Na, can't do other than disagree
zaslal Roger B v Fórum Švajčiarsko
Well, actually your characterisation of the Swiss law is factually wrong. Everybody's got the same basic rights in Switzerland, constitutionaly secured and valid for both Swiss and foreigners. Of course, as with any other democratic country on this planet, there are some departures from that. Political rights (such as the right to vote or be elected) only accrue to the Swiss citizens, but that's the same as in the US (or since when do I have the right to vote in the US if I'm not a US citizen?). However, everyone's got the right to express his or her opinion and engage in political activity, be he/she Swiss or non-Swiss. So unless you base your statement on the political rights, where an exception that rights accrue only to the Swiss is very normal in my opinion, laws in Switzerland are universally applicable to everyone (even the upcoming extradition-initiative does not change that). There is one big, and sad, exception to this general rule that concerns Minarets (I'm not happy about the outcome of that vote, but as a good citizen I accept the result and will gladly support its overturning by vote). Which brings me to the characterization of the UDC/SVP (actually one is just the French accronym the other the same in German). Is it at times a fear-mongering, nativist party? You bet, but is it outright racist or defamating? Nope, labeling them that way is too simple. With the SVP it's not black or white, it's a party with many gray scales. In many ways they can be almost libertarian only to take a very, very conservative and etatist position in another. They are provocative and know full right how to exploit certain concerns within the population. Concerns, I'm honest to say, the other major partys just gloss over and don't address. This gives the SVP an aura of pro-activity rather than reactivity as for the others (hence the claim that they're the only party doing something). But being policitally successful through catering to the fears of people is not really a phenomenon exclussively reserved to Switzerland. If you think so, let's talk about the tea party and the likes of Glen Beck and Sarah Palin for a moment, or about Arizona immigration laws... you see, fear-mongering as a political strategy is a hot commodity at the moment. Plus, one can sense that there is a certain un-ease of people bout the frequency and significance of immigration, problems that were downplayed for too long by the mainstream so that the unease now errupts into things like the anti-minaret thing.
What's that BS about publishing "racist" pictures in public places? Ok, our laws allow parties to make political statements in public places through flyers etc, but unlike the US for instance, our laws ban political TV-ads and robo-calls (no "it's 2am in the White House" ad). Granted, the SVP's ads are extem, aggressive and tasteles, but the guys know exactly how to stirr up a controversy (and most of the other parties fall into the trap of wanting to attacke the SVP on it, instead of ignoring them and let the ads speak for themselves, no, they validate the whole thing by debating, being labeled as weaklings by the SVP in the process). Plus the ads, if they really were racist, would be outlawed (we have an anti-difamation law in Switzerland too), so while they might be considered tasteless, they, under a legal-perspecitve, certainly are not racist.
And last but not least, Switzerland is an open and liberal country. You can say what you want, this includes some comments bordering on the incinerating or diffamating. Therefore, the SVP/UDC does have the right to express its opinion as do the communists. A mature democracy should be able to cope with that.
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