Word: svp
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...other countries have learned - not least my own, which in June elected two far-right members to the European Parliament - pride and exceptionalism can easily morph into isolationism and xenophobia. The country's most popular political group is the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP). It won nearly 29% of the vote in the 2007 election with anti-immigration posters showing white sheep kicking black sheep off a flag-clad outline of Switzerland. The SVP is also driving a Nov. 29 referendum to ban the construction of new minarets. Listen to its leaders, and you would assume that...
...SVP's popularity shows, Switzerland has yet to make its peace with immigrants, despite how central to the economy they have been and - with a falling birth rate and aging population - are still. Postwar Switzerland was built by Italian "guest workers," many of whom eventually won the right to settle, and today perhaps a quarter of the nation's workforce are non-Swiss...
...Last year, the SVP proposed another piece of legislation that would give the people, not the government, the final say in naturalization procedures. Its campaign poster depicted five dark-colored hands grabbing a stack of Swiss passports. That initiative was overwhelmingly defeated at the polls, with more than 63% of people voting...
...SVP has taken the debate a step further, implying that minarets pose a danger to Swiss society by likening them to missiles in the posters. "Everybody understands the message expressed by these posters," SVP member Ulrich Schluehr told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle in an interview last week. "That's why the opponents of a ban are against the poster and want to forbid it. They want to oppress free discussion - a strength of Switzerland." Ouardiri dismisses the SVP's arguments as "bold-faced lies." "How can an architectural feature like a minaret be perceived as a threat?" he asks...
...Some analysts say that while the deeper issue of Muslims' assimilation into Swiss society must be addressed, the SVP's confrontational tactics are not the answer. "The dialogue is important because it alleviates fears and suspicion," says Stephane Lathion, president of the Group of Researchers on Islam in Switzerland and author of a book on the minaret debate. "But is provocation the only way to raise this sensitive issue and bring about tangible solutions?" (Read "Identity Crisis for the Swiss...