How pop star Bambie Thug got involved in Basel-City’s Eurovision vote

Barely two hours after the performance of Swiss singer Nemo this spring at Eurovision and the proclamation of the public and jury votes, it was obvious to viewers across Europe that Switzerland was going to have to organize this event in 2025 . Which only pleased Eurovision fans in Switzerland.

But in this country where the people can express themselves during different elections per year, six months will have been necessary to endorse this organization. The population of Basel-City finally accepted by a large majority a credit of 35 million francs for Eurovision to take place within its walls.

If a no vote had come out of the polls, this sum could not have been paid by the canton. And the SSR, parent company of swissinfo.ch, should have withdrawn the organization from Basel, according to the daily Basler Zeitung.

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In a form of escalation, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) could have intervened by even withdrawing from Switzerland the attribution of this event. Unlike Zurich, Bern or Geneva, the three other cities which applied for Eurovision, Basel has the particularity of being both a city and a canton. Entrusting the city of Bern with this event would have been riskier if a referendum had been tabled. Because if the Bernese towns vote left, the countryside, with a large majority of votes, is more conservative.

At the end of November, when the EBU meets, Basel will know whether the organization will definitely fall to it. For comparison, Malmö was set for its fate in July 2023 for the 2024 edition. This shows to what extent the wheels of direct democracy can slow down.

Everything happened very quickly

On September 11, Joël Thüring, president of the Finance Commission of the canton of Basel-City and member of the Democratic Union of the Center (SVP / conservative right) was nevertheless enthusiastic from the podium of the parliament by exclaiming “Basel 12 points, joy reigns!” after the legislative vote to release this sum. Only four votes were opposed. The parties were unanimous. Then the referendum was tabled.

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In the starting blocks, members of the Federal Democratic Union (UDF), a Christian-conservative party, then traveled from all over Switzerland to Basel to collect enough signatures in time, 2000 being necessary to achieve success. a referendum. Six weeks later, on October 28, the UDF submitted its text to the Chancellery with 4,200 initials. Then on November 4, barely a week later, the Basel electorate received the voting materials, including the message from the authorities and the referendum arguments on five pages. How could it have happened so quickly?

“On October 26, the ballot papers and the message were printed in two versions, one with and the other without a referendum,” Marco Greiner, spokesperson for the Basel executive, told swissinfo.ch. On November 24, Basel residents also had to vote on other items.

Question d’image

Despite very short deadlines, the two parties involved in this battle were able to put forward their arguments. For the authorities, who want to make this event “a celebration of tolerance for the entire population”, Eurovision is “a big added value from which Basel will benefit internationally in terms of image”.

Conversely, their opponents speak of a “waste of money” and “loss of image” for the Rhine city. “We do not want to serve as a platform for a demonstration which has not sufficiently repressed anti-Jewish excesses,” brandished the UDF, with regard to the incidents which targeted the Israeli singer Eden Golan this spring in Malmö.

“Occult and Satanic Contributions”

Ultimately, for this fringe, the fight between good and evil is replayed, mixed with the feeling of having once been the victim of a “double standard” at Eurovision. As a reminder: a group from the Salvation Army, an evangelical Christian group, was unable to compete under that name and wear the colors of Switzerland a good ten years ago.

“Occult and satanic contributions are tolerated and celebrated” at Eurovision, the referendum participants were indignant during the campaign, crying injustice. Also pointing the finger at the non-binary Irish devil Bambie Thug, whose “contribution” to Malmö referred to Harry Potter. By singing “Avada Kedavra, I speak to destroy”, Bambie Thug was greatly inspired by the death curse well known in the series, and not by a religious movement.

But it is possible that the presence of his smile in the spots and posters on public transport in Basel frightened the referendums more than the 35 million francs planned for Eurovision. Especially since Basel-City’s finances are in good shape with profits amounting to hundreds of millions of francs per year.

National influence and local politics

Even though it was the Basel-City section of the UDF which ultimately received the signature sheets for the referendum, it ultimately became a national affair. Members of the Swiss UDF party campaigned, with its president Samuel Kullmann in the lead, although he comes not from Basel, but from the Bernese Oberland. The UDF transparently explained that this vote in Basel had been provoked by members of sections other than Basel-City.

Professor at the University of Bern and director of the Swiss Political Year online platform, Marc Bühlmann does not know how often referendums are launched at the instigation of people outside their region. “I think it’s not that rare,” he said.

National themes are voted on at the local level. And objects with wide resonance such as the minimum wage or the transparency of party financing are “tested” in the cantons according to an orchestration between party base and cantonal sections, he recalls.

For this professor of political science, these various configurations “pose no problem in terms of democracy”. In Basel, the signatures for this referendum come from local citizens, he says. “It is therefore the population of the canton of Basel-City who triggered this vote. It is this yardstick that must be relied upon to know whether or not an object should be submitted to the people.” In the theory of democracy, we can view this development positively or criticize the fact that an external force underlies a vote.

We can also go further. “Taking a more participatory perspective of this same theory, there cannot be enough votes and debates on a theme. Which would amount to saying that we must welcome the fact that actors outside the canton are concerned about this.”

Proofread and verified by Giannis Mavris / translated from German by Alain Meyer / kro

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