Federal popular initiative "For freedom of expression - get rid of the muzzle!"

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The federal popular initiative "For freedom of expression - get rid of the muzzle!" was a popular initiative of the Swiss Democrats (SD). She called for the deletion of the racism penal norm . However, it did not materialize because the Swiss Democrats were unable to submit the 100,000 required signatures between August 7, 2007 and February 7, 2009 to the Federal Chancellery . According to former National Councilor Bernhard Hess , only 75,000 to 80,000 signatures could be collected.

history

The cause was only actively supported by small parties such as the Freedom Party or the Nationally Oriented Swiss Party. No official support came from the SVP , which in a position paper from November 2006 had also fundamentally advocated deleting the anti-racism article. At that time, the SVP was pursuing its own priorities with the preparations for the deportation initiative and the federal popular initiative “Against the building of minarets” .

The Swiss Democrats describe the so-called anti-racism article ( Art. 261bis ) of the Criminal Code and the identical Art. 171c of the Military Code as controversial, anti- Swiss. The articles were adopted in 1994 after a popular referendum. They would lend a hand for press censorship and support the exclusion of those who think differently. Swiss Democrats claimed that criminal law provisions unduly and excessively restrict freedom of expression and thereby undermine democracy. Freedom of expression should be guaranteed in any case with a new sentence in the constitution and must not be restricted by any statutory provisions.

Text of the initiative

(I) The Federal Constitution of April 18, 1999 is amended as follows:

Art. 16 para. 4 (new)

  2. In the context of democratic opinion-forming and discussion, freedom of expression is guaranteed in any case and must not be restricted by any statutory provisions.

(II) The transitional provisions of the Federal Constitution are supplemented as follows:

Art. 197 no. 8 (new)

  2. Transitional provision to Article 16 paragraph 4 (new)
After Article 16 paragraph 4 has been accepted by the people and the cantons, Articles 261bis of the Criminal Code and 171c of the Military Criminal Code are to be deleted without replacement.

classification

The initiative "For freedom of expression - get rid of the muzzle!" was part of a series of popular initiatives by the Swiss Democrats: In 1993 the SD launched the popular initiative “For a federal holiday without work” , which was approved with 84 percent of votes in favor. In 1996 the initiative "for a sensible asylum policy" was declared invalid by parliament . In 1997 the federal popular initiative "EU accession negotiations before the people!" declined. At the collecting stage, the initiative “Keeping immigration in control” failed in 1997 and the initiative to “limit immigration from non-EU countries” in 2004.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ admin.ch: BBl 2009 995 (Federal Gazette, deadline; PDF; 465 kB)
  2. ↑ a b c d Ruedi Studer: Failure for Swiss Democrats. Federal popular initiative against the anti-racism article has failed . In: Basler Zeitung . February 3, 2009, p. 5 .
  3. ↑ Too few signatures against the racism penal norm . In: NZZ . No. 28 , February 4, 2009, p. 15 .
  4. ^ Right-wing scramble . In: The Bund . August 8, 2007, p. 1 .
  5. ↑ schweizer-demokrats.ch: Schweizer Demokratie 2007 July / August  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.schweizer-demokrats.ch  
  6. ↑ Abolish articles of racism . St. Galler Tagblatt. July 31, 2007. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
  7. ↑ schweizer-demokrats.ch: Anti-ARG-Initiative ( Memento of the original from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed July 2, 2009 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.schweizer-demokrats.ch