SWITZERLAND: Racism and fascism
01 January 1991
SWITZERLAND: Racism and fascism
artdoc August=1994
Prosecutor-General refuses to act against neo-nazi bookshop
The prosecutor general has said that anti-racists have no legal
basis to challenge the recent proliferation of white supremacist
propaganda. His announcement came after campaigners called for
the closure of a neo-nazi bookshop, Excalibur, in Geneva which
sells racist and anti-Semitic literature as well as tapes, urging
listeners to beat up black people, T-shirts with swastikas,
compact discs celebrating the approach of the new fascist order
and potentially lethal military paraphernalia. Excalibur is part
of a chain of stores run by the French Group for the Study and
Research into European Civilisation and is allegedly being used
as a venue for neo-nazi organisations (Jewish Chronicle 5.4.94,
Guardian 11.4.94).
Far-Right presses ahead with referendums
The referendum against parliamentary approval for the United
Nations Convention Against Racial Discrimination is due to be
held next September. Another petition to force a referendum, this
time on the question of the number of foreigners living in
Switzerland, is being organised by the Free Democrat Party and
the Swiss Democrats. Philip Mueller, a leading figure in the
initiative has said that the number of foreigners allowed
residence permits should be strictly tied to the number of people
emigrating from Switzerland (Tatblatt 16.3.94, Guardian 11.4.94).
Fire destroys buildings in Erlanbach
A house inhabited by guest-workers and a hostel for asylum-
seekers in the village of Erlanbach were completely gutted by
fire in two separate incidents on the 12 and 13 March. No-one was
hurt. Police are investigating whether the fire was caused by
arson or negligence (Tagesanzeigher 14.3.94).
Exploitation of asylum-seekers by private landlords
The Zurich tenants association are campaigning against five
landlords who charged Tamil asylum-seekers exorbitant rent and
ruthlessly exploited their ignorance of local rents and rights.
The association's campaign to get the landlords punished and the
Tamils compensated for the payment of excess rent comes in the
wake of a much-publicised recent case where a landlord was
sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for charging Tamils, Turks
and Arabs rents equivalent to those asked by top city firms for
office space for rented-accommodation in flats. In one case, a
Tamil couple paid £500 a month for a 12 sq metre attic room (Woz
14.1.94).
Policing
Treatment of black people in custody
A United Nations Committee Against Torture has recommended reform
of legislation on police custody following reports by Amnesty
International and other organisations of ill-treatment by the
police. Amnesty International, in its report on `Allegations of
ill-treatment in police custody', states that the most common
forms of ill-treatment reported are repeated slaps, kicks and
punches, heavy pressure on the windpipe causing near-asphyxiation
and enforced stripping for no other reason except to cause
humiliation. Many of these cases involve foreigners and Swiss
citizens of non-European descent. Amnesty also highlights the
failure of the Swiss cantons to keep statistics on the number of
complaints of ill-treatment made against the police. A high
proportion of cases cited by Amnesty took place in the canton of
Geneva where reports of ill-treatment increased notably at the
beginning of the 1990s. By 1991, doctors attached to Geneva
University's Institute of Forensic Medicine, responsible for the
provision of all medical services to the cantonal prison of
Champ-Dollon, had become so concerned by the increase in the
number of detainees arriving for admission at the prison from
police custody with physical injuries that they compiled a
dossier of 66 cases which was sent to the Procurator General for
investigation in July 1991.
Allegations of ill-treatment, however, continued throughout
1992