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> by a good margin as I remember It's about 25%. If you look into the results of the original popular initiative you will see that the cantons with the highest

by leejo 10y ago

> by a good margin as I remember It's about 25%. If you look into the results of the original popular initiative you will see that the cantons with the highest levels of immigration voted the most strongly against the initiative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_immigration_referendum,_February_2014 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_immigration_referendum,_... You might think that makes sense, but consider that if you are not Swiss you do not get a vote. The path to naturalisation in Switzerland takes at least ten years, which in some way explains the high relative level of foreigners in the country. There are second and third generation immigrants here who are still not Swiss due to the nature of the process. Switzerland needs its Ausländer/Étrangers/Stranieri/Esters, a large part of the economy here would collapse otherwise.

tim333 10y ago
Same thing with Brexit. The areas with the most immigrants voted remain. I guess if you don't like foreigners you're not going to live somewhere like London which is pretty international these days.
- leejo 10y ago
  I was immensely frustrated by the Brexit campaign and outcome. I haven't said anything about this online, other than a short photo essay[1], so this is the one time i'll allow myself to vent. My personal opinion, possibly misjudged given my age (mid thirties), is that the problems the UK is seeing (especially in the areas that voted leave) stem from the actions of the Thatcher government and have little to do with any of the arguments that passport-waving Farage and his ilk put forward. The ripples from the destruction of industry in the north, the deregulation of the financial markets, and the tearing down of the unions are felt strongly thirty years later, especially in those areas that voted to leave. I'm just flabbergasted that a generation that was screwed over thirty years ago would repeat the same mistake, and potentially screw over their own offspring's future. They ate up the arguments that somehow the local problems are all the fault of an external entity, and seemed to suffer from acute memory loss. [1] https://leejo.github.io/2016/06/22/two_weeks_to_decide/ https://leejo.github.io/2016/06/22/two_weeks_to_decide/ (the title is a lie, i was always going to vote remain).
  - crdoconnor 10y ago
    True, but nobody was offered a referendum to reverse Thatcherism. Brexit was pretty much the only real opportunity the North of England has been given in the last 20 years to vote against the continuing erosion of their wages.
    - leejo 10y ago
      Indeed, there was no alternative to Thatcherism in the 80s because the Labour party was in a state. History appears to be repeating itself[1]. Given the Lib Dem's self destruction out of the previous coalition as well, we stand to see a Tory government for at least the next two election cycles. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(UK)#Internal_conflict_and_opposition.2C_1979.E2.80.931997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(UK)#Internal_con...
    - tim333 10y ago
      I was surprised they didn't vote more solidly Labour in 2010 and 2015 which might have helped.
thomasahle 10y ago
> the cantons with the highest levels of immigration voted the most strongly against the initiative. This appears to be the pattern most places, including Brittain and the US. If this indicates that people learn to live with each other, then it's probably a good sign. The odd country out seems to be Sweden, where the "not much immigrated to" countryside seems to be more positive towards immigration than the urban areas. I'm still not quite sure why. Maybe they haven't been as good at distributing the immigration across the country?

by leejo 10y ago

tim333 10y ago

Same thing with Brexit. The areas with the most immigrants voted remain. I guess if you don't like foreigners you're not going to live somewhere like London which is pretty international these days.

leejo 10y ago
I was immensely frustrated by the Brexit campaign and outcome. I haven't said anything about this online, other than a short photo essay[1], so this is the one time i'll allow myself to vent. My personal opinion, possibly misjudged given my age (mid thirties), is that the problems the UK is seeing (especially in the areas that voted leave) stem from the actions of the Thatcher government and have little to do with any of the arguments that passport-waving Farage and his ilk put forward. The ripples from the destruction of industry in the north, the deregulation of the financial markets, and the tearing down of the unions are felt strongly thirty years later, especially in those areas that voted to leave. I'm just flabbergasted that a generation that was screwed over thirty years ago would repeat the same mistake, and potentially screw over their own offspring's future. They ate up the arguments that somehow the local problems are all the fault of an external entity, and seemed to suffer from acute memory loss. [1] https://leejo.github.io/2016/06/22/two_weeks_to_decide/ https://leejo.github.io/2016/06/22/two_weeks_to_decide/ (the title is a lie, i was always going to vote remain).
- crdoconnor 10y ago
  True, but nobody was offered a referendum to reverse Thatcherism. Brexit was pretty much the only real opportunity the North of England has been given in the last 20 years to vote against the continuing erosion of their wages.
  - leejo 10y ago
    Indeed, there was no alternative to Thatcherism in the 80s because the Labour party was in a state. History appears to be repeating itself[1]. Given the Lib Dem's self destruction out of the previous coalition as well, we stand to see a Tory government for at least the next two election cycles. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(UK)#Internal_conflict_and_opposition.2C_1979.E2.80.931997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Party_(UK)#Internal_con...
  - tim333 10y ago
    I was surprised they didn't vote more solidly Labour in 2010 and 2015 which might have helped.

thomasahle 10y ago

> the cantons with the highest levels of immigration voted the most strongly against the initiative. This appears to be the pattern most places, including Brittain and the US. If this indicates that people learn to live with each other, then it's probably a good sign. The odd country out seems to be Sweden, where the "not much immigrated to" countryside seems to be more positive towards immigration than the urban areas. I'm still not quite sure why. Maybe they haven't been as good at distributing the immigration across the country?