Democracy through the lens of a Swiss filmmaker

Thomas Isler, director of a new documentary on direct democracy, started with the idea of showing the attraction of Switzerland’s political model for rightwing populist movements in Europe. Political events at home made him refocus. Little did Isler know when he started researching his documentary how current affairs would influence his project. The recent approval of controversial initiatives, including a ban on the construction of minarets, the automatic deportation of convicted criminal foreigners and curbs on immigration, made the documentary filmmaker want to examine more closely what was happening with citizens’ participation in Switzerland. The original German title of the film, Die Demokratie ist los (Democracy unleashed), conveys two sides, or “centrifugal forces” as Isler calls them, of direct democracy and how they have played out in Swiss politics and society over the past few years. Citizen power is a strong, lively – even boisterous – energy and at ...