Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Swiss Plan Racist Actions

Xenophobia rears its ugly head in Switzerland, too.

That’s according to the news accounts describing the latest initiative by the Swiss People’s Party to deport violent immigrants. Here’s what the AP says:

Security sheepThe campaign poster was blatant in its xenophobic symbolism: Three white sheep kicking out a black sheep over a caption that read “for more security.” The message was not from a fringe force in Switzerland’s political scene but from its largest party.

The nationalist Swiss People’s Party is proposing a deportation policy that anti-racism campaigners say evokes Nazi-era practices. Under the plan, entire families would be expelled if their children are convicted of a violent crime, drug offenses or benefits fraud.

The party is trying to collect the 100,000 signatures needed to force a referendum on the issue. If approved in a referendum, the law would be the only one of its kind in Europe.

“We believe that parents are responsible for bringing up their children. If they can’t do it properly, they will have to bear the consequences,” Ueli Maurer, president of the People’s Party, told The Associated Press.

You can see why the Multiculti elites don’t like this message: Parents are responsible for their children. Nuh-uh. No way! The state is responsible for everyone’s children. It takes a village, remember?

If you allow something like this, who knows where it might lead? The next thing you know, people will be going to church, carrying firearms, and voting to lower their taxes. The horror!

Oh, and also — these people are just like the Nazis:

Ronnie Bernheim of the Swiss Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism said the proposal was similar to the Nazi practice of “Sippenhaft” — or kin liability — whereby relatives of criminals were held responsible for his or her crimes and punished equally.

Switzerland is less Islamized than the rest of Europe, but its immigrants are still causing problems:
- - - - - - - - -
The party claims foreigners — who make up about 20 percent of the population — are four times more likely to commit crimes than Swiss nationals.

Bernheim said the vast majority of Switzerland’s immigrants are law-abiding and warned against generalizations.

“If you don’t treat a complicated issue with the necessary nuance and care, then you won’t do it justice,” he said.

It’s a complicated issue and we can’t make generalizations; therefore we must do nothing.

And then there’s all that abhorrent atavistic nationalism boiling to the surface:

“This way of thinking shows an obvious blood-and-soil mentality,” read one editorial in the Zurich daily Tages-Anzeiger, calling for a broader public reaction against the campaign.

So far, however, there has been little popular backlash against the posters.

“We haven’t had any complaints,” said Maurer.

[…]

But observers say the People’s Party’s hardline stance on immigration could help it in the Oct. 21 national elections. In 2004, the party successfully campaigned for tighter immigration laws using the image of black hands reaching into a pot filled with Swiss passports.

“It’s certainly no coincidence that the People’s Party launched this initiative before the elections,” said Oliver Geden, a political scientist at the Berlin Institute for International and Security Affairs.

He said provocative campaigns such as this had worked well for the party in the past.

The same thing has been happening recently in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders’ party, campaigning on an explicitly nationalistic and anti-immigration platform, was vilified, excoriated, and anathematized in the entire Dutch mainstream press. The bien-pensants ran shrieking in horror from the wild-eyed far right Nazi zealots, yet Wilders’ party scored a resounding victory in the elections.

Funny about that.

The party also has put forward a proposal to ban the building of minaret towers alongside mosques. And one of its leading figures, Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, said he wants to soften anti-racism laws because they prevent freedom of speech.

In a related story, a Swiss Roman Catholic bishop says that the minarets on mosques should not be the issue, but rather what is being fomented inside the mosques. Swissinfo has the interview:

Bishop suggests closer monitoring of mosques

Pierre BürcherPierre Bürcher, assistant bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, tells swissinfo it is what goes on inside mosques rather than the construction of minarets that poses a greater threat to peace.

His comments came after a group of rightwing politicians launched a nationwide campaign to ban the construction of minarets.

Bürcher is president of the Swiss Bishops Conference’s working group on Islam, which was set up in 2001. He says meetings with Muslims both at home and abroad - the body has visited Iran and Syria - have led to improved relations and better understanding between both religious communities.

But he warns that the road towards a truly peaceful co-existence remains long and rocky.

swissinfo: Indeed, this initiative is clearly a reaction to the spread of Islam and Islamic law in Switzerland. Where does the Catholic Church stand on this issue?

P.B.: It is essential that we respect the laws laid down in Switzerland and we cannot allow them to be fundamentally undermined by another way of thinking, such as sharia law.

It’s true that the minaret is a symbol for Muslims but it is not an essential part of a mosque and we should not get fixated on it. What goes on inside a mosque is much more important, because it’s there that the Koran is taught and where you can have people stepping out of line. It is in this place of worship that the khutba [Islamic sermon], which is often politicised, and all the anti-Western or even terrorist teaching can take place.

Do the authorities really know what is going on and whether it is legal? This seems far more important to me than whether you can build a minaret or not.

swissinfo: So you’re saying the authorities need to keep a closer eye on what’s going on inside mosques in Switzerland?

P.B.: Yes, because one needs to be aware that in Muslim tradition, politics, culture, society and religion are all entwined. We are touching here on a fundamental difference between two religious concepts and the slightest tolerance in this domain will be extremely damaging for peace and co-existence. It is because of this that mosques in many Muslim countries are coming under increased surveillance and the khutba is always monitored.

swissinfo: It is clear that there is a fear of Islam, not just in Switzerland but also in other Western countries. How can this be overcome?

P.B.: One of the reasons for this fear is that our two religions are different and we still lack a sense of mutual understanding. Secondly, newcomers can often create unease or even fear because they may upset the balance. Therefore we need to learn how to live with each other, otherwise we will run into major problems.

swissinfo: But centuries have passed and we have yet to find a solution. What makes you think we can do so now?

P.B.: The most fervent believer, whether they be Christian, Jew or Muslim, will never attain perfection and we are on a similar path when it comes to inter-cultural and inter-religious relations. The human being has its limits; unfortunately we are not perfect and neither are our societies.

We are not perfect and neither are our societies.

Human beings are fallen creatures, and we will not attain perfection in this world.

But Multiculturalism — like its ugly stepmother, Marxism — believes that an earthly paradise is attainable, a realm of perfection in which the lamb will lie down with the black sheep, a beautiful place where there’s no heaven or hell — and no religion, too. With the perfect world to live in, who needs heaven?

To attain such a glorious ideal, it may be necessary to make some sacrifices. The death and suffering are unfortunate and regrettable, but they’re in a worthy cause.

And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgment of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song


Welcome to the omelette, eggs!


Hat tips: For the deportation story, Lastango; for the Bishop Bürcher interview, insubria.

15 comments:

kepiblanc said...

Switzerland is the one and only true democracy in Europe - and outside the EU - so if they can collect the needed 100,000 signatures to a petition and have a referendum, the outcome is sure. The descendants of Wilhelm Tell aren't stupid.

Gordon Pasha said...

Are the Swiss non-EU members because they have so much more common sense and self assurance? Or do they have the right to express their common sense and self assurance because they are non-EU members? I'd say the former interpretation is probably the right one to explain this story, and that the second interpretation follows from the first one.

openplaza said...

There is more going on in switzerland then this:

"swiss move to ban minarets" (there will be a popular vote on this issue soon - and it looks like they are really going to ban the minarets)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6676271.stm

Allready by the end of 2006 the Swiss voted for much tougher immigration laws.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5375106.stm


In Switzerland they call this "direct democracy". That makes it almost impossible for politians to ignore unplesant issiues. On wikipedia they have a nice short article about how it works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendum#Switzerland

mikej said...

It's truly a pity that we Americans don't have initiative, referendum, and recall at the federal level.

Henrik R Clausen said...

There's little doubt that this is effective. Muslim youth typically aren't as scared of going to prison as the rest of us. But getting kicked out of the country counts.

In Denmark, we're currently kicking entire families out of their apartments if one of them is criminal. It took a couple years to get this through the appeals courts, but it has proved more effective than anyone had imagined.

Crime by immigrants and their children in the areas (it depends on the company owning the houses) where it is in effect has fallen dramatically. That is Good.

Similar measures in other areas, like school attendance, respect for teachers etc. can be expected to have similar effect.

But what is really important, and that needs to be mentioned over and over, is that it is an individual thing, and applied due to concrete crimes committe by an individual (or several).

We kick immigrants out if they commit heavy crime and have not aquired Danish citizenship. Some are talking of looking at making it easier to revoke a granted citizenship - right now that can only take place if the citizenship itself has been obtained fraudelently.

falcon_01 said...

Good luck to them! I hope it catches on and we can use it here in America... not likely, but still a pleasant enough dream! Kick out the criminals and terrorists!

openplaza said...

About the numbers: In Switzerland more then 20% of the people are non citizens. I dont know how many of them are muslims, but the CIA factbook says, there are around 4.3% Muslims in the total population. That would be more in relation to the total population then in Denmark, Germany, Austria, GB and others...
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html
but i dont know how much you can trust these numbers... when i look at the realities they seem actualy very low, it feels like there are many more then just these 4.3%...

And when you walk through Geneva, Fribourg, Biel and other citys you get the same feeling you get in Berlin, Paris or Rome (London playes already in an other league ;-)).

kepiblanc said...

About Switzerland, please see this MAP.

CorporateCog said...

I am a dual American/Swiss citizen living here in Switzerland since 1990. One of my sons has been mugged twice by the same albanian who threatened him again on the train and said "if you knew who I was you would be very scared". My other son and 2 of his friends were mugged and robbed outside of a concert by albanians, one ended up in the hospital for 3 days. They don't really know that they are albanians, but they are definitely south-east europeans or turks based on the way they dress (you can tell by the fancy shoes and designer jeans).

In both cases the police show little interest in dealing with the problem, and in the first case they have done nothing.

There has also been a series of senseless beatings of swiss by albanians over the last year.

Many swiss are fed up, and out in the county there is movement of rightwing youth in the direction of skinheads. I can't say that I am really surprised, but in either case, skinheads or towelheads, I don't have any confidence in the police.

Unknown said...

BRAVO LES SUISSES!!!!

Henrik R Clausen said...

"Many swiss are fed up, and out in the county there is movement of rightwing youth in the direction of skinheads."

That's a bad sign. I guess you (and everyone else) need to request your governments to take specific action regarding the Muslim communities, before the skinheads do. Checking them for racist propaganda and hate speech.

The amount of Islamic violence we've seen so far now justifies specific control of any org that calls itself Islamic, just because of that. It *is* suspicious to be a Muslim, and they need to uproot their racism before things spin out of control.

And most Muslims are in fact peaceful persons, and appreciate the police efforts to uproot violence in their circles. I'm working my political friends to get that done in Denmark. We can't permit things to develop into mob rule.

Unknown said...

To Henrik

Take a look at this video
If most of muslim are peacefull why do they make all that shit we know?
If you pick them one by one most of them may be peacefull.
But if gather them in one big crowd you wont find even one to be peaceful.

Unknown said...

More to Henrik

look at the post of homosapien

True nature of Islam

Don Miguel said...

"So far, however, there has been little popular backlash against the posters."

I lived there in the 1980's and would be surprised if there was a "popular backlash." Even back then "Ausländer Raus" graffiti was quite common.

Captain USpace said...

This should help keep the Eurabia debate alive. Hopefully the Swiss won't back down...

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
countries have NO rights

global village idiots
must control the debate


absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
hate living in peaceful lands

destroy your new homes
make them like ones you fled
.