Mrs. Widmer-Schlumpf's department handled the case Polanski merits only one remark:
"Pfui Teufel, Frau Bundesrätin..."
Post Scriptum:
Mr Polanski might have provoked legal action by trying to whitewash his past according to a report by The GUARDIAN on September 2009:
If it were so, my critique of Mrs. Widmer-Schlumpf's department would not be well founded and I should apologize to our Justice minister, but nevertheless, the handling of this affair by our federal authorities once again has not been at the level of quality requested in a country that is under constant attack from abroad.
The arrest of Roman Polanski on arriving at Zurich airport is an example of a perverted use of the law. If there had been a clear will to respect the law and to avoid an international scandal, the direction of the Zurich festival should have been warned beforehand that Mr. Polanski was persona non grata in Switzerland because of the still pending prosecution in the United States. The ambush organized to arrest Polanski was a full blow in the face of the Swiss federal culture authorities which depend of the Federal Department of the Interior during a period of transition between Mr. Couchepin and his successor Burkhalter.
From the purely theoretical point of view, the prosecution of child abuse independant of the standing of the person under suspicion might be the central point for our Justice minister, but the way Mrs. Widmer-Schlumpf's department handled the case Polanski merits only one remark:
"Pfui Teufel, Frau Bundesrätin..."
Post Scriptum:
Mr Polanski might have provoked legal action by trying to whitewash his past according to a report by The GUARDIAN on September 2009:
If it were so, my critique of Mrs. Widmer-Schlumpf's department would not be well founded and I should apologize to our Justice minister, but nevertheless, the handling of this affair by our federal authorities once again has not been at the level of quality requested in a country that is under constant attack from abroad.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Le révisionisme historique et la campagne de Suisse en 1799
Le révisionisme historique en vogue dans la Russie postmoderne de Medvedev
et Poutine n'a pas épargné la Suisse. Dans sa version online, la Moscow Times confirme que le Maréchal Souvorov, par son intervention, aurait chassé les Français de la Suisse et contribué au rétablissement de la neutralité de notre pays. Cela est trop beau pour être vrai, et à celles et ceux qui aimeraient savoir mieux comment la campagne militaire de 1799 s'est déroulée, Osservatore Profano recommande la lecture du livre de Nicole GOTTERI: La campagne de Suisse en 1799 "Le choc des géants", paru chez Bernard Giovanangeli, Paris 2003 ISBN 2-909034-35-6.
En effet, il y a exactement 210 ans, le 26 septembre 1799, pendant que les troupes russes de Souvorov réussirent à franchir le Pont du Diable et d'avancer jusqu'à Altdorf, l'armée française commandée par le général Masséna prit d'assaut la ville de Zurich après le refus des forces austriaco-russes de convenir à une retraite en ordre.
Nicole Gotteri écrit, en page 124 de son livre:
"...pour essayer d'épargner à la Ville (de Zurich)les suites prévisible d'une prise d'assaut,Masséna crut devoir user de la voie des négotiations. Ce geste est tout à son honneur, contraitement à ce que Korsakov (commandant des forces alliées sur place), sans doute pour se justifier, insinua dans ses rapports au tsar et à Souvorov, lui-même ayant retenu le parlementaire français, le brigadier Ducheyron,
envoyé le 25 au soir au mépris des usages de guerre et ayant différé de donner une réponse..."
Il est très facile de comprendre que si aujourd'hui les historiens russes basent leur appréciation des évènements du 26 septembre 1799 exclusivement sur les archives
de l'empire du 18ème et 19ème siècle, ils arrivent facilement à une interprétation très diffèrente non seulement de la seconde bataille de Zurich et des raisons pour le carnage qui a sans doute eu lieu dans la ville lors de l'assaut des troupes françaises sur les troupes russes en complet désordre mais aussi de toute la campagne de Souvorov.
Souvorov lui-même, ce jour là, après avoir franchi le Saint-Gothard au coût de la vie de 2000 hommes, a en effet réussi a franchir la Schöllenen défendu ce jour la par des forces françaises en retraite tactique.
Nicole Gotteri:
"Le général en chef russe ignorait encore les résultats des batailles engagées sur le lac de Zurich. Il comptait toujours rejoindre Hotze (général autrichien d'origine suisse tué lors des combats dans la plaine de la Linth) à Schwytz et marcher sur Lucerne. Pour gagner Schwytz il renonça le sentier qui passait par Flüelen Sisikon et Brunner car il révélait son mouvement à Lecourbe (le général de division français à la tête des troupes dans la vallée de la Reuss, dans la haute vallée de l'Aare et dans le Haut Valais qui s'était replié à Seedorf sur la rive gauche de la Reuss).
Il préféra emprunter le Schächental, le col de Kinzig, le Wängital pour aboutir au hameau de Muotathal...."
Les suites sont connues. Souvorov sera refoulé du Muotothal, il devra passer dans le Linthtal d'où il essayera de passer vers le lac de Zurich, il sera repoussé vers Elm et franchira, dans la neige, avec ce qui reste de ses troupes durement éprouvées, ayant perdu pratiquement tous son matériel y inclus les vivres, le Panixerpass pour descendre dans la vallée du Rhin d'ou il retirera son armée du territoire suisse.
Nicole Gotteri:
D'après les estimations de l'historien russe Miliutin, les effectifs sous le commandement de Souvorov en date du 1er septembre avaient été 706 officiers et de 20579 hommes.... A l'arrivée à Coire, 8 octobre, 14000 hommes étaient encore présents; la perte totale se montait à environ 6000 hommes. En outre,Souvorov avait perdu toute son artillerie et tous ses bagages..."
Il y a lieu de mentionner à cette occasion la communication catastrophique entre les commandements suprèmes des troupes de coalition, notamment le tsar et l'empereur autrichien François, frère du commandant des troupes austro-russes en Suisse, le'archéduc Charles, et l'atmosphère glaciale, et en partie franchement hostile entre les commandants dans les terrain.
Le contrast avec l'habileté de conduite, l'usage des renseignements, l'esprit d'invention du génie militaire dans la préparation de passages fluviaux (Limmat, Linth) du côté français est frappant.
Finalement, il faut signaler que la campagne en Suisse de 1799 a été fratricide.
Du côté français, il y avait plusieurs bataillons helvétique, du côté de la coalition un régiment (Roverea) et des paysans en révolte contre les troupes d'occupation françaises.
Inutile de vouloir nier la rupture qui reignait dans notre pays en cette période sanglante, et dangereux de vouloir glorifier la coalition en dénigrant les troupes françaises. Une chose est sure: l'expérience des fureurs de la guerre sur notre territoire a permis aux Suisses de mieux réflêchir sur leur façon de gérer un pays
d'une extrème inhomogénéité culturelle, et a accepter l'acte de Médiation proposée par Napoléon en 1805. Les leçons de la campagne de 1799 étaient bien apprises en novembre 1847, lorsque sous la direction du général Dufour, le Sondrebond a été écrasé par une campagne militaire qui a été charactérisée par un historien américain, Joachim Remak, comme "une guerre très civile" (A Very Civil War) ou, dans le titre de la traduction allemande du livre: "Bruderzwist, nicht Bruderkrieg"
Le révisionisme historique en vogue dans la Russie postmoderne de Medvedev
et Poutine n'a pas épargné la Suisse. Dans sa version online, la Moscow Times confirme que le Maréchal Souvorov, par son intervention, aurait chassé les Français de la Suisse et contribué au rétablissement de la neutralité de notre pays. Cela est trop beau pour être vrai, et à celles et ceux qui aimeraient savoir mieux comment la campagne militaire de 1799 s'est déroulée, Osservatore Profano recommande la lecture du livre de Nicole GOTTERI: La campagne de Suisse en 1799 "Le choc des géants", paru chez Bernard Giovanangeli, Paris 2003 ISBN 2-909034-35-6.
En effet, il y a exactement 210 ans, le 26 septembre 1799, pendant que les troupes russes de Souvorov réussirent à franchir le Pont du Diable et d'avancer jusqu'à Altdorf, l'armée française commandée par le général Masséna prit d'assaut la ville de Zurich après le refus des forces austriaco-russes de convenir à une retraite en ordre.
Nicole Gotteri écrit, en page 124 de son livre:
"...pour essayer d'épargner à la Ville (de Zurich)les suites prévisible d'une prise d'assaut,Masséna crut devoir user de la voie des négotiations. Ce geste est tout à son honneur, contraitement à ce que Korsakov (commandant des forces alliées sur place), sans doute pour se justifier, insinua dans ses rapports au tsar et à Souvorov, lui-même ayant retenu le parlementaire français, le brigadier Ducheyron,
envoyé le 25 au soir au mépris des usages de guerre et ayant différé de donner une réponse..."
Il est très facile de comprendre que si aujourd'hui les historiens russes basent leur appréciation des évènements du 26 septembre 1799 exclusivement sur les archives
de l'empire du 18ème et 19ème siècle, ils arrivent facilement à une interprétation très diffèrente non seulement de la seconde bataille de Zurich et des raisons pour le carnage qui a sans doute eu lieu dans la ville lors de l'assaut des troupes françaises sur les troupes russes en complet désordre mais aussi de toute la campagne de Souvorov.
Souvorov lui-même, ce jour là, après avoir franchi le Saint-Gothard au coût de la vie de 2000 hommes, a en effet réussi a franchir la Schöllenen défendu ce jour la par des forces françaises en retraite tactique.
Nicole Gotteri:
"Le général en chef russe ignorait encore les résultats des batailles engagées sur le lac de Zurich. Il comptait toujours rejoindre Hotze (général autrichien d'origine suisse tué lors des combats dans la plaine de la Linth) à Schwytz et marcher sur Lucerne. Pour gagner Schwytz il renonça le sentier qui passait par Flüelen Sisikon et Brunner car il révélait son mouvement à Lecourbe (le général de division français à la tête des troupes dans la vallée de la Reuss, dans la haute vallée de l'Aare et dans le Haut Valais qui s'était replié à Seedorf sur la rive gauche de la Reuss).
Il préféra emprunter le Schächental, le col de Kinzig, le Wängital pour aboutir au hameau de Muotathal...."
Les suites sont connues. Souvorov sera refoulé du Muotothal, il devra passer dans le Linthtal d'où il essayera de passer vers le lac de Zurich, il sera repoussé vers Elm et franchira, dans la neige, avec ce qui reste de ses troupes durement éprouvées, ayant perdu pratiquement tous son matériel y inclus les vivres, le Panixerpass pour descendre dans la vallée du Rhin d'ou il retirera son armée du territoire suisse.
Nicole Gotteri:
D'après les estimations de l'historien russe Miliutin, les effectifs sous le commandement de Souvorov en date du 1er septembre avaient été 706 officiers et de 20579 hommes.... A l'arrivée à Coire, 8 octobre, 14000 hommes étaient encore présents; la perte totale se montait à environ 6000 hommes. En outre,Souvorov avait perdu toute son artillerie et tous ses bagages..."
Il y a lieu de mentionner à cette occasion la communication catastrophique entre les commandements suprèmes des troupes de coalition, notamment le tsar et l'empereur autrichien François, frère du commandant des troupes austro-russes en Suisse, le'archéduc Charles, et l'atmosphère glaciale, et en partie franchement hostile entre les commandants dans les terrain.
Le contrast avec l'habileté de conduite, l'usage des renseignements, l'esprit d'invention du génie militaire dans la préparation de passages fluviaux (Limmat, Linth) du côté français est frappant.
Finalement, il faut signaler que la campagne en Suisse de 1799 a été fratricide.
Du côté français, il y avait plusieurs bataillons helvétique, du côté de la coalition un régiment (Roverea) et des paysans en révolte contre les troupes d'occupation françaises.
Inutile de vouloir nier la rupture qui reignait dans notre pays en cette période sanglante, et dangereux de vouloir glorifier la coalition en dénigrant les troupes françaises. Une chose est sure: l'expérience des fureurs de la guerre sur notre territoire a permis aux Suisses de mieux réflêchir sur leur façon de gérer un pays
d'une extrème inhomogénéité culturelle, et a accepter l'acte de Médiation proposée par Napoléon en 1805. Les leçons de la campagne de 1799 étaient bien apprises en novembre 1847, lorsque sous la direction du général Dufour, le Sondrebond a été écrasé par une campagne militaire qui a été charactérisée par un historien américain, Joachim Remak, comme "une guerre très civile" (A Very Civil War) ou, dans le titre de la traduction allemande du livre: "Bruderzwist, nicht Bruderkrieg"
Monday, September 21, 2009
Général Claude Jacques Lecourbe (1758-1815)
Un cordiale benvenuto al Presidente Medvedev dal Osservatore Profano
Non c'è dubbio che il generale maresciallo di campo (russo ed austriaco) Suvorov, nel 1799 aveva la missione di preparare una base avanzata per l'attacco degli alleati contro la Francia rivoluzionaria, è che per la sua volontà di ferro e la crudeltà colla quale ha trattato i suoi soldati, ha mancato solo di poco l'obiettivo.
La memoria storica nazionale della Svizzera non è mai uscito dall scissione profonda che divide gli amici della Francia (e della sua rivoluzione), i Svizzeri (protestanti, liberali) del settore occidentale del paese, e quelli amici della Russia, i Svizzeri (cattolici, conservatori) del settore centrale ed orientale del paese.
11 anni fa, nel 1998, Basilea, si ricordava con una festa repubblicana del direttore elvetico Peter Ochs, fondatore della Repubblica Elvetica (1798 a 1805) mentre che nei Grigioni, un magazzino storico-geografico-tusristico (Terra Grischuna) implorava l'incendio del monastero di Disentis come un reato tipico dei Francesi atei.
Se il presidente russo Dmitri Medvedev, primo capo di Stato della Russia mai venuto in Svizzera, apportera il suo tributo davanti al monumento Suvorov nella Schöllenen, sara ben avisato di ricordarsi non solo dei trionfi del stratega Suvorov e delle sofferenze dei suoi uomini, ma anche della qualità dell' avversario di quest'ultimo e della bravura delle truppe francesi sotto il Comando del generale Claude Jacques Lecourbe, e del fatto che il colpo mortale che la Russia e l'Austria volevano portare alla Francia in Svizzera non è riuscita.
Facit: anche oggi, la Svizzera rimane un terreno minato per quello che prova di usarla come base avanzata di interessi strategici, perche grazie alla libertà dei suoi cittadini, i dissensi e le lotte interne lasciarono sempre dello spazio d'azione per l'avversario e impedirono il successo finale...
Riferimenti:
GÜNTHER Reinhold: Le Alpi a Ferro e Fuoco
La campagna della divisione Lecourbe nella guerra del 1799
Armando Dadò Editore, Locarno 2002
ISBN 88-8281-109-3
A hearty welcome to President Medvedev
Beyond any doubt the general field marshal Suvorov had
the mission, in 1799, to establisch an advanced base for the final attack of the Allied forces against revolutionary France, and that thanks to his iron will and the cruelty with which he treated his soldiers, only narrowly missed this objective.
The historical memory of the Swiss has never overcome the deep divide between the
friends of France (ans the French Revolution), namely the inhabitants of the
Western part of the country (protestant, liberal) and the friends of Russia, the inhabitants of the Eastern and central parts of the country (catholic and conservative).
Eleven years ago, in 1998, in Basel a "fête républicaine" was held in honour of the founder of the Helvetic Republic, Peter Ochs, while in Grisons, a historical-geographical-touristic magazine (Terra Grischuna) still deplored the firestorm that had destroyed the monastery of Disentis as a crime that had been typical for the impious French.
When the President of Russia, the first head of state of Russia ever to visit Switzerland, will honour the memory of the general field marshal at the Suvorov memorial in the canyon of the Schöllenen, he will be well advised to consider not only the triumphs of the strategic leader and the suffering of his soldiers, but also the bravery of the adversary,the French troops under the command of Général Claude Jacques Lecourbe (1758-1815, and to the fact that the mortal blow that was intended against the French on Swiss soil did not succeed.
Facit:
Even today, Switzerland remains a terrain full of landmines for all those who tries to use her as a base for strategic interests, thanks to the liberty of her citizens who through their dissensions and infights will impede the final success.
Source:
GÜNTHER Reinhold: Le Alpi a Ferro e Fuoco
La campagna della divisione Lecourbe nella guerra del 1799
Armando Dadò Editore, Locarno 2002
ISBN 88-8281-109-3
Friday, August 21, 2009
Hans Rudolf Merz in the footsteps of Neville Chamberlain
On September 29, 1938, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared, after having signed together with the French Prime Minister Daladier, an agreement with Hitler and Mussolini in Munich that legitimated the annexation of the Northwestern part of Czechoslovakia (Sudentenland) by Germany:
"Peace is at hand".
A year later, World War II had been started by Nazi Germany.
71 years later, on August 20, 2009, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Federal Councillor Hans Rudolf Merz, flew to Tripoli and signed a declaration of official excuse for the arrest of one of Muammar Ghadafi's sons, Hannibal, in Geneva, two years earlier, for charges brought against him of having beaten his servants.
The Swiss President, by this act of apeasement, was convinced to have restored the hounour and the dignity of the Ghadafi family and to have done no harm to the honour of his own country. Meanwhile it was unclear what had been the fate of the servants that had had the courage to protest against their treatment, and two Swiss citizens were still held as hostages by the regime of Tripoli, as President Merz was on his way home.
Mr Hannibal Ghadafi himself had declared, some days before the arrival of President Merz in Libya, his intent to destroy Switzerland, if only a nuclear bomb had been at hand, thereby opening the question whether his honour could be restored by less violent means than by bombing Switzerland.
The carpet for the Canossa journey of President Merz had been laid out by Swiss sociologist Jean Ziegler, a man to whom the late Cuban-Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara once had declared that he considered him as "the virus in the brain of the monster" (the monster, according to Che, being Ziegler's country, Switzerland).
In an interview with a Swiss newspaper, the day before the Tripoli agreement, Mr. Ziegler had praised Muammar Ghadafi as one of the most serious anti-imperialist political leaders in the world and expressed his gratitude of having been invited repeatedly by the Libyan leader for personal discussions.
By acting in this way, two prominent Swiss citizens, the President of the Confederation, and a fundamentalist professional critic of the same Confederation, have reproduced two stereotypes often attributed to the Swiss national character:
a) secret admiration for authoritarian and autocratic regimes
b) low self-esteem and an underdevelopped sense of honour
President Merz might take some comfort from the debate in the House of Commons on October 3, 1938, when Prime Minister Chamberlain declared:
"...Before giving a verdict upon this arrangement, we should do well to avoid describing it as a personal or a national triumph for anyone. The real triumph is that it has shown that representatives of four great Powers can find it possible to agree on a way of carrying out a difficult and delicate operation by discussion instead of by force of arms, and thereby they have averted a catastrophe which would have ended civilisation as we have known it. The relief that our escape from this great peril of war has, I think, everywhere been mingled in this country with a profound feeling of sympathy."
[Hon. Members: "Shame".]
"I have nothing to be ashamed of. Let those who have, hang their heads. We must feel profound sympathy for a small and gallant nation in the hour of their national grief and loss."
Mr. Bellenger: "It is an insult to say it."
The Prime Minister:
"I say in the name of this House and of the people of this country that Czechoslovakia has earned our admiration and respect for her restraint, for her dignity, for her magnificent discipline in face of such a trial as few nations have ever been called upon to meet."
Parliamentary Debates, Commons, Vol. 339 (October 3, 1938)
Source: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs36.htm
On September 29, 1938, the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared, after having signed together with the French Prime Minister Daladier, an agreement with Hitler and Mussolini in Munich that legitimated the annexation of the Northwestern part of Czechoslovakia (Sudentenland) by Germany:
"Peace is at hand".
A year later, World War II had been started by Nazi Germany.
71 years later, on August 20, 2009, the President of the Swiss Confederation, Federal Councillor Hans Rudolf Merz, flew to Tripoli and signed a declaration of official excuse for the arrest of one of Muammar Ghadafi's sons, Hannibal, in Geneva, two years earlier, for charges brought against him of having beaten his servants.
The Swiss President, by this act of apeasement, was convinced to have restored the hounour and the dignity of the Ghadafi family and to have done no harm to the honour of his own country. Meanwhile it was unclear what had been the fate of the servants that had had the courage to protest against their treatment, and two Swiss citizens were still held as hostages by the regime of Tripoli, as President Merz was on his way home.
Mr Hannibal Ghadafi himself had declared, some days before the arrival of President Merz in Libya, his intent to destroy Switzerland, if only a nuclear bomb had been at hand, thereby opening the question whether his honour could be restored by less violent means than by bombing Switzerland.
The carpet for the Canossa journey of President Merz had been laid out by Swiss sociologist Jean Ziegler, a man to whom the late Cuban-Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara once had declared that he considered him as "the virus in the brain of the monster" (the monster, according to Che, being Ziegler's country, Switzerland).
In an interview with a Swiss newspaper, the day before the Tripoli agreement, Mr. Ziegler had praised Muammar Ghadafi as one of the most serious anti-imperialist political leaders in the world and expressed his gratitude of having been invited repeatedly by the Libyan leader for personal discussions.
By acting in this way, two prominent Swiss citizens, the President of the Confederation, and a fundamentalist professional critic of the same Confederation, have reproduced two stereotypes often attributed to the Swiss national character:
a) secret admiration for authoritarian and autocratic regimes
b) low self-esteem and an underdevelopped sense of honour
President Merz might take some comfort from the debate in the House of Commons on October 3, 1938, when Prime Minister Chamberlain declared:
"...Before giving a verdict upon this arrangement, we should do well to avoid describing it as a personal or a national triumph for anyone. The real triumph is that it has shown that representatives of four great Powers can find it possible to agree on a way of carrying out a difficult and delicate operation by discussion instead of by force of arms, and thereby they have averted a catastrophe which would have ended civilisation as we have known it. The relief that our escape from this great peril of war has, I think, everywhere been mingled in this country with a profound feeling of sympathy."
[Hon. Members: "Shame".]
"I have nothing to be ashamed of. Let those who have, hang their heads. We must feel profound sympathy for a small and gallant nation in the hour of their national grief and loss."
Mr. Bellenger: "It is an insult to say it."
The Prime Minister:
"I say in the name of this House and of the people of this country that Czechoslovakia has earned our admiration and respect for her restraint, for her dignity, for her magnificent discipline in face of such a trial as few nations have ever been called upon to meet."
Parliamentary Debates, Commons, Vol. 339 (October 3, 1938)
Source: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs36.htm
Friday, July 24, 2009
Clonare Silvio Berlusconi - per rendere l'Italia felice
Gli ultimi capricci del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Italiana, Silvio Berlusconi, mostrono un uomo felice nei suoi comportamenti incompatibili colla dignità dello stato che dirige. Il "Cavaliere", "L'unto del Seniore",l'imprenditore senza scrupoli, il monopolista delle mass media del suo paese, il cantante, il grande amatore di figlie bionde e terapeuta sessuale secondo i nastri di una escort che ha passato una notte con lui...Silvio Berlusconi appare come l'uomo perfetto per il terzo millennio. "Il Principe" di Nicolò Macchiavelli era un personaggio che faceva paura, ma il dittatore moderno porta una maschera simpatica, sempre giocosa, e rende felice quelli che capiscono che basta ammirarlo e dargli l'applauso dovuto per approfitare della sua generosità. Forse il futuro politico ed economico dell'Italia sarebbe piu sereno se la popolazione consisteva esclusivamente da cloni del Cavaliere Berlusconi, tutti furbi,senza scrupoli,festeggianti,vivendo senza l'ombra dell'autocritica e del dubbio. Aldous Huxley ha dato un'impressione del mondo felice che potrebbe essere quello dei cloni berlusconiani, nel suo "Brave New World".
Would cloning of Silvio Berlusconi make Italy happier?
The latest revelations on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconis publicized sexual life show a man happily behaving in a way that is incompatible with the dignity of his high political office. The "Cavaliere","The Anointed by the Lord", the tycoon free of remorse, the monopolist of the mass media of his country,the singer, the lover of blonde girls and now even sex therapy counsellor of an escort that passed a night with him... Silvio Berlusconi appears to be the ideal man for the third millenium. The historical "Principe" of Nicolo Macchiavelli was a frightening personality, but the modern dictator wears a sympathetic mask, always joyful, and is ready to make those happy who understand that it suffices to admire him and to spend the applause he deserves in order to take profit from his generosity. Maybe the political and economic future of Italy whould look a bit mor bright if her populations was composed exclusively of clones of the Cavaliere Berlusconi,everyone being clever, cute, joyous, living without the slightest shadow of autocritique or doubt. Aldous Huxley has given a description of a world populated by berlusconian clones in his famlous novel "Brave New World".
Gli ultimi capricci del Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri della Repubblica Italiana, Silvio Berlusconi, mostrono un uomo felice nei suoi comportamenti incompatibili colla dignità dello stato che dirige. Il "Cavaliere", "L'unto del Seniore",l'imprenditore senza scrupoli, il monopolista delle mass media del suo paese, il cantante, il grande amatore di figlie bionde e terapeuta sessuale secondo i nastri di una escort che ha passato una notte con lui...Silvio Berlusconi appare come l'uomo perfetto per il terzo millennio. "Il Principe" di Nicolò Macchiavelli era un personaggio che faceva paura, ma il dittatore moderno porta una maschera simpatica, sempre giocosa, e rende felice quelli che capiscono che basta ammirarlo e dargli l'applauso dovuto per approfitare della sua generosità. Forse il futuro politico ed economico dell'Italia sarebbe piu sereno se la popolazione consisteva esclusivamente da cloni del Cavaliere Berlusconi, tutti furbi,senza scrupoli,festeggianti,vivendo senza l'ombra dell'autocritica e del dubbio. Aldous Huxley ha dato un'impressione del mondo felice che potrebbe essere quello dei cloni berlusconiani, nel suo "Brave New World".
Would cloning of Silvio Berlusconi make Italy happier?
The latest revelations on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconis publicized sexual life show a man happily behaving in a way that is incompatible with the dignity of his high political office. The "Cavaliere","The Anointed by the Lord", the tycoon free of remorse, the monopolist of the mass media of his country,the singer, the lover of blonde girls and now even sex therapy counsellor of an escort that passed a night with him... Silvio Berlusconi appears to be the ideal man for the third millenium. The historical "Principe" of Nicolo Macchiavelli was a frightening personality, but the modern dictator wears a sympathetic mask, always joyful, and is ready to make those happy who understand that it suffices to admire him and to spend the applause he deserves in order to take profit from his generosity. Maybe the political and economic future of Italy whould look a bit mor bright if her populations was composed exclusively of clones of the Cavaliere Berlusconi,everyone being clever, cute, joyous, living without the slightest shadow of autocritique or doubt. Aldous Huxley has given a description of a world populated by berlusconian clones in his famlous novel "Brave New World".
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Theater and Politics - From Shakespeare's personalities to clones of Silvio Berlusconi
Shakespeare's drama Anthony and Cleopatra is rarely seen on stage in Continental European theater. Shown at the THEATER BASEL under the direction of Christina Paulhofer in a German translation by Elisabeth Plessen, it earned a cool welcome by the Basel public and the press. However, the most virulent criticism came from those who deplored the balanced description of both the geopolitical struggle between Egypt and Rome and the private problems of the protagonists in the foreground of the play by director Christina Paulhofer.
In fact, Paulhofer's interpretation was proof of the modernity of Shakespeare's view of political drama. The great difference between today's political scene and the one Shakespeare described lies in the fact that political leaders nowadays seldom pay with their lives for what they do to their own people - or to others. Most probably,they will die in their beds. At least, this seems to be the case for the senior autocrats Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe. Others, like Silvio Berlusconi, will try to achieve eternal youth through biomedical tricks and might one day become immortalized either by virtual digitalized dummies who can continue to play their role, to do their dirty tricks and to make silly jokes ad infinitum or, who knows, by clones.
Shakespeare's drama Anthony and Cleopatra is rarely seen on stage in Continental European theater. Shown at the THEATER BASEL under the direction of Christina Paulhofer in a German translation by Elisabeth Plessen, it earned a cool welcome by the Basel public and the press. However, the most virulent criticism came from those who deplored the balanced description of both the geopolitical struggle between Egypt and Rome and the private problems of the protagonists in the foreground of the play by director Christina Paulhofer.
In fact, Paulhofer's interpretation was proof of the modernity of Shakespeare's view of political drama. The great difference between today's political scene and the one Shakespeare described lies in the fact that political leaders nowadays seldom pay with their lives for what they do to their own people - or to others. Most probably,they will die in their beds. At least, this seems to be the case for the senior autocrats Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe. Others, like Silvio Berlusconi, will try to achieve eternal youth through biomedical tricks and might one day become immortalized either by virtual digitalized dummies who can continue to play their role, to do their dirty tricks and to make silly jokes ad infinitum or, who knows, by clones.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The assisted suicide of the smaller of the "Sister Republics" and it's assistants
Switzerland and the United States of America were considered, throughout the 19th century, as "sister republics", based on the similarities of their Constitutions.In Switzerland it was assumed that the United States had copied the Swiss political system, but this is clearly the result of complete historical ignorance. The Swiss were very much interested to know how the United States managed to overcome the colonial rule of the British Empire. An example: the first translation of the original text of the declaration of independence into German was published by the Swiss Isaac Iselin, secretary of state of the city republic of Basel (in: Ephemeriden der Menschheit, October 1776) http://www.dhm.de/magazine/unabhaengig/dippel_e.htm
And when Switzerland adopted a new Federal Constitution in 1848, after a short civil war between a separatist coalition of conservative, mainly roman catholic cantons (the so-called "Sonderbund") of central Switzerland against the radical liberal majority, it's parliamentary system became an exact copy of the American two chamber parliament, i.e. the House of Representatives and the Senate. This choice was the fruit of more than a decade of patient lobbying for the American model of parliamentarism by a Swiss philosopher, Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (1780-1866).The friendship of the unequal "Sister Republics" has survived many political storms but it may soon come to an end thanks to a form of "assisted political suicide".The subprime crisis, the subsequent downfall of UBS chairman Marcel Ospel and the latest developments in the law suit against former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld may produce permanent damage to the image of Switzerland and to it's self-esteem, as a place where serious business is done in a clean way.If the youthful and dynamic Barack Obama is elected as President of the United States, a 21st century reenactment of the "New Deal" will most certainly take place,
and it may even take a nationalist(-social) turn, with harsh winds blowing over the Atlantic. The damage that Switzerland has done to itself by to closely linking it's political and economice fortunes to those of it's megalomaniac global banks
might lead to a softly assisted suicide of the smaller of the two Sister Republics",
will then weaken it's international stand in a way that may push it to take shelter in the arms of the European Union, thus committing an assisted suicide.
It may be the last consequence of a dubious tradition, initiated by Ludwig A Minelli, the founder of DIGNITAS, and Marcel Ospel may become the dignified assistant of the political suicide of a country that once was proud of it's independence.
Switzerland and the United States of America were considered, throughout the 19th century, as "sister republics", based on the similarities of their Constitutions.In Switzerland it was assumed that the United States had copied the Swiss political system, but this is clearly the result of complete historical ignorance. The Swiss were very much interested to know how the United States managed to overcome the colonial rule of the British Empire. An example: the first translation of the original text of the declaration of independence into German was published by the Swiss Isaac Iselin, secretary of state of the city republic of Basel (in: Ephemeriden der Menschheit, October 1776) http://www.dhm.de/magazine/unabhaengig/dippel_e.htm
And when Switzerland adopted a new Federal Constitution in 1848, after a short civil war between a separatist coalition of conservative, mainly roman catholic cantons (the so-called "Sonderbund") of central Switzerland against the radical liberal majority, it's parliamentary system became an exact copy of the American two chamber parliament, i.e. the House of Representatives and the Senate. This choice was the fruit of more than a decade of patient lobbying for the American model of parliamentarism by a Swiss philosopher, Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (1780-1866).The friendship of the unequal "Sister Republics" has survived many political storms but it may soon come to an end thanks to a form of "assisted political suicide".The subprime crisis, the subsequent downfall of UBS chairman Marcel Ospel and the latest developments in the law suit against former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld may produce permanent damage to the image of Switzerland and to it's self-esteem, as a place where serious business is done in a clean way.If the youthful and dynamic Barack Obama is elected as President of the United States, a 21st century reenactment of the "New Deal" will most certainly take place,
and it may even take a nationalist(-social) turn, with harsh winds blowing over the Atlantic. The damage that Switzerland has done to itself by to closely linking it's political and economice fortunes to those of it's megalomaniac global banks
might lead to a softly assisted suicide of the smaller of the two Sister Republics",
will then weaken it's international stand in a way that may push it to take shelter in the arms of the European Union, thus committing an assisted suicide.
It may be the last consequence of a dubious tradition, initiated by Ludwig A Minelli, the founder of DIGNITAS, and Marcel Ospel may become the dignified assistant of the political suicide of a country that once was proud of it's independence.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The New USSR - PP
Considering recent trends in European politics, with particular emphasis on three countries: Russia, Serbia and Switzerland, we can observe a convergence on certain values and on political methods.
One interesting phenomenon is the attractivity of Christoph Blocher's Swiss People's Party for newly nationalized Swiss citizens of Serbian origin. Another common feature is the staunch resistence against participation in the European Union which is considered as a major threat to national identity and for the maintenance of local values in all three countries. Isolationism is another common phenomenon
The result may be a revival of the USSR under new auspices:
The blogger community is kindly invited to comment on my proposal to call this new sphere of common interests USSR-PP, the Union of Serbian, Swiss and Russian People's Parties.
Considering recent trends in European politics, with particular emphasis on three countries: Russia, Serbia and Switzerland, we can observe a convergence on certain values and on political methods.
One interesting phenomenon is the attractivity of Christoph Blocher's Swiss People's Party for newly nationalized Swiss citizens of Serbian origin. Another common feature is the staunch resistence against participation in the European Union which is considered as a major threat to national identity and for the maintenance of local values in all three countries. Isolationism is another common phenomenon
The result may be a revival of the USSR under new auspices:
The blogger community is kindly invited to comment on my proposal to call this new sphere of common interests USSR-PP, the Union of Serbian, Swiss and Russian People's Parties.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
The uses and misuses of the "NAZI-KEULE"
On February 14, 2008, the editorialist Martin Senti of the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" complained about the use of the so-called "Nazi-Keule" in a recent exchange of verbal injuries between the President of the Swiss Confederation, Pascal Couchepin, and one of the most outspoken and aggressive protagonists of the Swiss People's Party, Christoph Mörgeli.
In recent political disputes in Switzerland comparisons of present-time extremist tendencies have shown a preference to associate the adversary's position either with Italian fascism or German national socialism.
My repeated suggestion to draw a line of distinctio between the two forms of totalitarism has not been successful for the simple reason that the perception of historical political events and trends of the twentieth century has continued to fade away even in the heads of cultivated journalists.
The visitor of this blog will find a comment to President Couchepin's failure to make the necssary distinction on the blog http://www.arlesheimreloaded.ch, in German ("Sie irren, Herr Bundespräsident") and in French ("à M.le président de la confédération").
A letter to the editor that I wrote in response to the editorialist of NZZ has not been accepted for publication.
Therefore I present it here:
Ich bin grundsätzlich damit einverstanden, dass es historisch unsinnig ist, extremistische Tendenzen in der Schweiz mit dem Nationalsozialismus zu assoziieren.
Richtigerweise haben Sie, Herr Senti, die Absurdität des entsprechenden Vorwurfs von Herrn Mörgeli an die Adresse der
SP, dargelegt. Ich stelle aber fest, dass auch in Ihrem heutigen Text der Nationalsozialismus und der (italienische) Faschismus in einem Atemzug genannt werden, was ebenfalls historisch falsch ist, selbst unter Berücksichtigung der Achse Berlin-Rom.
Der italienische Faschismus war in der Phase seiner grössten Virulenz (und Akzeptanz) antisozialistisch, und stand damit ideologisch in diametralem Gegensatz zur nationalsozialistischen Bewegung in Deutschland, die ja selbst von zeitgenössischen Kommunisten wie Curzio Malaparte (in seinem Buch "Technik des Staatsstreichs", "Technica del Colpo di
Stato" von 1932) als "bestgetarnte kommunistische Bewegung" wahrgenommen wurde.
Benito Mussolini hat nach seiner Wahl als Abgeordneter in der Kammer sein Programm wie folgt definiert:
"Der Staat muss auf seine wesentlichste, einfachste Form zurückgebracht werden. ein gutes Heer haben, eine gute Polizei, eine glatt funktionierende Justiz, und er muss eine den Erfordernissen der Nation gemässe Aussenpolitik betreiben. Alles Übrige soll der Privatinitiative überlassen bleiben..." (Emilio LUSSU: "Marsch auf Rom und Umgebung", Folio Verlag, Bozen, 2007, p.24. , Originalausgabe "Marcia su Roma e Dintorni", Paris 1933).
Der heutige Leser würde zweifellos ein solche Programm als "neoliberal" identifizieren, und so konnte denn auch Mussolini sich mit dem von Lussu beschriebenen ideologischen Ansatz die Bewunderung und die zunächst still-schweigende, später offene Unterstützung der liberalen Kräfte in Italien sichern.
Emilio Lussu, der sardische Föderalist und spätere Minister in der ersten italienischen Nachkriegsregierung De Gasperi, der Mussolini von Anfang an konsequent bekämpft hatte, liefert in seinem Buch eine hervorragende Analyse der
psychologischen und soziologischen Besonderheiten des Aufstiegs des italienischen Faschismus.
Die Tatsache, dass Italien während des Faschismus eine Monarchie geblieben war, dass der König Mussolini absetzen konnte, dass schliesslich die Justiz eine partielle Unabhängigkeit bewahren konnte, hat die Erinnerung an den Faschismus ist in- und ausserhalb Italiens durch dessen Fasasade der "Bonhommie", einer gewissen Eleganz und Modernität verklärt, die Brutalität des Regimes quasi verniedlicht. Zur Ambivalenz gegenüber dem italienischen Faschismus hat auch dessen zum Teil ausgesprochen elegante Architektursprache beigetragen, wie die "Casa del Fascio" des berühmten Architekten Giuseppe Terragni in Como beweist.
Das weichgezeichnete Bild des Faschismus hat auch dazu beigetragen, dass der starke nicht-sozialistische, liberale Widerstand gegen das Regime und dessen hervorragende Repräsentanten wie z.B. der Schwager Emilio Lussus, Max Salvadori, und deren Wirken im heutigen Italien kaum noch bekannt sind.
Mit den Zinsen dieses psychologischen Kapitals und dieser im Gegensatz zu Deutschland fast vollständig verdrängten Vergangenheit wuchern im heutigen Italien die Herren Berlusconi und Fini. Ihre "Forza Italia", "Polo della Libertà"
oder neuestens "Popolo della Liberta" reklamieren für sich das Erbe des Liberalismus, während sie gleichzeitig den aufgeklärten Ordnungsstaat, Conditio sine qua non eines liberalen Staatswesens, verhöhnen.
Man muss blind sein, um die zweifellos vorhandenen Parallelen zwischen dem italienischen Faschismus, seiner
postmodernen Epigonen und der Rhetorik gewisser "Volksparteien" zu übersehen. Dass die NZZ, und leider auch die FDP,
nicht in der Lage oder nicht bereit sind, den ideengeschichtlichen Hintergrund, welcher allen Dementis zum Trotz die
Basis für die hemdsärmelige Polemik zwischen unserem Bundespräsidenten und Herrn Mörgeli bildet, wenigstens zur
Kenntnis zu nehmen, ist bedauerlich.
On February 14, 2008, the editorialist Martin Senti of the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" complained about the use of the so-called "Nazi-Keule" in a recent exchange of verbal injuries between the President of the Swiss Confederation, Pascal Couchepin, and one of the most outspoken and aggressive protagonists of the Swiss People's Party, Christoph Mörgeli.
In recent political disputes in Switzerland comparisons of present-time extremist tendencies have shown a preference to associate the adversary's position either with Italian fascism or German national socialism.
My repeated suggestion to draw a line of distinctio between the two forms of totalitarism has not been successful for the simple reason that the perception of historical political events and trends of the twentieth century has continued to fade away even in the heads of cultivated journalists.
The visitor of this blog will find a comment to President Couchepin's failure to make the necssary distinction on the blog http://www.arlesheimreloaded.ch, in German ("Sie irren, Herr Bundespräsident") and in French ("à M.le président de la confédération").
A letter to the editor that I wrote in response to the editorialist of NZZ has not been accepted for publication.
Therefore I present it here:
Ich bin grundsätzlich damit einverstanden, dass es historisch unsinnig ist, extremistische Tendenzen in der Schweiz mit dem Nationalsozialismus zu assoziieren.
Richtigerweise haben Sie, Herr Senti, die Absurdität des entsprechenden Vorwurfs von Herrn Mörgeli an die Adresse der
SP, dargelegt. Ich stelle aber fest, dass auch in Ihrem heutigen Text der Nationalsozialismus und der (italienische) Faschismus in einem Atemzug genannt werden, was ebenfalls historisch falsch ist, selbst unter Berücksichtigung der Achse Berlin-Rom.
Der italienische Faschismus war in der Phase seiner grössten Virulenz (und Akzeptanz) antisozialistisch, und stand damit ideologisch in diametralem Gegensatz zur nationalsozialistischen Bewegung in Deutschland, die ja selbst von zeitgenössischen Kommunisten wie Curzio Malaparte (in seinem Buch "Technik des Staatsstreichs", "Technica del Colpo di
Stato" von 1932) als "bestgetarnte kommunistische Bewegung" wahrgenommen wurde.
Benito Mussolini hat nach seiner Wahl als Abgeordneter in der Kammer sein Programm wie folgt definiert:
"Der Staat muss auf seine wesentlichste, einfachste Form zurückgebracht werden. ein gutes Heer haben, eine gute Polizei, eine glatt funktionierende Justiz, und er muss eine den Erfordernissen der Nation gemässe Aussenpolitik betreiben. Alles Übrige soll der Privatinitiative überlassen bleiben..." (Emilio LUSSU: "Marsch auf Rom und Umgebung", Folio Verlag, Bozen, 2007, p.24. , Originalausgabe "Marcia su Roma e Dintorni", Paris 1933).
Der heutige Leser würde zweifellos ein solche Programm als "neoliberal" identifizieren, und so konnte denn auch Mussolini sich mit dem von Lussu beschriebenen ideologischen Ansatz die Bewunderung und die zunächst still-schweigende, später offene Unterstützung der liberalen Kräfte in Italien sichern.
Emilio Lussu, der sardische Föderalist und spätere Minister in der ersten italienischen Nachkriegsregierung De Gasperi, der Mussolini von Anfang an konsequent bekämpft hatte, liefert in seinem Buch eine hervorragende Analyse der
psychologischen und soziologischen Besonderheiten des Aufstiegs des italienischen Faschismus.
Die Tatsache, dass Italien während des Faschismus eine Monarchie geblieben war, dass der König Mussolini absetzen konnte, dass schliesslich die Justiz eine partielle Unabhängigkeit bewahren konnte, hat die Erinnerung an den Faschismus ist in- und ausserhalb Italiens durch dessen Fasasade der "Bonhommie", einer gewissen Eleganz und Modernität verklärt, die Brutalität des Regimes quasi verniedlicht. Zur Ambivalenz gegenüber dem italienischen Faschismus hat auch dessen zum Teil ausgesprochen elegante Architektursprache beigetragen, wie die "Casa del Fascio" des berühmten Architekten Giuseppe Terragni in Como beweist.
Das weichgezeichnete Bild des Faschismus hat auch dazu beigetragen, dass der starke nicht-sozialistische, liberale Widerstand gegen das Regime und dessen hervorragende Repräsentanten wie z.B. der Schwager Emilio Lussus, Max Salvadori, und deren Wirken im heutigen Italien kaum noch bekannt sind.
Mit den Zinsen dieses psychologischen Kapitals und dieser im Gegensatz zu Deutschland fast vollständig verdrängten Vergangenheit wuchern im heutigen Italien die Herren Berlusconi und Fini. Ihre "Forza Italia", "Polo della Libertà"
oder neuestens "Popolo della Liberta" reklamieren für sich das Erbe des Liberalismus, während sie gleichzeitig den aufgeklärten Ordnungsstaat, Conditio sine qua non eines liberalen Staatswesens, verhöhnen.
Man muss blind sein, um die zweifellos vorhandenen Parallelen zwischen dem italienischen Faschismus, seiner
postmodernen Epigonen und der Rhetorik gewisser "Volksparteien" zu übersehen. Dass die NZZ, und leider auch die FDP,
nicht in der Lage oder nicht bereit sind, den ideengeschichtlichen Hintergrund, welcher allen Dementis zum Trotz die
Basis für die hemdsärmelige Polemik zwischen unserem Bundespräsidenten und Herrn Mörgeli bildet, wenigstens zur
Kenntnis zu nehmen, ist bedauerlich.
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