Switzerland

Airport Disruption Entered Fourth Day; Starmer’s Government A Target

July 28, 2024 The Canary. Resist! airplanes, Airports, Austria, Canada, climate crisis, Climate Justice, Montreal, pollution, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK)

On Saturday 27 July, peaceful protests took place in at least six cities across six countries in support of Oil Kills – an international uprising to end oil, gas and coal by 2030. Airport disruption was a key feature, again – with more arrests amid blockades. However, in the UK things went up a gear – as activists targeted Keir Starmer’s new Labour Party government. Across the UK, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada, protesters are gathering to demand their governments commit to establishing a legally binding treaty to stop extracting and burning oil, gas and coal by 2030 as well as supporting and financing poorer countries to make a fast, fair, and just transition.

Ukraine Summit Failed: Global South Rejected Pro-War ‘Peace Conference’

June 19, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report Brazil, China, Colombia, Global South, Peace Negotiations, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky

The Western powers held a conference in Switzerland in June in an attempt to gain more international support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The vast majority of the world population, in the Global South, rebuked this so-called “Summit on Peace in Ukraine”, to which Russia was not invited. Only 78 countries, mostly in Europe, endorsed the meeting’s final declaration. Together, these nations represented a small minority of the global population. At least 160 countries were invited to the conference from June 15 to 16 in Bürgenstock, Switzerland. Just around 90 ended up attending, and most sent low-level officials.

94% Of Americans Want To End Ukraine War, But US Rejects Peace Deal

June 8, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. Resistance Report Brazil, China, Emmanuel Macron, Eurasia Group, France, Joe Biden, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine

Polling shows that the vast majority of people in the United States and Western Europe want negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Despite this, NATO opposes a peace proposal made by China and Brazil, and refuses to invite Russia to a so-called “peace conference” that the Western powers are holding in Switzerland from June 15-16. The Institute for Global Affairs of Eurasia Group, an avowedly pro-NATO and anti-Russia consulting firm that has worked extensively with Western governments, published a study this June titled “The New Atlanticism”. The survey found that the 94% of people in the US and 88% in Western Europe want a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine.

Climate: ECHR Judges Side With Swiss Group In Rights Ruling

April 9, 2024 Deutsche Welle. Resist! Climate Justice, Greta Thunberg, Legal System, Switzerland

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday delivered rulings in a group of landmark climate change cases aimed at making national governments meet treaty obligations to cut greenhouse emissions. In one of the three cases, it upheld a complaint by a group of elderly Swiss women that government failures to properly oversee emissions did violate their human rights. While activists have enjoyed past success in domestic proceedings, the verdict marks the first time an international court made such a ruling on climate change.

Citing World Court, Japan Firm Cuts Ties With Israel Arms Maker

February 8, 2024 Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada. Resist! Belgium, Elbit, International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel, Japan, Joe Biden, Palestine, Spain, Switzerland, weapons

A major Japanese industrial conglomerate is cutting ties with Israeli arms maker Elbit, citing the International Court of Justice ruling that Israel may be committing genocide in Gaza. Itochu Corporation said its aviation division would terminate its partnership with Elbit by the end of February. Tsuyoshi Hachimura, Itochu’s chief financial officer, said that his company’s partnership with Elbit was “based on a request from the Japan’s defense ministry for the purpose of importing defense equipment for the Self-Defense Forces necessary for Japan’s security, and is not in any way related to the current conflict between Israel and Palestine.” But the decision to end the relationship clearly is.

Israel President Herzog Hit With Criminal Complaint In Switzerland

January 19, 2024 Agence France-Presse, South China Morning Post. Resist! Davos, Gaza, Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ), Isaac Herzog, Israel, Legal System, Palestine, South Africa, Switzerland

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been targeted with a criminal complaint during a visit to Switzerland, Swiss prosecutors said on Friday, amid allegations of crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office (BA) confirmed that it had received a criminal complaint against the Israeli president, who was at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos on Thursday to discuss the Gaza war. “The criminal complaints will now be examined in accordance with the usual procedure,” BA said in a statement, adding that it was in contact with the foreign ministry “to examine the question of the immunity of the person concerned”.

Boycott Switzerland, The Partner In Genocide!

December 18, 2023 Boycott the Partners in Genocide, Mondoweiss. Resist! boycott, Genocide, Israel, Palestine, Switzerland

At a time when Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is increasingly met with international condemnation, the world has started to take action to halt the daily massacres against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, most recently with the near-unanimous adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a ceasefire. Still, some international actors have not been fulfilling their roles and obligations, chief among them Switzerland, which has violated its own commitment to neutrality by firmly taking a proactive stand on the side of the perpetrators. On this account, on December 9, coinciding with the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime, we, a number of Arab Palestine solidarity groups, have launched a campaign to economically Boycott Switzerland due to its unprincipled positions and its complicity in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.

Swiss Seniors Are Suing Over Climate Change’s Threat To Their Health

August 11, 2023 Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine. Resist! climate crisis, Legal System, Seniors, Switzerland

A group of senior women from Switzerland are suing their government over its climate change inaction, alleging the country’s climate policies violate their human rights and health. KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, a Greenpeace-backed group of 2,400 women ages 64 and older, filed a lawsuit that was heard in Europe’s top human rights court in March. Now, with the court’s decision pending, the recent extreme temperatures in Europe have called attention to the activists’ claims once again, reports the New York Times’ Isabella Kwai. Last summer, for example, a heat wave killed 61,000 people across the continent.

Force-Marching The Europeans

April 27, 2023 Patrick Lawrence, Scheer Post. Educate! Diplomacy, Europe, Neutrality, Switzerland, US Hegemony

Am I the only American to travel overseas and feel embarrassed by the conduct of the diplomats Washington sends abroad to speak for our republic? It is pretty strange to find yourself, an ordinary citizen, apologizing for the intrusive, cajoling, bullying, badgering and otherwise crude utterances of this or that ambassador in this or that nation. But such is the state of things as the late-phase imperium fields its elbows-out undiplomats—a term I borrow from the Swiss, who suffer one as we speak. Scott Miller, the Biden regime’s ambassador to Bern for a little more than a year, is indeed a doozy in this line.

Leftist Parties Intensify Campaign To Maintain Swiss Neutrality

March 14, 2023 People's Dispatch. Resist! European Union (EU), NATO, Neutrality, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine

Leftist parties in Switzerland, including the Communist Party and the Swiss Party of Labor (PST-POP), have intensified their campaign demanding that the official Swiss policy of neutrality in international conflicts be maintained. Both parties have prioritized this demand in their manifestos for the upcoming April cantonal elections and the federal elections in October. Earlier this month, the Communist Party organized ground-level campaigns in the neighborhoods of Bellinzona, Locarno, Mendrisio, and Lugano, in the Ticino canton, and collected signatures for its neutrality initiative.

Construction Workers Protest In Switzerland For Rights And Dignity

October 21, 2022 Muhammed Shabeer, People's Dispatch. Resist! Construction, Labor Unions, Switzerland, Worker Rights and Jobs

On October 17, Monday, construction workers marched in the Swiss town of Bellinzona, protesting the apathy of employers and the state towards the pressing needs of the workers in the sector. More than 2500 people participated in the march called by the trade union Unia Ticino. Protesters denounced the attack on the rights of workers. More protests are planned for November 1 and November 7-8 in other cities. Progressive political parties including the Swiss Party of Labor and the Communist Party have expressed support and solidarity to the protesting workers. According to reports, the workers in the construction sector are unhappy over overtime and working in precarious weather conditions. The existing national agreement (CN) of the main construction sector, which dictates the working conditions of more than 80,000 workers, will expire at the end of this year.

Switzerland Adopts Draconian Police Law

June 21, 2021 Marianne Arens, World Socialist Website. Educate! Europe, Law, Police, Switzerland

The new anti-terror law adopted by Switzerland last weekend is one of the harshest police laws in all of Europe. Its adoption in a referendum highlights the urgency of building a genuine workers’ party in Switzerland that defends as a matter of principle the democratic rights of working people. The “Federal Law on Police Measures to Combat Terrorism” (PMT) blatantly disregards the principles of the so-called “democratic rule of law.” For example, it flouts the civil-democratic separation of powers because it allows the federal police to intervene against so-called “dangerous persons” even without sufficient evidence for criminal proceedings and without an order from a judge. The law also disregards the principle of personal data protection, allowing police officers to retrieve and exchange “particularly sensitive personal data” amongst themselves.

Swiss Doctor Dispels Myths About COVID-19

April 15, 2020 Dr. Paul Robert Vogt, CoopTV. Educate! Coronavirus, COVID-19, Pandemic, Switzerland

The facts presented come from scientific papers, which have undergone a peer review and have been published in the best medical journals. Many of these facts were known before the end of February. If you had taken note of these medical facts and had been able to separate ideology, politics, and medicine, Switzerland would most likely be in a better position today: we would not have the second most COVID-19-positive people worldwide and one per capita significantly smaller number of people who lost their lives in the context of this pandemic. In addition, it is very likely that we would have no partial, incomplete lockdown of our economy and no controversial discussions about how we can "get out of here".

Switzerland Switches Off Nuclear Plant As It Begins Exit From Atomic Power

December 26, 2019 Staff, Reuters.com Create! Energy, Nuclear Power, Switzerland

The 373-megawatt-capacity plant which opened in 1972 has generated enough electricity to cover the energy consumption of the nearby city of Bern for more than 100 years. In scenes shown live on Swiss TV, at 12.30 pm (1130 GMT) a technician pressed two buttons in the control room to stop the chain reaction and deactivate the reactor, shutting down the plant for good. The closure is the first of Switzerland’s five nuclear reactors to be shuttered following the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan, which triggered safety concerns about nuclear power around the world.

Repression Of Climate Activism In Switzerland

August 6, 2019 Collectiv Climate Justice and Breakfree Suisse, Popular Resistance. Resist! Activism, climate crisis, Criminal Justice System, Switzerland

Since 2016, civil disobedience actions in several swiss cities have targeted banks (Crédit Suisse and UBS) investing heavily in the expansion of fossil fuel extraction, particularly "extreme" fossil fuels, such as canadian tar sands and fracking. The Swiss financial sector causes 20 times more greenhouse gas emissions than Switzerland itself. Between 2016 and 2018, investments of UBS and Credit Suisse totalled 83.3 billion USD. These are climate crimes, considering that according to the IPCC only a quarter of conventional fossil fuel reserves can be exploited if we are to avoid warming of over 2 degrees and the resultant climate chaos. Until lately, the banks and authorities had tolerated repeated occupations, hoping to avoid negative publicity, but are now reacting more and more violently as the movement grows in size and determination.

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