Basel: SVP youths kicked out of a bar because of their party affiliation

A seemingly simple but explosive story. Cantonal delegates of the Young Swiss People's Party (Jeunes UDC) have reportedly been turned away from a bar because of their political color, a new report has revealed. Le Regard Libre. The president and vice-president of the formation react.

No moss for these young people, who haven't committed any act likely to make the waiter foam. Well, except for one thing: they belong to an organization that disturbs him. The Young Swiss People's Party. As soon as they were seated in the Basel bar «Ts'Fähri Bödeli», a good dozen cantonal delegates were asked to leave by the manager, according to their testimony:

«After taking our order, he asked us what organization we were from, and when we told him, he blurted out, “I don't serve those people.”»

These are the words of Sacha Turin, vice-president of the Young Swiss SVP. «The president of the Basel Young SVP had taken care to reserve our table for this outing following our national congress, and she had communicated which group she was booking for.» David Trachsel, president of the party's youth section, who was also present when it happened, validates the scene described by his colleague down to the last detail, and asserts that his group would not have said or done anything to upset their host. For him, the event is indicative of a groundswell:

«Our dismissal from this bar (a public one, it's worth pointing out) is further proof of the anti-democratic, intolerant culture, hostile to freedom of expression, that's being deployed just about everywhere. If you don't agree with a person of this tendency, they don't receive you.»

A trend that the young politician doesn't hesitate to link to «woke» culture. A term borrowed from Afro-American slang and derived from the English «awake», which describes a posture of opposition to all inequalities - or to what presents itself as such - and to all those who would defend them.

There's no doubt that this incident, whether or not confirmed by the Basel establishment (which we have not yet been able to contact), will serve as a political argument for the Young SVP. A little over two weeks ago, the formation denounced the policy pursued by the UBS bank, which asked its employees to use «gender-neutral» words.

Update: in an article published on the 24 heures website on August 14, the owner of the Fähri Bödeli reported another version: «The manager asked them to leave because it's a very quiet place, and their presence created an energy that didn't really fit in with the harmony of the place. But this has nothing to do with politics.»

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

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