Do the people of Valais think differently? Hardly any other canton fosters the feeling of being different from the rest of Switzerland, with as much passion as Valais. The resistance of the Zermatt Walliserkanne hosts to Covid requirements made headlines these days. But resistance to the hotheads also fought in their own canton. The two leading Valais politicians are in an open swap.
The Valais SVP politician Oskar Freysinger (61) provokes in the only German-speaking Valais daily newspaper with a Nazi comparison. In the Covid-19 law, which will be voted on on November 28, he sees the same dangers as in Adolf Hitler’s (1889-1945) Enabling Act.
According to Freysinger, Switzerland is at a crossroads: Either the people agree to the compulsory vaccination and systematic controls and issue a blank check to the government through a kind of enabling law. And then the provocation: “The German parliament,” writes Freysinger, “made the wrong decision in 1933 and agreed to a massive restriction of fundamental rights.” With the law, Hitler secured sole power.
Walliser Bodenmann counters
The Valais veteran Peter Bodenmann (69), long-time president of SP Switzerland, countered with a counter-column in the “Walliser Boten”. “On Wednesday eight scattered Central Swiss Totenhemmli-Trychler trotted around the Brig remand prison”, where the Walliserkanne hosts were temporarily in custody. “Not even Oskar Freysinger turned up to spread his absurd conspiracy theories.”
So far in Switzerland “everyone from left to right has accepted referendums,” writes Bodenmann. “Will this be different this time?” The advice of the SP politician to the SVP politician: «And you can learn from mistakes. Hasn’t been banned yet. “
Together, according to Bodenmann, “excited” people like the Walliserkanne family belonged to be reassured. Freysinger counters: “A contemporary Winkelried has opened an alley for freedom in Zermatt.” And with a view to November 28, he asks: “Will the Confederates step into the breach?” (kes)