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BBC reports on Swiss racism
Sep 14, 2007 @ 00:29
Swiss citizenship system 'racist'
By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva
An official report into the process of naturalisation in Switzerland says the current system is discriminatory and in many respects racist.
The report, from Switzerland's Federal Commission on Racial Discrimination, recommends far-reaching changes.
It criticises the practice of allowing members of a community to vote on an individual's citizenship application.
Muslims and people from the Balkans and Africa are the most likely to be rejected, the report points out.
Switzerland has Europe's toughest naturalisation laws. Foreigners must live for 12 years in a Swiss community before they can apply, and being born in Switzerland brings no right to citizenship.
Under the current system, foreigners apply through their local town or village.
They appear before a citizenship committee and answer questions about their desire to be Swiss. After that, they must often be approved by the entire voting community, in a secret ballot, or a show of hands. This practice, the report says, is particularly likely to be distorted by racial discrimination.
It cites the case of a disabled man originally from Kosovo. Although fulfilling all the legal criteria, his application for citizenship was rejected by his community on the grounds that his disability made him a burden on taxpayers, and that he was Muslim.
The report recommends that decisions on citizenship should be decided by an elected executive and not by the community as a whole. But such a move is likely to encounter stiff opposition.
Foreigners are a key issue in the run-up to Switzerland's general election next month.
The right-wing Swiss People's Party, currently leading in the opinion polls, claims Swiss communities have a democratic right to decide who can or cannot be Swiss.
The text you are quoting:
Swiss citizenship system 'racist'
By Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva
An official report into the process of naturalisation in Switzerland says the current system is discriminatory and in many respects racist.
The report, from Switzerland's Federal Commission on Racial Discrimination, recommends far-reaching changes.
It criticises the practice of allowing members of a community to vote on an individual's citizenship application.
Muslims and people from the Balkans and Africa are the most likely to be rejected, the report points out.
Switzerland has Europe's toughest naturalisation laws. Foreigners must live for 12 years in a Swiss community before they can apply, and being born in Switzerland brings no right to citizenship.
Under the current system, foreigners apply through their local town or village.
They appear before a citizenship committee and answer questions about their desire to be Swiss. After that, they must often be approved by the entire voting community, in a secret ballot, or a show of hands. This practice, the report says, is particularly likely to be distorted by racial discrimination.
It cites the case of a disabled man originally from Kosovo. Although fulfilling all the legal criteria, his application for citizenship was rejected by his community on the grounds that his disability made him a burden on taxpayers, and that he was Muslim.
The report recommends that decisions on citizenship should be decided by an elected executive and not by the community as a whole. But such a move is likely to encounter stiff opposition.
Foreigners are a key issue in the run-up to Switzerland's general election next month.
The right-wing Swiss People's Party, currently leading in the opinion polls, claims Swiss communities have a democratic right to decide who can or cannot be Swiss.
whoopsterSep 14, 2007 @ 00:29
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 1
Sep 18, 2007 @ 02:52
AFP= Agence France presse
GENEVA (AFP) - Switzerland's main right-wing party is shaking up the country's traditionally placid electoral scene with a febrile campaign denouncing alleged conspiracies, while some opponents have branded its tactics Fascist.
The Swiss People's Party (SVP), dominated by its charismatic strongman and current Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, is riding high in the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 parliamentary elections.
Analysts fear however its provocative tactics threaten the consensus-based governing formula that has been the bedrock of Swiss stability for decades.
"Switzerland is in the midst of profound change. Politics based on a non-competitive democracy, with an implicit non-aggression pact between the parties, has been thrown into question, " political scientist Oscar Mazzoleni told AFP.
The SVP has already been accused of inflammatory imagery in its election posters -- one showing a black sheep being kicked out of the country by three grinning white sheep under the slogan "For More Security" -- and its tactics have been denounced as "disgusting" by the country's president, Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, from the right-wing Radical Party, went even further by comparing Blocher to Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and saying the SVP's campaign carried echoes of the 1930s.
For the rightwingers though, this is just proof of a vast conspiracy theory aimed at forcing Blocher from power.
The SVP has now made this alleged conspiracy the focal point of its election campaign, with posters and adverts appearing across the country urging voters to "Save Blocher - Vote SVP".
Blocher, a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune in the chemicals industry, has indeed been at the centre of a political storm in recent weeks over allegations he abused his position as justice minister by forcing the resignation last year of Switzerland's federal prosecutor.
Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher, who followed his predecessors' tough line on organised crime and money laundering through Swiss banks, resigned in July 2006 after frequent clashes with Blocher.
Roschacher was notably investigating a family friend of Blocher's, former Swiss banker Oskar Holenweger, as part of a money-laundering probe.
The SVP chief's role in the affair is now the subject of a parliamentary probe -- the leader of which is now under police protection after receiving death threats.
Such scandal, such personalisation of politics, and the SVP's aggressive response, is a rarity in the small Alpine republic and other parties have been left scrambling in its wake.
The SVP campaigns aggressively in favour of what it calls "traditional Swiss values" and is highly critical of multi-culturalism, Islam and working women, to name but a few of its bugbears.
It already caused a minor earthquake in Swiss politics after the last federal elections in 2003. The SVP topped the poll with 26.7 percent of the vote, and Blocher successfully fought for an extra seat for his party on the governing Federal Council.
Under the so-called "magic formula" that has governed the Council's composition since 1959, the SVP traditionally had just one seat, with the Socialists, Radicals and Christian Democrats each having two. Blocher succeeded in gaining an extra seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats.
Since then the SVP has lost none of its rhetorical aggression and Blocher none of his political grandstanding, scotching hopes that political responsibility would temper his style.
"The hopes that Blocher would become part of the political mainstream have been unfulfilled, " said Mazzoleni, a political scientist at the Public Statistics Office in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.
Other political leaders have warned that the current campaign is poisoning Switzerland's political landscape, whilst recognising that parties must adapt to new realities.
Leonard Bender, deputy head of the Radical Party, told AFP he regrets the "brutalisation of politics, " but added: "The key for us is to work out how to adapt to this new media age but to remain moderate."
Christian Democrat chairman Christophe Darbellay meanwhile paints a gloomier picture, warning that "the political climate is deteriorating. We have the oldest and finest democracy in the world but it is in danger."
Swiss election posters spark racism complaints
GENEVA, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Election posters for the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) have sparked complaints of racism and a legal probe in the run-up to October's federal poll, local media reported on Saturday.
Judicial authorities in Baden, in the northern canton of Aargau, are investigating whether a poster for SVP candidate Andreas Glarner violates anti-racism standards after a complaint by a member of the public.
The poster features a veiled Muslim woman, and -- depending on the town where it is displayed -- the slogan "Aarau or Ankara?" or "Baden or Baghdad -- So that we still feel safe in the future."
Glarner confirmed that the posters are intended to raise the issue of Islam in the campaign.
The SVP puts great emphasis on what it claims are "traditional Swiss values" and the extent to which these are under threat from perceived multiculturalism.
In recent months the party has thrown its weight behind a popular initiative seeking to ban the construction of minarets on mosques built in Switzerland.
SVP parliamentarian Oskar Freysinger has branded minarets "lighthouses of jihad" while his colleague Ulrich Schlueer claimed that they were "Islamist buildings with an imperialist connotation."
The SVP, which is a member of Switzerland's governing coalition and is led by billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, has also stirred up controversy with another poster in support of the party's proposals to expel the families of any immigrants who commit a crime.
The poster, displayed widely across the country, shows one black sheep being kicked across the frontier by three grinning white sheep, and boasts the slogan "For More Security."
Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is a member of the Socialist Party, earlier this week denounced the SVP's campaign as "disgusting" and "unacceptable."
"We must have the courage to stand up against this type of campaign, " she told Switzerland's French-language public radio on Wednesday.
The United Nations independent expert on racism has also written to the country's Federal Council seeking clarification on the matter.
"This is to check if the facts brought to my attention by civil society organisations in recent weeks are true. If so, I will ask the Federal Council to take a stand and put an end to it, " special rapporteur Doudou Diene told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper.
Swiss law forbids racist comments in public, but the SVP said last November it wants to overturn the legislation as it endangers freedom of speech.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of the UN Convention Against Racism.
The populist party, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend, is currently leading the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 poll with 26.2 percent, followed by the Socialists on 22.8 percent.
GENEVA (AFP) - Switzerland's main right-wing party is shaking up the country's traditionally placid electoral scene with a febrile campaign denouncing alleged conspiracies, while some opponents have branded its tactics Fascist.
The Swiss People's Party (SVP), dominated by its charismatic strongman and current Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, is riding high in the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 parliamentary elections.
Analysts fear however its provocative tactics threaten the consensus-based governing formula that has been the bedrock of Swiss stability for decades.
"Switzerland is in the midst of profound change. Politics based on a non-competitive democracy, with an implicit non-aggression pact between the parties, has been thrown into question, " political scientist Oscar Mazzoleni told AFP.
The SVP has already been accused of inflammatory imagery in its election posters -- one showing a black sheep being kicked out of the country by three grinning white sheep under the slogan "For More Security" -- and its tactics have been denounced as "disgusting" by the country's president, Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, from the right-wing Radical Party, went even further by comparing Blocher to Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and saying the SVP's campaign carried echoes of the 1930s.
For the rightwingers though, this is just proof of a vast conspiracy theory aimed at forcing Blocher from power.
The SVP has now made this alleged conspiracy the focal point of its election campaign, with posters and adverts appearing across the country urging voters to "Save Blocher - Vote SVP".
Blocher, a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune in the chemicals industry, has indeed been at the centre of a political storm in recent weeks over allegations he abused his position as justice minister by forcing the resignation last year of Switzerland's federal prosecutor.
Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher, who followed his predecessors' tough line on organised crime and money laundering through Swiss banks, resigned in July 2006 after frequent clashes with Blocher.
Roschacher was notably investigating a family friend of Blocher's, former Swiss banker Oskar Holenweger, as part of a money-laundering probe.
The SVP chief's role in the affair is now the subject of a parliamentary probe -- the leader of which is now under police protection after receiving death threats.
Such scandal, such personalisation of politics, and the SVP's aggressive response, is a rarity in the small Alpine republic and other parties have been left scrambling in its wake.
The SVP campaigns aggressively in favour of what it calls "traditional Swiss values" and is highly critical of multi-culturalism, Islam and working women, to name but a few of its bugbears.
It already caused a minor earthquake in Swiss politics after the last federal elections in 2003. The SVP topped the poll with 26.7 percent of the vote, and Blocher successfully fought for an extra seat for his party on the governing Federal Council.
Under the so-called "magic formula" that has governed the Council's composition since 1959, the SVP traditionally had just one seat, with the Socialists, Radicals and Christian Democrats each having two. Blocher succeeded in gaining an extra seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats.
Since then the SVP has lost none of its rhetorical aggression and Blocher none of his political grandstanding, scotching hopes that political responsibility would temper his style.
"The hopes that Blocher would become part of the political mainstream have been unfulfilled, " said Mazzoleni, a political scientist at the Public Statistics Office in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.
Other political leaders have warned that the current campaign is poisoning Switzerland's political landscape, whilst recognising that parties must adapt to new realities.
Leonard Bender, deputy head of the Radical Party, told AFP he regrets the "brutalisation of politics, " but added: "The key for us is to work out how to adapt to this new media age but to remain moderate."
Christian Democrat chairman Christophe Darbellay meanwhile paints a gloomier picture, warning that "the political climate is deteriorating. We have the oldest and finest democracy in the world but it is in danger."
Swiss election posters spark racism complaints
GENEVA, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Election posters for the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) have sparked complaints of racism and a legal probe in the run-up to October's federal poll, local media reported on Saturday.
Judicial authorities in Baden, in the northern canton of Aargau, are investigating whether a poster for SVP candidate Andreas Glarner violates anti-racism standards after a complaint by a member of the public.
The poster features a veiled Muslim woman, and -- depending on the town where it is displayed -- the slogan "Aarau or Ankara?" or "Baden or Baghdad -- So that we still feel safe in the future."
Glarner confirmed that the posters are intended to raise the issue of Islam in the campaign.
The SVP puts great emphasis on what it claims are "traditional Swiss values" and the extent to which these are under threat from perceived multiculturalism.
In recent months the party has thrown its weight behind a popular initiative seeking to ban the construction of minarets on mosques built in Switzerland.
SVP parliamentarian Oskar Freysinger has branded minarets "lighthouses of jihad" while his colleague Ulrich Schlueer claimed that they were "Islamist buildings with an imperialist connotation."
The SVP, which is a member of Switzerland's governing coalition and is led by billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, has also stirred up controversy with another poster in support of the party's proposals to expel the families of any immigrants who commit a crime.
The poster, displayed widely across the country, shows one black sheep being kicked across the frontier by three grinning white sheep, and boasts the slogan "For More Security."
Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is a member of the Socialist Party, earlier this week denounced the SVP's campaign as "disgusting" and "unacceptable."
"We must have the courage to stand up against this type of campaign, " she told Switzerland's French-language public radio on Wednesday.
The United Nations independent expert on racism has also written to the country's Federal Council seeking clarification on the matter.
"This is to check if the facts brought to my attention by civil society organisations in recent weeks are true. If so, I will ask the Federal Council to take a stand and put an end to it, " special rapporteur Doudou Diene told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper.
Swiss law forbids racist comments in public, but the SVP said last November it wants to overturn the legislation as it endangers freedom of speech.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of the UN Convention Against Racism.
The populist party, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend, is currently leading the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 poll with 26.2 percent, followed by the Socialists on 22.8 percent.
The text you are quoting:
AFP= Agence France presse
GENEVA (AFP) - Switzerland's main right-wing party is shaking up the country's traditionally placid electoral scene with a febrile campaign denouncing alleged conspiracies, while some opponents have branded its tactics Fascist.
The Swiss People's Party (SVP), dominated by its charismatic strongman and current Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, is riding high in the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 parliamentary elections.
Analysts fear however its provocative tactics threaten the consensus-based governing formula that has been the bedrock of Swiss stability for decades.
"Switzerland is in the midst of profound change. Politics based on a non-competitive democracy, with an implicit non-aggression pact between the parties, has been thrown into question, " political scientist Oscar Mazzoleni told AFP.
The SVP has already been accused of inflammatory imagery in its election posters -- one showing a black sheep being kicked out of the country by three grinning white sheep under the slogan "For More Security" -- and its tactics have been denounced as "disgusting" by the country's president, Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, from the right-wing Radical Party, went even further by comparing Blocher to Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and saying the SVP's campaign carried echoes of the 1930s.
For the rightwingers though, this is just proof of a vast conspiracy theory aimed at forcing Blocher from power.
The SVP has now made this alleged conspiracy the focal point of its election campaign, with posters and adverts appearing across the country urging voters to "Save Blocher - Vote SVP".
Blocher, a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune in the chemicals industry, has indeed been at the centre of a political storm in recent weeks over allegations he abused his position as justice minister by forcing the resignation last year of Switzerland's federal prosecutor.
Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher, who followed his predecessors' tough line on organised crime and money laundering through Swiss banks, resigned in July 2006 after frequent clashes with Blocher.
Roschacher was notably investigating a family friend of Blocher's, former Swiss banker Oskar Holenweger, as part of a money-laundering probe.
The SVP chief's role in the affair is now the subject of a parliamentary probe -- the leader of which is now under police protection after receiving death threats.
Such scandal, such personalisation of politics, and the SVP's aggressive response, is a rarity in the small Alpine republic and other parties have been left scrambling in its wake.
The SVP campaigns aggressively in favour of what it calls "traditional Swiss values" and is highly critical of multi-culturalism, Islam and working women, to name but a few of its bugbears.
It already caused a minor earthquake in Swiss politics after the last federal elections in 2003. The SVP topped the poll with 26.7 percent of the vote, and Blocher successfully fought for an extra seat for his party on the governing Federal Council.
Under the so-called "magic formula" that has governed the Council's composition since 1959, the SVP traditionally had just one seat, with the Socialists, Radicals and Christian Democrats each having two. Blocher succeeded in gaining an extra seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats.
Since then the SVP has lost none of its rhetorical aggression and Blocher none of his political grandstanding, scotching hopes that political responsibility would temper his style.
"The hopes that Blocher would become part of the political mainstream have been unfulfilled, " said Mazzoleni, a political scientist at the Public Statistics Office in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.
Other political leaders have warned that the current campaign is poisoning Switzerland's political landscape, whilst recognising that parties must adapt to new realities.
Leonard Bender, deputy head of the Radical Party, told AFP he regrets the "brutalisation of politics, " but added: "The key for us is to work out how to adapt to this new media age but to remain moderate."
Christian Democrat chairman Christophe Darbellay meanwhile paints a gloomier picture, warning that "the political climate is deteriorating. We have the oldest and finest democracy in the world but it is in danger."
Swiss election posters spark racism complaints
GENEVA, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Election posters for the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) have sparked complaints of racism and a legal probe in the run-up to October's federal poll, local media reported on Saturday.
Judicial authorities in Baden, in the northern canton of Aargau, are investigating whether a poster for SVP candidate Andreas Glarner violates anti-racism standards after a complaint by a member of the public.
The poster features a veiled Muslim woman, and -- depending on the town where it is displayed -- the slogan "Aarau or Ankara?" or "Baden or Baghdad -- So that we still feel safe in the future."
Glarner confirmed that the posters are intended to raise the issue of Islam in the campaign.
The SVP puts great emphasis on what it claims are "traditional Swiss values" and the extent to which these are under threat from perceived multiculturalism.
In recent months the party has thrown its weight behind a popular initiative seeking to ban the construction of minarets on mosques built in Switzerland.
SVP parliamentarian Oskar Freysinger has branded minarets "lighthouses of jihad" while his colleague Ulrich Schlueer claimed that they were "Islamist buildings with an imperialist connotation."
The SVP, which is a member of Switzerland's governing coalition and is led by billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, has also stirred up controversy with another poster in support of the party's proposals to expel the families of any immigrants who commit a crime.
The poster, displayed widely across the country, shows one black sheep being kicked across the frontier by three grinning white sheep, and boasts the slogan "For More Security."
Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is a member of the Socialist Party, earlier this week denounced the SVP's campaign as "disgusting" and "unacceptable."
"We must have the courage to stand up against this type of campaign, " she told Switzerland's French-language public radio on Wednesday.
The United Nations independent expert on racism has also written to the country's Federal Council seeking clarification on the matter.
"This is to check if the facts brought to my attention by civil society organisations in recent weeks are true. If so, I will ask the Federal Council to take a stand and put an end to it, " special rapporteur Doudou Diene told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper.
Swiss law forbids racist comments in public, but the SVP said last November it wants to overturn the legislation as it endangers freedom of speech.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of the UN Convention Against Racism.
The populist party, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend, is currently leading the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 poll with 26.2 percent, followed by the Socialists on 22.8 percent.
Virgule, Sep 18, 2007 @ 02:52
GENEVA (AFP) - Switzerland's main right-wing party is shaking up the country's traditionally placid electoral scene with a febrile campaign denouncing alleged conspiracies, while some opponents have branded its tactics Fascist.
The Swiss People's Party (SVP), dominated by its charismatic strongman and current Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, is riding high in the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 parliamentary elections.
Analysts fear however its provocative tactics threaten the consensus-based governing formula that has been the bedrock of Swiss stability for decades.
"Switzerland is in the midst of profound change. Politics based on a non-competitive democracy, with an implicit non-aggression pact between the parties, has been thrown into question, " political scientist Oscar Mazzoleni told AFP.
The SVP has already been accused of inflammatory imagery in its election posters -- one showing a black sheep being kicked out of the country by three grinning white sheep under the slogan "For More Security" -- and its tactics have been denounced as "disgusting" by the country's president, Micheline Calmy-Rey.
Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, from the right-wing Radical Party, went even further by comparing Blocher to Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini and saying the SVP's campaign carried echoes of the 1930s.
For the rightwingers though, this is just proof of a vast conspiracy theory aimed at forcing Blocher from power.
The SVP has now made this alleged conspiracy the focal point of its election campaign, with posters and adverts appearing across the country urging voters to "Save Blocher - Vote SVP".
Blocher, a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune in the chemicals industry, has indeed been at the centre of a political storm in recent weeks over allegations he abused his position as justice minister by forcing the resignation last year of Switzerland's federal prosecutor.
Federal Prosecutor Valentin Roschacher, who followed his predecessors' tough line on organised crime and money laundering through Swiss banks, resigned in July 2006 after frequent clashes with Blocher.
Roschacher was notably investigating a family friend of Blocher's, former Swiss banker Oskar Holenweger, as part of a money-laundering probe.
The SVP chief's role in the affair is now the subject of a parliamentary probe -- the leader of which is now under police protection after receiving death threats.
Such scandal, such personalisation of politics, and the SVP's aggressive response, is a rarity in the small Alpine republic and other parties have been left scrambling in its wake.
The SVP campaigns aggressively in favour of what it calls "traditional Swiss values" and is highly critical of multi-culturalism, Islam and working women, to name but a few of its bugbears.
It already caused a minor earthquake in Swiss politics after the last federal elections in 2003. The SVP topped the poll with 26.7 percent of the vote, and Blocher successfully fought for an extra seat for his party on the governing Federal Council.
Under the so-called "magic formula" that has governed the Council's composition since 1959, the SVP traditionally had just one seat, with the Socialists, Radicals and Christian Democrats each having two. Blocher succeeded in gaining an extra seat at the expense of the Christian Democrats.
Since then the SVP has lost none of its rhetorical aggression and Blocher none of his political grandstanding, scotching hopes that political responsibility would temper his style.
"The hopes that Blocher would become part of the political mainstream have been unfulfilled, " said Mazzoleni, a political scientist at the Public Statistics Office in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.
Other political leaders have warned that the current campaign is poisoning Switzerland's political landscape, whilst recognising that parties must adapt to new realities.
Leonard Bender, deputy head of the Radical Party, told AFP he regrets the "brutalisation of politics, " but added: "The key for us is to work out how to adapt to this new media age but to remain moderate."
Christian Democrat chairman Christophe Darbellay meanwhile paints a gloomier picture, warning that "the political climate is deteriorating. We have the oldest and finest democracy in the world but it is in danger."
Swiss election posters spark racism complaints
GENEVA, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Election posters for the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) have sparked complaints of racism and a legal probe in the run-up to October's federal poll, local media reported on Saturday.
Judicial authorities in Baden, in the northern canton of Aargau, are investigating whether a poster for SVP candidate Andreas Glarner violates anti-racism standards after a complaint by a member of the public.
The poster features a veiled Muslim woman, and -- depending on the town where it is displayed -- the slogan "Aarau or Ankara?" or "Baden or Baghdad -- So that we still feel safe in the future."
Glarner confirmed that the posters are intended to raise the issue of Islam in the campaign.
The SVP puts great emphasis on what it claims are "traditional Swiss values" and the extent to which these are under threat from perceived multiculturalism.
In recent months the party has thrown its weight behind a popular initiative seeking to ban the construction of minarets on mosques built in Switzerland.
SVP parliamentarian Oskar Freysinger has branded minarets "lighthouses of jihad" while his colleague Ulrich Schlueer claimed that they were "Islamist buildings with an imperialist connotation."
The SVP, which is a member of Switzerland's governing coalition and is led by billionaire industrialist Christoph Blocher, has also stirred up controversy with another poster in support of the party's proposals to expel the families of any immigrants who commit a crime.
The poster, displayed widely across the country, shows one black sheep being kicked across the frontier by three grinning white sheep, and boasts the slogan "For More Security."
Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey, who is a member of the Socialist Party, earlier this week denounced the SVP's campaign as "disgusting" and "unacceptable."
"We must have the courage to stand up against this type of campaign, " she told Switzerland's French-language public radio on Wednesday.
The United Nations independent expert on racism has also written to the country's Federal Council seeking clarification on the matter.
"This is to check if the facts brought to my attention by civil society organisations in recent weeks are true. If so, I will ask the Federal Council to take a stand and put an end to it, " special rapporteur Doudou Diene told the Tribune de Geneve newspaper.
Swiss law forbids racist comments in public, but the SVP said last November it wants to overturn the legislation as it endangers freedom of speech.
The SVP also wants to eliminate the Federal Racism Commission set up to oversee application of the law, and to pull Switzerland out of the UN Convention Against Racism.
The populist party, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this weekend, is currently leading the opinion polls ahead of the October 21 poll with 26.2 percent, followed by the Socialists on 22.8 percent.
Virgule, Sep 18, 2007 @ 02:52
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 2
Sep 18, 2007 @ 09:30
.. to focus on foreigners when the real problem is attention whores...
The text you are quoting:
.. to focus on foreigners when the real problem is attention whores...
Casuistik, Sep 18, 2007 @ 09:30
Casuistik, Sep 18, 2007 @ 09:30
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 3
Sep 19, 2007 @ 01:26
sorry? I don't understand your comment? (nt)
The text you are quoting:
sorry? I don't understand your comment? (nt)
SimSim, Sep 19, 2007 @ 01:26
SimSim, Sep 19, 2007 @ 01:26
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 4
Sep 19, 2007 @ 03:28
Spoken as a true swiss national!!! nt
The text you are quoting:
Spoken as a true swiss national!!! nt
DJ_Symcard, Sep 19, 2007 @ 03:28
DJ_Symcard, Sep 19, 2007 @ 03:28
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 5
Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:37
See the article here:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/race-a10.shtml
Also here:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/22/britain.racism/index.html
The text you are quoting:
See the article here:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/apr2001/race-a10.shtml
Also here:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/22/britain.racism/index.html
swisskiss, Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:37
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 6
Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:41
See article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4671687.stm
The text you are quoting:
See article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4671687.stm
swisskiss, Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:41
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 7
Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:44
See article here:
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2363&date=20051025
The text you are quoting:
See article here:
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2363&date=20051025
swisskiss, Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:44
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 8
Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:50
Need more uncomfortable examples? As the French say, one often feels more comfortable to see the straw in someone's eye than the beam in his own eye...
Now did someone say attention-whores?
The text you are quoting:
Need more uncomfortable examples? As the French say, one often feels more comfortable to see the straw in someone's eye than the beam in his own eye...
Now did someone say attention-whores?
swisskiss, Sep 19, 2007 @ 14:50
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 9
Sep 19, 2007 @ 16:58
as a matter of fact yes... thanks for correcting :)
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as a matter of fact yes... thanks for correcting :)
swisskiss, Sep 19, 2007 @ 16:58
swisskiss, Sep 19, 2007 @ 16:58
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 10
Sep 19, 2007 @ 18:55
if the total amount of foreigners living and working in switzerland packed up and took with them their contributions to the swiss pension scheme (2eme pillier), the whole fund would go bust!!! so, shall we all get up and leave? and thus
throw the entire pension scheme in chaos. as you may know, the swiss just ammended the law, stating that we can leave, but our money stays!!! and will be paid out upon retirement, wherever we are......yeah right !!!
throw the entire pension scheme in chaos. as you may know, the swiss just ammended the law, stating that we can leave, but our money stays!!! and will be paid out upon retirement, wherever we are......yeah right !!!
The text you are quoting:
if the total amount of foreigners living and working in switzerland packed up and took with them their contributions to the swiss pension scheme (2eme pillier), the whole fund would go bust!!! so, shall we all get up and leave? and thus
throw the entire pension scheme in chaos. as you may know, the swiss just ammended the law, stating that we can leave, but our money stays!!! and will be paid out upon retirement, wherever we are......yeah right !!!
epicure, Sep 19, 2007 @ 18:55
throw the entire pension scheme in chaos. as you may know, the swiss just ammended the law, stating that we can leave, but our money stays!!! and will be paid out upon retirement, wherever we are......yeah right !!!
epicure, Sep 19, 2007 @ 18:55
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 11
Sep 20, 2007 @ 02:59
Then leave :) ... nobody's holding you
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Then leave :) ... nobody's holding you
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 02:59
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 02:59
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 12
Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:04
but then again, i guess you're clueless about the implications.
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but then again, i guess you're clueless about the implications.
epicure, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:04
epicure, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:04
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 13
Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:07
You from US can take your "2eme pilier" both principal AND interest with you (but your state IRS is going to crucify you. Go complain to them and see their reaction... lol), so can everyone, even EU citizen... it's EU compliance that prevent them from getting their principal...
Perhaps you should get some solid information before writing
Anyhow as you proposed you are free to leave and take your "2eme pilier" with you anytime, don't think anybody is going to hold you...
The text you are quoting:
You from US can take your "2eme pilier" both principal AND interest with you (but your state IRS is going to crucify you. Go complain to them and see their reaction... lol), so can everyone, even EU citizen... it's EU compliance that prevent them from getting their principal...
Perhaps you should get some solid information before writing
Anyhow as you proposed you are free to leave and take your "2eme pilier" with you anytime, don't think anybody is going to hold you...
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:07
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 14
Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:09
True, I'm just a stupid idiot and you are so smart right?
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True, I'm just a stupid idiot and you are so smart right?
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:09
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:09
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 15
Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:15
it contradicts what i have read last year.
if i remember it is from this last June that it is no longer possible
to take out your 2eme pillier when terminally leaving switzerland.
if i remember it is from this last June that it is no longer possible
to take out your 2eme pillier when terminally leaving switzerland.
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it contradicts what i have read last year.
if i remember it is from this last June that it is no longer possible
to take out your 2eme pillier when terminally leaving switzerland.
epicure, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:15
if i remember it is from this last June that it is no longer possible
to take out your 2eme pillier when terminally leaving switzerland.
epicure, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:15
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 16
Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:22
So you don't believe me because I'm a girl and a blonde? buddy instead of being such an arrogant and patronizing chauvinist you better get informed...
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So you don't believe me because I'm a girl and a blonde? buddy instead of being such an arrogant and patronizing chauvinist you better get informed...
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:22
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 17
Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:29
c'mon, i'm not thinking that at all.
but i'm sorry if i gave you that impression.
you probably know where to find this info, so....just tel me and i will
look it up.
but i'm sorry if i gave you that impression.
you probably know where to find this info, so....just tel me and i will
look it up.
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c'mon, i'm not thinking that at all.
but i'm sorry if i gave you that impression.
you probably know where to find this info, so....just tel me and i will
look it up.
epicure, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:29
but i'm sorry if i gave you that impression.
you probably know where to find this info, so....just tel me and i will
look it up.
epicure, Sep 20, 2007 @ 03:29
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 18
Sep 20, 2007 @ 05:55
Didn't you just threaten us to leave the country without your money?
Boy, you sure will be missed...
Boy, you sure will be missed...
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Didn't you just threaten us to leave the country without your money?
Boy, you sure will be missed...
Casuistik, Sep 20, 2007 @ 05:55
Boy, you sure will be missed...
Casuistik, Sep 20, 2007 @ 05:55
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 19
Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:05
That's no swiss black-magic, just give them a call and ask about your specific situation, if you can't do it in either federal languages they surely have someone that speaks English. However this is also your company's HR responsibility to give you such advice... it they don't know they can call and check...
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That's no swiss black-magic, just give them a call and ask about your specific situation, if you can't do it in either federal languages they surely have someone that speaks English. However this is also your company's HR responsibility to give you such advice... it they don't know they can call and check...
swisskiss, Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:05
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 20
Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:07
From what I understand, it does only apply to EU citizens. As far as I know, an American friend of mine who left in August took the whole kit'n'caboodle with her. I hope they don't change the law to include Americans. I already have a whopping two years in the Dutch pension plan, I don't want to end up with a little bit from one place and a little bit from another. Not that I plan on leaving here soon, but still... if ever...
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From what I understand, it does only apply to EU citizens. As far as I know, an American friend of mine who left in August took the whole kit'n'caboodle with her. I hope they don't change the law to include Americans. I already have a whopping two years in the Dutch pension plan, I don't want to end up with a little bit from one place and a little bit from another. Not that I plan on leaving here soon, but still... if ever...
misskate, Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:07
misskate, Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:07
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 21
Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:10
...which makes the most noise?
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Re: BBC reports on Swiss racism
Post 22
Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:50
Epicure...apparently EU / EFTA citizens are treated differently from the rest of the world...as far as I can tell, non EU /EFTA citizens can request a cash payment upon definitively leaving Switzerland...check out http://www.avs.admin.ch/Home-F/Generalites/MEMENTI/mementi.html (documents in French, German and English).
Happy reading!
Happy reading!
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Epicure...apparently EU / EFTA citizens are treated differently from the rest of the world...as far as I can tell, non EU /EFTA citizens can request a cash payment upon definitively leaving Switzerland...check out http://www.avs.admin.ch/Home-F/Generalites/MEMENTI/mementi.html (documents in French, German and English).
Happy reading!
Tasmin67, Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:50
Happy reading!
Tasmin67, Sep 20, 2007 @ 12:50
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