BMF_TT__July2010_en.pdf - Bruno Manser Fonds

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«People like Bruno Manser have a lasting influence on political decisions» Address by Maya Graf, National Councillor, Green Party, Canton of Basel Land With his dedication and commitment, Bruno Manser sensitised many people not only for the efforts of the Penan in their fight to prevent the destruction of their environment and basis of their existence. Bruno Manser should also be thanked for the attention and support being given to protecting the tropical forests by Swiss politics. It was thanks to Bruno Manser that Swiss politics were initially confronted with the destruction of the tropical forest in the 1980s. I found one of the first attempts to be that of National Councillor Pini who addressed the following question to the Federal Council in 1989: «Does the Federal Council know about Bruno Manser, the Swiss ethnologist who is fighting against the destruction of the tropical forests in Sarawak and for the protection of the indigenous people of Punan? Bruno Manser, pursued and oppressed by the legal government (with a US$ 25,000 price on his head), has appealed to the international community for help in protecting the earth’s last large oxygen reserves. How does the Federal Council intend to respond to the recently published plea of our fellow citizen?”» The answer from René Felber, then Federal Councilor, was similar to responses to other motions. Although they were always friendly and kindly disposed toward Bruno Manser as a person and to his efforts, the Federal Council was not prepared for Switzerland as a «small» country to undertake something concrete. When Bruno Manser started a hunger strike on the Bärenplatz in Bern, protesting against the import of tropical woods, the subject came up again in Parliament. Many of you surely recall how Ruth Dreifuss, the newly elected Federal Councillor, immediately showed her solidarity. She sat down next to him, and took up her knitting as he was doing his. One can surely say that these images are quite unforgetable and are a sign for all of us to continue. With this rather spectacular and emotional manifestation, Bruno Manser roused Parliament. During one of the National Council’s interrogation periods, Hanspeter Thür, former National Councillor from the Green Party and present Federal Data Protection Commissioner, asked the following of the Federal Council: «Bruno Manser and his likeminded friends have been in a hunger strike since March 1 st , 1993 and will continue until the import of tropical woods from
Sarawak, Malaysia has been stopped. Is the Federal Council planning to undertake something in this respect, and would it be willing to receive a delegation from the Bruno Manser Fund?» The content of Federal Councillor Jean-Pascal Delamuraz’s response was disappointing. He argued that there was something more effective to do than to require mandatory declarations. Switzerland would try to conduct talks with the producing countries and would work toward a recognition of the problem. But former National Councillor Hugo Wick and Councillor of State Rosemarie Simmen did not give up. Their motions calling for a mandatory declaration on tropical woods were actually submitted to the Federal Council as test proposals but in the end they dwindled and fell short. In 1994 and again in 1997, Christoph Eymann, present member of the Government of the Canton of Basel Stadt and former National Councillor, followed with two motions requesting a mandatory declaration for tropical woods. However, exactly ten years had to pass until our Swiss Parliament, on 26.09.2007, was finally ready to submit a motion for the declaration of wood and wood products and to include the issue that I had repeatdly tried to introduce in Bern: namely to take measures against the trade with illegally logged timber. But of much greater importance, it takes people like Bruno Manser who dedicate themselves to a cause - stubbornly, imaginatively, and with their entire being. In this way they influence other people and their attitudes, they school our awareness and they motivate and prevail upon environmental organisations to continue their efforts for these concerns that are so important for the future of our planet. And not least of all, but perhaps somewhat slower: people like Bruno Manser have a sustaining influence on our politics! Which is meant in a double sense of the word. Thanks go to Bruno Manser. What do I want to say with this? That in politics, and especially in Bern, the wheels turn slowly, too slowly? Perhaps that’s true as well.
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Page 4 and 5: «Politics need people like Bruno M
Page 6 and 7: «I would like to thank Bruno for h
Page 9 and 10: Greetings from your world Auszug au
Page 11 and 12: Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss wi
Page 13 and 14: Sarawak. This is because our legal
Page 15 and 16: «Bruno still inspires people to fi
Page 18 and 19: «All of us Penan in Sarawak are re
Page 20: 2. Iwat ha‘ koh nenéng mé‘lem
Page 23 and 24: «Bruno Manser exemplified respect,
Page 25: affords us much needed services - f
Page 29 and 30: När hani gmeint dasi tröim, usem
Page 31 and 32: Guy Morin President of the Governme

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