Update 12:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The gray line between freedom of speech and racism continues to be toyed with by the Swiss right-wing UDC party while municipalities in Switzerland debate whether or not to stop the group’s campaign posters for an upcoming popular vote. The 26 November referendum with three items includes one to ban the construction of new minarets in the country. The proposal is widely expected to be defeated, based on recent polls, but it could be close.
Basel-City and Lausanne have refused permission for the posters to go up, while Geneva Wednesday afternoon 7 October decided to allow them. Several cities asked the Swiss Federal Commission Against Racism for an opinion, which it issued Wednesday afternoon 7 October. Since then Winterthur, Zurich and Lucerne have decided to allow the posters, but Fribourg has banned them.
The federal commission is a monitoring and advisory body which does not have enforcement authority. It issued a damning commentary on the posters and the political party’s repeated use of inflammatory images and text, saying that they are a danger to public peace and encourage prejudice and, in general, depict Islam as a menace.
The reaction elsewhere in the country has been mixed, with several cities debating what, if anything, to do about the posters. Zug is allowing the posters but has banned a Swiss Association of Free Thinkers poster saying that God doesn’t exist, so get on with your life, Le Temps points out. The newspaper also carries a retrospective of images: 10 years of UDC shock-tactic posters that have prompted an ongoing debate on the use of images in Swiss political campaigns. The Swiss vote several times a year on a wide variety of issues, many of them popular referendums that make it onto the ballot when a political party gathers enough signatures to force a vote.
Background: Lausanne bans “racist” posters, Geneva to decide Wed. afternoon, 7 October 2009, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites: Le Temps, Fre, RSR, Fre, WorldRadio Switzerland (WRS) and Swiss Commission Against Racism recommendation, minaret posters (pdf, German only)
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 8 October 2009.
Filed under: Politics
Tags: advertising, construction, Geneva, god is dead, Lausanne, minarets, popular vote, posters, publicity, shock tactics, Swiss Assocation of Free Thinkers, Swiss referendums, UDC, Zug
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