Swiss town denies passport to vegan campaigner 'for being annoying'

kunst nugget · 12-01-2017 12:26pm #1

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/switzerland-deny-passport-dutch-vegan-anti-cowbell-nancy-holten-animal-rights-annoying-a7520991.html

A woman has been denied a second application for a Swiss passport after local residents took offence to her rejection of traditions and her “annoying” campaigning.

Nancy Holten, 42, who was born in the Netherlands, moved to Switzerland when she was eight. She is fluent in Swiss German and her children have Swiss citizenship.

The animal rights activist has campaigned publicly against the local traditions of putting bells around cows’ necks and piglet racing, according to The Local.

In her village within the canton of Aargau, Ms Holten, a vegan, has rubbed locals up the wrong way by giving interviews to the media about her views on animal rights.

FAILSAFE 00 · 12-01-2017 12:28pm

Brilliant

silverharp · 12-01-2017 12:34pm

now that's democracy

Clarebelly · 12-01-2017 12:35pm

God help her children.

CaptainInsano · 12-01-2017 12:38pm

Thanks for that op. What's the weather for the weekend?

Help!!!! · 12-01-2017 12:40pm

Surely this should be in the politics forum as its about immigration?

Advbrd · 12-01-2017 12:42pm

She may have a point re the bells but leave the piglet racing out of it.

jmayo · 12-01-2017 12:42pm

Fook it I have long been a believer that the Swiss were a money grabbing lot who helped keep the Nazi war machine going for years longer than it should, but I am beginning to like the Swiss more and more of late.

kunst nugget · 12-01-2017 12:47pm

CaptainInsano wrote: »

Thanks for that op. What's the weather for the weekend?

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

Commotion Ocean · 12-01-2017 12:52pm

jmayo wrote: »

Fook it I have long been a believer that the Swiss were a money grabbing lot who helped keep the Nazi war machine going for years longer than it should, but I am beginning to like the Swiss more and more of late.

Godwin's Law has been invoked by the 8th post. Is this a new record for boards.ie?

silverharp · 12-01-2017 12:54pm

dfeo wrote: »

Godwin's Law has been invoked by the 8th post. Is this a new record for boards.ie?

insert Princess Bride meme....

Stigura · 12-01-2017 1:06pm

Help!!!! wrote: »

Surely this should be in the politics forum as its about immigration?

Give him time. He can't be here 24/7

jmayo · 12-01-2017 6:19pm

dfeo wrote: »

Godwin's Law has been invoked by the 8th post. Is this a new record for boards.ie?

Why not check out history, you might learn something. :rolleyes:

Harry Palmr · 12-01-2017 6:19pm

Who could be against piglet racing?

mad muffin · 12-01-2017 6:23pm

What's wrong with an itty bitty bell around a cows neck?

*follows link*

WTF?!!?!?! The size of those bells?!?!? It's like a small hatchback!!! :eek:

yerwanthere123 · 12-01-2017 6:36pm

I feel quite bad for her actually, she's lived in Switzerland since she was eight years old, so she is Swiss for all intents and purposes. Also, her being vegan has nothing to do with the story.

elperello · 12-01-2017 6:40pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Who could be against piglet racing?

Piglets maybe..??

Irish Guitarist · 12-01-2017 6:41pm

To be fair those cows look like their necks are about to break with the weight of the bells.

seamus · 12-01-2017 6:43pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I feel quite bad for her actually, she's lived in Switzerland since she was eight years old, so she is Swiss for all intents and purposes. Also, her being vegan has nothing to do with the story.

it's virtue signalling for all the anti-liberals to come out and start flinging poo around.

"Annoying woman denied Swiss citizenship" doesn't quite get the donkeys braying loudly enough.

Harry Palmr · 12-01-2017 6:48pm

elperello wrote: »

Piglets maybe..??

I've never seen a piglet happier than when racing other piglets. Highly social animals.

gctest50 · 12-01-2017 6:50pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I feel quite bad for her actually, she's lived in Switzerland since she was eight years old, so she is Swiss for all intents and purposes. Also, her being vegan has nothing to do with the story.

Zwart Pete was on the baccy again, he was supposed to drop her off in Spain

Capt'n Midnight · 12-01-2017 10:15pm

jmayo wrote: »

Fook it I have long been a believer that the Swiss were a money grabbing lot who helped keep the Nazi war machine going for years longer than it should, but I am beginning to like the Swiss more and more of late.

If you want to hate them again then they are running a scam where all of Zambia's copper is exported on paper through a small village for tax avoidance reasons.

Scum.

FatHeadFred · 12-01-2017 10:21pm

The Swiss people get a say in who gets naturalisatised citizenship?

We should have the same here.

Venom · 12-01-2017 10:24pm

"Tanja Suter, the president of the local Swiss People’s Party, claimed Ms Holten has a “big mouth” and residents had not wanted to give her the gift of citizenship “if she annoys us and doesn’t respect our traditions”."

With 144 out of 206 residents not wanting her and her big mouth there, even if she gets the passport approved at a government level she would be better off moving to a different area

r3nu4l · 12-01-2017 10:25pm

elperello wrote: »

Piglets maybe..??

That's the talk of loser piglets. You won't hear the ones who win complaining!

Venom · 12-01-2017 10:47pm

r3nu4l wrote: »

That's the talk of loser piglets. You won't hear the ones who win complaining!

Loser piglets get eaten!

andekwarhola · 12-01-2017 11:30pm

jmayo wrote: »

Fook it I have long been a believer that the Swiss were a money grabbing lot who helped keep the Nazi war machine going for years longer than it should, but I am beginning to like the Swiss more and more of late.

They're the Prince Philip of Europe: wealthy, intemperate curmudgeons but mordantly amusing.

Zebra3 · 13-01-2017 12:59am

jmayo wrote: »

Fook it I have long been a believer that the Swiss were a money grabbing lot who helped keep the Nazi war machine going for years longer than it should, but I am beginning to like the Swiss more and more of late.

While you're at it, throw in Ford and General Motors.

diomed · 13-01-2017 1:06am

Best thread of 2017 so far.

RobertKK · 13-01-2017 1:30am

The Swiss love their cow bells, I got a very cheap flight to Switzerland last month with Ryanair, I was in Lucerne and heard this loud noise and decided to see what was going on - a man dressed as St Nicholas was parading through the streets followed by two groups of men and boys dressed in what I assume is traditional Swiss clothing, and they were ringing cow bells, they can't be too heavy, as the youngest boy ringing them must have been 8 or 9 years old.
It was also clear the Swiss cherish cattle, given I saw statues of cattle in two different cities.
That vegan woman who lived there since she was 8, was obviously blinded by her veganism to not see that she was attacking something that was very Swiss.

OxfordColours · 13-01-2017 1:46am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

If you want to hate them again then they are running a scam where all of Zambia's copper is exported on paper through a small village for tax avoidance reasons.

Scum.

You can't hate a whole nation of people, because of the actions of a single large corporate body?

swiwi_ · 13-01-2017 2:20am

kunst nugget wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/switzerland-deny-passport-dutch-vegan-anti-cowbell-nancy-holten-animal-rights-annoying-a7520991.html

It's not the fact she's vegan that will be annoying the village. It will be her campaigning, and trying to impose or bring others round to her views.

As a naturalised Swiss, my experience is that the Swiss prize personal liberty very highly...provided you don't interfere with other people's ability to enjoy that same personal liberty.

The villagers wouldn't give a flying f*ck that she is vegan.

The animal rights activist has campaigned publicly against the local traditions of putting bells around cows’ necks and piglet racing

Right there is the problem. The Swiss will think she can f*ck right off with her campaigning. She can live in Switzerland, but she has no inherent right to become Swiss, Switzerland is not "desperate" for more Swiss citizens. If she wants the perceived privilege of being Swiss, she needs to know what being Swiss means: much more freedom than in Ireland to not follow "group think", you can be as weird and wacky as you want, but don't irritate other citizens by invading their personal space and free time with your vegan crusade.

Trying to lecture the rural farmers who highly prize all sorts of dairy and beef products etc is just going to end badly for her.

The Swiss can be quite stubborn, and they care a lot lot less about what other countries think of them, than say Ireland. You can read all the usual comments about "boring", "Nazis", "banks" etc, the Swiss just shrug, look around at their wealthy, peaceful, calm society and say "so what". Irritates the hell out of people, and there would be lashings of schadenfreude from other European countries if Switzerland went down the gurgler, but that's just the way it is.

jmayo · 13-01-2017 10:54am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

If you want to hate them again then they are running a scam where all of Zambia's copper is exported on paper through a small village for tax avoidance reasons.

Scum.

They are great at laundering money for all sorts of dodgy characters and helping people avoid taxes.
Then again so are places like Caymans, Channel islands, Isle of Man, Liechtenstein and oh yeah Ireland to a certain extent.

Small nations and states with very little going for them as regards natural resources have found they are niches that they can fill for the big guys.
The Swiss have just been doing longer than most.

andekwarhola wrote: »

They're the Prince Philip of Europe: wealthy, intemperate curmudgeons but mordantly amusing.

They are certain things I like about the country.
They are probably the most able neutral country when it comes to defense and you can your hands on a proper gun.
Yet they have nowhere near the gun crime of the likes of US.
They allow a high level of local democracy.
The landscape is truly amazing.
Everything runs on time.
They don't give a shyte what others think of them.
Euthanasia (assisted suicide) is legal.
They used to have personal number plates that you could look up, ok it is a bit of a stalkerish thing but could be very handy tracking people.
And they make damn fine pocket knives.
Oh and I like the cheese.

Things I dislike about the place.
They are very anal about things like noise control and AFAIK all bikes have to be limited.
They actively provided war materials to the Nazis in WWII and helped keep their war machine going.
They tried to protect their banks and allow them keep keep millions from holocaust and other victims of WWII.
They have actively allowed their banks to hide the ill gotten gains of some of the most despicable despots in history.
They invented toblerone.

Zebra3 wrote: »

While you're at it, throw in Ford and General Motors.

Ehh and don't forget the Bushes

Lots of very rich individuals and companies made a lot of money out of WWII.

I could go all conspiracy theories here and talk about the links between industrialists/bankers on both sides and drag in Prince Bernhard of The Netherland and the subsequent founding of the Bilderberg Group.
Man that would take this thread in all sorts of directions.

Capt'n Midnight · 14-01-2017 10:53am

OxfordColours wrote: »

You can't hate a whole nation of people, because of the actions of a single large corporate body?

The locals in the village of Ruschlikon voted to allow it. So they get a 2% change in local tax funded by a country where 60% live below the poverty line.