Gosh, do the MSM have a position on this?
Can you guess which side of the issue the AP is on from this story:
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. “We believe that parents are responsible for bringing up their children. If they can’t do it properly, they will have to bear the consequences,” Ueli Maurer, president of the People’s Party, told The Associated Press.
Ronnie Bernheim of the Swiss Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism said the proposal was similar to the Nazi practice of “Sippenhaft” - or kin liability - whereby relatives of criminals were held responsible for his or her crimes and punished equally. 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.
“As soon as the first 10 families and their children have been expelled from the country, then things will get better at a stroke,” said Maurer, whose party controls the Justice Ministry and shares power in an unwieldy coalition that includes all major parties. 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. “If you don’t treat a complicated issue with the necessary nuance and care, then you won’t do it justice,” he said. Commentators have expressed horror over the symbolism used by the People’s Party to make its point. “This way of thinking shows an obvious blood-and-soil mentality,” read one editorial in the Zurich daily Tages-Anzeiger, calling for a broader public reaction against the campaign.
So far, however, there has been little popular backlash against the posters. “We haven’t had any complaints,” said Maurer.
“We haven’t had any complaints.” Not true. This AP story is one.