Thank you Geneva -- you opposed the initiative by 60,9% !
In fact (see map) all of French speaking Switzerland opposed this disruptive initiative.
"l'immigration de masse" evokes images of salivating hordes at the border, waiting to rush in to trample the pristine landscape and take over all the jobs, housing and welfare. And the voters who approved were scared.
The vote of approval is a powerful message with negative impact on a basically prosperous country. An overwhelming majority of Swiss economists, social experts, politicians and industralists have been against this xenophobic initiative.
It was a vote of emotions over logic, and apparent self-protection over dynamism.
Just like the vote back in 1992 not to join the European Economic Area.
Through extensive bilaterals as of 1999 (in effect as of 2002) Switzerland has been able to recoup some of the losses. Students could now be part of the superb European Erasmus exchange system, filmmaking and theater and countless other activities were not culturally and economically isolated.
A certain equilibrium has been achieved, and unemployment is a modest 4%. Foreigners are not exactly kicking the Swiss off the assembly-line.
A small for-instance: the HUG, the Geneva Cantonal University Hospital, employs a large number French nurses, doctors and aides. Because they need to. Staffing the hospital will be very problematic if the non-Swiss job-holders have their permits revoked. How does one handle those already holding work permits? Those who have been here three months, a year, four years? Or more? (I imagine it won't happen this way, as it could wreak havoc).
But no-one knows how this negative initiative will play out, and how it can or will be 'respected'. No one was prepared. On Monday politicians began meeting. All those bilaterals will have to be revisited. Back to square one?
What was driving this vote? It's not so simple; it's not necessarily extremist xenophobia.
Twenty-eight per cent of Switzerland is non-Swiss. That's hefty.
Gleaned from articulate letters quoted in "Le Monde":
http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2014/02/10/avec-ce-vote-la-suisse-montre-qu-elle-existe-face-au-poids-lourd-europeen_4363520_3214.html
« Il fallait dire stop » par Alexia
"C'est parfait que la votation soit passée serrée ! Oui, il fallait dire stop à une accélération de l'immigration, mais ne pas laisser croire que nous étions des rétrogrades non plus. Concrètement, la vie s'est quand même globalement compliquée ces dernières années, avec une énorme pression en Suisse romande sur les loyers, une grande augmentation de la circulation avec l'arrivée de frontaliers, d'immigrés. Il faut prendre le temps d'intégrer correctement les nouveaux arrivants".She says life has become more complex, rents are higher, traffic is denser. Let's take the time to properly integrate the new arrivals.
- « Exister face au poids lourd européen » par Sebastien M. (Genève, employé de banque)
J'ai voté oui. J'y ai longuement réfléchi, ai pesé le pour et le contre, lu beaucoup d'avis contradictoires. Et je dois avouer qu'il n'y avait pas d'argumentation structurée au refus de ce texte. Le seul argument entendu (et rabâché) était : attention, l'Europe va sévir si le peuple suisse accepte l'initiative. Cela a attisé la défiance du peuple suisse face à une Europe se voulant hégémonique. Avec ce vote, il y a ce sentiment « d'exister » face au poids lourd qu'est l'Europe. Les conséquences ? On verra bien, mais il y a fort à parier qu'elles ne seront pas aussi catastrophiques que l'UE veut bien le faire croire...He says the only argument against the initiative was that Europe would "sévir" -- sort of rise up against little Switzerland. Now he says the country has the feeling it "exists", facing up (a sort of David and Goliath) to Europe's heavy hegemony. He doesn't think it'll be as catastrophic as the EU wants us to believe. Hope he's right.
People have reacted to the spectacular and very rapid change in contemporary life, and have voted to slow it down in a particular way.
It's a retro vote, but also a vote of perplexity and pain.
This all reminds me of the old children's song "The Farmer in the Dell":
Children circle round, hands joined, and one child plays the farmer, who then takes a wife, who takes a child etc.
The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Heigh-ho the derry-oh
The farmer in the dell!
The farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
etc.
The wife takes the child
etc.
The child takes the dog,
etc.
dog takes cat, cat takes rat, rat take cheese, and...
The cheese stands alone
The cheese stands alone
Heigh-ho the derry-oh
The cheese stands alone.
The other characters then rejoin the circle and one child--the cheese chosen by the rat--is left in the middle......turning round and round alone as the song ends.
