The Aesopian language of the political poster, to which one of the most powerful far-right political forces—the Swiss People's Party (SVP)—turned, is well understood by any resident of one of the oldest democracies. This picture has become a kind of calling card of the current turbulent election campaign in a cozy European country (general parliamentary elections will be held here in less than two weeks). This same picture with a meaningful message from the party, besides billboards, can be found in many newspapers and magazines. Every voter also received it in a letter at their home address.
"Our political opponents believe that this poster is fascist," the newspaper quotes Bruno Weilisar, one of the local leaders and a candidate for parliament on the Swiss People's Party list. "The black sheep is not some sheep that doesn't fit our family. It is foreign criminals who have infiltrated us, and this sheep is one of those that does not obey Swiss law. And we do not want to see it here with us."
Today in Switzerland there are seven and a half million people. The indigenous population consists of four ethnic communities: German-Swiss, French-Swiss, Italian-Swiss, and Romansh. By the way, Switzerland is the only country in Europe where four national languages have official status: German, French, Italian, and Romansh.
According to experts, more than 20% of the population of the Swiss Confederation are foreigners, including political refugees from Rwanda and Kosovo. Radical right-wingers believe that a significant number of foreigners violate federal laws. According to party representatives, many of the country's drug dealers are "aliens" from other states, and 70% of prisoners are not native Swiss.
But in fact, the general leitmotif of the election campaign of the most influential right-wing radical party in Switzerland is much broader than the attempts of its leaders to justify the fight against the "black sheep" as merely a fight against foreign crime. It is about the fact that "foreigners pollute society, strain the social welfare system, and threaten the country's very identity." Part of the Swiss People's Party's platform is a campaign to collect one hundred thousand signatures to legally hold a referendum that would give judges the right to deport foreigners who have committed serious crimes after serving time in local prisons. Moreover, there is also talk of deporting entire families if any family member under 18 years old has been convicted of a crime.
European human rights activists and experts in migration law believe that all these initiatives are in the spirit of the fascist practice of family responsibility, according to which family members of a criminal were held accountable for his actions and also punished. And if we turn to Soviet history, in Stalin-Beria times this was called "the son pays for the father."
"This is simply a disgusting poster, unacceptable," Micheline Calmy-Rey, President of the Swiss Confederation, told journalists. "It disgraces many people and plays on the factor of fear, and in that sense it is dangerous. Their campaign does not correspond to the Swiss spirit of multicultural openness to the world. And I ask all Swiss who disagree with this slogan to have the courage to speak out."
Even more sharply, Swiss Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin, who represents the Liberal Democratic Party, commented on this. He even suggested that the cult of the billionaire from the Swiss People's Party, current Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, in some way echoes the cult of the Italian fascist Mussolini.
However, these statements by opponents did not prevent the SVP from presenting the electorate with a short propaganda film on the topic of migration under the unpretentious title "Heaven or Hell." European newspapers describe the brief plot of its three parts. In the first, a picture of a young man injecting heroin is replaced by a picture of a thief stealing an old woman's purse, followed by a scene of beating schoolchildren and kidnapping a girl. The second part shows Muslims living in Switzerland—women in hijabs and healthy unemployed men sitting everywhere. After that come pictures identifying with Switzerland: logos of national corporations, the riches of the fields, laboratory experiments, men in good suits hurrying to work, as well as mountains, lakes, churches. The film concludes: "The choice is clear: my home, my security."
Such aggressive tactics in election campaigns are not new for the Swiss People's Party. Three years ago, the SVP similarly scandalously opposed the liberalization of Swiss citizenship laws. Then the main picture hung all over the country was an image of a dark-skinned hand tearing up a Swiss passport. And in the southern parts of the country, even billboards appeared with an image of Osama bin Laden with a Swiss passport. Then these frightening pictures allowed the radical right-wing party to finish with the best result. Obviously, this time they hope that such techniques will again lead them to success.
However, not everyone agrees with the "us vs. them" approach to one of the most serious problems of the country—migration and its impact on the national identity of the Swiss. After the appearance of Aesopian pictures with sheep on every corner, a so-called "Black Sheep Committee" was organized, advocating for a more constructive solution to the country's migration problems.
In essence, Swiss society has split. Discussions from TV screens and newspaper pages have spilled into the streets. Clashes between several thousand demonstrators supporting the Swiss People's Party and its white sheep, and supporters of the 'Black Sheep Committee' were not long in coming. The victims of the hand-to-hand fighting for and against 'polluting society with foreigners' in Bern were police officers, who a few days ago had used tear gas to pacify opponents, and who were pelted with stones by both sides.
Modern immigration problems have become a headache not only for quiet, respectable Switzerland, but for almost all of old and well-fed Western Europe. So far, the intensity of passions has only been reduced in Germany, thanks to its colossal work on costly immigration programs and the personal participation of Chancellor Angela Merkel. It is becoming increasingly difficult to cope with the problems of Eastern European and Middle Eastern migration in France. The situation with migrants and refugees in Belgium is close to catastrophic. Europe, more than ever, needs a common plan for regulating migration flows according to mutual interests of the individual and society. If it does not master them today, then tomorrow these migration flows will 'master' Europe itself in their own way.
Alla YAROSHINSKAYA.
IA Rosbalt