Speaker 1:

On a misty chilled Sunday morning in Zurich, [Sameer Cuzarach] and his teammates are warming up. Every member of this junior squad dreams of playing for Zurich Grasshopper, the prestige club of Swiss football. From there, maybe a call out to the national team. But Sameer Cuzarach faces a particular challenge. He was born in Bosnia to play for Switzerland. To even vote in his adopted country, he must pass a fitness test more challenging than any he'll face on the pitch. He has to convince voters in a local referendum that being Bosnian does not make him a criminal.

Sameer Cuzarach:

[foreign].

Speaker 1:

A town in Switzerland demanding the right to decide who among its immigrant population, deserves a Swiss passport. Is this the local community standing up for itself or is this a dangerous exercise in the peddling of [inaudible]. The Swiss Alps are both beautiful and formidable. They have shielded a small and wealthy country from the devastation of war and protected it from the prying eyes of outsiders. It may come as some surprise then to learn that 20% of Switzerland's 7.2 million people are foreigners. Many were recruited in the 1960s and '70s to boost the country's labour force drawn by the prospect of a richer, more secure future. But in Switzerland's conservative heart, scarred by economic downturn, the landscape is uglier and so too the mood.

This is Emmen, a blue-collar town of nearly 30 thousand people. Times are tough here. Its industrial base is shrinking and jobs are hard to find. Foreigners, particularly those from the Balkan states, are being blamed.

Speaker 3:

It has lost its chemical plant, it's steel plant that's downsized quite a bit and people have this impression that somebody's gotta be the scapegoat for what's going wrong.

Speaker 1:

The man fanning the flames of local anger is nationalist politician, [Ac Ici].

Ac Ici:

We have too many foreign people in here, and we have too many crimes. Every day, you can get the newspaper, there is some crime, there is bank robs, there is shot, there is everything crimes and mostly time it's foreign people.

Speaker 1:

And so, two years ago, the people of Emmen demanded the right to decide which of the foreigners living among them should be granted citizenship and the passport and the vote which comes with it. This essentially is how they decided. By perusing a booklet full of the names and faces of people they'd probably never even met and on polling day deciding yes or no to them. Of 56 applicants in Emmen, 48 were rejected including all from the Balkans.

Speaker 3:

You get a little booklet with pictures and short descriptions of these candidates and that's all you have. Then you vote on basically if their name ends in 'ic' or not.

Speaker 1:

And if their name ends in 'ic' or 'ac'?

Speaker 3:

Then they get voted down.

Speaker 1:

Those applicants could hardly be accused of queue jumping opportunism either. To be considered for Swiss nationality, you have to live here for 12 years.

Ac Ici:

This time, the first first vote we say to all of Balkany states now, this was a helping cry. Help us. We don't want any more over here.

Speaker 1:

What message are you sending to them if they come from these Balkan states? Are you not saying to them, “We don't trust you. We don't think you belong here.” Even if they've been here for 12 years and paid their taxes.

Ac Ici:

Yeah. I know that this was a problem at the first vote.

Speaker 3:

I think it was outrageous but the whole procedure is what's outrageous. There are real problems with foreigners in Emmen, with crime and problems in schools and neighbourhoods that people realise there is a problem but I think the main problem is the procedure that people vote in anonymity on citizenship of individuals.

Speaker 1:

But what specifically is the problem with foreigners in Emmen? Well, the people we spoke to refused to be specific. Crime was on the increase, they said, property values were dropping and there was bullying at school. Bosnian boys exerting their greater physicality and intimidating Swiss kids. What more evidence did we need?

Ac Ici:

Here's another feeling about the rights and the laws. In Balkany states he has other mentality.

Speaker 1:

What is it? What do you not like about that mentality?

Ac Ici:

It's not the same if I say that's my bicycle or that that's our bicycle. If I do something, let him there and he steal them just to go home or things like this, the mentality in these countries is absolutely different instead.

Speaker 1:

For the upcoming vote, Sameer Cuzarach is hoping he can escape such racially motivated judgements. By any ordinary measure, he should be a strong candidate. He's very well educated, speaks excellent German and is clearly committed to Switzerland.

Sameer Cuzarach:

[foreign].

Speaker 1:

But he knows it's a difficult process. His sister's application was rejected in 2000 and he's already had three interviews just to get to the stage where his name and photo appears in that booklet.

Sameer Cuzarach:

[foreign].

Speaker 1:

Why do you need to know, when a young man comes before you, why do you need to know about his girlfriend and their relationship? What business is it of anyone's to know those things?

Ac Ici:

This is not the point. We never ask that. Nobody ask you that if you wanna get a Swiss passport.

Speaker 1:

Emmen does not have a black heart, but it is struggling to deal with its fears and an incident in the town square has just reinforced them.

Ac Ici:

Fighting together and pushing [crosstalk].

Speaker 1:

A fight between two drunk men, one Swiss, one Serbian and Ac Ici is clearly using it for all he's worth.

Ac Ici:

And over here, here's the last fights and he kill him with the knife. The knife is coming from this guy from Serbia and he kill the Swiss. That's true.

Speaker 1:

There were no witnesses. Police still don't have much to go on but the following day, hundreds came to the sight to light candles in no doubt about guilt and innocence.

Speaker 3:

I'm sure most people in Emmen are intelligent enough to realise that they're punishing the wrong people but they still wanna make that statement. They still ... Maybe in their subconsciousness they want a scapegoat but they also wanna make a political statement, “Stay away from Emmen.”

Speaker 1:

Tonight, some of the latest applicants for Swiss nationality are coming here for a bit of a meeting group with the local politicians. They bring with them their nicest smiles, and their best German but this is going to be a fairly harrowing evening for they have been marked as people from the Balkans and whether they have lived blameless lives next to their Swiss neighbours isn't gonna matter very much at all. It poses some pretty interesting questions about the morality of Switzerland's much vaunted direct democracy.

On one side of the room, warm welcomes among members of the democratic party. And on the other side, sitting alone [Doragika Todorovic] looking terribly nervous. Born in Bosnia, she has been in Switzerland since 1977 and a resident of Emmen since 1987. She said she could not talk us for she had too much at stake. [inaudible] the others [Doragika Islamovic] and her husband [Nadeem]. They too are from Bosnia. [Nadeem] is philosophical about these evenings but he feels like an exhibit.

Nadeem:

[foreign].

Speaker 1:

At last, the day of the vote and town's people arrive in dribs and drabs. We tried to ask them how they voted.

Speaker 6:

[foreign].

Speaker 7:

[foreign].

Speaker 6:

[foreign].

Speaker 8:

[foreign].

Speaker 9:

[foreign].

Speaker 10:

[foreign].

Speaker 1:

But by late afternoon, the voters of Emmen had decided they did want to influence the destiny of people. Sameer, Nadeem and all the applicants were rejected again. In Switzerland, they are proud to truly let the people decide but we were left wondering, is this democracy at its best or an opportunity to peddle prejudice and punish the innocent?

Ac Ici:

If you like, you can call me a racist but the only thing I will is the best for my country.

Speaker 3:

They feel there's outside pressure and that's what started it in the first place. They want to send that signal that they're master of their own fate and they can decide on whatever they want to. And the more we say it's wrong, the more that they'll keep doing it.