I grew up in a very small town with lots of farmers and "typically close-minded swiss people"... not saying anything against farmers here... just using it as an example. There were other people which were no farmers but had the same narrow minded views as some of them. Really just an example...
Anyway, i somehow managed to grow up there without becomming a racist idiot. But some of you in here remind me exactly of those people.
My ex-girlfriend is from scotland (living in switzerland (OMG! Imigrant bitch taking our jobs!! :P)... and she told me quite a few things about her father who still lives in scotland... and in particular, about his political views. She didn't support them... but that's not really relevant.
What she told me was that he experienced this whole thing in his life... about not getting a good home and being put into a shabby apartment, because there were immigrants who deserved it more in the eyes of the government. That, along a few other things, is the reason he is right-minded.
I can somehow understand it very well if people get upset about immigrants who "come here and get what is supposed to be ours", and i don't blame them. But that doesn't make their thinking better...
Sometimes people don't see the bigger picture... or blame the wrong people. Not all people are bad and try to get away with having their food put into their mouth and generally being lazy. There are many people who are good people, and trust me, it doesn't matter what they are... even if they are "just" immigrants.
Imagine you would be one of them. For whatever reason, you want to have a good life (don't you?), and maybe they don't see that ever happening in their own country, so they try it somewhere else (which is more than ok in my eyes... it's a free world (at least over here), and maybe you'd like to go and live somewhere else aswell someday... and then you'd like to feel welcome there aswell)).
Now imagine you leave your home and find yourself in a new country... you need a place to stay, and a job. Somebody offers this to you... would you not take it? Would you say "hey, wait, maybe i don't deserve this apartment and job, shouldn't you guys give it to somebody from your own country who deserves it more maybe? Don't worry, i'll still make it somehow without a job, since we don't need a roof above our heads or food in the country where i come from..."?
The problem is not the people who come to your contry to find a better life. The problem is not that they take a job offered to them, instead of you. The problem is your own government, because they seem to be the ones in charge, who could change all that (correct me if i'm wrong please).
Some of you are upset about immigrants taking what is/should be yours. While you should be upset about the system you are living in, which makes this even possible. But voting for an obviously racist party, kinda is the wrong attempt to solving the problem IMO. Then again... i don't blame you... millions of germans were very happy about a certain guys ideas... until they found out what it really was about... i think at this point, most people would have rather lived in a hopeless economy instead of what they "voted themself into".
Just my thoughts...
PS: Regarding the last post of bladerunner...
If you talk about criminals in switzerland, people have foreigners in their minds aswell. It's not always like you'd imagine it tho... you can never see things "black and white" like this. I for example am not really a careful person (walking dark streets in the night alone... whatever...). I am the dumb guy who believes in the good in people and therefor sometimes takes a risk. But the fun part about it is... i was beaten up seriously exactly one time in my life... and it wasn't by foreigners, it was a group of swiss racists. They found me and my friend camping, and started talking to us. We didn't want to argue with them, but didn't want to sell our principles either, and couldn't agree with what they tried to convince us regarding their views. They took off and came back in the night when we were sleeping. Do i think all swiss racist guys will want to beat me up because of that happening to me? Or that there is no bad immigrant here in switzerland who could be a possible harm to me? No. Just saying you know. ;-)