(Re)branding the Flon identity: A Swiss Youth Embassy_Flon ... - EPFL

Swiss Identity
“What brings people together today is the same as it has always been: sense of community.” According
to Robert Wuthnow in his book Loose Connections, the new shapes of social interaction are “less formal,
demand shorter periods of comittment, and are more focused on specific goals in response to the new demands
of modern cititzens.”
If this theory can be applied to what Swizerland is experiencing today in attempt to define national unity,
one can better understand the success (and failure) of certain aspects of Swiss society. It is not difficult to
understand this dilemma in a country that has 4 official languages and 26 cantons. Its success lies in networking
‘familiar national territory’, such as infrastructure (SBB, Post), commerce (Migros, COOP),etc. and
making them national symbols.
At the regional scale, Swiss german, Swiss french, and Swiss italian have their own ways of interpreting
swiss culture by means of nationally recognized events such as Love Parades, marathons, Paleo and Montreux
Jazz festivals.
One culture that does exist on a national scale, but not yet exploited as a “network”, is the youth culture.
Each region (and more specifically, city) has had it’s history with some youth movement. They have all
expressed the same message in the past, and perhaps could have shown more influence if they had combined
resources. What we are experiencing today is a youth culture that is not necessarily looking for the
same ‘revolution’ as in the ‘80’s, for example. However, there is a strong argument for linking the resources
for the youth of Switzerland and making them nationally available in every canton.
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