contents
Controversial lockdown, demonstrations against measures: A Grisons investigation wants to learn lessons from the pandemic. But the task is more difficult than expected.
Some families argued about the certificate or the vaccination, words like “dictatorship” and “covidiots” made the rounds. The pandemic has torn rifts in Switzerland. The canton of Graubünden wants to build bridges here and is currently looking for solutions.
An investigation should clarify how social divisions can be prevented in the next crisis. It is part of a larger evaluation of the Grisons crisis management.
People said to me: ‘They don’t take us seriously, they don’t hear us’.
The trigger was the corona wave in autumn 2021, says Martin Bühler, Graubünden crisis manager and head of the Office for Military and Civil Protection. Critics of the measures would have contacted him, the tenor: “We are not taken seriously, we are not heard.” It bothered him personally, says Bühler. Because: “We had to deal with a crisis in which we as an authority had to intervene in social life.”
Legend:
An important finding for the Graubünden crisis manager Martin Bühler: “Every discord intensifies in a crisis.”
Keystone / Yanik Buerkli
At the time, the critics of the measures suggested that Martin Bühler contact the ethicist Ruth Baumann-Hölzle. You can bring in new perspectives and take an intermediate position.
A round table fails
The ethicist and the crisis manager met for the first time in January 2022. Baumann-Hölzle heads the “Dialogue Ethics” institute in Zurich, which primarily advises healthcare institutions on complex ethical issues and dilemmas.
Legend:
It is a “high level of escalation” when a round table fails in Switzerland, says ethicist Ruth Baumann-Hölzle: “In the end it is a problem of trust and we have to work on it.”
ZVG / Foundation Dialogue Ethics
The plan: A round table chaired by the ethicist should bring all sides together to discuss the topic of “social division” – representatives of science and the Federal Office of Public Health, those who criticize and advocate the measures.
But the project failed. Martin Bühler remembers: “Certain circles said clearly: ‘We talk to you, you worked well with us. However, we do not discuss the effect of vaccinations or masks ›». Who didn’t want to talk to whom remains open because the report isn’t finished yet.
We had to deal with a crisis in which we as an authority had to intervene in social life.
Instead of a round table, the ethicist Ruth Baumann, together with Martin Bühler, conducted individual talks with the various groups in the past few weeks.
Legend:
There were repeated demonstrations against the Corona measures throughout Switzerland.
Keystone / Walter Bieri
Even if the project is still running, there are first insights for the crisis manager Martin Bühler and the ethicist Ruth Baumann. “In the end it’s a trust issue and we have to work on that,” says Baumann. The example of the failed round table showed that. In a crisis, mutual trust is needed that, despite different opinions, “everyone is concerned with getting through such a crisis well”.
The ethicist therefore calls for more public debate “at eye level”, for example between experts in the same discipline as doctors or lawyers.
pre-crisis discussions
It is important for Bühler to realize that you always end up in a crisis situation with a pre-existing burden: “Every discord intensifies in a crisis.” An example is vaccination. The topic was already controversial and discussed with hardened fronts before Corona. You have to have such difficult discussions when you have the time. Before a crisis – quasi “in peacetime” – it must also be clarified democratically who can make decisions when there is a fire.
The evaluation of the discussions held in the canton of Graubünden is still ongoing. Suggestions on how a society can better deal with crises in the future should be available by autumn.