the book that shook Switzerland

Cis an unexpected and resounding book, which has shaken Swiss tranquility since its publication on October 4. The Spread of Wokism in Switzerland (Slatkine), an in-depth and documented essay, offers a definition and analysis of “wokism” through a multitude of facts which have peppered Swiss news over the last five years. Journalist, Jonas Follonier covers these numerous events, ranging from cancellations (with violence) of teachers’ conferences to the unbolting of statues without any “colonial” argument to match, to denouncing the activist criteria imposed on the media and Swiss public creations. . For a French readership, this look at Swiss society and its radical activism proves fascinating, and almost reassuring. We are not the only ones, after all! The Point met its author, Jonas Follonier, as his book appears this Tuesday, October 15 in France.

Le Point: Why did you choose to deal with the subject of wokism in Switzerland?

Jonas Follonier: There was no book that dealt with this subject in Switzerland. But my trigger was the series of incidents that took place in spring 2022 at the University of Geneva. Many violent activists prevented the holding of two conferences which were to take place on the question of “gender”, on which the speakers had a nuanced point of view. One of the speakers, a French teacher, was even spat upon in the middle of his speech! What disturbed me the most was when I was told that one of these activists shouted “Your book is crap, we haven’t read it!” “. It was at that moment that I said to myself: that’s it, wokism has arrived in Switzerland.

You devote a whole section of your work to public media, even though you write occasionally in Time. Why did you choose to denounce certain activist excesses of state media in particular?

As I explain in the book, there is a double problem with our public media because the Swiss are obliged to pay contributions for these media, and we also have few paper media and large daily newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland. It was important for me to detail the activism that is rampant and the lack of plurality. In French-speaking Switzerland, the debate on the audiovisual license fee, which is very high (around 400 euros per household), is ongoing. Some want to abolish it, which I do not approve of, but there must be a new vote in a year or two following a popular initiative to halve its amount. Many Swiss believe that the public service does not meet the objective of impartial news, especially on societal subjects. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SSR) did not take citizens’ threats seriously at all and did not question itself, which is a shame. For my part, however, I am delighted to be invited to debate on public service, even if my work surprised the journalists!

You also denounce the production market for Swiss films. For what reason?

The Swiss market is by definition very small, as for the media. It is very difficult for cinema to finance projects just with private funds, so there are partly public funds which take care of this. Listening to the debate on French audiovisual, I wondered if there were criteria similar to creation in Switzerland, I followed the procedures as if I were a filmmaker who wanted to finance his project in order to receive the documents, documents that can be found in full in the book. I was appalled, because, generally speaking, the form is huge and assumes that we need representation of all minorities in society by making it a criterion for funding. The only criterion should be, in my opinion, the competence of the teams and the quality of the proposed project. We have a real American ideology which is spreading in Switzerland and which is opposed to our liberal and universalist traditions!

What does Swiss society think of this, whose universalist values ​​you rightly highlight?

It’s the same pattern as in France, the majority of citizens are against wokism, against inclusive writing, as the polls we do testify. But in the media and academic world, there is a real fear among the moderate left of being treated as “extreme right”! I myself have been a victim of these allegations, despite my very clear positions of humanism and liberalism.

Is the profile of these Swiss radical activists different from French activists?

We find a lot of common points because they are modeled on the Anglo-Saxon model, but the difference lies in the question of “communities”. For a long time, we never spoke of a “Muslim community” in Switzerland, for example! We have no colonial history. And suddenly, activists and associations come to emulate a community model and a history that has nothing to do with that of our country, except that the Swiss media do not question this. I have even heard from many members of the Swiss moderate right who are against Wokism but believe that it is a “French” phenomenon that will “pass” and who underestimate its importance.

In this regard, what were the reactions of the Swiss feminist activists you speak about regarding Tariq Ramadan, and one of whose victims is Swiss?

In Switzerland, we have a lot of sects because there is no legislation like in France. We are tolerant of the intolerant and allow anyone to say anything, which causes bitterness to rise. I was able to observe that at the time of the rape accusations against Tariq Ramadan, the treatment of the media was similar to that of certain French media which were afraid of playing into the hands of “Islamophobes”. This is what we found among Swiss activist circles and on their social networks. For the first time, these activists defended tooth and nail the presumption of innocence that they neglect in other cases. There is a blatant double standard. Swiss organizations such as “the women’s strike” have recorded numerous cases of sexual assault or violence against women on social networks, but have been very slow to react for the Taliban and Afghan women! And what’s more, they continue to defend the wearing of the veil…

I could also talk about the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Switzerland: the universities were at a complete standstill just because certain deans did not dare to react when they were summoned to take the side of Palestine. German Switzerland, on the other hand, immediately condemned the radicalism of the demonstrators and opposed the laxity of French-speaking Switzerland through its reactivity.

In Switzerland, we have this idea of ​​“at the same time”, ultimately very Macronist! For example, we will condemn militant actions that tear down statues, but at the same time build a tiny statue next to it to say that we are on the side of the victims of slavery.

Is this explained by the existence of a Swiss mentality?

Yes, for sure. We have a culture of compromise that we apply to everything and the Swiss fall into this trap. To appear benevolent, we juggle with “semi-militantism” so as not to offend the activists, nor those who denounce them. Whereas in France, points of view are contrasting but do not try to please everyone. In Switzerland, we have this idea of ​​“at the same time”, ultimately very Macronist! For example, we will condemn militant actions that tear down statues, but at the same time build a tiny statue next to it to say that we are on the side of the victims of slavery. This is a true truism, because who in society would be on the side of the executioners? Swiss society is entering a trap by accepting that Wokism is the only possible way to be militant.

Is Switzerland facing the same violence as some of our French activists? Did you suffer from this when your work was released?

I think there is less violence than in France because the Swiss are by nature calmer. We do not have a revolutionary history and our country is smaller. But that doesn’t stop symbolic violence and intimidation, which I address in the book. For example, the spitting on the teacher or the lynching of an actress, although representative of the universalist left, who was harassed and had to stop her career despite her fame for sketches which were not appreciated. Her example really touched me; for example, she was called “transphobic” without any distinction between herself and the characters she plays. We saw psychological violence, cyberharassment and a form of social death, something we were not used to.

For my part, I have a lot of Swiss media requests, which surprises me! The Swiss have closely followed the French debate on the question of Wokism. This proves that this is not an issue linked to the extreme right! That said, the setback began with refusals to debate, or denigration on social networks.

The Spread of Wokism in Switzerlandcouple Jonas Follonier, Slatkine, 120 p., 22 euros.