Global Voices » Switzerland

Switzerland: An Initiative to Establish Basic Income for All

Vivienne Griffiths — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:42:02 +0000

An initiative to establish a new federal law known as “For an unconditional basic income” [fr] was formally introduced in Switzerland in April. The idea, which consists quite simply of giving a monthly income to all citizens that is neither means-tested nor work-related, has generated commentary throughout the Swiss blogosphere.

The Swiss referendum process is a system of direct democracy that enables citizens to call for legislative change at the federal or constitutional level.

If the initiative to introduce a basic income gathers more than 100,000 signatures before October 11, 2013, the Federal Assembly is required to look into it and can call a referendum if the initiative is judged to be credible.

: Swiss Francs by Flickr user Jim (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

On his blog, Pascal Holenweg explains what it's all about [fr]:

L'initiative populaire pour un revenu de base inconditionnel propose d'inscrire dans la constitution fédérale l'instauration d'une allocation universelle versée sans conditions devant permettre à l'ensemble de la population de mener une existence digne et de participer à la vie publique.

La loi règlerait le financement et fixerait le montant de cette allocation (les initiants la situent à 2000-2500 francs par mois, soit, grosso modo, le montant maximum de l'aide sociale actuelle, mais n'inscrivent pas ce montant dans le texte de l'initiative). Le revenu de base est inconditionnel : il n'est subordonné à aucune contre-prestation. Il est universel (tout le monde le touche) et égalitaire (tout le monde touche le même montant). Il est individuel (il est versé aux individus, pas aux ménages).

Il n'est pas un revenu de substitution à un revenu ou un salaire perdu. En revanche, il remplace tous les revenus de substitution (assurance chômage, retraite, allocations familiales, allocations d'étude, rentes invalidité) qui lui sont inférieurs. Comment le financer? Par l'impôt direct sur le revenu et la fortune, par l'impôt indirect sur la consommation (la TVA), par un impôt sur les transactions financières, et surtout par le transfert des ressources consacrées au financement de l'AVS, de l'AI, de l'aide sociale et des autres revenus de substitution inférieurs au montant du revenu de base.

The grassroots initiative “for an unconditional basic income” proposes that “the establishment of an unconditional universal benefit” be written into the federal constitution which would “allow the entire population to lead a dignified existence and participate in public life”.The law will address financing and set the amount of the benefit (the proposers suggest around 2,000-2,500 Swiss francs per month (or 2,200-2,700 US dollars per month), which is about the same as the maximum current social security payment, but they have not written this into the text of the initiative[fr]). The basic income does not come with any conditions attached: it is not subject to any means testing. It is universal (everyone will receive it) and egalitarian (everyone will receive the same amount). It is also personal (it is paid out to individuals, not households).It is not income to replace a lost salary. Rather, it replaces all inferior income support (unemployment benefit, pensions, family allowance, student grants, disability payments). How will it be financed? Through direct taxation of income and wealth, indirect taxation on consumption (VAT), taxing financial transactions, and most especially through the reallocation of resources currently allotted to financing state pensions and unemployment payouts, social security and other welfare payments lower than the amount of the basic income.

On his blog [fr], Fred Hubleur makes the point:

Le truc important, c’est que ce revenu est fixé pour toutes et tous sans qu’il n’y ait de contrepartie de travail ; oui, un revenu sans emploi. Cela peut choquer. Mais dans le fond c’est une idée parfaitement défendable. D’une part, on lutte ainsi contre la pauvreté et la précarité, plus besoins d’aides sociales en complément de revenus autres et des dizaines d’aides différentes et complexes à mettre en œuvre. Ce revenu inconditionnel est également un bon point pour l’innovation et la création. (…) On est aussi dans un nouveau paradigme qui peut effrayer les capitalistes acharnés : libérer l’Homme du travail et lui rendre son statut d’homo sapiens prévalant à celui d’homo travaillus qui a tellement cours dans notre société.

The important thing is that this revenue is fixed for everyone without there being a requirement to work; that's right, it is income without employment. This might seem shocking. But at its heart it is an entirely defensible idea. On the one hand, we are fighting against poverty and insecurity, there will no longer be a need for social security to bolster other incomes, and dozens of different and unwieldy benefits. This unconditional income is equally good news for innovation and creativity. (…) We have also made a paradigm shift that dyed-in-the-wool capitalists might find alarming: the liberation of working man, returning him to his status as homo sapiens over that of homo travaillus (ed's note: Homo travaillus is a play on word to describe the working man) which holds such sway in our society.

Martouf sets out a number of arguments in favour of a basic income [fr], as illustrated here:

: Human reason to work by freeworldcharter.org via active rain and adapted by Martouf in French with permission to repost

This new world vision has most notably been explored in the Helvetico-German film Basic Income: A Cultural Impetus, by Ennon Schmidt and Daniel Hani, two of the eight Swiss citizens founders of the initiative:

“And what would you do with a basic income?”

On the website of BIEN_Switzerland, the Swiss branch of the global network calling for a basic income, Internet users were asked the following question [fr]:

Voilà, ça y est, vous l'avez. Chaque mois vous recevez 2500 francs sans condition. Dites-nous en quoi votre vie a changé. Dites-nous ce que vous faites de votre temps. A quoi vous consacrez votre vie ?

So here it is. You receive 2,500 Swiss francs every month no strings attached. Tell us how your life would change. Tell us how you would spend your time. What would you devote your life to?

The responses were varied. Antoine would set up a restaurant. Gaetane a farm. Renaud would devote himself to music:

Mon premier projet serait de finir et de tenter de produire un instrument de musique que je suis en train de créer. Parallèlement à ça je proposerais des cours d'utilisation de mon instrument de musique préféré et peu connu dans la région

My first project would be to finish a musical instrument that I am in the process of creating and attempting to put it into production. At the same time I would offer lessons on how to play my favourite musical instrument, one which is not well known in this region.

User herfou70 would prioritise his family [fr]:

Je suis Père de famille (3 enfants - 6-11-14 ans) et suis le seul salairé de la famille. Disposer d'une revenu de base me permettrait de consacrer plus temps à mes enfants. Mon épouse pourrait également avoir une activité autre que celle qu'elle occupe dans le foyer, ce qui lui permettrait de plus s'épanouir

I am a father (3 children - 6, 11 and 14 years old) and I am the family's only earner. To have a basic income would allow me to devote more time to my children. My wife would also be able to do something outside of looking after our home, allowing her to grow and develop.

[a poster from the “revenu de base inconditionnel” initiative]

On Facebook, supporters of the basic income initiative have launched a competition [fr] called “star for life”. Visitors to the site are invited to take a photo of themselves as if they were sentenced to life.

A basic income will “do more harm than good”

But not everyone is convinced by the idea. According to Jean Christophe Schwaab, a member of Switzerland's lower house of representatives, socialists must not support the proposition, which he judges will “do more harm than good and be a disaster for employees”. He gave the following explanation on his blog [fr]:

Les partisans du revenu de base prétendent que ce revenu doit «libérer de l’obligation de gagner sa vie» et entraînerait la disparition des emplois précaires ou mal payés, car, puisque le revenu de base garantit le minimum vital, plus personnes ne voudra de ces emplois. Or, c’est probablement le contraire qui se produirait. Comme ces faibles montants ne suffiront pas à atteindre le premier objectif de l’initiative, à savoir garantir des conditions de vie décentes, leurs bénéficiaires seront obligés de travailler quand même, malgré le revenu de base. La pression d’accepter n’importe quel emploi ne disparaîtra donc pas.

Supporters of a basic income claim that it must “free people from the obligation of earning a living” and lead to the disappearance of unstable or poorly paid employment, because, as this basic income guarantees a minimum living wage, no one will want these jobs. Now, it's more than likely to produce the opposite effect. As the low level of the payouts will not be sufficient to satisfy the initiative's primary objective, namely ensure a decent standard of living, the beneficiaries will be obliged to work anyway, despite the basic income. The pressure to accept any available job will not go away.

He added:

Enfin, le revenu de base inconditionnel aurait pour grave défaut d’exclure définitivement bon nombre de travailleurs du marché du travail (dont on nierait alors le droit au travail): ceux dont on ne jugerait pas la capacité de gain suffisante (p. ex. en raison d’un handicap, de maladie ou de faibles qualifications) n’auraient qu’à se contenter du revenu de base.

Lastly, an unconditional basic income would, worst of all, permanently exclude a good number of workers from the job market (by denying their right to work): those who are judged to have insufficient earning potential (e.g. due to disability, illness or lack of qualifications) will just have to content themselves with the basic income.

His analysis is controversial, as can be seen from the comments thread under his post. From a French perspective, Jeff Renault explained why the left are “dead set against” [fr] an unconditional basic income:

La gauche de la fin du 19è et du 20è siècle s’est forgée autour de la valeur travail et la défense des travailleurs. Ce combat se retrouve dans la défense persistante du salariat et de son St. Graal, le CDI, alors même que ce “statut” ne concerne plus qu’une minorité de personnes.

The left of the end of the 19th and the 20th centuries was forged on the values of work and defending workers. This fight centres around the never ending defence of the salaried worker and the Holy Grail of permanent, salaried contracts, even through this “status” only applies to the minority.

With the launch of the initiative, Hubleur hopes [fr] that a great societal debate will open up in Switzerland:

Ce sera au moins la porte ouverte à un grand débat de société et l’occasion de réfléchir à ce que l’on veut et à quelle vie on aspire. Ce système d’allocation universelle (ou autres noms), ça fait un moment que je le suis, je me souviens qu’on en avait parlé dans des cours sur la précarité et le lien social il y a une dizaine d’années à l’université. Le principe est franchement séduisant et mérite qu’on s’y arrête.

Quand on voit le monde que nous donne le système capitaliste et productiviste actuel, on peut bien se prendre à rêver d’autre chose, d’un monde laissant plus de chances à chacune et chacun.

This will at least open the door to a great societal debate and the chance to reflect on what we want and to what kind of life we aspire. I've been following the idea of a universal benefit system (amongst other names) for a while. I remember talking about it in a class on instability and social ties a decade ago at university. The idea is frankly very seductive and deserves a closer look.When you look at the world created through the current capitalist, productivist model, you could easily end up longing for something else, for a world that gives everyone a better chance.

Global Voices Partners with International Relations and Security Network (ISN)

Solana Larsen — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:11:14 +0000

Global Voices and the International Relations and Security Network (ISN) in Switzerland have launched a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide.

The stories written by selected Global Voices authors on different continents will be published on the ISN blog and on Global Voices the second week of every month for the next year. Additionally, ISN has commissioned Global Voices Lingua translations in Spanish, French and Arabic of each post.

The ISN, a project of the Center for Security Studies (ETH), is one of the world’s leading open access information services for international relations and security professionals.

On our part we are thrilled to be reaching a specialist audience of international security professionals with online citizen voices on issues that often go unreported in international media.

Another new ISN blog partner is Project Syndicate, who will be supplying commentary from high level international scholars and analysts, also according to a monthly calendar.

For more information about the ISN, click here.

All articles published for this partnership will be collected on our new special coverage page: International Relations and Security.

Switzerland: Greetings from the “Greeks” of the French Cantons

Jane Ellis — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:46:38 +0000

Switzerland is often held up as an example of successful coexistence, as this curious multilingual, multicultural country manages to maintain a national identity which unites its citizens and normally makes them proud. Despite this, it is not unusual for German-speaking Swiss (germanophones) and French-speaking Swiss (francophones) to poke fun at each other.

The differences which characterise inhabitants on each side of the French-German language border, jokingly called the Röstigraben, are often felt in politics and particularly during voting. It also happens that from time to time dubious jokes are made at the neighbours' expense.

The latest provocation comes from an article published on March 1, 2012 by the Swiss German newspaper Weltwoche [fr]. In it the author pokes fun at the French-speaking Swiss, considered the “Greeks of Switzerland”, layabouts, and lovers of alcohol and good food. In the accompanying photo an unshaven office worker poses with his feet on his desk, a glass of wine in his hand and a discarded piece of lingerie peeking out between files.

The photo from "Weltwoche" which has cut French-speaking Swiss to the quick - from Facebook group Welschwoching

French-speaking Swiss have not been slow to respond, with Genevese politician Antonio Hodgers setting the tone. As reported in 20min.ch [fr], he has been photographed in the same pose and contradicts these allegations, saying [fr]:

A l’adresse des Weltwocho-udécistes, nous précisons que l’évolution du PIB romand est supérieure à la moyenne suisse depuis des années, que l’Arc lémanique est l’une des régions économiques les plus dynamiques et que des cantons comme Genève et Vaud sont des contributeurs nets à la péréquation inter-cantonale. Tout cela en glandant… pas mal, non ? »

For the benefit of the Weltwoche-Swiss People's Party fanatics, let me state that growth of the Swiss French GDP is greater than the Swiss average has been for years, that the Lake Geneva area is one of the most dynamic economic regions and that cantons such as Geneva and Vaud are clear contributors to the intercantonal equalization of funds. All that while loafing around….not bad, eh?

This was all that was needed to create a bandwagon effect. On Facebook, the group Welschwoching [fr] published photos of Swiss French internet users taking up the pose, feet on desk, with bottles scattered around, to pay tribute to the lifestyle of which Weltwoche accuses them. Many pictures and comments can also be seen on Twitter. The Twitter account @welschwoching, created for this new cause, brought a serious matter to people's attention with this tweet concerning aperitifs at exactly 5pm :

Screen printers Graphein [fr] have already prepared a special T-shirt bearing the slogan Tuschur rigol, shamè travaï (”Toujours rigole, jamais travaille”, French for “Always having fun, never working”, as pronounced with a German accent).

But, several days later, the administrators of the Weschwoching Facebook group complained of numerous attacks against them, and of people sending particulars to Facebook for “copyright infringements”, which seemed to result in some photos being taken down [fr]. However, national unity has perhaps not been completely jeopardised as these Swiss Germans show solidarity with their French-speaking neighbours in the following video [fr]:

Francophone Africa: The Important Literary Contributions from Former Colonies

Solène TRETOUT — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:36:57 +0000

The Genevan blog of Rémi Mogenet, Le Savoyard de la Tribune, explains with supporting examples that [fr]: “Mythological African traditional stories have made a remarkable entrance into francophone literature”. He quotes the Mandika epic tale of Soundjata, written and published in French by Guinean D. T. Niane, as well as, for Cameroon, Au Pays des initiés by Gabriel Mfomo and La Marseillaise de mon enfance by Jean-Marton Tchaptchet, without forgetting L' Anthologie nègre by Blaise Cendrars.

Syria: World Cities Rally Against and For Bashar

Thalia Rahme — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:23:19 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

As the death toll in Syria increases, the International Community is running out of patience and hardening its tone against Syrian president Bashar Al Assad demanding for change and reforms. Abroad the diaspora has also been involved actively since the beginning of the protests in March 2011. Almost all cities around the world have witnessed rallies and demonstrations, some asking Assad to leave, and others declaring their dying love for him.

From San Francisco (11 June, 2011) and Chicago (July 3), to Washington DC ( 23 July), the US capital, where people chanted: ‘‘Leave Leave Bashar” in front of the White House; almost all big cities in the US witnessed opposition gatherings manifesting their solidarity with the people of Daraa, Homs and Deir el Zor among others.

Here is video uploaded by AhmedIbnAlsham on August 6, where protesters where carrying a poster representing Hafez and Bashar Al Assad and written on it: ”Like father, like son”:

Assad also has his supporters in the US like in California (April 3). Chicago too, held another pro-regime rally on April 3 and June 10 while defenders of the regime met in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York (May 1) to assert their love to their leader.

Wave of rallies hit Latin America as well. On June 26, Syrians in Santiago, Chile, chanted “El Pueblo Quiere Bashar el Assad” or ”The People Want Bashar Al Assad”, as we can see in this footage by Zaizuni:

We move to Europe and start with London (June 18) where Syrians called Assad an assassin, to Brussels (July 23), the headquarters of the European Parliament, to Milano in Italy (12 and 17 July). There, potesters, it seems, are no longer satisfied with reforms or even the call for the toppling of the regime. They want to bring it to trial.

Here's a video by Hazem Daoudi, taken in Geneva on August 6, Switzerland, facing the UN Headquarters:

France which is home to a large Syrian community has been witnessing continuous demonstrations, like in Strasbourg on 2 and 16 July, and this two-week sit-in, facing Place du Châtelet in Paris. YouTube user Mesudh75, posts this video showing a peaceful protest in front of the Syrian consulate and the Syrian Cultural Center in Paris:

In Germany, people took to the streets in Leipzig (July 7), Berlin (July 23) and Bonn on August 6 and August 8, not to forget Munich where on that same day, where this video from HutaafElhurriyyeh shows Germans showing solidarity with Syrians and singing the Syrian National Anthem:

Close to Munich, in Vienna, Austria, another protest took place, where this footage was taken and posted by AhmadSouri during a demo on August 9, in front of the Syrian Embassy:

Anti-Bashar protests also took place in Ukraine (April 22) Romania (June 30), Russia (July 31) and Greece (August 2), calling for the end of fascism:

In Turkey, protesters gathered in front of the Iranian embassy in Istanbul on August 5, denouncing the Islamic Republic stance towards the protest. They were joined on August 7, by members of the Felicity or Saadet party in front of the Syrian Consulate as we can see in this video by khaled111h:

But Assad can also rely on his supporters in Europe, who consider him as the only guarantee for stability and security in Syria. The streets of Paris, France, witnessed severaldemonstrations on June 11 and July 3 , 4 11 and 12 .

Diaspora in Odessa, Ukraine, flew balloons with the Syrian flag on June 4 for Assad. Others marched on June 6 in Kazan City in Russia for the same reason.

Syrians in Armenia also portrayed their support to their president on March 2011:

Despite the turmoil and unrest in the Arab world, and its own inner revolution, its capitals were keen on showing their solidarity and compassion with the Syrians.

This is Tunis on August 6, in a video by wadoodfreesyrian where people were chanting:” Syria is Free! Bashar get out!”:

In Egypt on August 1, OmawiTV shows angry people following the Hama Massacre and calling for the expulsion of the Syrian Ambassador:

In Lebanon, the situation is a bit delicate due to the complex relation between both countries. Quite often, opponents and loyalists of the Damascus regime clashed and the army had to intervene to separate both parties. The latest rally in solidarity with the Syrian people was held on Monday, August 8 in Martyrs Square in Beirut. This was a gathering which was attended by a lot of intellectuals, journalists and activists among which we note the presence of prominent Lebanese composer and singer Marcel Khalife. You can check Mahmoud Ghazayel's photos of the event, on Facebook.

Participants were chanting “This a shout from Lebanon - Calling for Human Rights”:

Jordanians conducted Taraweeh, the nightly Ramadan prayers, on August 2 in front of the Syrian Embassy as we can see in this video taken directly from the scene of events by Basemaggad. Bassem recorded another video in August 8 too.

Similar rallies took places in the Gulf monarchies cities, like in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, on August 8, where we can hear people shouting “Syria is for us and not for the Assad Family”:

Here is another video from Jeddah at night on the same day by hama19822011:

In Kuwait (August 5 and 7) and Bahrain (August 5, 8 and 9, protesters are demanding the expulsion of Syrian Ambassador from both respective countries and the freezing of the bilateral ties with Damascus. Protests were attended by several political figures and members of both parliaments.

This video by daraahoran shows people in Kuwait in front of Syrian Embassy, calling for the overthrow of the Baath party.

Syrians and Bahrainis rallied in Manama on August 9, chanting“Daraa, we're with you, till death !”

We conclude our round up in the Australian continent, where seems the Assad opponents and partisans also voiced their support and vice versa.

In Auckland, New Zealand, approximately 200 people gathered in protest against the regime for killing innocent Syrian civilians on July 30.

Demonstrations were also held in Sydney, Australia, on August 2 against the regime:

In another demonstration in Sydney on April 3, protested to say that ”Bashar is the best president in the whole Middle East and the world there will be no one like him”.

Protests against the Syrian regime, are penciled in for London, Paris and Tunis tomorrow (August 13).

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.

Thumbnail and featured image ‘Protest to support Syrian opposition at State Department - Berlin', by Thorsten Strasas, copyright Demotix (06/08/11).

Sierra Leone : Agrofuels versus Food Security

Thalia Rahme — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:08:30 +0000

Michelle Nougoum, in a post published on on afrik.com [fr] points out another case of land leasing in Africa for the purpose of agrofuels in Sierra Leone : “[The Swiss firm] Addax et Oryx intends to exploit 57 000 hectares of lands that is home to 13 000 people for a 50 years period in Makeni, in the North of Sierra Leone. Local grassroots organizations oppose this decision since only 10 000 hectares shall be actually dedicated to growing the intended sugarcane.”

World: FIFA Election – House of Knaves or Knights?

Richard Wanjohi — Wed, 18 May 2011 16:29:50 +0000

The last few months football fans (soccer fans for those in the United States) have been treated to some really interesting times.

The latest is the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) election, which comes at a time when one of the most powerful non-governmental bodies (that scares even nations’ leaders - ask President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria) and is almost a law unto itself, has suddenly started looking vulnerable.

This is thanks in part to revelations by Britain’s Lord Richard Triesman as captured by NottheFootyShow here:

Lord Triesman, the former FA and England 2018 World Cup bid Chairman has come out guns blazing in the Culture, Media and Sport Committee at the House of Commons in London. His accusations into the corruption surrounding the World Cup Hosting rights will not surprise many, but it is sure to make the upcoming FIFA elections all the more interesting

Real Madrid CF Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Image by Flickr user marcp_dmoz (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

The blogger continues:

Triesman gave evidence of “improper and unethical behaviour,” by serial FIFA bad boy Vice President Jack Warner who reportedly put his hand out for money to build an education centre in Trinidad, with cash to go through him, and money to buy Haiti World Cup TV rights, also to go through him. Mr Warner comes out badly in two books on corruption in FIFA – “How they stole the game” and “Foul” – and funding for similar ventures have not seen the facilities intended built

And in total disregards of the claims and seeking to support the incumbent candidate, FIFA’s Vice President Jack Warner (from Trinidad & Tobago) is quoted in BajanSunOnline.com saying:

An election is not a popularity contest and as the world still grapples with shifting economic realities we must ensure that our sport is in a position to withstand any uncertainty.”…. “One must examine all that is proposed; how do you expand football? How do you continue to touch the lives of those who have been denied the opportunity to witness the beauty and simplicity of this game?

TheBigLead makes fun of Sepp Blatter and his mission of ‘saving FIFA and ultimately the universe’:

Sepp Blatter is running for reelection as FIFA’s president. He sent an open letter to fans spelling out his simple, direct case for his candidacy. He believes failure to reelect him will create a “tectonic movement” that will cause FIFA to “be sucked into a black hole.” Said chasm will precipitate “irreversible damage” destroying the organization and, possibly, soccer itself. Apparently, Blatter hires his PR flacks in North Korea.

TheBigLead quotes from some of the correspondence Mr. Blatter shared with the football associations as he sought to get their direction in way of voting:

Is the situation really that dramatic?” you ask. The answer is yes, in theory it is. I am confident I will be able to win the elections with a clear majority of two-thirds of the votes. South America, North America, Europe, Oceania and a considerable part of Africa and Asia will continue to support my ideas. However it is still worth considering what the alternative would be: no one.

Caughtoffside.com (what an appropriate name!) questions Sepp Blatter's ability to run FIFA:

Would you buy a used car from this man, let alone want him running the football’s most world governing body?

Responding to Blatter's solution to FIFA's controversial voting process, Caughtoffside says:

Sepp Blatter is basically admitting that FIFA needs change and that he will definitely look into fixing the problem the moment he is re-elected, which is of course incredibly convenient as previously he said no change was needed. Anyone believe what he is saying?

The reigning FIFA president has stated his desire to adopt an IOC style system for deciding on hosts of major tournaments but what is to stop Blatter from changing his mind once he was once again re-elected? FIFA needs change but it’s pretty much a closed shop and no one stands much of a chance of executing real change in the hugely corrupt body.

Arunava writes about Mohammed bin Hammam, the only other candidate challenging Sepp Blatter, and his recent visit to India:

Current FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter from Switzerland will be facing competition from Qatari Mohammed bin Hamman, the president of the Asian Football Confederation. The 61 year old Mohammed bin Hamman in his capacity as AFC president was in New Delhi last week to update himself on the latest in Indian football as well as speak to the heads of the South Asian Football Federation which represents the eight nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Caughoffside explains why it would be very difficult for Mohammed Bin Hammam to win:

I would imagine that the biggest obstacle to Mohamed Bin Hammam’s election hopes is his insistence that he will throw the doors open and make FIFA a more transparent place and whilst we the onlookers would love such an act to occur, those ensconced in the regime are not likely to be quite so keen. Therefore it would take something of a miracle for anyone but Sepp Blatter to win the presidential race.

The expression “Turkey’s voting for Christmas” has never been quite so relevant.

JohninParis is not optimistic about Blatter's promise to create a ‘clean reorganised FIFA’:

Sepp Blatter wants to oversee the promised reorganisation of FIFA, which of course he did not have time to do during the last 12 years. In previous articles (see this blog dated May 1) it was suggested that a real debate between these two candidates should take place on television and that both candidates should clearly state what they wanted to achieve as President. This simple and practical idea was not taken up. One can only infer that during the coming years nothing important will change; things will simply go on as before!

Whichever way, let’s see how the run-up to the election unfolds and what happens next. Wishing all the candidates all the best in their endeavours.

Russia-Switzerland: New magazine for Russia, Belarus and Ukraine

Vilhelm Konnander — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:40:08 +0000

Gedankenbörsen Blog draws attention to [GER] a new magazine in Switzerland - Echo - about Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Western Europe: A journey through tech for transparency projects

Sylwia Presley — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:35:25 +0000

The Technology for Transparency Network focuses largely on countries outside of North America and Western Europe. However, many of the trends in the use of technology to promote transparency and accountability, particularly with respect to open government movements, are piloted in western countries before being adapted in developing countries. We are not formally documenting these cases as part of our research, but we hope that by sharing several examples we can highlight the “state of the art” work in the technology for transparency space. Let’s start with a tour of Western Europe:

UK: A successful example of open government

They Work For You

Our first stop is the United Kingdom, where They Work for You is enabling citizens to access data about their representatives to the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Assembly. They Work for You was originally developed by a group of volunteers. With the support of UK Citizens Online Democracy and MySociety it has expanded to allow others to use its data via an open API. Based on a simple post code search, I was able to find my local MP and read his bio, recent speeches and appearances, and also — more importantly — his expenses, sponsorships, and additional income.

Another site supported by MySociety, FixMyStreet, is a model of active civic engagement at the local level. The site allows anyone to report local problems — graffiti, potholes, broken street lights — to be addressed by local councils. By providing statistical information on how many reported issues have been resolved, the site administrators make it possible to judge the effectiveness of local authorities. If we add WriteToThem and HearFromThem to the mix (sites providing direct communication with representatives), we create an impressive picture of technological solutions for transparency in this country.

France: Citizens as watchers

Étude sur le redécoupage électoral

Traveling south to France, we come across Regards Citoyens. This site, which is accessible on Facebook, Twitter and Identi.ca, is an umbrella of several transparency solutions. NosDéputés.fr is an online monitoring system of parliamentary activities. It presents 642 parliament members, profiling their activities from last 12 months (here is an example). I personally like the usage of tag cloud featuring words currently used by the National Assembly and graphs of current parliamentary activities on their main site. A separate part of the site is dedicated to site users and their activities related to monitoring the representatives. Another project, originally called Simplifions la loi 2.0, is currently a subpage of Nosdeputes.fr. It documents current parliamentary work. Étude sur le redécoupage électoral is a site providing great insights into the proposed changes of the constituency limits, looking also at the impact of those on future elections.

Italy: Civil society’s struggle against corruption

In Italy, Openpolis is the site to check out. With a community of more than 13,000 members and various content management options (tagging, graphing, etc.), it allows users to find their local representatives, ‘adopt’ them, follow their activities and contribute to an online database by uploading updates on the chosen representative. Openpolis’ sub-site Open Parlamento is a great real-time monitor of parliament activities, including this impressive visualisation on voting sessions and this profile of Silvio Berlusconi.

Openpolis

Openpolis is a product of Depp and Memefarmers. Depp is an association dedicated to e-democracy and open civic participation with an impressive range of experiences in the field of transparency. Depp developed a technology called politicaldesk, which enables the real-time tracking of parliament activities. They were also the authors of Voi Siete Qui, a platform that publishes the results of a questionnaire conducted with representatives of most of the participating parties in Italy’s 2008 elections. The questionnaire consisted of questions related to 25 major issues chosen by Depp’s community of users. It was sent to all parties, most of which responded (the parties that did not cooperate are clearly identified). The results are available as visualization of distances between various parties on different topics prepared based on a multidimentional scaling algorithm. The site also allows new users to find out their own score on the chosen issues by filling out the questionnaire online.

Another Depp project, Eworkshop Senato Ragazzi, targets students at secondary schools, who are given a chance to actively learn about work of parliament by suggesting, rating and commenting on bills proposed by others. This e-learning community consists of students, teachers, and parliament representatives and is incorporated into larger platform, Senato Ragazzi. Economia Partecipata is a showcase of how local authorities (in this case in the Lazio region) can provide their citizens with channels for increasing both transparency and active dialogue and civic engagement.

Switzerland: Exploring e-democracy

Smartvote

Navigating over to Switzerland, I was advised to check out the activities of Politools – Political Research Network, which brings together specialists from social sciences, political sciences, geography, history, information technology and art history to work on various project dedicated to transparency. The first of these is Smartvote, established in 2002 and still running today. The website allows citizens to find the candidates whose views most closely align with theirs based on a publicly available analysis of responses candidates have provided on 30-70 questions. The site was used for the first time during the 2003 elections. Another platform, ParlaRating (active since 1997), is using a multidimentional scaling method to rate political positions of various representatives on a scale from -10 to 10.

Convergence and differences

While studying the projects above I was trying to compare various aspects of their approach to what I have seen so far in Central and Eastern Europe. Recently I was conducting interview with a representative of Polish website Mam Prawo Wiedziec (“I have the right to know”). Their work is very similar to projects I have found in Western Europe from many points of view. They also use questionnaires to gain information about candidates in local, regional and national elections. They post profiles of politicians on their website and educate citizens on their rights. They focus on raising awareness around elections, aiming to convince citizens to vote for people who actually represent their views. They also mention a lack of proper political education (for which the Italian e-learning solution is a perfect answer). Other projects we have looked at in our first phase of research were also very close to those goals. I am more confident today in stating that most of the transparency projects throughout Europe might have a lot in common.

Now, if the goals and ways of work are more or less similar, I wonder where they differ? It would be interesting to see how projects in Western Europe are funded, for example. I have seen MySociety mentioned as a sponsor in the UK, and I know their work in Central and Eastern Europe is tremendous. I have seen Transparency International mentioned in connection with the French platform, and I know this organization is heavily involved in work in Hungary and in Poland. It is good to see those international organizations having impact in various regions of Europe and helping to keep many of those valuable projects sustainable.

Grassroots transparency movements as a regional (and global) trend

As the final question to the readers and hopefully something to initiate further discussion I would like to mention the civic engagement itself. During a recent conversation with Polish transparency organization Watchdog, I heard something interesting - it seems that elections are what generate increased activity of various groups in Poland that are interested in transparency issues. It is also noticeable that the number of those short-term, spontaneous groups and projects is increasing. Organizations like Watchdog and Stowarzyszenie 61 (the organization managing Mam Prawo Wiedziec) find it fascinating and comforting that more and more civic actions are born during the times of elections, as this proves that the society’s involvement in public matters grows from one year to another. Despite my assumption that this might not be the case in Western Europe in seemingly more developed democracies, I see now clearly that grassroots transparency movements are present and growing all across Europe.

Global: Statistics on Countries Participating in World Cup

Raphael Tsavkko Garcia — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:51:07 +0000

SRF from GeoCurrent Events blog writes about the economic geography of the 2010 FIFA World Cup participant countries.

Video: Pitch Your Cause to the World for Davos

Juliana Rincón Parra — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:00:58 +0000

There is time until January 4th, 2010 to send in your video pitch for your cause if you want a chance to participate in the World economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland. Read all instructions and Conditions to participate on the Davos YouTube Channel or on their site.

Egypt: When did Saudi Arabia become Switzerland's role model?

Marwa Rakha — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:32:48 +0000

On Sunday, November 29, 57.5% of Swiss voters approved a ban on the construction of new minarets atop mosques, paving the way for a constitutional amendment. The referendum will affect the construction of new minarets (not mosques) and will not affect Switzerland's four existing minarets. Jillian York covered the initial reactions from the Arab and Muslim blogosphere. The ban is still creating ripples of tension among the supporters and opposition.

Mona ElTahawy has one question for Switzerland and other European countries enthralled by the right wing:

When did Saudi Arabia become your role model?

Even before 57.5 percent of Swiss voters cast ballots on Sunday to ban the building of minarets by Muslims, it was obvious that Switzerland’s image of itself as a land of tolerance was as full of holes as its cheese. When the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) came to power in 2007, it used a poster showing a white sheep kicking black sheep off the country’s flag. This was no reference to black sheep as rebels — the right wing doesn’t do cute — but to skin color and foreigners.

Posters the SVP displayed before Sunday’s referendum showed women covered from head to toe in black, standing in front of phallic-looking minarets. Such racism preceded and fed into the bigotry that fueled the referendum.

Still enraged by the notion of politicizing the minarets, ElTahawy says:

Minarets are used to issue the call to prayer, not to recruit people to Islamic political groups. If the SVP finds such prayer calls too noisy, I’d like to see it try to stifle church bells.

Mohaly wishes that:

the Swiss people would have proven to the world how unbiased and coherent they are, and instead of voting against building minarets, they could have simply voted for having the most prominent swiss product “Clocks” fixed over each new minaret (check the picture). It can be a beautiful architecture holding a practical instrument that can be of benefit for everyone without positiong it as a “Muslim Missile”!

Nawara Negm pointed a finger at bigotry:

المنافقين في الدرك الاسفل من النار ما يجيش واحد يعمل عبيط على حرق تلات بيوت في سنة ونص على ناس بتصلي ولما يسمع عن منع المآذن في سويسرا يلطم ويصوت

Hypocrites will be condemned to the lowest depths of hell! Here is a man who turned a deaf ear to three houses that were burnt down because Christians were praying in them and now he is crying wolf over the Swiss banning minarets!

Nawara reminds those who are calling for tolerance now of their earlier intolerance:

انا عايزة اسمع رأي الناس اللي بتقول ان المسيحيين في مصر “مستفزين” وسهنات ومية من تحت تبن ونفسهم يرجعوا مصر مسيحية وبناء على كده فمنعهم من بناء كنائس وحرقهم ده “رد فعل” طبيعي لاستفزازاتهم المستمرة! …. انا عايزة اعرف رأي اللي بيبرر منع دور عباداتهم وحرق بيوتهم فعلا بقى في منع المآذن، مجرد المآذن، لا هدوا جامع ولا منعوا بناء جامع، بس منظر المئذنة مضايقهم، يا ترى إيه رأيهم دلوقت؟

I want to listen to those who find Egyptian Christians provocative, sly, and conniving. That they are conspiring to turn Egypt into a Christian country and that this is why it is only fair to burn their houses and stop them from building churches. I really want to hear what such people have to say about banning the minarets - I am just talking about the minarets! Not the mosques!

In her post, Mona ElTahawy also touches on this issue:

The Grand Mufti of Egypt, for example, denounced the ban as an “attack on freedom of belief.” I would take him more seriously if he denounced in similar terms the difficulty Egyptian Christians face in building churches in his country. They must obtain a security permit just for renovations.

Last year, the first Catholic church — bearing no cross, no bells and no steeple — opened in Qatar, leaving Saudi Arabia the only country in the Persian Gulf that bars the building of houses of worship for non-Muslims. In Saudi Arabia, it is difficult even for Muslims who don’t adhere to the ultra-orthodox Wahhabi sect; Shiites, for example, routinely face discrimination.

Bigotry must be condemned wherever it occurs.

Muslims against Sharia found Libya's President Gaddafi's statement funny; he said “Swiss minaret ban invites al-Qaeda attacks.”

Therein lies the assumption that all acts of jihadist terrorism must be a response to some kind of provocation (real or imagined) from non-Muslims: after all, the apologists keep telling us “defensive” jihad is quite alright, caliph or no caliph.

The Fraggle-haired dictator also quips “I don't think anyone in the Muslim world will from now on authorise the construction of a church.”

This is ironic, of course, since 1.) it's not like the Muslim world has welcomed churches or freedom of worship with open arms up to now, and 2.) restrictions on building non-Muslim houses of worship are enshrined in the Pact of Umar, which has provided a far-reaching precedent for oppressing non-Muslims in a variety of ways. For that matter, the minaret ban does not restrict worship or the construction of mosques.

While Shokeir is monitoring signs of Western Countries getting fed up with the symbols of Islam

الغرب بدأ يضيق بالإسلام ومايرمز له ، فتلك دولة ترفض النقاب وأخرى ترفض الحجاب في هيئات بعينها ، وتلك تدافع عن صور مسيئة ، وتلك ترحب بأفلام تسيئ للقرآن ، وأخيرا أخرى تضيق برؤية المآذن بعدما منعت من قبل رفع صوت الآذان

The west is getting fed up with Islam and whatever symbols it has; here is a country that bans Niqab and there is another that prohibits Hijab. This one defends offensive pictures and that one welcomes movies that abuses the Qura'an. And now this: after silencing the calls for prayer, they banned minarets altogether.

Hassan El Helali, on the other hand, is relieved and he highlighted one of the comments on his post:

مبروك لسويسرا، و”هارد لك” للجماعات، إياها، التي تتعيش وتتكسب من تجارة الدين من المنظومة البدوية، وتتباكى على الحريات المسفوحة في ربوع أوروبا، وكأن البلاد التي فروا منها “تشرشر” الحريات منها “شرشرة”، وعلى “أبو موزة”. وإذا كانت أوروبا مستبدة ولا تحترم الأديان فلم لا يطلبوا اللجوء السياسي والإنساني في إمارة المحاكم الإسلامية في الصومال، وهناك سيتعرفون جيداً على معنى الحرية على أكمل وجه.

Congratulations Switzerland! Hard Luck to “those” groups that live and thrive on commercializing religion stemming out of their tribal organization. Those groups crying over the violated freedoms of Muslims living in Europe as though their countries of birth - the countries they escaped - are soaked in tolerance. Fine! If Europe is guilty of bigotry, why didn't they ask for political asylum or immigrant rights in an Islamic colony in Somalia? - for this is where they would have learnt the true meaning of freedom.

Slovakia: Controversial Politician Opposes Construction of a Casino

Tibor Blazko — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:34:53 +0000

Maybe you already know it: TriGranit, one of the largest property developers in Europe, in cooperation with Harrah's Entertainment, the largest gaming company in the world, will build a large leisure and shopping complex with a large casino in Slovakia, just near the border with Hungary and Austria.

Here's a line from an article (SLO) in SME.sk: “Something of this size and scope does not exist in Europe yet.”

The initial investment will be 1.5 billion Euro and will create about 9,000 jobs. Later, it should be extended to 5 billion Euro and employ 30,000 people.

The project has the government's support; namely, the finance minister Ján Počiatek has been mentioned in the media often in connection with it.

But not everyone likes the idea of casinos.

One of the opponents is professor Dr. Jozef M. Rydlo (SLO), a historian with non-mainstream opinions, a holder of one of the highest Italian honors. During the communist era, he lived in West European exile, now he's a parliament member for the Slovak National Party (SNS, a minor member of the government coalition).

Someone who knows how Rydlo voted in the case of Kosovo - as he declared (SLO) himself, against his own opinion - should be a bit surprised that he openly criticizes a government-supported project (which, in his view, is united with crime), and minister Počiatek (labeled as a ‘madman'), a member of the main coalition party.

But now he took it really seriously (SLO):

Let's organize petitions, let's send opposing opinions to those who are deciding about us without us, let's think about who we will vote for, let's contact leaders to whom moral and high-principled life is still not foreign. There is still enough time, but it all depends on everyone among us, how actively we will fight for projects promoting positive human values.

Rydlo's article was originally published on a less-known server and might have been forgotten soon. But SME.sk newspaper published its own article (SLO) and comment (SLO), in which it described Rydlo's work as in large part a copy of a blog post written by Andrea Kaľavská a few days earlier. Kaľavská is an assistant of an opposition parliament member for the Christian Democratic Movement.

In the copied parts, Rydlo is said to have made some cosmetic changes, such as removing notes about the prime minister. He kept the part about the city where he lives (and near which the casino will be built), even though in his profile he declares a different address. The closing part of Rydlo's piece, quoted above, is not part of Kaľavská's blog post.

The server where Rydlo is publishing is often labeled to be at the border of extremism, and this is not first time Rydlo has been featured negatively in the press. He became known already because of the (unusual) kissing (SLO) of the Slovak Constitution during his parliamentary introduction in 2006. Later, in 2007, the Swiss Berner Zeitung published an article in which it was claimed that his professor title was fake and that he had gotten it from an organization that he himself founded and was the only member of. Also, his former colleague said anonymously that his acting on various universities should be better described as changing of schools after short time. Other allegations (SLO) against Rydlo include book thefts, domestic violence, an attempted murder - and psychiatric disability payments that Rydlo was receiving in Switzerland (and which were higher than the Slovak average monthly wage), while being on the Slovak parliament's payroll.

Here's a selection of anonymous netizens' reactions to Rydlo's response to the construction project, posted (SLO) at SME.sk portal:

Prof. Rydlo:

Don't be bad to mister professor. Except that to the nation of Slovaks he is already nothing else.

***

nemudruj a uvažuj [do not speculate and think]:

I also wonder why they are still attacking Rydlo, instead of just being happy that any parliamentarian from SNS is able to even copy the whole page of text.

***

Martin ‘Euthymos' Kubo:

He was able to modify some sentences. That is proof of originality, extraordinary in his environment.

***

ideozločinec [ideocriminal]:

Do you think that fool would be awarded with the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic?

boccaccio:

Yes.

***

liberty.liberty:

Those payments for the disabled because of schizo really belong to him.

***

jurkoo1:

It is a tragedy that Rydlo, despite everything, represents the intellectual top in SNS, and an even bigger tragedy that Smer (the main coalition party) has joined forces with something like this. The government of national shame.

***

vini13:

And I thought Rydlo was already written off because of his [fake] titles, and he is still writing copies… He would write off himself alone!

***

clyde:

2-3 years ago, [he] was teaching history of Switzerland at the Philosophy Department. Already at that time he was somehow strange, in every second sentence he was using bad language on Hungarians and Americans […] - about the history of Switzerland we did not learn very much.

Arab World: Reactions to the Swiss Ban on Minarets

Jillian C. York — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:40:04 +0000

The ban has sparked mixed reactions throughout the Arab and Muslim blogospheres: While some bloggers are outraged, others make the point that banning minarets does not hinder practicing the faith.

Lebanese-American Pierre Tristram, who blogs for About.com, opens a post with this paragraph, condemning the Swiss decision:

How can 59 million people be so dumb, Britain's Daily Mail famously asked in a day-after headline of the re-election of George W. Bush in 2004. The Daily Mail can notch a new one for its shame gallery: How can 3 million Swiss be so bigoted?

Tristram closes with this scathing comment: “The difference between your average Swiss and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the poster child of racist rants, has just gotten much narrower.”

Egyptian blogger Hicham Maged searches for an answer in his post, and concludes:

In a nutshell, I am looking forward for Swiss people to re-evaluate what happened; it is not only whether law protect citizen's rights or not, which is something important to debate and go for in the Swiss courts to correct for sure, but what is more important for me is that this fatal mistake should set up an alarm for not falling into the swamp of ignorance where nothing fill it but fear, anger and stupidity ~ Everywhere!

Another Egyptian blogger, whose blog is entitled Not Green Data, recognizes the credo that “a mosque is a mosque,” but laments the loss of the mosque's beauty in the Swiss ban:

Can you imagine a cube of Swiss Cheese, without its eyes - the holes in it? Or a Swiss Knife without the compass or the screwdriver? This is exactly what the Swiss people want to do with mosques. A mosque will remain a mosques without its Minarets, and it will still function the way it is supposed to function without them. But it will then loose its architectural identity and beauty.

British blogger Matthew Teller, a Middle East travel writer, focuses on the propaganda posters of various Swiss

A poster by the Swiss SVP calling for a ban of minarets

campaigners, picking apart both sides of the battle in this post, describing the poster to the left:

The repulsive SVP, who’ve used what the Financial Times called “strident populism” to target ‘foreigners’ of all kinds in Switzerland as criminals, benefit cheats or worse, kicked off the campaign with the poster opposite: “Stop! Yes to the minaret ban”. Look at the imagery: minarets as missiles, women as menacing, the burqa as concealment, black as a threat, the Swiss flag cast into shadow from the east, the cross obliterated.

Algerian-American The Moor Next Door, seeing the ban as a power struggle, remarks:

The minaret, for its opponents, symbolizes Islam’s “arrival” in the Alps. It stands to proclaim the Muslim presence above other faiths and peoples. Banning it, then, is to ban a symbol of Muslim power and existence

…

The aesthetics of identity, and therefore power, are what the drive is really about. It is a way for a people in doubt to affirm and define their confused identity by rejecting that of the newcomer’s.

Syrian blogger Maysaloon has a unique perspective on what the most important narrative of this story is. Setting aside the issues of bigotry, fear, and architectural integrity, the blogger makes the following point:

Neither Swiss bigotry, nor the religious or architectural significance of minarets are what is important about this story. What is important is that for the first time in 400 years, at least since the Ottomans besieged Vienna, Muslims are having a real impact on what is happening in Europe.

The blogger goes on to highlight the ways in which Islam has influenced the “west” and vice versa, concluding:

To sum it up, I am not worried about the bigots. Minarets and sharia can be banned, headscarves can be torn off, and all the cartoons in the world will not stop the fact that Islam is now in Europe, and it is in America, and it is spreading throughout the world.

To conclude, Mauritanian Twitter user weddady's comment on the end result of the referendum sums up well the sentiment of many. He says, ” Now no one can pretend that Europe doesn't have a problem with Muslims, nor can anyone deny the extensive Islamist presence there.”

Poland: Sexual Crimes and Roman Polanski

Veronica Khokhlova — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:27:42 +0000

Polandian writes about Poland's plans to legalize chemical castration for those who commit sexual crimes against minors - and about the arrest of Roman Polanski in Switzerland and the Polish foreign minister's intention to ask the U.S. president to pardon the film director: “Now, if the 1977 charge had been for shoplifting, one might just about argue that Poland has the right to go asking for a pardon for this famous son, however, the charge was for the rape of a 13 year old girl when Polanski was 44.”