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The political organization needs money quickly, otherwise it has to stop its work. The weak senior vice president is not entirely innocent of the problems.
The situation is serious, you need help, said the co-president of Operation Libero, Laura Zimmermann, at the online press conference. “Operation Libero is about to end financially.” Half a million francs would be needed by the end of February, otherwise the organization would cease to exist.
At first glance, it is surprising that an organization with such a large audience and media presence finds itself in this situation. Your voting campaigns always attracted a lot of attention.
But perhaps that’s part of the problem with Operation Libero: Because one campaign has virtually seamlessly replaced the other, funding fell short, Zimmermann said.
Professionalism costs
In fact, there were many campaigns carried out by Operation Libero: against the SVP’s foreign and European policy initiatives, against the No Billag initiative or, recently, for the corporate responsibility initiative.
Legend:
Operation Libero (second from right, Laura Zimmermann) has become more professional, that costs a lot of money.
Keystone
Since then, Operation Libero has become more professional and created a secretariat with six employees. But that costs money. Therefore, you are now trying to raise money with the appeal. And it really should become an organization that is supported by supporters not just during campaign times.
The opponent has become weaker
There is a great challenge for Operation Libero, says policy researcher Michael Hermann. “It was founded as a reaction to the dominance of the SVP after the success of the mass immigration initiative.” The fight against the law enforcement initiative was the first big success of Operation Libero almost five years ago.
The series of successes of the SVP in referendums was broken, the initiatives of the Popular Party had not been successful since then. Ironically, the weakening of the national conservatives hurt the progressive activists of Operation Libero, Hermann said. “You were strong when your opponents still were.”
Thematic focus is missing
Now the SVP has lost a lot, Trump is gone, Brexit was a long time ago, a lot has calmed down, “consequently the energy on the other side, that of Operation Libero, has also diminished,” Hermann notes. Basically, it is a great challenge to remain active as a long-term social movement.
For example, the GSoA, the group from a Switzerland without an army, was successful. It has a clear focus on content and has become a reservoir for critics of the military, Hermann says. Operation Libero, however, does not have such a clear thematic focus.
New campaign despite tight finances
However, those responsible for Operation Libero believe in a future for their organization, precisely because they are not tied to a political field and, sometimes, they work more with the left and, sometimes, more with the middle class, as Zimmermann explained. .
In fact, Operation Libero now also wants to launch a campaign against the so-called burqa ban initiative. Despite the economic difficulties.
