Gates of Vienna posts and interesting article, along with his own commentary, regarding a recent referendum in Switzerland in which around 2/3 of the population voted to tighten the country’s asylum laws. This is what happened:

According to early poll projections, Switzerland has voted heavily in favour of making it harder for asylum-seekers to gain entry to the rich Alpine state.

Despite warnings of damage to Switzerland’s humanitarian reputation, some two-thirds of voters appeared to have said ‘yes’ in referendums on laws limiting access for non-European job-seekers and making the country’s asylum rules amongst the West’s toughest.

They seemed also to have rejected a call by centre-left parties to redirect part of the central bank’s profit to the public pension system – a move opposed fiercely by the powerful Swiss National Bank.

“The revision of the asylum law looks to reserve Switzerland’s humanitarian tradition while at the same time stopping abuse,” right-wing Justice Minister Christoph Blocher, a strong backer of the new laws, had said during campaigning.

The measures have already been passed by both parliament and the government, but opponents raised enough signatures to force a national vote.

Have the Swiss woken up, or have they always been this way?…

What one has to understand about Switzerland is that, in general, it is a very introverted country. People keep their manners, keep quiet, obey the law, and respect one another. While everyone speaks different or multiple languages, everyone there is very patriotic and consider themselves Swiss above anything else. Anyone who does not act Swiss or conform to Swissness is looked down upon.

When I was in Basel this summer, this attitude was all too apparent (I was once lectured by an old man in German for parking my bike in the wrong place!). While Basel is perhaps one of the most introverted cities of Switzerland, it is also the safest an most law-abiding. So when something bad happens, people are shocked and they stare. I remember being downtown and seeing a guy get arrested. Everyone stopped and stared. I’m talking hundreds of people. You don’t see this kind of thing often in Basel.

The reason why this story is relevant is because this attitude is mostly projected toward immigrants — namely Turks. More Turks have been settling in Basel over the past few years, and as a result the city has seen a large increase in violent crimes. A murder in the streets or a husband killing his wife — these are all things that the Swiss cannot believe even happen. And when it shows up on the evening news that a Turk did it, they decide to vote in a referendum that this is the kind of thing that they don’t want in their country. The explanation is as simple as that.