This repulsive piece of propaganda arrived in my postbox today. It is a part of a rising tide of ugly nationalisms: the Front National in France, Pegida in Germany, and on and on.
Switzerland is torn between two sides: one, that of Henri Dunant, the Red Cross, the League of Nations and the United Nations, is generous and welcoming, the other — that of the SVP (Schweizerische Volkspartei) / UDC (Union démocratique du centre) — angry and xenophobic.
The latter is represented by a nasty campaign directed against “foreign criminals.” Their propaganda campaign is brutal and, unfortunately, effective – the SVP is the largest party in Switzerland now. Today, I received their campaign literature in my mailbox — and I am angry.
Switzerland is a better place because it has welcomed immigrants. The culture is richer, the economy is bigger, the food is better because Switzerland is home to people of Spanish, Portuguese, Bosnian, Syrian, Indian, French, Canadian, Mauritian and American — to list the origins of those who are in my children’s public schools.
The posters the SVP loves to print — in red, white, black (is the reference merely subconscious?), with a white sheep kicking out a black sheep — are reprehensible. They have done this before. Shame on the them. Shame on those who accept their facile arguments and their specious reasoning.
If you can vote in the Swiss federal election on February 28, 2016, vote “NO” on «Pour le renvoi effectif des étrangers criminels (initiative de mise en œuvre)».
Leave a Reply