141–150 of 174 posts
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Switzerland is a state. Talking about what they're "allowed" to do is just meaningless. But, it does seem like a terrible place to live. I fear for the immigrants who form the basis of the economy.
Switzerland is consistently rated among the best places to live in almost any metric.
I support that. If you tried doing the inverse, for example, migrate to an Islamic country and bring over Christianity there, you would not be welcomed at all. I’m an expat and one thing I’ve learned is to integrate myself with the culture of the country that adopted me, I believe this shows respect and that I am aligned with its values and principles.
Well, Europeans ever try their hand with the Jewish one? Seem to have some previous experience there.
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Do you truly believe Switzerland is at risk of an Islamic invasion? How do people on a platform such as HN fall for such obviously falsifiable statements? The initiative is obviously part of the global right-wing populist trend. Countries in the EU are dependent on immigration for maintaining their economies and public infrastructure as the population ages. I'm not Swiss, but the current government in Sweden has been…
I don't know if you've lived in an Islamic country but I have. In fact I was born there and spent more than half my life under Islamic law. More to it, I am the same brown minority that you seek to defend by posting this. Westerners are so naive, Islam's objective is to grow and convert as many people as possible. To this end, they have been building mosques all over the world, increasing their population and weaponi…
As opposed to the Catholic Church never ever building Basilicas and Cathedrals? Places of worship are social and political centers given how Abrahamic religions work.
> There is a reason Muslim countries don't allow Christians, Jews and other faiths to flourish in their homes.
Met a Copt the other day: Seemed content and had no complains. Spoke to a Rūm a while ago, and despite the recent turn of events, they seemed optimistic about the Levant. The only Assryian I know complained about the US-led war on Iraq uprooting their lives more than any previous regime. That isn't to say there aren't issues, but which society is without them? Especially when exaggerators & hypocrites are in no short supply, regardless of their socio-religious allegiance.
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Switzerland is a state. Talking about what they're "allowed" to do is just meaningless. But, it does seem like a terrible place to live. I fear for the immigrants who form the basis of the economy.
Switzerland is consistently rated among the best places to live in almost any metric.
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Maybe work on changing zoning laws instead of pandering to farmers and rural cantons?
Social housing programs have historically doubled or tripled housing construction. Has changing zoning laws historically ever boosted housing construction by more than 10%?
Certainly has in New Zealand - particularly in Christchurch and Auckland. The local politics are against densification - but the national politics have been ascendant. Over the last decade, New Zealand’s housing stock has grown by approximately 16%.
Densification has gone up in city centres - with broad political support from our left and right parlimentarians.
We must have more houses because our population is rising through immigration. Like many countries, we have too many retirees and not enough workers: so New Zealand is using immigration to patch that problem (particularly in healthcare and elderly care). Currently about 30% of our population was born in another country (gained residency or passport). It isn't a stable solution since working immigrants eventually get old too. The alternative is population growth which is also unstable in the long term (plus population growth is harder for the government to encourage).
There are many issues, and a lot of the same rhetoric you see in the US, but broadly immigration seems to be helping our economy.
If you're from the US, the state closest to NZ for population, size and weather would be Oregon (to give you a comparison).
"Anti foreigner sentiment"? Dear NYT, try to find an apartment in the EU or Switzerland. At best, you will get a furnished (to circumvent rent caps), overpriced 30 square meter dump that takes up 40% of your net salary. Once that problem is solved, we can talk about "sentiments".
im not sure about Switzerland, but there are areas in Germany, where you can.
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Nationalism and borders have done very little for humanity. The world would be a better place if we defined our communities by how we welcomed people and not by who we excluded
If that was the case, there would be no need to worry about migrating to the area formerly-known-as-Switzerland to be among its people, would there? The people who clamor for moving there now could simply remake what they imagine liking about it in another area - careful not to erect borders or engender any kind of pride or loyalty to what they build, naturally.
"Anti foreigner sentiment"? Dear NYT, try to find an apartment in the EU or Switzerland. At best, you will get a furnished (to circumvent rent caps), overpriced 30 square meter dump that takes up 40% of your net salary. Once that problem is solved, we can talk about "sentiments".
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I said nothing about cheap labour. People should get to move and live where they want. If Switzerland has a lack of infrastructure it should build more, not xenophobically cap its population. You can’t freeze a society in amber.
why?
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Maybe work on changing zoning laws instead of pandering to farmers and rural cantons?
Citizens can choose to prioritize quality of life over maximizing housing stock to increase the domestic population. “We’re all full up.” It is their country after all, it is their choice. Those who want in are not stakeholders nor have a vote.