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Old February 9th, 2014 #96
Alex Linder
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[nyt report -- sum it up? a win for The People. a loss for the jews]

Swiss Voters Narrowly Approve Restrictions on Immigration

By MELISSA EDDYFEB. 9, 2014

BERLIN — A narrow majority of voters in Switzerland approved proposals on Sunday that would reintroduce restrictions on the number of foreigners who are allowed to live and work in the country, a move that could have far-reaching implications for Switzerland’s relations with the European Union.

The referendum on the changes to the country’s liberal immigration law was a rebuke to the Swiss government, the banking industry and business leaders who had lobbied against the restrictions, warning that such a move could endanger Switzerland’s prosperity. Right. No, I totally believe that. And I totally believe that's the real concern motivating those noble, selfless leaders.

The admonitions failed to drown out the warnings of the rightist Swiss People’s Party, which introduced the referendum that it said was necessary if Switzerland was to retain its identity in the face of immigration. Don't they know it's a hate crime for any nation or ethnic group but Israel and jews to retain its identity?

Switzerland, which is not part of the European Union, has one of the highest proportions of foreigners in Europe, accounting for about 27 percent of the country’s population of about eight million. Many job seekers have arrived from countries hit hard by the European economic crisis.

Immigration has become a polarizing issue across Europe. More prosperous nations are growing worried that their welfare systems cannot handle an influx of workers from the economically weaker Eastern European countries.

Far-right parties with anti-immigrant platforms in France, the Netherlands and Norway have gained strength in recent years, and there have been sharp debates in Britain and Germany over limiting the number of immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania because citizens from those countries gained full access to European Union job markets this year.

The Swiss initiative foresees annual quotas on the number of immigrants allowed to work in the country, as well as limits for specific sectors. It would also require that preference be given to Swiss applicants for open positions. Gee, how totally wacky: favoring Swiss over non-Swiss when it comes to jobs and benefits.

The proposal passed with the support of 50.3 percent of those who voted; 56 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. The largest cities, Zurich and Basel, rejected the vote, and smaller cities and rural areas supported it.

In Brussels, the European Commission issued a statement saying that it was “disappointed” that the initiative had passed, adding that it would have to study the vote’s implications on relations between the European Union and Switzerland.

The outcome on Sunday seemed to shows the differences between the government and industry on the one hand and voters, who approved the introduction of curbs on excessive salaries for business executives two years ago. “We always thought the argument about jobs would win people over,” Urs Schwaller, a lawmaker with the centrist Christian People’s Party, said in an interview with the Swiss television channel SRF. “Clearly, that wasn’t enough.”

The Swiss People’s Party has been particularly skillful at using such popular votes to push for immigration controls in recent years. After growing pressure, the government reintroduced quotas in 2012 limiting the number of work permits that could be issued for European Union citizens.

The vote on Sunday also comes at a time when Switzerland is under intense pressure from France, Italy and other European countries that want its banking system to become more transparent. Last year, Switzerland and the United States reached a deal to punish Swiss banks that had helped Americans evade taxes. Transparent = destruction of privacy. All things formerly private must be opened to prying ZOG eyes, while it's a federal crime (see Snowden) if you reveal what they are up to.

“It is far more than a political slap in the face,” the left-leaning newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote in an editorial published on its website after the result was announced. “The Yes to the ‘Massive Immigration Initiative’ is a censure that is comparable to No to the European Economic Area.

“What the verdict means for relations between Switzerland and the E.U. is completely open, but it certainly won’t be good for the economic vitality and prosperity in this country.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/10/wo...w-nytimes&_r=0

LB Florida 1 hour ago
This planet is crowded and there is essentially an infinite supply of labor out there...ready to come to your shore at the drop of a hat. This infinite labor supply has destroyed the middle class. I wish the US could take a lesson here and the NY Times could stop pushing for open borders.

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rjesp37 us 1 hour ago
Although 1st generation immigrants may be hard workers & good citizens, viewing the dissatisfaction, alienation, tribalism of the children of immigrants particularly from illiberal & undemocratic traditions, see, e.g. France, this seems like a vaild response of the Swiss people. Of course the elites, who are shielded from the blowback & the capitalists, looking to exploit cheap labor & driving down the costs of native labor, favor feckless immigration. Like so many government policies, multi-culturism is shoved down the masses whose interests they rarely represent.

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[as always, notice the number of recs or thumbs up the comment gets - the whiter teh comment, the more positive reception. there is a HUGE gap between white sentiment and jewed media spin]


Steve Ky.
1 hour ago
Let's hear it for the Swiss! This was a lucky break which, of course, was opposed by their French cohort, since the French have already ceded so much of THEIR national identity to unasked-for foreigners that no one recognizes the place anymore except for its historical value. Their culture - either disappearing or already gone.

Now you see why the Aussies are all so alert to incursions of the untrained, uneducated, and (usually) diseased. Now, these two are REAL countries. (Insert mournful sniff here.)

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John Michel South Carolina 1 hour ago
I have always held Switzerland as a model for other countries. It has always run effectively because the population that is Swiss not only cares about what goes on, and studies the issues, but votes. They also make very pricy, expensive machinery both large and very small.

I would hate to see the country become any less Swiss.

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[swizerland (german, french, italian) = white diversity - the only kind of diversity that can work]



Mouse NYC 1 hour ago
Only an economist would not understand what happens to a rich country when it is inundated with poor, unskilled, and uneducated immigrants. There are no jobs for these immigrants, just as there are no jobs for their own citizens of this type, so unless the country wants to provide the immigrant and their family welfare benefits for life, they will wind up on the streets, as has happened throughout Europe and the US.

It is a sad situation, but bankrupting wealthy nations and turning them into poor nations is not the solution.

To claim that Switzerland or any other country is xenophobic is too simplistic. No country, rich or poor, wants low skilled and uneducated immigrants of *any* race or ethnic origin. Those who doubt this need only ask if Switzerland would accept tens of millions of English-speaking, white immigrants with no skills or no job prospects.

What such a large influx means that instead of being a benefit to society, they are a burden. Instead of integrating into their new culture, they cling to the same old ways, which are a part of the problem in their home country. That this is unintentional changes nothing.

It is not realistic or sustainable to ask rich countries, who are having problems taking care of their own citizens, to become the welfare system to the entire world.

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judith bell toronto 1 hour ago
I am waiting for the comments that the Swiss are racist. Or how racist it is for a nation to wish to protect its identity. The 6 comments posted thus far say the opposite. It amazes me how issues of immigration and national identity are treated differently depending on the nation involved. Treated differently by both the commentators and the NYT

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Mike NYC 2 hours ago
Isn't a country entitled to decide for itself who is compatible with its own ideals, values, aspirations and character, and who it wants to admit, in its sole discretion, like a private club?

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Another View NY 2 hours ago
"It would also require preference be given to Swiss applicants for open positions."

Wise and just. Let's do the same in America, particularly for STEM workers.

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Last edited by Alex Linder; February 9th, 2014 at 09:53 PM.