Christophe Büchi discusses the country’s language divisions and why we should worry about Italian-speaking Ticino. Long time correspondent in French-speaking Switzerland for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the journalist and writer is fascinated by the complex relationship between Switzerland’s French and German speakers. He spoke with Thibaut Kaeser of Echo magazine about Switzerland’s language divisions and what it means to be Swiss.

Switzerland’s national language is reconciliation

Thibaut Kaeser:
Euro zone crisis, strong franc, 9 February 2014 vote, immigration, Syrian and Eritrean refugees, state pensions…These subjects are all debated during the elections, but not the question of language, so essential to our link to the Swiss confederation. Is this good or bad?

Christophe Büchi:
It is largely good. It shows that it isn’t a fundamental issue. Although it has been frequently discussed recently, debates have been related to the place of French in German-speaking primary schools. French was removed from the curriculum in Thurgau in 2014 but kept after a vote in Nidwalden in March. That might seem surprising, but the question of language has not really been debated for 30 years.

• No French please we’re Swiss (Le News – 05.03.15)
• English bridges Switzerland’s language divide to a surprising extent (Le News – 12.12.15)

 

30 years, not more?

For the founding fathers of modern Switzerland, the liberal leaders of 1848, it was clear that Switzerland was a multilingual country with German, French, Italian and Rumantsch, despite Rumantsch not being recognised as a national language in 1938. What’s more, there was never a desire to have one language dominate or to suppress or exclude the others. In addition, political differences have never been fully associated with linguistic divisions. This has ensured a durable “linguistic peace”, albeit with highs and lows. In 1847, during the Sonderbund war that opened the way for the creation of the Swiss Federal state, there were both French-speaking and German-speaking cantons in the liberal camp that won the war as well as in the conservative catholic camp that lost. This linguistic and political crossover allowed potentially explosive differences to be neutralised.

We often talk of the Röstigraben, the notional linguistic divide between French and German speakers, cutting Switzerland in two after votes!

It’s true, in particular after “Black Sunday” on the 6th of December 1992 when 50.3% of Swiss voters voted against entry into the European Economic Area (EEA). All of the French-speaking cantons plus Basel’s two half cantons voted “Yes”. And voter turnout was a record 78%, the highest since the 1947 vote on AVS, Switzerland social security system, when it was 87%.

 

We can only dream of such voter turnout today…

Glancing at maps of voting results, Switzerland seems to be divided into two blocks, we have already discussed the “gulf of 1992”! However the situation wasn’t as tense as it was during the war in 1914-1918. French and Italian speakers were massively on France’s side while a section of German speakers sympathised with Wilhelm II’s Germany.

It was once much worse!

Indeed. Going back to 1992, if we look at the results more closely we can see that German-speaking urban centres, in particular Zurich, Bern and Basel – that all voted “Yes”, voted more in line with French-speakers. The divide, that we see more and more, is between urban and rural voters. The point of friction is more at this level.

Why then do we talk more openly about the language question now than 30 years ago?

In the 1960s everyone was talking about decolonisation and cultural identity, it was something we discussed. Quebeckers were busy with their “quiet revolution” and other minorities such as the Bretons and Walloons were waking up. The Jura question was also arousing thoughts and emotions. Some French speakers were sympathetic to Jura’s independence movement, for whom defence of their language was critical. There are still traces of this, however since then we’ve seen a softening of attitudes.

What do you mean by softening attitudes?

In the 1990’s an economic crisis hit French-speaking Switzerland, but from shortly after 2000, the “Lake Geneva miracle”, in conjunction with the Jura watchmaking boom, changed the game. The Lake Geneva region enjoyed extraordinary growth. The success of Alinghi symbolised this spectacular comeback. From then on those in Zurich no longer spoke as condescendingly of the French-speaking “Welches” as they did during the 1980s and 90s.

How does Europe fit into this?

The Europhile tendency that characterises French speakers, embodied in the political activism of the newspaper the Hebdo in favour of the European Union, has fallen sharply. There is no longer any strong identification with the European idea – such as that espoused by Jean-Pascal Delamuraz nationally and Jacques Delors internationally. The crisis in the euro zone since 2008 hasn’t helped either.

Did francophone discontent lose its raison d’être?

The fact that German speakers are a majority (63.5% of the population) and francophones a strong minority (22.5% of the population) will always cause friction. But the pragmatism that drives Swiss politics can deal with this. The desire to maintain a balance between francophones and German speakers, embodied in this “marriage of reason”, prevents Switzerland degenerating into a messy divorce or a full-blown conflict, like in Belgium between the Flemish and the Walloons. There is more reason to worry about Ticino.

• No French please we’re Swiss (Le News – 05.03.15)
• English bridges Switzerland’s language divide to a surprising extent (Le News – 12.12.15)

Ticino? Why is that?

There is real unease regarding Ticino. In contrast to the Italian speaking valleys in the canton of Graubünden, you can see that Ticino has been disconnecting from the rest of Switzerland over the last 20 years, for a generation, which is already a long time. Historically, Ticino had a weak economy and many emigrated, poor children were “rented out” in Italy. After the war tourism and finance, not always “clean” was the focus. But the local industrial fabric is fragile and SMEs fear competition from Italian companies in Lombardy and Piedmont. Threatened by a wave of antipathy towards cross-border workers, Ticino feels hemmed in, without much support from Bern and the other cantons.

Is Ticino right?

Partly. Don’t forget that Italian, which 8% of Swiss speak, is not well catered for. That is damaging to national unity. Ticino’s is also nurturing its own identity crisis. It needs to take responsibility for its voting and choices. The political party Lega dei Ticinesi, which is similar to Geneva’s MCG, perpetuates discontent without providing any solutions. That is neither healthy nor constructive. Some commentators spoke of the Röstigraben during the February 2014 vote against mass immigration, but it was Ticino that swung the vote! It’s a Sonderfall in a Sonderfall (a special case within a special case). I think we need an urgent plan for Ticino in order to avoid it becoming even more isolated. For example encouraging tertiary education and training. I’m not sure that a second Gothard tunnel will boost its development. Local politicians must be more creative, come up with ideas, projects! Unfortunately Ticino was notably absent from the Federal elections.

You have mentioned national unity. What role do languages play in the important link with the Swiss confederation?

Swiss identity is not based on linguistic unity, nor is it ethnic, religious or a vision of a monolithic nation. If it exists “Swissness” resides in the acceptance of our diversity. This diversity includes the multilingual character of the country. Multilingualism is the ultimate symbol of “Swissness”. This reality often strikes foreigners who see a huge richness, that in my opinion we don’t utilise enough. We should for example do more to encourage language exchanges within the country.

I like to remind myself of what the Italian writer and semiologist Umberto Eco said: The language of Europe is translation. I believe in a certain sense Switzerland does a brilliant job of reconciling its different groups through democracy. Viewed this way, its four languages play the fundamental role of go-between, providing the cement to hold it all together.

By Christophe Büchi

christophe.buechi@bluewin.ch
Christophe is a Swiss journalist and author who wrote for the Zürich daily the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) from 2001 to 2014. Born in Fribourg, to parents from Thurgau with roots in Ticino, he now calls Lausanne home. Based on this experience, Christophe has written a book entitled Mariage de raison: Romands et Alémaniques : une histoire suisse, published by Editions Zoé in Geneva, that looks at Switzerland’s multilingualism.

This article first appeared in Echo Magazine.

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