Swiss Fury at Foreigners Boiling Over

The Washington Post ^ | October 9, 2007 | Molly Moore

[yorkie]

At 1:30 a.m., Antonio da Costa heard a knock at the back entrance of the McDonald's restaurant where he worked as a janitor after-hours.

He opened the door, he recalled in an interview. There stood two men, each gripping a chain saw. One yanked the cord on his saw, stepped toward da Costa and shouted above the roaring machine: "We don't need Africans in our country. We're here to kill you!"

The two masked assailants cornered da Costa and began raking him with the whirring chain-saw blades. They slashed one arm to the bone, nearly sliced off his left thumb and hacked his face, neck and chest, the 37-year-old Angolan said, his voice quavering as he recounted the May 1 attack.

The gruesome assault in a suburb of Zurich -- consistently ranked in international surveys as one of the world's most livable cities -- dramatized the surge in racism and xenophobia as Switzerland confronts its most difficult social transformation in modern times. Today, more than one in five people living in Switzerland are foreign-born, the second-highest percentage among countries in Europe.

One of the world's oldest democracies is at the center of Western Europe's most divisive political debate: to embrace an increasingly globalized, multicultural society or to retreat into social isolation in an effort to preserve eroding traditional identities.

Across Switzerland, anti-foreigner and anti-Islamic attitudes have become so pervasive on the streets, in politics and within governmental institutions that the United Nations, European Union, Amnesty International and Switzerland's own Federal Commission Against Racism have expressed alarm in recent months.

[A Balrog of Morgoth]

THAT, folks, is vigilantism.

[annelizly]

I guess even the swiss have their limits.

[blam]

"One of the world's oldest democracies is at the center of Western Europe's most divisive political debate: to embrace an increasingly globalized, multicultural society or to retreat into social isolation in an effort to preserve eroding traditional identities. "

I'm ready to isolate. Good luck to the Swiss.

[Hildy]

Everything Islam touches turns to crap.

[Gay State Conservative]

Switzerland,like every other nation on earth,has the right to regulate the inward movement of people across her borders in *any* way she chooses...even if it means that *no* foreigners are allowed into the country.

[ikka]

Wrong but somewhat understandable.

[donna]

The whole world is going to riot.

[thefactor]

um, correct me if i'm wrong, but in order for it to be vigilantism, a crime must have occured for the revenge to take place. what crime did this man commit?

was he an illegal alien?

[Gay State Conservative]

Across Switzerland, anti-foreigner and anti-Islamic attitudes have become so pervasive on the streets, in politics and within governmental institutions that the United Nations, European Union, Amnesty International and Switzerland's own Federal Commission Against Racism have expressed alarm in recent months.

Onw would think that the EU would save its "alarm" for the riots started by followers of the ROP in France,the UK,Denmark,Holland and elsewhere.

[goodnesswins]

From the article.....

"In Switzerland, each local community determines who among its immigrants will be granted citizenship. In many towns and villages, public votes are taken among citizens."

Also, the article mentions that in Switzerland the local COMMUNITY decides WHO will become a citizen...sometimes by a public vote......Hmmmmm....Interesting.

[goodnesswins]

Oops....I meant to QUOTE a different statement from the article about how they now are allowed to use TASERS to get illegals onto airplanes for DEPORTATION.

[The KG9 Kid]

Maybe so. Every place in the Western world, legislators ignore their citizens in regards to losing their borders and culture. I'm not parroting Michael Savage here, it's real. I think we've seen testimony in journalism from every prosperous nation about the impact of unchecked and thoroughly uncontrolled immigration by rejects from every cesspool on the planet and the complete unwillingness of lawmakers to do anything about it. Maybe it will boil over someday. Sure is beginning to feel like it.

I sure am happy that I live in a remote area.

[donna]

Well that’s interesting.

Does there have to be a law on the books that the authorities are not enforcing before a group can be called vigilante?

If that’s true, then vigilantism would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

Disgusting how the Washington Post takes a story of a couple of murderous men to taint a legitimate political party trying to control illegal immigration. What the blindingly ignorant at the Post don’t understand is if the rule of law is not applied to immigration, it sends a signal that lawless anarchy is a legitimate alternative to solving the problem.

[thefactor]

A vigilante is a person who ignores due process of law and enacts his own form of justice when he deems the response of the authorities to be insufficient.

that's from wikipedia.

so yes, there needs to be a law on the books.

what did this guy besides mop floors at a mcdonalds? i ask again, was he illegal? is there illegal immigration in switzerland?

[SteveMcKing]

Western Europe's most divisive political debate: to embrace an increasingly globalized, multicultural society or to retreat into social isolation in an effort to preserve eroding traditional identities.

Simply swap the words "embrace" and "retreat" (and fix a bit of grammar), and the writer's liberal bias is removed from the sentence.

[Jeff Gordon]

Switzerland was an island of Democracy and civiliation during WWII. It may well become such an island again in the war on terror in Europe.

Given that Muslims lie as a matter of faith and doctrine, this guy was probably beat up in a bar fight and is now trying to make something dramatic out of it.

[Jeff Gordon]

I would like to see similar rules in the USA. It really should be up to individual States to decide who should and should not become citizens.