by Gerry Emmett

Last year, Switzerland was disgraced by an election campaign that demonized its Muslim inhabitants. Ironically, most Swiss Muslims have been refugees from genocide and persecution in Bosnia and Kosova.

Now the Federal Commission Against Racism has accused some Swiss communes (municipalities) of introducing forms of apartheid against asylum seekers, many from Nigeria, Eritrea and Tunisia. In Birmendsorf, Zurich, some streets are closed to them, and in Zug politicians want to introduce a restricted zone.

Commission head Georg Kreuz said, “Though these measures may not be apartheid per se, they’re definitely stigmatizing and starting to isolate what we consider as ‘the other.'”

This is in line with the rise of European racism and religious bigotry that finds expression in attacks on Roma across Europe, and exploded in anti-Muslim-motivated mass murders in Norway. Expect a new Libyan government to be pressured to continue Qaddafi’s restrictions on African immigration to Europe, which was one of his well-paid services to Europe’s rulers.