Naturalization meeting

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an invitation that we’d received to attend an information meeting for Basel residents who’ve recently become eligible to pursue Swiss citizenship.  I mentioned a comment made by a neighbor who wondered whether the invitation was distributed only to those possessing first world passports.  Well, last night the meeting took place and I can say unequivocally that the invitation list was blind to national or socioeconomic standing.   There were over 300 people crammed into the Grossratssaal (another of the many very beautiful rooms in the various Basel government buildings) in the Basel Rathaus.  There were people in the seats.  People in the tribune.  People in the aisles and along the back wall.  There were even people sitting in the seats reserved for the members of the Cantonal Council during the bi-monthly meetings.  It was definitely not the cozy little gathering of twenty or thirty people that I expected. 

The question of whether such a turnout was expected by the organizers was settled with the first few words from Mr. Michel Girand, Head of the Migration Department, when he opened the meeting by saying how astonished they were by the crowd.  He was undaunted, however, and moved ahead with reviewing the agenda before handing over to Mr. Bashi Dürr, a member of the Cantonal Council.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t see Mr. Dürr from my seat in the balcony but I could hear him and was thankful that he and his colleagues addressed us in High German and not the Basel dialect that continues to elude me.  He welcomed us, saying a few words about what it meant to become a Swiss citizen then passed the baton to Mr. Oliver Meury (Office of Naturalization and Residency Permits) and Dr. Stefan Wehrle (Basel City Council member) who carried the ball the remainder of the meeting.  Mr. Meury began by reviewing the process, noting that it all begins with a visit to the Immigration Office, which is only possible on Thursdays.  As he said that, he remarked that this was coincidently the next day then quickly added that it would be best if not everyone in the room that evening were to stop by.  The comment was certainly not planned and resulted in a ripple of laughter which loosened up the crowd.   He then shared a video of street interviews with people who were asked whether they were Swiss and what it meant to be Swiss.  Most of them spoke in pretty heavy dialect so I couldn’t understand much of what they had to say but they were anyway pretty funny.  One lady in particular, who from my perspective might as well have been speaking Russian, communicated sufficiently through her facial expressions and cadence that I found myself laughing just as hard as those in the room who actually understood what she was saying.    

In the end, none of the information communicated was news to me as I’ve made quite a project of understanding the process and pretty much everything is available via the internet but what I did get out of the evening was a feeling for the enthusiasm within the crowd.  These folks were clearly interested in doing this.  They were happy to be in the room and weren’t doing so just to participate in the inevitable Apero at the end of the evening.  The second half of the meeting was reserved for Q&A with Mr. Girand circulating around the room, handing the microphone over to one participant after another for their, often very personal, questions. One lady introduced herself as being from Aleppo and her question had to do with her birth certificate.  As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, one of the requirements for applicants is that they provide an original copy of their birth certificate issued not more than six months ago.   She remarked that the office where she would get hers no longer exists and she is afraid to return in person to find out what she must do.  Her question was simple.  What are her options?  The crowd was silent as she asked this.  Mr. Meury told her to stop by the Zivilstandamt to speak with someone there.  She asked if he would personally help her.  Her boldness in asking this, and the way in which she did it, wasn’t cheeky.  It was touching.  The crowd responded with supportive laughter, then Mr. Meury said he would and the crowd cheered.  It made me feel good and I resolved to stop whining about Pennsylvania’s delay in providing Paige’s certificate. 

I stopped by the Apero as I was leaving the building and there, on the tables, was proof that they did not expect over 300 people.  A few baskets of crackers and five or six of those savory cakes with bacon specks.  I left them to everyone else and went home for dinner.