Swiss Citizenship Demand Grows; Basel Invented Crowdfunding 400 Years Before Kickstarter; Toxic Ink In Tattoo Parlors; FCBasel Hooligans Leave Thun Arena Up In Smoke

News For 23 February 2016

In a sharp reversal of trend, the number of Swiss naturalizations of foreigners rose by 20 percent in 2015, compared with steady declines during the prior decade.  Leading the nationalities seeking Swiss citizenship were Italians, Germans, Portuguese and French.  Ironically, underlying the rush seems to be the political efforts spearheaded by the Swiss People's Party (or SVP) to restrict the number of immigrants to the country.  Residency permit holders fearful of recent referendum restrictions on free movement between the EU and Switzerland, as well as those fearing deportation for minor criminal offenses, have taken on a sense of urgency with regard to their citizenship plans.  Despite the substantial 3000 franc cost, and a process of interviews at the federal, cantonal and commune level that can take three years, there seems to be a growing interest in becoming Swiss.

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When thinking about the genesis of Crowdfunding, you can forget Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Indiegogo and other modern apps.  According to Susanna Burghartz, Professor of History at the University of Basel, long before silicon valley got around to it, Baslers were already pioneering the practice.  In recent reviews of digitized documents dating from 1535-1610, financial records have emerged that tell the story of how the city of Basel itself was a product of crowdfunding.  It seems the local Archbishop was in financial distress in the late 16th century and pledged large swaths of what was to become city land for public use.  Once the diocese had regained its financial footing, what had become a city in the public domain, was forced to buy its land from the church for the sum of 200,000 guilders, and then again in the year 1587, a sum of 150,000 pounds was due.  Unable at the time to pay from the city treasury, Basel organized an analog crowdfunding campaign of sorts that was used to settle its accounts with the church, drawing donations from the wealthy and ordinary citizens alike.  

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If you've been thinking of getting "inked" in Basel, you may want to think again...or at least research the materials and equipment used at your local tattoo parlor.  The Canton of Basel Stadt  Laboratories, recently instructed three studios to remove six of their nine tattoo inks from use.  The inks which were confiscated, were found to contain banned colorants and preservatives which have been associated with allergy risks.  Underlying the issue is that Tattoo studios are not regulated and are not obligated to register with the Canton where they might receive guidelines for offering safe services and using safe products.  Only one company in Switzerland offers hygiene inspections of tattoo studios and the inspections are voluntary, leaving more than half uninspected.  The federal government in Bern is considering legislation which would bring the studios under the purview of the Federal Office of Food Safety, and would require all studios to submit to hygiene standards.  The Cantonal laboratories were responding to numerous consumer complaints of rashes and allergic reactions, though no serious cases endangering the health of consumers have been reported.

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FCBasel football fans have been singled out for restrictions at the city of Thun's Stockhorn arena after a dangerous quantity of pyrotechnic flares were ignited at the match between the two cities last Sunday.  In response, stringent enforcement of behavior codes and an outright ban on alcohol sales have been imposed in the guest supporters sector at the stadium anytime FCB visits for upcoming matches.  The new rules were announced by FC Thun president Markus Lüthi and council president Peter Siegenthaler and encouraged visiting team supporters to expect security measures to be commensurate with their behavior.