The People, No!

There are still repercussions of the Swiss vote. Those outraged by the referendum are sputtering that the people must not be allowed to voice their opinions, that referendums lead to pogroms, that the majority is not right and must not be heeded, and similar examples of hysteria triggered by a simple act of honesty by which an Islamic symbol of conquest (minarets) was rejected in a free election. Of course, this is because the vote did not turn out to their satisfaction. When voting goes their way, they have a completely different opinion.

The cartoon above is by an artist named Chappatte whose work appears in Le Temps of Geneva. This particular cartoon was also published in France by Yahoo. Chappatte spoke with Le Monde about the referendum:

"What will it mean to say you are Swiss tomorrow? This Switzerland is one of a kind, a red stain on the planet. (...) I'm lashing out at the Swiss in order to show them in an unflattering light. (...) Islam is one of the main religions of the country. Switzerland finds itself at the head of a European phenomenon - of course, I hope it isn't so - it finds itself the world's beacon of Islamophobia."

In the cartoon, the man says (in the bubble): "You must not touch the sacrosanct rights of the people."

In his hand he holds a list of these rights: initiatives, referendums, pogroms.

Notice how he is depicted - a bit of a slob with dirty fingers and lower class work clothes. Maybe the equivalent of a "redneck"?

Source: Novopress