[Culturechat] Swiss vote on asylum seekers

[Vance Roy]

Last Sunday, the Swiss voted on a new law to regulate asylum seekers to 
CH. I don't know all the details of the proposal, but one provision was 
that no one coming into CH from a so called "safe country" would be 
eligible for asylum here. Since there are no "unsafe countries" 
bordering CH, this would effectively stop asylum here.

The proposal was put forth by the SVP (People's Party), a far right 
conservative member of the "Magic Formula" coalition that has so 
effectively run things here for many years. The SVP's most vociferous 
member is Christoph Blocher, an industrial tycoon from Kanton Zuerich. 
He is a member of the CH parliament and would love to be more, but his 
views will likely not let that happen. This being so, he uses the SVP's 
other members to push his policies.

Now, come a surprise. Out of 2,240,000 votes cast (about 47% of 
voters), 3,422 votes was the margin of defeat for this motion. To beat 
that, one third of the kantons used machines to count votes without 
government authorization. The fit has really hit the shan about this. 
Now, there is to be a hand recount with results sometime next February.

This was the closest vote on an initiative since 1891. It has pointed 
up the deep division amongst the CH people about this issue. It is true 
that there is a long standing tradition of the Swiss accepting anyone 
who wants asylum because of political, religious, or racial 
persecution. It is also true that today, in CH, there are more people 
of foreign origins than ever before. A lot of these are seekers of 
asylum. It is true that on occasion, these folks are repatriated if it 
is known that the source of persecution is now gone. Still, there is 
now good evidence that half of the CH voters are disturbed by the 
government's lax efforts to control foreigners entering the country. 
Those granted asylum in CH, now enjoy a place to live and a daily 
stipend from the government. After a number of months, they can seek 
work and are encouraged to "intergrate" into CH. This usually takes two 
or three generations.

The more liberal French and Italian Swiss voted against the initiative, 
while the German Swiss were more in favor of it. Initiatives here have 
two possible roles. One is to get the initiative applied, and the other 
is to apply political pressure on the government to rectify a 
situation. The latter is seen as the role that this vote will play. No 
matter how the final count turns out, the far right here is going to be 
able to pressure the government on the question of asylum seekers, 
since it can show that half of the vote is behind them.

When I go back to the USA, I am always amazed at the number of new 
languages, ethnic groups, etc. that i see in all parts. A friend who I 
hear from about once yearly, wrote me the other day that there were a 
lot of foreigners in the USA now. This guy is not a rabid radical 
either.

Time, and a recount, will tell what is going to be the situation here, 
but the government has had its notice served.

Vance Roy
gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
http://homepage.mac.com/fredch