The Campaign for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland ( or ''AUNS'', or ''ASIN'', or ''ASNI''), abbreviated to AUNS, is a political

organisation An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution ( formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a pa ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

that supports Swiss independence and neutrality.

History

The AUNS was founded on June 19, 1986, formed out of the Committee Against UN Membership (), shortly after a referendum on UN membership was successfully defeated. Its founders were

Christoph Blocher Christoph Wolfram Blocher (; born 11 October 1940) is a Swiss industrialist and politician who served as a List of members of the Swiss Federal Council, Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Swiss People's Party ( ...

of the SVP and Otto Fischer of the FDP. Throughout its history, the AUNS has had some success. It successfully opposed referendums on abolishing the military (

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

joining Join may refer to: * Join (law), to include additional counts or additional defendants on an indictment *In mathematics: ** Join (mathematics), a least upper bound of sets orders in lattice theory ** Join (topology), an operation combining two topo ...

the

European Economic Area The European Economic Area (EEA) was established via the ''Agreement on the European Economic Area'', an international agreement which enables the extension of the European Union's single market to member states of the European Free Trade Asso ...

(1992), joining the EU (2001), as well as numerous other referendums. Additionally, the AUNS supported the immigration referendum of 2014, which was narrowly accepted. On the other hand, its campaigns against the participation of the

Swiss Army The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

in armed UN peace-keeping missions (2001), against Swiss succession to the UN (2002), against the bilateral treaties with the European Union (''Bilaterale I'' (2000), ''Bilaterale II'' (2004),

right to move The Citizens' Rights Directive 2004/38/EC (also sometimes called the "Free Movement Directive") sets out the conditions for the exercise of the right of free movement for citizens of countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes ...

directive (2004),

Schengen treaty The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...

(2005)) and against payment of a billion Swiss Francs to the EU

Cohesion Fund The Cohesion Fund, one of the five European Structural and Investment Funds of the European Union, provides support to Member States with a gross national income per capita below 90% EU-27 average to strengthen the economic, social and territorial ...

(2005) were unsuccessful. As of 2014, the AUNS had 30,100 members, down from 45,000 at the end of 2004. Since April 2014,

Lukas Reimann Lukas Reimann (born 18 September 1982) is a Swiss politician. Reimann is a member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and a National Council. He resides in Wil in the Canton St. Gallen. Biography In 2004, at the age of 21 years, Reimann was elect ...

has been the president of AUNS, taking over from Pirmin Schwander.We're Not The Only EU Skeptics
''Swissinfo'', May 15, 2014. Retrieved May 26, 2014

Organization

While the AUNS describes itself as a non-partisan organization, it has been closely associated with the

Swiss People's Party The Swiss People's Party (, SVP; , PPS), also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre (, UDC; , UDC), is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Marcel Dettling, it is the largest party in ...

(SVP). It was presided by notable SVP member

from 1986 to 2003, and is strongly associated with Blocher's rise to a dominating figure in Swiss politics and the rise of

right-wing populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establis ...

orchestrated by SVP campaigns in the 1990s and 2000s. The AUNS has a youth wing called ''Youth for an Independent and Neutral Switzerland'' or ''JUNS''.

Views

According to its website, the AUNS supports Swiss independence,

neutrality Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

, and

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...

. The AUNS stands in opposition to

EU membership The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of Lists of member states of the European Union, 27 member states that are party to the EU's Treaties of the European Union, founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and ...

and NATO membership, involvement of the

Swiss military The Swiss Armed Forces (; ; ; ; ) are the military and security force of Switzerland, consisting of land and air service branches. Under the country's militia system, regular soldiers constitute a small part of the military and the rest are ...

abroad, as well as any loss of Swiss sovereignty. On its website, the AUNS explicitly distances itself from

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and

neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

, arguing that their ideology is the direct opposite of National Socialism which aimed at an "empire as dictatorship" while their own ideal is "independence, neutrality and direct democracy in Switzerland."

Presidents

(1986–2003) * Pirmin Schwander (2004–2014) *

(2014–present)

References

External links