Nearly 55% of voters in Switzerland on Sunday rejected an initiative championed by the top right-wing party to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million, early results showed.
The populist Swiss People’s Party, which has the most seats in parliament, has stirred up and fostered anti-migration sentiment over the years, notably about an influx of workers from the neighboring European Union.
Some have dubbed the proposal a “Swiss Brexit” because it could jeopardize Switzerland’s deep ties to the European Union anchored by deals that foster economic growth, cultural ties and cross-border travel, among other things. Switzerland is not one of the EU’s 27 member states, but it is all but surrounded by four of them
What is it with right wing populists and their obsession with immigration? All they ever do is state the immigration is bad, and that it’s the root of all evil, provide no evidence for the claim, and then just keep parroting the claim ad infinitum until either elected or arrested/shot.
I get that they’re racist but they’re bordered by the likes of France, who exactly is it that’s coming over that they have a problem with?
Basically it’s a way to distract from actual political issues, and shift blame to people that have a hard time defending themselves.
It’s a very old technique but ususally works very well. The Romans used to execute Christians, and in mediaeval times European leaders would do pogroms (of Jews), burning of Catholics etc. Then 20th century examples like segregation, Nazism and fascists like Oswald Mosely.
Nowadays we have the modern versions in MAGA and Reform and “stop the boats” and whatever this Swiss movement calls itself.
Always condeming “the other” and making sure only to pick on those who can’t stand up or really speak for themselves, because that persecution is cheaper and easier than acually solving problems.
Especially if those problems could be solved by worker reforms and progressive tax systems.
We had a foreign exchange student from Switzerland living with us recently, and I can confirm that the German side of Switzerland thinks the French side as lesser.
I doubt it was an honest goal. It was most likely a post-truth political device for aligbment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thbc9Auongc
I mean, to a certain extent that is certainly true. If the taxable population stays the same, but the general population grows(through immigration or child births), then the taxable population will have to pay more to support the general population. This is often referred to as employment-unemployment ratio.
Now if the claim that one side is making “immigrants are employed to a higher degree than the native population” is true, then the other side is right about their claim that “immigrants are taking our jobs”.
If, on the other hand, the inverse is true, then the immigrants not gaining employment would contribute to the drain on government resources.
It is complicated, to say the least.
That’s not how immigration works. That’s how the right want you to think it works.
I have literally never met anybody who has had their job taken by immigrants. Companies aren’t allowed to pay immigrants less money than the current citizens so there’s no reason to hire an immigrant over a citizen, in fact the opposite, a citizen is much more likely to understand the language and culture (although you do meet some people) and therefore much more able to integrate, and effectively operate in the business, whatever that business is.
If you want to emigrate into a country you have to usually prove that you’re not going to cost that country any money. You have to prove that either you have the means to support yourself, or that you already have an offer of employment. The only exceptions that are made are for people who are fleeing persecution or conflict. But the vast majority of potential immigrants do not meet that criteria.
“Illegal” immigrates pay in sales taxes and use less public resources. They’re generally a net gain for tax revenue.
Especially since the Swiss immigration standard is so rigorous. They basically only accept the kind of immigrants that will integrate easily and not contribute to crime. As such they don’t even have the immigration related issues (rapes and murders) of countries like Sweden “In 2021, a study found that of 3039 offenders aged 15–60 convicted of raping over 18 years of age in the 2000–2015 period, 59.2% had an immigrant background and 47.7% were born outside Sweden.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_Sweden
Germany: “The statistics show that the asylum-group is highly overrepresented for some types of crime. They account for 14.3 percent of all suspects in crimes against life (which include murder, manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter), 12.2 percent of sexual offences,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime
Denmark: "Descendants of non-Western immigrants are significantly overrepresented in criminal statistics, especially in violent crimes, traffic violations, and certain sexual offenses. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime#Denmark
Norway: “In September 2016, Norwegian authorities discovered that more than a million identity papers had been issued without stringent checks which enabled fraudsters to claim social welfare benefits of many persons simultaneously.[176] 2007 was the first time when foreign perpetrators of partner murders were in the majority. While 13% of Norway’s population are foreigners, they represent 47% of perpetrators who have murdered their partner.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime
and the UK: “According to the data from the Ministry of Justice, obtained under freedom of information laws, foreign nationals have disproportionately committed sex crimes between 2021 and 2023. Afghans and Eritreans – were more than 20 times more likely to account for sexual offence convictions than British citizens, according to the data. Overall, foreign nationals were 71 per cent more likely than Britons to be responsible for sex crime convictions. In terms of overall crime nationals from Albania topped the crime league table; followed by Moldova, Congo, Namibia and Somalia.”
"Data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), drawn from the Police National Computer and obtained under freedom of information laws, showed that 26 per cent of the 1,453 sex assault convictions on women in 2024 were accounted for by foreign nationals. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_crime#United_Kingdom
Edit - Sorry, I need to support my claims. Done.
The problem with “conducting your own research” is you also have to then read it.
I wonder if the output from the judicial system is the right tool to understand those issues.
Those are known to discriminate.
in germany the stats mentioned here look at suspects not at convictions.
Also checked that wikipedia citation abt sweden. It is from one study that defines second generation immiration status as immigrant. secondly that same wikipedia entry mentions that roughly 80 percent of cases are not reported. there are some scenarios that i can think of that prove this study to be utterly useless uneless it is meant to sow xenophobia.