So the banning off Asylum seekers from parks and playgrounds, is it apartheid ?
How would you feel living in a quiet back water in the Alps and a camp is opened on your doorstep ?
Me I’m not sure what to think

Perfectly possible, last area of Switzerland to allow women to vote:

27 November 1990 Appenzell Innerrhoden (by decision of the federal court).

Not as forward thinking a country as you may imagine…

It’s not terribly nice. I’m not sure arguing about whether it is apartheid as such is necessarily productive.

Switzerland is of course absolutely full of foreign people. The banking industry is completely cosmopolitan, the CEOs breezing between board meetings and cocktail receptions come from all over the world. The wide boulevards of Zurich are lined with designer boutiques with signs in the windows reading “Russian Spoken” and on a fine summer’s day the shores of Lake Geneva might be mistaken for the Corniche in Beirut.

And of course every slick Swiss banker will tell you that his country’s famous banking secrecy was put in place to allow German and Austrian Jews to shelter their assets from the Nazis (and that is slightly true).

So it isn’t that the Swiss are hostile to foreigners per se. Just poor ones.

Of course, they do also take double the number of refugees per head of population than the EU average.

What BD said [ who has just read the same Independent google hit as me 😀 ]
FWIW that figures seems skewed as a large number of EU countries have near zero asylum rates as very few try to get it in the eastern states for example. Not found one per 100 yet for Europe but they are certainly in the very top if not top for number but not found figures for acceptance either

I would not want to live in a country that did this though and it does smell like racism

Every time I go to Switzerland I find them very friendly.
It’s bloody expensive though so I can’t see why you would want to seek asylum.
The UK’s far nicer to all who wish to be given healthcare and a nice house.

Lived there for a year – very parocial in Bern – the capital. When I was there they were kicking off about building mosques. Not because they were islamic but because they didn’t look Swiss and pretty. They are careful to dress their racism/bigotry behind a viel of conservative welbeing.

@Junkyard – busted. 😉

I’ve spent some time in Geneva and Zurich on business also.

Geneva and Zurich are the two best cities in Switzland for accepting foriegners and are REALLY NOT representative of the rest of the country, especially north of the ‘rosti’ line

Not because they were islamic but because they didn’t look Swiss and pretty

It is their country (the Swiss), surely they should have say in how it looks??

I know someone who lives on Lake Geneva, cracking place to sail 😆

The normal non rich swiss are as angry about the bankers and the rich tax dodgers as the rest of the world. The country is under increasing international pressure to create a much more transparent banking sector, and they could well lose their advantage to all those billionaires looking to hide their wealth.

So like so many other Governments they need a scapegoat, a scapegoat with hardly a voice who can’t stand up for themselves, to point at and blame.

It really has become far too common across the world to hide the immorality and crimes of the rich by blaming the very poorest, most afraid and powerless members of society.

Because of the “referendum” system they have in Switzerland some very racist laws have been passed in recent years. But they are the result of the same rhetoric and deception being regularly spewed out by our own politicians.

Not because they were islamic but because they didn’t look Swiss and pretty

Isn’t that just like having National Parks? To preserve the natural beauty of the region?

How would such a ban be enforced? And before we get all self-righteous let’s consider that if such a proposition were put to a referrendum here I think it might stand a good chance of being passed. Oh, and we had the EDL fouling Portsmouth last saturday, protesting about the creation of an islamic school.

Isn’t that just like having National Parks? To preserve the natural beauty of the region?

They didn’t pass a law that said buildings must fit into the built environment, they specifically banned minaret’s on mosques.

Isn’t that just like having National Parks? To preserve the natural beauty of the region?

It is if it’s true. I don’t believe it for a minute though. Quite a few more don’t either I imagine.

Have you seen the glass monstrosity in the middle of old Bern that is the national bank?

They were not happy when I suggested they tear that don’t rather than protesting about minerets.

I also pointed out some ugly concrete churches.

When I asked what the difference was between a church tower and a mineret they dropped their guard and said, minarets are islamic church towers and that is why they shouldn’t be allowed.

This was a conversation I had with a group of three or four ‘normal’ Swiss people I was working with at the time. They acceopted it was anti-islamic but said it was important to appear neutral so could not admit it. They had no problem with the double-thought required.

It really has become far too common across the world to hide the immorality and crimes of the rich by blaming the very poorest, most afraid and powerless members of society.

Hardly a new thing though, been going on for years.

This measure against “asylum seekers”, and the minarets… whole thing stinks of racism. And how are they going to enforce the first measure? Obvious answer: any one who looks like an asylum seeker (aka black) will be subjected to relentless police pressure, unable to walk down the street without being asked for papers. Just make the place as unpleasant as possible, and hopefully the nasty darkies will go somewhere else.

I lived there twice, both times for 4 years. With a 2 year gap in the middle. The poster above who said racism/ xenophobia masked as conservatism is about right. Geneva and Zurich are not representative of the rest of CH. The SVP have areal grip amongst the rural community – and their policies are pretty unsavoury. Feel feel to google, but they do like to use the colours of red, white and black a lot.
I lived in The SVP heartland – the leader lived about 2 kms away. Even as white Brits the locals could be hostile – the term auslander is never used in a positive way – we have experience !

I don’t think the educated Swiss is the problem – but racism is institutionalised. Yes, they do take in 2 x the refugees than anywhere else. But that is because they need people to do the jobs that the Swiss won’t. They do blame all the crime on the “Yugos”. When I had my wallet stolen, the police didnt investigate , they just told us straight off ” it’s the Yugos”

It is the rank and file ” non rich” Swiss who are the problem. The country became rich in 1946, after having a pretty poor past. It is now one of the richest countries in the world ( per capita). They want to keep it that way.

It is the only time , when in a work meeting, I have heard some black referred to as a “n*****”
Go figure …

Switzerland?

lovely place…

Isn’t that just like having National Parks? To preserve the natural beauty of the region?

Well, it depends on whether it’s really a decision about architecture or about religion.

Oprah Winfrey ‘victim of racism’ in Switzerland…

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBov0mrQ-tI[/video]

lived there twice, both times for 4 years. With a 2 year gap in the middle. The poster above who said racism/ xenophobia masked as conservatism is about right. Geneva and Zurich are not representative of the rest of CH. The SVP have areal grip amongst the rural community – and their policies are pretty unsavoury. Feel feel to google, but they do like to use the colours of red, white and black a lot.
I lived in The SVP heartland – the leader lived about 2 kms away. Even as white Brits the locals could be hostile – the term auslander is never used in a positive way – we have experience !

I don’t think the educated Swiss is the problem – but racism is institutionalised. Yes, they do take in 2 x the refugees than anywhere else. But that is because they need people to do the jobs that the Swiss won’t. They do blame all the crime on the “Yugos”. When I had my wallet stolen, the police didnt investigate , they just told us straight off ” it’s the Yugos”

It is the rank and file ” non rich” Swiss who are the problem. The country became rich in 1946, after having a pretty poor past. It is now one of the richest countries in the world ( per capita). They want to keep it that way.

It is the only time , when in a work meeting, I have heard some black referred to as a “n*****”
Go figure …
For someone who lived here you don’t really look at the bigger picture.

The SVP’s marketing (that is what it is) is very provocative. That is 100% true. The attempt to polarise and get people to think with them or against them in the hope that the majority go with. Some of their more aggressive campaigns lately have gone against them and they are slowly starting to take a more conservative line in their advertising material. The SVP posters are however not representative of the whole country. Many Swiss are appalled and most “auslanders” (I’m one myself) I know laugh off the black sheep poster rather than taking it seriously.It was actually a good marketing ploy by the SVP as it got people talking. (There is no such thing as bad publicity remember!)

The claim that they take asylum seekers for the lower paid jobs is only a partial truth. This whole thing is about people who are only asylum seekers, they are seeking asylum, they have not been granted it yet. In this case they have no visas and can not work so to say that they are being taken do do menial jobs is a bit much seeing as they can’t actually work until they have been granted asylum. Once granted it, then they can seek work.

There is a shortage of accommodation so Switzerland is putting the asylum seekers up in temporary accommodation which includes bomb shelters. The shelters have been kitted out with WiFi, modern sofa’s, kitchens, TV’s, play stations and pretty much every other modern convenience you can think of. These people who are supposedly escaping terrible conditions in their home countries are not happy with this accommodation because it doesn’t have daylight… but they do have every other modern convenience.

There are other issues at play too and some of the initiatives taken may be quite strong. But in a country where there are more people seeking asylum than any other country in Europe they do need to keep some sort of control of the system.

The shelters have been kitted out with WiFi, modern sofa’s, kitchens, TV’s, play stations and pretty much every other modern convenience you can think of. These people who are supposedly escaping terrible conditions in their home countries are not happy with this accommodation because it doesn’t have daylight

by shelter do you mean effectively prison camp with curfews and the like in the middle of nowhere
Are you sure daylight really is their complaint?

not happy with this accommodation because it doesn’t have daylight.

I don’t know anything in particular about Swiss planning law but I thought in the UK you wouldn’t be allowed to build living accommodation that didn’t have some sort of daylight.

do you mean effectively prison camp

oooh, careful. you’ve put a foot into Godwin’s territory there.

anyway, what is best practice for the treatment of asylum seekers?
and getting back on topic, why are they banned from parks and playgrounds? is it because they are camping out there? or is it like those parks where the drunks hang out that no-one wants to take their kids to?

For someone who lived here you don’t really look at the bigger picture.

I have a very good view of the bigger picture. And I chose to leave. Whist some facets if CH are enviable- some show little thought to “the big picture”. They are rich, so they do it because they can.

The SVP’s marketing (that is what it is) is very provocative. That is 100% true. The attempt to polarise and get people to think with them or against them in the hope that the majority go with. Some of their more aggressive campaigns lately have gone against them and they are slowly starting to take a more conservative line in their advertising material. The SVP posters are however not representative of the whole country. Many Swiss are appalled and most “auslanders” (I’m one myself) I know laugh off the black sheep poster rather than taking it seriously

I am glad to see that you can laugh it off – but the black sheep, the black hand dipping into CH etc that the SVP have used is nor “just for fun”. And then there is the red, balck and white colours in the posters. Maybe that is just coincidence – but perhaps it has a certain appeal to the ultra right wing.

The claim that they take asylum seekers for the lower paid jobs is only a partial truth. This whole thing is about people who are only asylum seekers, they are seeking asylum, they have not been granted it yet. In this case they have no visas and can not work so to say that they are being taken do do menial jobs is a bit much seeing as they can’t actually work until they have been granted asylum. Once granted it, then they can seek work.

In the low paid jobs that the Swiss don’t want to do, but want doing

There is a shortage of accommodation so Switzerland is putting the asylum seekers up in temporary accommodation which includes bomb shelters.

Those bastard whingy asylum seekers, hey. They used to live in shit and now we are giving them a much better stadard of shit. But are they gratefull, are they hell. Erm, if it is that over-crowed then don’t let them in!
There is a shortage of housing – and boy , does that suit the landlords!! Rents are sky high, filling property is dead easy etc. Now, if land to build on was an issue, then maybe CH wouldn’t be attracting so many company HQs into the country, to take all the property away from locals. With 30% ausslanders, it keeps the property market, CH pension funds, and the Swiss happy. You certainly don’t need to stick asylum seekers in bomb shelter …

There are other issues at play too and some of the initiatives taken may be quite strong. But in a country where there are more people seeking asylum than any other country in Europe they do need to keep some sort of control of the system.

Well, they got some really bad press in 39 -45 for turning jews away at the borders , so they are a little sheepish about the whole thing these days. And the dienfranchised did give the Swiss the money they have today … but sticking them in camps/ apartheid is not the answer