Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Alarm At Call For Abolishment Of Swiss Racism Law

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Alarm At Call For Abolishment Of Swiss Racism Law

    ALARM AT CALL FOR ABOLISHMENT OF SWISS RACISM LAW
    By Youri Hazanov

    European Jewish Press, Belgium
    Nov 28 2006

    GENEVA (EJP)--- The Democratic Union of the Centre, the right-wing
    party that won a majority in the last Swiss elections, has proposed to
    the abolishment of Switzerland's anti-racist law, arguing it impedes
    freedom of speech.

    The Federation of the Swiss Jewish communities has expressed concern
    after the declaration by Ueli Maurer, the Democratic Union's leader and
    previously Switzerland's justice minister, and members of his party,
    known as UDC.

    The law was adopted on Jan. 1, 1995, and forbids any discrimination
    against a person or group on the basis of race, ethnicity or
    religion. It also mandates punishment for denying or attempting to
    justify a genocide or crime against humanity, especially the Holocaust.

    The UDC holds that the law is too abstract and that Swiss do not
    understand what they can and cannot say in public. Maurer said his
    party was fighting for freedom of speech in Switzerland, and that
    everyone should have the right to express what they thought, even if
    it was not right.

    Moreover, the UDC charges that the law has encouraged a passive form
    of racism. They say the penal law is not the best way to combat to
    revisionism, and that more faith should be placed in people's ability
    to discern between right and wrong.

    Still, others argue the law is not harsh enough.

    Tobias Hirschi, a member of the extreme-right party PSN, was recently
    acquitted by a Solothurn court after being charged for carrying a
    banner with the slogan "Who directs the workers?" next to a Star of
    David in a May 2005 demonstration.

    Hirschi was accused of tapping into the Nazi ideology that led to
    the Holocaust, but the judge ruled that although the banner was
    anti-Semitic, there was no link to the Nazis. As such, it did not
    violate the anti-racism law.

    The debate on the law began after Swiss Minister of Justice Christophe
    Blocher, a former UDC leader, declared during a visit to Turkey that
    everyone has the right to an opinion and the right to express it,
    and that the law should be abolished.

    It was enacted in another case in 2005 after a July visit by Turkish
    politician Dogu Perincek to Lausanne. Perincek denied a genocide of
    Armenians by Turkey took place in 1915. The Swiss government, which
    has officially recognized the genocide, charged him with negating it.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X