Swiss Greens International

Sign the people's intiative for the prohibition of exporting war materials

The Swiss Greens support the people's initiative to prohibit the export of war materials.

Here's an excerpt of a brief on why this initiative was launched:

Swiss arms kill - worldwide

Arms are not products like any other: they are made to kill people as efficiently as possible.
Arms exports make wars escalate. Even neutral Switzerland is deeply involved in the death trade.

Between 2003 and 2005 Switzerland exported arms worth 1.04 billion (thousand million) Swiss francs. 78% of this trade went to countries that take part in the "War on Terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By exporting war materials Switzerland is turning into an accomplice in a war that is fought by the USA and its allies for chiefly economic reasons.

...

Even authoritarian regimes are supported by arms exports from Switzerland, for example the rulers of Saudi-Arabia and Egypt who violently suppress their democratic opposition.
The interests of the arms lobby are more important to the Federal Council and parliament than Human Rights and democracy. Therefore we need the Initiative to prohibit exporting war material.

More here [PDF, in German]

Get signing sheets in German or French

Notes for signing the initiative:

• Only those who are registered to vote can sign the initiative (see voting refresher).
• Each voter signs on a separate sheet.
• Enter the name of the municipality from where the voter receives his/her voting materials into the field labelled "Politische Gemeinde".
• Enter the voter's full address (street, town, postal code, country) in the signing field.

More info on the initiative and ballots: [DE] [FR] [IT]

posted by Ralph Sommerer @ 14:44