January 29, 2020

"An Italian man spent 30 years living in Switzerland, starting his own successful ice cream business and raising two sons. But when he tried to become a Swiss citizen in 2015..."

"... he was rejected. The reason? He didn’t know that bears and wolves shared an enclosure at the zoo. That decision — which authorities said pointed to the man’s failure to integrate socially — was overturned on Monday, when the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the country’s supreme court, deemed it to be unreasonable and arbitrary.... [A] panel of judges ordered that the man be granted citizenship immediately.... Several high-profile cases have brought international attention to the peculiarities of Swiss immigration law in recent years — from a Muslim couple who were denied citizenship for refusing a handshake to an animal rights activist deemed too annoying for naturalization."

WaPo reports.

53 comments:

Bob Boyd said...

Wolves and bears share a display case in Wuhan.

tim maguire said...

Those last two seem pretty reasonable.

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

Switzerland is a very insular conformist society. I suspect many citizens read this and wonder why someone would have a problem with this...

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Maybe the animal rights activist could share an enclosure with the bears and wolves. I bet they would integrate him in short order...

henry said...

Can we use the Swiss system here? Especially the "too annoying" criterion.

Fernandinande said...

Bears and wolves fighting.

Zoo horror as bears kill female wolf in front of shocked visitors at Dutch animal enclosure where four of each animal were kept together to create a 'challenging' atmosphere

Roger Sweeny said...

an animal rights activist deemed too annoying for naturalization.

Proving that I am a bad person, I sympathize with the authorities on this one.

Quaestor said...

The Swiss are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their country.

Bob Boyd said...

In Switzerland today, when the cheese is gone the holes are recycled. Before, they just ended up in the landfill.

Anonymous said...

"...to the peculiarities of Swiss immigration law in recent years — from a Muslim couple who were denied citizenship for refusing a handshake to an animal rights activist deemed too annoying for naturalization."

These are only questionable relative to globo-clowns' abstract and unworkable concepts of society and citizenship. If there are no "peculiarities", then one place is the same as another. Peculiarity of place and culture require peculiarity of membership rules.

"Must not be too annoying" is an excellent criterion for granting citizenship. That one shouldn't be a peculiarity, it should be universal.

Skeptical Voter said...

Alex I'll take "Too annoying for naturalization" for $100.

And you really don't want to mess with the Swiss. There is near universal military service for males. There's a period of active duty for young men, followed by a gradually decreasing reserve obligation up to age 50. When I was an exchange student in Switzerland in 1960 a family member of military age had a machine pistol, kept in the closet at home. He was a lieutenant in a tank unit at the local armory. Similar weapons were stashed in closets all over the country. Being "too annoying" is not a recipe for success in an armed society.

Levi Starks said...

Standards

MadisonMan said...

Sounds like getting citizenship in Switzerland is akin to getting tenure.

whitney said...

Boy I would love it if we could decide who was allowed in here. Freedom of Association must be awesome

mockturtle said...

What's wrong with the Swiss enforcing their own standards on citizenship?

rhhardin said...

I somehow avoided Switzerland. Annoying mountains.

rhhardin said...

St. Bernards are always devouring lost skiiers there too, in drunken orgies.

paminwi said...

I think we can think it’s weird what parameters some countries have for granting citizenship.
I think we don’t have the correct rules either.
Why must every country be like Germany who opened their borders to every crazy that found their way there?
I say let each country do their own thing.

Leland said...

Hey progressives, look how successful the Swiss are including avoiding wars. We should adopt some of their ideas on immigration.

I do agree with the narrow court decision, but I'm not sure I'd extend status to the other examples. Why was the handshake refused? Being anti-social to the society you wish to join is a red flag. This also goes for the annoying person and chuck.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Whoa. I read that story about the animal rights activist and for sure, she should have been denied citizenship. Hell, she should've been denied entry. What an oaf.

The 'zoo' question I have no idea, but the muslim handshake thing I'm also in support of Swiss standards on this one. They can go somewhere else, and evidence for the slippery slope is any cardinal direction you choose to go from Geneva.

Lucid-Ideas said...

This is the kind of stuff that brings out the libertarian in me. The old 'countries as houses' analogy to me.

The 'world' is not welcome in my house. Indeed can't possibly be. My house has rules, largely based on reason but not all, that are not subject to outside interpretation. You don't get to be a guest in my home and then complain about my rules for becoming a member of my family. Go next door.

When my home is small and vulnerable like Switzerland, this goes double. Go. To. France.

Fernandinande said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

The reason? He didn’t know that bears and wolves shared an enclosure at the zoo.

Not according to machine translations of the (identical) articles the Whappo used as references (the court decision doesn't mention the zoo/park):

"The Lausanne magistrates reject the conclusion of the naturalization commission which considered that the social integration of the candidate in the local fabric was insufficient. The latter was based on its [ha ha!] ignorance of the habits and customs of the country, and of central Switzerland in particular. Thus, she reproached him in particular for ignoring that the wolves and the bears of the Goldau animal park (SZ) shared the same enclosure."

Wince said...

An Italian man spent 30 years living in Switzerland, starting his own successful ice cream business and raising two sons.

Sounds like the opening to an ethnic joke.

Maybe that could be the new Swiss citizenship question?

"Heard any good [blank] jokes lately?"

Churchy LaFemme: said...

An Italian man spent 30 years living in Switzerland, starting his own successful ice cream business and raising two sons.

Sounds like the opening to an ethnic joke.


As I recall, there was a whole movie along those lines.

J. Farmer said...

Cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!

tcrosse said...

One set of my great grandparents were Swiss. I wonder why they left, particularly because they ended up in Upper Michigan.

narayanan said...

... to the peculiarities of Swiss immigration law in recent years — from a Muslim couple who were denied citizenship for refusing a handshake to an animal rights activist deemed too annoying for naturalization."
----------------------
Greta Thunberg, A Vegan, Is PETA’s Youth Role Model of the Year

?so did they throw Greta over?

Narr said...

Almost an hour on Switzerland and nobody has called them out over WWII yet! How refreshing.

I'm glad the Eye-tie got his burgherhood; Muslims can kiss off.

A lot of countries in Europe (Germany and Greece for two, IIRC) allow easy or automatic citizenship to those who can prove the right grand-parent hood. That makes a sort of sense
if you're into blood and soil and the like.

But then the Krauts (bless their idealistic little hearts), having dispensed with their own indigenous intelligent, creative, talented, and patriotic menorahty, decided to make up for that by gathering in larger numbers of less intelligent, talented, creative, and patriotic people . . .

Narr
MGGA!

Sebastian said...

Hey! Can we also denaturalize people for being annoying?

I have some specific folks in mind.

LYNNDH said...

animal rights activist deemed too annoying - So Saint Greta could not get Swiss Citizenship. Good for the Swiss.
The Muslim couple were racist, so why not deny them citizenship. After the Dems here want to deny Rep life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (including for Men being Manly),

gilbar said...

Why don't they do it like we do here?

1st the couple sneak over the border, becoming "Undocumented Immigrants"
2nd the mom pops out a baby or two, which are Therefore: Natural Born Citizens
3rd since the couple have relatives (children) living here, they are also granted Citizenship

HOW is Switzerland going to become Majority Minority with these stupid Zoo questions?

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Rep. Omar had to cross Switzerland off her list. There were two strikes against her: she's an annoying Muslim.

Anonymous said...

Skeptical Voter said...
in 1960 a family member of military age had a machine pistol, kept in the closet at home. He was a lieutenant in a tank unit at the local armory. Similar weapons were stashed in closets all over the country.


Still the case. Though a basic load of ammo comes in a sealed can. Woe be it a good Swiss who opens his can without permission. And of course, knowing the Swiss as you do, you know none would.

Anonymous said...

IIRC women didn't get the vote until 1971? Anyway, they used to hold "The Landsgemeinde". Two cantons still do. Public votes in the town square. Citizenship and the right to vote demonstrated when the male head of household held up his musket.

Traditional was invented as a word to describe the Swiss

Anonymous said...

apparently ammo is no longer issued, but on any given day, 29% of the Swiss have a military grade weapon...

JAORE said...

Lots of Muslim men refuse to shake hands with a woman. The freedom of religion gene in me says that is harmless to society as a whole so he should get a pass.

In my past (working) life I worked with a Muslim man in the environmental field. One of the archeologists, a woman, ALWAYS walked up to him and thrust out her hand. He said, "you know...". She said, "Yes I do". It was more like a running joke. They remained friends.

Sure, sure,"That's misogynistic!". I see your point. But let's not dissect every personal action as if it is threatening everyone.

Lewis Wetzel said...

All kinds of laws are arbitrary and unreasonable. For example, it's against the law for an 80 year old man to marry his 78 year old sister. It's illegal to cross the street outside of a crosswalk, even if there are no cars in sight. Arbitrary and unreasonable laws are a feature, not a bug.

Ralph L said...

Successfully selling ice cream to the Swiss--that's a man worth keeping.

Narr said...

Last year at the state regional "national history day" judging about half the competing entries were from Muslim students or teams with Muslim students. A lot of them--not all--were on Islam-related topics, and no more or less PC than most others (i.e. extremely PC, especially those from the posher private schools), but to me one stood out--if anything like it shows up this year (next month) things could get interesting.

It presented the Holocaust/Shoah as a sort of war between the German Nazi army and the Jewish army . . . At least it got no farther than that round. That time.

Before the awards I was admonished that I shouldn't shake the hands of the young Muslima winners--fine by me, I'm not a big one for body contact with strangers myself, but there are other customs of my people I have no intention of compromising.

Narr
Discreet Leerer

Yancey Ward said...

I also would refuse to shake the hand of an animal rights activist who was too annoying for naturalization.

On the legal issue- what is the definition of arbitrary in this case? I suspect that the response is likely to be even greater rigor in the actual rule writing. Will the court then overturn that?

rcocean said...

So even in Switzerland, the land of direct Democracy, they judges rewriting the laws. And 2nd guessing the Government. Incredible. And this is just more of the "Narrative" - aren't immigrants wonderful and isn't it terrible to keep them out. Bleh!

rcocean said...

BTW, this isn't about kicking them out, its about giving them Citizenship. Obviously, the ice cream didn't find not being a citizen a hardship since he stayed in Switz for 20-30 years as a resident.

CJinPA said...

Not according to machine translations of the (identical) articles the Whappo used as references (the court decision doesn't mention the zoo/park)

It's heartwarming to see that the major news outlets don't just mislead readers about *U.S.* immigration debates.

Ask Sweden what happens when countries are too enlightened to insist on social integration. Or Norway. Or Germany. Or France.

bagoh20 said...

The Swiss are White people, so what do you expect? They love unfairness, as we all know.

Lewis Wetzel said...

You know what is also arbitrary and irrational? Love.
Yet the libs say tat they want immigration laws based on love.

Big Mike said...

To be fair, animal rights activists really are too annoying. Out here in Virginia a few years back, PETA took a family’s pet Chihuahua right off their porch and within 24 hours the poor little dog had been euthanized. When the family figured out, how did PETA respond? Did they offer the family a new puppy from a pet store, or, netter yet, their choice of rescue dog? Nope, they sent the family a fruit basket! Of course the family was living in a trailer park, so they don’t count for much with the sort of privileged Progs who staff PETA.

Todd said...

Roger Sweeny said...

an animal rights activist deemed too annoying for naturalization.

Proving that I am a bad person, I sympathize with the authorities on this one.

1/29/20, 8:21 AM


I followed that story. She was a bit of a d*ck. I would not have voted her in either.

bonkti said...

a bit of a dick is its own punishment

Todd said...

bonkti said...

a bit of a dick is its own punishment

1/29/20, 2:43 PM


Well there is at least one Swedish community that does not have to suffer along with the accused! In most places everyone else is forced to serve time with the dick and sort of moving, have little recourse.

Todd said...

That should have been "short of moving"...

The Godfather said...

In the late 19th Century, when my ancestors came here from Germany and Ireland, they knew that they would be better off if they weren't annoying to the natives, so they made sure that they didn't become annoying for at least a generation or two.

In the 1600's, when my ancestors came here from England, they followed a different policy regarding annoying the natives. And that seemed to work for them.