-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: September 1, 2007 9:02:52 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Bye Bye Black Sheep
Wait till somebody in the U.S. offers the same plan
as a solution to the "gang" problem (young blacks)
Swiss deportation policy
draws criticism
By FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press, Sat Sep 1, 8:17 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070901/ap_on_re_eu/
switzerland_deportation_campaign;_ylt=An0YqJJH7dbd2tRuZPQN3ISs0NUE
GENEVA - The 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 political 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.
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.
Similar practices occurred during Stalin's purges in the early days
of the Soviet Union and the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution in China,
when millions were persecuted for their alleged ideological failings.
"As soon as the first 10 families and their children have been
expelled from the country, then things will get better at a
stroke," said Maurer, whose party controls the Justice Ministry and
shares power in an unwieldy coalition that includes all major parties.
He explained that his party has long campaigned to make deportation
compulsory for convicted immigrants rather than an optional and
rarely applied punishment.
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.
Commentators have expressed horror over the symbolism used by the
People's Party to make its point.
"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.
The city of Geneva — home to Switzerland's humanitarian traditions
as well as the European headquarters of the United Nations and the
U.N. Refugee Agency, or UNHCR — said the campaign was likely to
stir up intolerance.
The UNHCR said the law would run contrary to the U.N. refugee
convention, of which Switzerland is a signatory.
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 symbol of the black sheep was clearly intended to have a
double meaning. On the one hand there's the familiar idea of the
black sheep, but a lot of voters are also going to associate it
with the notion of dark-skinned drug dealers," said Geden.
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.
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