Was it a very costly misunderstanding, or was it racism? That’s the question most people are weighing up. Oprah Winfrey, one of the world wealthiest women, claimed an assistant working in an exclusive upmarket handbag shop in Zurich, Switzerland refused to serve her.
Winfrey asked to see a €21,000 bag and was apparently told by the assistant that the bags on display was “too expensive” for her. Shop owner Trudie Gotz denied that her shop assistant was racist and called the incident a misunderstanding.
Taking on the Oprah brand and media mogul, who made $77 million last year, owner Trudie Gotz refuses to dismiss or even penalize her staff for what appeared to most of the world as a racist and discriminating act.
Talking to the BBC Winfrey said, “I left the shop calmly without arguing, but the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem.”
“There’s two different ways to handle it,” she said. “I could’ve had the whole blow-up thing… but it still exists, of course it does.”
Ms. Gotz did not call into question Winfrey’s perception of the events. “I didn’t take care of her [Winfrey]. I’m sure she felt like this, but my salesgirl promised me she took care of [her] really the best she could. So it must have been a misunderstanding,” she said.
But in Switzerland there appear to be many misunderstandings that seem to affect asylum seekers and new immigrants.
Human rights groups have been outraged by the political plans curtailing the freedoms of asylum seekers in Switzerland. The proposed bill that has been pushed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party will effectively ban asylum-seekers from most public places.
Human rights groups have likened the plans, which include banning asylum-seekers from swimming pools, playing fields and libraries, to an apartheid.
With the increasing numbers of people seeking asylum rising to 48,000, there has also been increasing racial tension and violence in recent years.
According to the U.N. Rights Council there were 547 cases of violations of the racial discrimination between 1995 and 2011, averaging about 32 per year, and 259 cases — or 15 cases a year — that ended in guilty verdicts.
The Federal Commission Against Racism and human rights reported cases of racism against Blacks and Muslims in 2011 stood at 156, but experts believe this is the tip of the iceberg, saying victims are not prepared to launch long, expensive cases that may expose them and endanger their jobs, residences permits or families.
In recent months there has also been Islamophobic tweets and attacks against foreigners on Facebook, blogs, posters and TV, and now politicians and party members are also weighing into this xenophobia debate
Over the past few months there have been racial slurs, xenophobic rhetoric and racial incitement against foreigners and Muslims by political figures or party members, mainly from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party.
The People’s Party parliamentarian Alfred Heer allegedly told “Tele Züri,” a regional TV program, that young Tunisians were coming to Switzerland as asylum seekers “with the aim of becoming criminals.”
Alexander Müller, a committee member from the Zurich branch of the right-wing party, tweeted in June: “Maybe we need a new Kristallnacht …(Kristallnacht is an incident where Nazis torched synagogues) this time against the mosques.”
Although the Federal Commission Against Racism and human rights groups want to push for stronger legislation of anti-discrimination laws, Swiss courts also take freedom of expression into consideration.
“The problem with political cases,” said Doris Angst, Director of Federal Commission Against Racism, “is that Swiss courts always tend to favour freedom of expression over racial discrimination.”
Michele Galizia, head of the anti-racism service at the interior ministry, agreed, saying, “This reflects Switzerland’s direct democracy and federalist political system.”
“It’s true that there is a risk of verbal faux pas, but it is better to discuss openly even touchy questions, rather than let them smolder on.”
So it seems that in Switzerland it is fine to make a verbal faux pas or have a “misunderstanding” with foreigners even if it is with Oprah Winfrey, as long as you retain the freedom to express yourself.