If this AP "news" article had been an online debate, Godwin’s Law would have been invoked in the first 100 words.
The Associated Press reminded us on Saturday, September 1, the 68th Anniversary of Nazi Switzerland’s invasion of Poland, that the Swiss are still a bunch of Nazis. Let us never forget how the Swiss Nazi juggernaut steamrollered across Europe and is just waiting to pounce once again:
GENEVA (AP) — 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 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.
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.
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.
Commentators have expressed horror over the symbolism used by the People’s Party to make its point.
So far, however, there has been little popular backlash against the posters.
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.
He said provocative campaigns such as this had worked well for the party in the past.
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.
Clearly, their support for freedom of speech proves that Nazi blood still runs thick in Swiss veins.
