Fathi Derder (4 December 1970 – 25 January 2025) was a Swiss journalist and politician of the Liberal-Radical Party (PLR).

Life and career

Early life and family

Born in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

on 4 December 1970, Derder had an Algerian father and a Valasian mother. He was a dual national until 2000, when he gave up his Algerian passport over administrative difficulties. He had two brothers. He had four children in total; two with his first wife , and two with his second wife .

Education and journalistic career

Derder studied letters at the

University of Lausanne The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland, was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second-oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities ...

and joined its student radio station, Fréquence Banane. He began his career with the newspaper ''

La Côte La Côte (, ) is part of the sloping Lake Geneva () north shore, stretching from Nyon to Lausanne in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Known for its vineyards, the area has views towards the high Alps across the lake. Communes * Mies * Coppet ...

'' before working at and

Radio Suisse Romande The Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) was an enterprise unit within public-broadcasting corporation SRG SSR. It was responsible for the production and transmission of French-language radio programmes in Switzerland. RSR's headquarters were situated in ...

. In 2008, he was named editor-in-chief of . From May 2017 to July 2018, he was editor-in-chief of . In August 2022, he became co-host of the radio show ''Drôle d'époque''. Two months later, he was named president of the Chambre cantonale consultative des immigrés. In November 2022, he succeeded Niniane Paeffgan as director of Swiss Digital Initiative.

Political career

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, Derder was elected to the National Council, where he joined the Science, Education and Culture Committee. In

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, he took advantage of the fact that Olivier Français was appointed to the Council of States and was re-elected. In 2018, he announced that he would not seek re-election. In 2019, his term expired and he concurrently resigned from the PLR. At the end of his term, he took a skeptical position of the website .

Death

Derder took his life on 25 January 2025, at the age of 54, leaving a

suicide note A suicide note or death note is a message written by a person who intends to die by suicide. A study examining Japanese suicide notes estimated that 25–30% of suicides are accompanied by a note. However, incidence rates may depend on ethnic ...

in which he explains having struggled with depression.

Publications

* ''Le prochain Google sera suisse (à 10 conditions)'' (2015) * ''Les petits secrets du Palais'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derder, Fathi 1970 births 2025 deaths 2025 suicides Swiss journalists Free Democratic Party of Switzerland politicians Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2011–2015 Members of the National Council (Switzerland) 2015–2019 University of Lausanne alumni Suicides in Switzerland Swiss people of Algerian descent