The oligarchy which runs Switzerland — like the oligarchies that administer all Western countries — was desperate to stop this initiative. They tried to lure voters into supporting a watered-down version, which would have recommended deportation, but left the final decision up to judges, who would evaluate each individual case on the merits.
Swiss voters, perhaps noticing what happens when things are left to the discretion of progressive-minded judges, did not take the bait, and 53% voted for the stronger version of the new law.
It’s worth noting that all major Christian denominations opposed the measure. Just as in Britain, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, organized Christianity seems consistently to act against the interests and welfare of the native population. The same is true of the major Protestant denominations in the United States, which are wholly in thrall to progressive trans-nationalism. Even the Vatican has in large part caved in to Multicultural orthodoxy.
Notice also that foreigners were reported to be overwhelmingly against the initiative. Well, DUH!
The media probably expect native white Europeans to feel guilty when they hear that the Swiss have offended their foreign guests with their “xenophobia”. But the vote didn’t affect me that way, and I strongly suspect that the majority of Europeans are not wallowing in guilt as called for by the script. Most people are probably thinking, “At last! A display of common sense!”
Here’s the report from Swissinfo:
Swiss Approve Foreign Criminal Initiative
The Swiss have voted to adopt tough new regulations on the deportation of foreigners convicted of serious crimes and welfare fraud.
Final results showed 53 per cent voting in favour of a rightwing initiative. The initiative also won the backing of 18 out of 26 cantons.
In a complex nationwide vote on Sunday, the electorate were faced with a choice between a hardline option and a compromise version; or approving or rejecting both proposals.
Turnout was higher than usual — at 52 per cent — a sign of how contentious were the issues being voted on.
The rightwing People’s Party initiative called for the automatic expulsion of non-Swiss offenders convicted of crimes ranging from murder to breaking and entry and social security fraud. The proposal denies judges judicial discretion over deportation.
An alternative option by parliament would have allowed for a case-by-case examination and additional integration measures.
Parliament’s counter-proposal was rejected by 54 per cent of voters, results showed.
An unofficial voting platform for migrants, Baloti, reported very different voting results: 85 per cent against the initiative, and 15 per cent for.
Reactions
“In future, foreign nationals who have committed one of the criminal offences named in the text of the initiative should automatically lose their right of residence and be deported to their country of origin,” said a government statement. It said Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga would “set to work on implementing the initiative without delay”.
“The majority of voters have sent a clear signal that they consider foreign criminality to be a serious problem. The Federal Council [government] respects the will of the people and will set to work on putting the task confided in it into practice,” it went on.
The government statement also pointed to problems in implementing the initiative, saying parliament would have to draft a list defining precisely which offences would result in deportation.
A statement by the People’s Party said voters had sent a clear signal that “criminal foreigners should be systematically deported”. It said the acceptance of the initiative marked “the first step on the road to greater security”. The legal framework for the initiative’s introduction had to be created as soon as possible, it said.
The Federal Migration Commission said the initiative would be very difficult to enforce. It said the state must not act arbitrarily in deporting foreigners, but judge each case individually.
“Even People’s Party parliamentarians agree that no one should be sent back to a country to face torture or death. Automatic deportation, as demanded by the initiative, is therefore not possible,” the commission said in a statement.
The main Christian churches, which had opposed both initiative and counter-proposal, called for deportations to continue to be judged on a case-by-case basis.
In a joint statement, the Swiss Federation of Protestant Churches and the Catholic Bishops Conference said the cantonal and federal authorities must ensure that implementation of the initiative conformed to the constitution. They also said it was important “not to cast a negative light on migrants”.
Tax vote
In a separate vote, the electorate rejected a proposal by the centre-left and trade unions to set a minimum tax rate for wealthy citizens across the country.
Final results showed 58 per cent of voters and a majority of cantons voting against the initiative.
The Social Democrats, who had pioneered the initiative, said the result was “a missed opportunity for greater tax fairness”. But the party said that the fact that more than 40 per cent voted in favour showed the perceived need for changes.
The business federation, economiesuisse, welcomed the result. It said the people had shown their confidence in the Swiss tax model.
The cantonal finance directors echoed this, saying the result was a “victory” for the cantons, which enjoy autonomy in setting tax rates.
Under the proposal, the minimum rate for annual income exceeding SFr250,000 ($249,402) would have been set at 22 per cent and 0.5 per cent for wealth of at least SFr2 million.
The initiative was aimed at putting an end to what the left said were abuses of the tax autonomy the 26 cantons enjoy under the Swiss federalist system.
Deportation
The initiative aims at the automatic deportation of foreigners convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape, other serious sexual offences, violence such as armed robbery, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and breaking and entering. Welfare fraud is also included.
The counter-proposal tightened the list to (among others): premeditated murder, murder, rape, aggravated armed robbery and serious violation of the drug law. Grievous bodily harm was added in by the House of Representatives. The counter-proposal stated that deportations should respect the Swiss constitution and international law.
Hat tips: DL.
19 comments:
In the last half of the 20th Century the left made a concentrated effort to infiltrate the Mainstream Christian denominations, they did this because the conservative Christian denominations had help defeat communism in a few nations. The left succeeded in a large number of cases and while those denominations are still considered mainstream most of their members have left to more traditional denominations. But the MSM only looks at the Churches that support the left as being mainstream and vilify all others. Having said that the report is good news, and hopefully other nations will take the same action. I don't know how many European nations allow referendums but the vote would probably be about the same in all if they were allowed to vote.
The practical problem is that serious offenders may actually be released prematurely by their country. European borders are so porous that it would be easy for a deranged individual to return.
In the absence of the death penalty, for really dangerous criminals it may be better to keep them where you have total control over them. But then also reduce the mod-com of these prisons - not like this one
A 5-Star Prison in Austria: Leoben
One small step for sanity, one giant leap for Swisskind.
I may move to the Alps... I always liked mountains anyway.
dox-Raven sez:
"European borders are so porous that it would be easy for a deranged individual to return."
The Swiss have kept their borders intact and they have a very efficient registration bureaucracy that makes it hard for anyone to go under the radar.
This is good, I hope others will follow.
sheik yer'mami:
"The Swiss have kept their borders intact:
Really? Then what about this?
Switzerland opens its borders
Under the Schengen Agreement, which Switzerland is joining, cross-border passport checks will be abolished.
I don't care what the caveats are. Its the thought that counts. Now lets see how the beaurocrats and thier lefty allies try to squirm out of this one and the reaction of the Swiss when this inevitably happens.
One interesting thing about the rejected socialist proposal on taxes is that, according to Die Weltwoche, those on the committee sponsoring it, when asked to disclose their income, said nothing about it. But an investigation by the magazine revealed that all members of that committee set the ceiling at which one would have to be taxed more just above their income. In other words, socialism is wonderful to all socialists, so long as they don't feel any pinch in their pockets.
On the anti-foreign-criminal initiative, I think that the only reason why the SVP's proposal didn't win in a landslide was because the government's counter-proposal placed emphasis on those wonderful-sounding expressions like "international law", whose use as a tool to legitimize human-rights abuses and the rule of all sorts of tyrants across the globe is something a lot of people still need to become aware of.
Now, here's something that beggars belief about Sunday's referenda... Last year, Genevastan was the only one out of 4 Swiss cantons rejecting the ban on minarets (the others being Neuenburg, Waadt and Basel-Stadt) where the margin of defeat of the proposal wasn't razor-thin. And yesterday, despite crime rates soaring to unprecedented heights in recent years, Genevastan also said no both to the government's and the SVP's proposals.
In the linked article about crime in that canton, a few comments can easily show anyone how different; or rather, how culturally-enriched things are in that canton in comparison with the rest of Switzerland:
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My car was vandalised this weekend and the police didn't seem to care less. Their response was that every weekend "les jeunes" ("da yoots", that is) go out and drink and it happens all the time. No photo's, no prints, no CCTV, no effort to investigate who it might have been. All they did was fill the paper work in for the insurance and "au revoir"...
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Geneva's dirty little secret is that it is one dangerous city. I'm from New York City and I thought we were moving somewhere safer - not the case at all! We live in centre-ville and have to constantly look over our shoulders - there are petty thieves and thugs EVERYWHERE, and when you point them out to the police, the police just say there's nothing they can do. It's ridiculous. Mothers with prams should especially BEWARE! The real crime situation here is sorely underreported.
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And here, with a few excerpts not included, is a comment that likely sums up how far things have degenerated in that place:
I suddenly heard a scream and when I looked out I saw my female neighbour wrestling with a tall African guy in her garden. He then started to run away and I went chasing after him in my car whilst my wife ensured the neighbour was OK (which thankfully she was). She had caught him climbing onto her balcony and being a plucky person she confronted him. I eventually caught up with the guy and called the Police on my mobile. (...) The guy who was attempting the robbery then started to complain that he was just passing by the house and was being victimised because he was African. (...) We later learnt that the Police had released him almost immediately after we'd left and the reason being was that this guys was known to them, he was a a habitual thief as far as they were concerned, and yet successfully each time he had managed to plead racial abuse by the Police to the magistrates and he was released. So now, the Police don't even take him into custody any more and this guy continues to roam the streets. (...)
When I read about such developments, it's clear to me that Genevastan's voters don't seem to want to steer clear of the path of cultural suicide, but rather march happily to the slaughter, as though they'd be better off by doing so. That sounds a lot like Sweden if you ask me.
Geneva's denial of common sense (deport the criminals) at the voting booth is like Californians voting for more of the same socialist bankrupt Democrat regime. Everyone in Geneva and California is in denial because the PC multicult goo has clogged up their brain.
Lookit here... The Swiss mainstream media has already found an "explanation" for it, much like that which will be peddled by members of the political elite, "intellectuals" and talking heads across Europe: the Swiss are suffering from an identity crisis.
The article also includes info on how the usual far-left fascists, as their "protest" against tough measures targeting the foreign criminals they love so much, destroyed store windows in Zurich and attacked police in front of the parliament in Bern. And I have no doubt that, in the case of the events in Bern, the scum must have streamed out of the infamous urine-smelling, graffiti-covered, banlieue-in-one-building Reitschule, right next to the train station.
Richard: "In the last half of the 20th Century the left made a concerted effort to infiltrate the mainstream Christian denomonations..."
Was this really the case? Certainly that's how it seems, or rather that's how it can be interpreted, but I'm not fully convinced. I see it as ('official') Christianity hitching a ride on the 'spirit of the age' which, I guess, since the French Revolution or thereabouts, has been 'socialism' in its many guises.
'Offical' Christianity talked the talk and played the part because that's what it felt was necessary to maintain its influence and relevance. Isn't that what many of us have done?
When I was younger I was convinced of the 'socialist' argument - like so many of my peers. We didn't make a concerted effort to enter the state's mechanisms in order to manipulate it to our way, 'we' just did what came natural.
All that has changed, or rather it is changing. Socialism, that is the version that was victorious in WWII, has arrived at its destiny, the multicultural/multiracial monstrosity - the reality of 21st Century socialism. The ideal is nowhere to be seen.
Naive fools like I was nowadays are fewer and further between - the 'socialism' that came so naturally then has been proved to be anything but ideal. And the majority of its advocates today are motivated more by self interest (that is the maintenance of career and position) than they are by higher considerations such as the betterment of 'mankind'.
We're approaching a tipping point, a paradigm shift, and when the new paradigm is written the Church and most everyone else will jump aboard and behave as if that's how it's always been. That's what people do. It's our job to write the first drafts of that paradigm.
11/29/2010 6:48 AM
Delete
One thing I could have mentioned in my last comment, regarding the Reitschule in Bern, is some of the faces that "adorn" the building as part of the graffiti...
- Yasser Arafat's
- Lenin's
- Saddam Hussein's
As for the late Iraqi dictator's, the little stencil used to spray paint it on the building was also used, in early 2003, all over the pillars under a railway bridge between the aforementioned infamous place and the train station.
Bingo sulber nick.
However the Church and the institutions were attacked by ideologues pushing socialism/communism.
Now the communist clowns that pitched the tent of the PC/MC circus which landed Elisabeth Sabbaditsch Wolff in the dock have declared Switzerland the black sheep of Europe over the outcome of the referendum.
Escape velocity - I agree. The left didn't sign on for theology degrees and later put on cassocks - there was no need for them to. Leftism came naturally to the 'official' Christian Church.
sulber nick, great comment. I wholeheartedly agree with you about how humans are.
nick, we are in basic agreement. However their was subterfuge entryism and push by ideologues from within the Church structure.
But I agree that many adopted the mores of the age. People learn to shut up and mouth the PC line so as to move up the "corporate ladder."
Feminists and Communists/Socialists visciously intellectually attacked Christianity and the Church from without as well...and have waged a campaign to silence Christian thought and speech in the public sphere, within institutions public and private and from informing state lawmaking.
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