G is for Gay (LGBTQ) rights

pride march 2013

This winter, Der Kreis was released in theaters and I bawled like a baby.

It was a documentary film about Zürich's Harvey Milks, so to speak. You see, after World War II, homosexuality was illegal in many western European countries, but not Switzerland, which became like a Mecca for homosexuals. They came from all around at the weekend and lived and loved freely (more or less). That is until a serial murderer (rent boy) began killing homosexual men and the powers that be began to push for the registration of homosexuals in Switzerland (for their safety). Watch the film, it's horrific, but it has a happy ending because civil partnerships! (Since 2005)

So from 1942, homosexual acts were legal in Switzerland, though the age of consent was higher than for heterosexuals: 20 instead of 16 until 1990.  Anti-discrimination laws for homosexuals in the work place were only passed in 1999. (But there's always been equal protection under the law for homosexual prostitution as heterosexual prostitution.

Here in Switzerland, we all get united in a civil way at or by a member of city hall and then those who choose to can go to a church and do a wedding ceremony if they like. (There's not a justice of the peace, but someone who's sole job is to register partnerships.) Up until 2015 there was still a linguistic difference between hetero- and homosexual partnerships. But that changed this February. 

Though civil partnerships have been legal here since the early 2000s adoption remains a hot button issue. (If we're honest, adoption for single folk and straight folk is a bit kooky here to begin with.) But as of 2014, partner adoption in homosexual couples is legal. 

So homosexuals no longer need to be registered by orientation, but we're all registered one way or another here. Here, since 2012, citizens can change their gender officially and legally without any sort of sterilization.

F is for Fremde

immigration limiting referendum 2005

At my hen night, some sweet swiss friends of mine organized traditional swiss folk dancing. The teacher's English was pretty good, but when she wanted to say "partner and corner" in English, but didn't know it. I did my best to translate for her and when she asked "Was heisst Fremd auf Englisch?" I said "um....foreigner....no! stranger." The teacher then got confused and wound up saying "....turn to your foreigner, turn to your stranger...." instead of "partner/starnger." This memory stayed with some of our American guests and they joked all weekend, linking arms and bowing to the left "foreigner" and to the right "stranger."

That's me! Immigrants are Fremden. No stranger than the word "alien" if you ask me. Since Ivo and i began dating 11 years ago, there have been a few votes on immigration. The most recent of which was to not cap immigration. 

Remember how I told you in A how scary the political propaganda can be? 

An Ecopop referendum was proposed in order to limit immigration that the self proclaimed leftist ecologist party anticipate as a result of climate change necessitated migration. They worry that the teeny country with limited resources will be "buried under concrete" by the increased housing that will be needed to house an increasing influx of Fremden. Final results showed 74.1% of voters said no in a referendum. spearheaded by Ecopop, a group describing themselves as leftist ecologists, who claimed the country was being “buried under concrete” owing to the growing influx of foreigners. 
To apply for naturalization, you'll need to have lived in Switzerland for at least twelve years (consistently). You will have to satisfy the following requirements for naturalization: you must be socially and culturally integrated in Switzerland (re: properly observe the rules of the laundry room) comply with the Swiss rule of law, and you must not endanger Switzerland's internal or external security.

E - Is for Elections and I have no idea where to begin

our ballot about to be sent Easter Sunday. 

I am a legal alien in Switzerland and have no voting rights. But my husband and I vote together in his country and mine (when we're allowed to vote - location permitting.)
Here, we have the opportunity to vote a bunch of times per year. In the States, we just have the once a year and I vote absentee (every since I missed my first election in 2001 due to being in hospital in another state.) Here we either mail it in or we walk it to the school next door with our dog and drop it off to the volunteers. Here, election day is a Sunday and we get to see our neighbors while we bring it. In the US, it's the first Tuesday after the first Monday after the .... third full moon.... in November... I'm not sure. It's tricky.
The elections here are tricky too. We vote 3 times per year for either people, optional referendums (on something that's been accepted by the Federal Assembly and accepted 50,000 signatures of opponents) or Federal Popular Initiatives (voting on something put forth by citizens that collected 100,000 signatures of supporters.)
When we're voting for people you can either vote for a party or a la carte and you list them in order of preference. When we're voting for referendums, there are sometimes multiple options of purposed compromises. It's neat!
In our household, we fill out our ballots most often on a train (it seems like elections always take place around vacations.) If we agree that we're pro or anti something, then we write it on the ballot. If we disagree, we leave it blank.
I am completely aware of how kind it is for my husband to do this for me. There's an amazing sense of belonging when you're able to vote in the country you call home.  I feel that I can't leave this topic without also adding that women in Switzerland were some of the last to get the right to vote in the world. Though some cantons granted the other half of their population suffrage as early as 1959 (go Romandie) but the last canton to allow lady voting at the swiss level was in 1971 and at the federal level 1991.
That said, we regularly have female parliamentary presidents, so....

D is for Drogen

2 cops writing kids tickets
for smoking pot on the river.

I moved to Switzerland in 2004, so the government had already taken action to change their heroin problem. I'd most recently been living in Philadelphia, near Malcom X park. I never entered that park, as the drug trade happening there made it feel unsafe. It's equivalent in Zürich was Needle Park, or Platzspitz park, just behind the Landesmuseum. The central green area was filled with heroin addicts during the 80s and most Zürich residents avoided it. 

According to the president of the Addiction Research Institute at Zurich University, "The Swiss population has generally always had a high addiction liability in comparison to other European countries, in alcoholism, cigarette smoking, and in illegal drugs as well." The 83-year-old Professor Ambros Uchtenhagen was responsible for establishing in- and out-patient rehab clinics at the Uni's Psychology department. He also set up emergency teams, which were dispatched to revive overdoses on site. 

His work was integral to changing the political way that addicts and addiction were being addressed. Initially (and familiarly to an American) the political response was police crackdown with severe prison sentences. Thankfully, Uchtenhagen was made chair of the Cantonal Drug Commission and took the dramatic and controversial decision to pilot a program of heroin assisted treatment. This is the legal and medically supervised prescription of synthetic doses of opioids. 

Within 4 years, deaths as a result of overdose were reduced by approximately 50 percent, and the instance of HIV infections reduced by 65 percent. Today, one might come across a FLASH packet in a public toilet (where needle disposal bins are handily available.) Those cartons once contained a patient's methadone (such litter is most often found in areas around pharmacies.) 

"Needle Park" Autumn 2014

Today, "Needle Park" is a lovely place to walk during the day...if that day isn't early Sat or Sunday. Because then it's full of empty packets, bottles and cans, from the drunken teenagers the night before.  

C is for Confoederatio Helvetic

The only thing you need to know about Confederatio Helvetica is that it means that our websites end .ch
But seriously folks - the abbreviation for Switzerland is CH because of a federal charter signed in 1291 by Uri (the canton with my favorite flag), Unterwalden and Schwyz. They hoped to form a united front in order to maintain peace. The charter itself is disputed, as some people don't think that this bit of origin myth took place. But they celebrate it all the same on the first of August each year. (<- b="" be="" might="" my="" that="">F

)For the next couple of centuries their little band acquired or conquered other territories and grew to include 13 original cantons (which rings familiar to my american ears.) Between 1525 and 1648, 4 wars sprung up in response to the spread of the reformation (don't worry, R will come soon enough) until the Peace of Westphalia broke out and the lil Swiss Confederation that could was officially recognized as being separate form Rome. (Maybe R should be Rome?)
The french came and went (our neighborhood grew fruit and veg for Napoleon) and then our lil Helvetique added Valais, Neuchatel and Genev grew to 22 cantons! In the congress of Vienna in 1815, Switzerland had properly defined it's identity as the Confederation Helvetia and cemented it's identity as a neutral nation (or had it's identiy cemented for them) (hint for what N might be) and not just a big of group of banks that don't share information. (Refer back to B for that one.)

B is for Banks

As an American immigrant in Switzerland, banks are a little off limits. That wasn't the case when I first moved here in 2006, but then the financial crises struck and the US was broke and wanted to make sure that it was given its fair share. So, they decided that Americans would need to disclose their banking accounts and the Swiss bank's reactions were surprising to most.
Sure, those friends of mine who remember that I am living in Switzerland and not Sweden may associate my home with chocolate and banking (and maybe coo-coo-clocks? No spoilers, coo-coo clocks will not be covered in this month of political entries.) And any suspenseful thriller that involves large amounts of cash (and real life scandals involving evil oil companies with accounts in Zug) always reminds us that swiss bank accounts will not reveal the name of the kidnapper, terrorist, evil-doer. But I don't know that anyone expected the enthusiastic declaration that Switzerland's one true identity hinges on bank secrecy. Take that chocolate and snow sports!

Here is a short history of banking in Switzerland.
Christian and Jewish money exchangers arrived in Switzerland early in its history. Both groups still frowned on usury at the time, except if their customers were heretics (tune in for R for more of that fun stuff.)
In the 14th century, Bishop Ashemar allowed bankers to charge interest on loans.
In the 15th century, the Geneva trade fairs attract merchants and financiers to the city, who soon spread to Basel.
In the 16th century, John Calvin -in his protestant refuge - created a freedom from the catholic restrictions on usurey.
In the 18th century - this is the important bit - the Great council of Geneva bans the banks from revealing client information and thus establish banking secrecy.
In the 20th century, Switzerland's position as an essential center of banking was confirmed, with the help of the world wars and the depression. The foundation was cracked, however during the thirty years of attempts to reclaim Nazi bank accounts that were established during the Holocaust.
And now, Swiss banks refuse to give accounts to American citizens, for the sake of preserving their one true mission and I am persona non gratta in most any branch.
Perhaps my C entry will be a bit more cheerful.

A is for Alternative Liste

Election season in Switzerland takes some getting used to for an American immigrant. The hateful propaganda hanging around town seems more accepted and acceptable than in the US (but then they don't have the hateful TV spots that the US has.) And their candidate photos seem amateurish in their forthrightness and lack of photoshop. Living in Zürich, there's a large representation among the cheesy grins and stray hairs of Alternative Liste (AL) candidates on our billboards. 
There are 13 political parties in Switzerland at the federal and cantonal level and minority political parties. The Alternative Liste (AL) is one of the major parties and is most strongly represented in Zürich and Schaffhausen. It was established in 1990, which sounds even more recent when one remembers that the Switzerland was founded in the 13th century. They were established with the help of a member of the Progressive Organization of Switzerland, which sounds far more mainstream to my ears. 
When I was in the States, I used to think that we could do with a multiparty system. Little did I know that living in a country that has them, comes with a fun internet questionnaire! Ivo and I - as non-citizens of one another's countries - have always voted together. If we are in agreement on a referendum or candidate, we fill in the vote, if we disagree, we leave it blank. Back when we met in 2004, Ivo and I were politically quite similar. But then I moved here and became markedly more conservative (everything here is wonderful - why change it?!) Now we can take a quiz online and be told which politicians most agree with our views. The Alternative Liste is a saving grace for us, when Ivo is still reeling from the discovery of the percentage of similarities between myself and the religious parties. 
Here, one votes for parties and people, but assignments are given after the election. For example, we elected AL member Richard Wolff, a fairly liberal politician who'd previously lead campaign and research for transport, environmental and tenant cooperative associations, to city counsel. There, instead of being appointed to a position that would suit his previous experience, he was appointed to be police commissioner and expected to fail. Instead he has flourished. (I'm realizing as I write this that I don't know if that is different to the system of city counsels at home or not and am very embarrassed.) 
In 2009, they were responsible for the referendum to repeal the flat tax for millionaires. In 2011, they nearly won a parliamentary majority when they formed a coalition with the Pirate party.