TwoFools in Zürich

I was all set to write a post on Friday about my renewed appreciation for Switzerland when the "activists" occupied the Razzia on Seefeldstrasse.

Still a fairly jolly scene at 11.45 on Friday, although extremely loud. The crowd got uglier as the night wore on.

A fig leaf of concern for the displaced former residents of Ledermann's Kino Razzia-Mainau House project dressed up the occupation, which consisted primarily of loud music and drinking––quite a lot of drinking going by the volume of supplies going in each morning and the sound of glass bottles breaking throughout the night.

From 22.00 until well after dawn each day, deep bass house music blasted out of the open doors of the theater and through the open windows and doors of the adjacent building on Mainaustrasse (they had been industriously removed by the activists). We could feel the vibration in our floors and our windows rattled as the music was cranked progressively higher through the night.  My favorite bit each morning was the slow, sonorous, deep bass chords that reverberated through the neighborhood starting at about 7.00.

Here's video we took at 4.30 this morning. Check out that distortion on the bass. Nice, right?

Apparently, the owner (Urs Ledermann) okay-ed the occupation early on Friday evening, and the police in turn said that they could not respond to noise complaints. I guess Urs carries a lot of weight with the city, since the police abandoned all concept of law enforcement on his say-so. I hope he's very happy with the results, since his property now looks more ghetto than Gold Coast.

Doesn't look like Urs won any fans among the activists.

Despite calls from us and many in the neighborhood, the only time we saw the police was about 9.00 on Saturday morning as they did a slow cruise by the scene.

People in this neighborhood had better not kid themselves. There are four more months until the scheduled start of demolition. Urs didn't lose any sleep this weekend, and he won't the next time this happens. And it will happen again.

Organize now to stop illegal parties at the Razzia. Contact Urs and let him know what you think of his illegal agreement to condone this party and deny the police access to his property.

urs.ledermann@ledermann.com
+41 44 396 15 85

Don't ever let anyone tell you Zurich is a sleepy town where nothing ever happens. Last night a full-on riot happened on Bellvueplatz, culminating in rubber bullets, tear gas, broken shop windows and trash cans on fire.

Johannes Dietschi, newspicture

Things got hot, literally, around midnight, and the action extended from Bellevue to the Stadelhofen train station. Apparently responding to 20 protesters who climbed on top of the tram shelter, police took action and things went downhill fast.

According to 20 Minuten, the street party was staged as a form of "revenge" for recent police actions against other illegal (un-permitted) parties. The rallying cry of "No Party is Illegal" (Keine Party ist Illegal) brought over a thousand young protesters to the Bellvue in an action that ended with 6 police injured and one man taken to the hospital for a head injury. Only one arrest has been reported and damage to vehicles and surrounding businesses has not been tallied.

Okay. Seriously? The right to party? That's the best we can do for a protest movement around here?

I'm pretty sure the right to party was not one of the anti-WEF slogans from earlier this year.  Not much in common with the peaceful antiwar marchers dragged off to jail across the US in 2003 either. Last night was not exactly on par with the 1999 Seattle WTO protests and the violent police repression that accompanied them.  I'm not sure it can even be fairly compared to the anti-bougeois protests in Zürich in the 1980s, even if some of the language and imagery seem to recall it.

Maybe I'm missing something? But where is the oppression here exactly? It's not like these youths traveled in from dystopian suburbs that surround Paris. There are young people in Switzerland who get the short-end of every stick, but I'm pretty sure they weren't the ones at the party last night.

Dudes, fight for your right.

If you've just arrived in town (or even if you've been here a while), you should know about Living in Zurich, a long-running and excellent program for newcomers. Hosted by the not-for-profit American Women's Club of Zurich, it's comprehensive––covering everything from finding a doctor to opening a bank account––and it's taught in English.


Actually, I recommend this course every year, but this year I am even more enthusiastic about it because, unlike previous years, the program this year is scheduled over just three days. I don't know about you, but I am busy: I need time to study, to work volunteer, and once in damn while have some fun. This year, I might even be able to attend the whole thing.

You can find out more and register here.

Here's the invitation from the President of the AWCZ.





Story by Kathy
Photo: AWCZ