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RACISM

Switzerland sticks with mountain name despite ‘racist’ ties

A Swiss town on Wednesday refused to rename the Agassizhorn mountain despite its namesake's espousal of racist views.

Published: 9 July 2020 09:51 CEST
Switzerland sticks with mountain name despite 'racist' ties
Switzerland's Agassizhorn. Image: Creative Commons

The 19th century Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz was known for research into fish, fossils and glaciers, but he has also been criticised in recent years for defending racist ideas.

After emigrating to the United States in 1846, Agassiz argued for racial segregation and hierarchies, and fiercely attacked Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

IN PICTURES: Powerful images from anti-racism protests across Switzerland 

But mayor of the town of Grindelwald, Beat Bucher, disagreed with those who wanted to change the peak's name, saying: “We cannot erase the stains of history.”

In a reference to the central Swiss summit, Bucher added: “It is better to accept it with its positive and negative aspects.”

The mountain peak, at just under 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) is shared by two other municipalities, Guttannen and Fieschertal, which had already rejected a bid to rename it.

A fresh effort was made after the killing in late May of George Floyd, an African American asphyxiated by a white police officer, generated a global wave of revulsion against racist symbols.

A similar push to rename the mountain was rejected in 2007. 

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RACISM

Why are racist incidents on the rise in Switzerland?

Switzerland’s Federal Commission against Racism (EKR) announced this week that the number incidents of racism reported to it rose by almost a quarter in 2023.

Published: 29 April 2024 12:22 CEST
Why are racist incidents on the rise in Switzerland?

In a new report published on Sunday, the EKR revealed that 876 incidents of racism had been reported to the body. In comparison, 708 incidents were reported to the EKR in 2022. 

That reflects a rise of 24 percent in the number of reported incidents.

The current conflict in the Middle East was highlighted explicitly as fuelling the rise in incidences of racism.

Some 69 reports related to anti-Arab racism, while anti-Muslim xenophobia was cited in 62 reports. There were also 46 incidents of anti-semitic abuse recorded last year

Read More: Switzerland acknowledges ‘systemic racism’ in the country

Another section of the report significantly identified right-wing populist political campaigns as a significant motivator of racist hate, promoted through flyers with xenophobic slogans or visual tropes. 

Discrimination based on nationality or ethnicity constituted the largest share of reports at 387 reports, followed by anti-black racism with 327 documented incidents.

Additionally, 155 reports related to a person’s legal right to remain in Switzerland, while 137 reported discrimination based on gender. 

Read More: Are foreigners in Switzerland likely to experience some form of racism?

The EKR report also identified where these racist incidents were most likely to occur: Educational institutions, such as schools and universities, were the most frequent locations for incidents at 181 reports, followed by the workplace at 124 incidents and open public spaces at 113. 

With almost two hundred of the 876 reported incidents taking place at schools and universities, Ursula Schneider-Schüttel, President of the EKR, had words of warning: 

“One finding from the report in particular deserves our attention: reports of racial discrimination at school are at the forefront this year. This is worrying.

“School should be where children and young people are protected from discrimination.

“We must therefore ask ourselves what responsibility educational institutions have in ensuring a non-discriminatory learning environment and what it takes to achieve this responsibility can be met.” 

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