The SBB rents out advertising space to ad companies. Those companies can put up whatever they want, as long as it's legal. Some of the railway-stations or some areas in them may not even belong to the SBB, so you won't know whether the billboards in question actually are SBB's responsibility.
This is a democracy - idiotic ad campaigns and billboards from all political sides are part of the deal here. Unfortunately, the SVP has by far the biggest money pot for these kinds of campaigns, that's why they're overly present.
Peter
ps: there IS extremely heavy immigration into Switzerland. Not that I would vote for the SVP initiative because frankly, I hate the SVP's guts, but you might want to shift the subject of your complaint towards how this immigration is depicted in the SVP-typical fear-monger style.
You have Switzerland in "your heart" because Switzerland works. So what are you complaining about? SVP has a right to campaign and you're not going to find anywhere in this world where everything fits your own "personal" agenda. You have to think more broad minded. It's part of living, it's part of life. If Switzerland changed to "your way of thinking" it doesn't mean it would be a better place. The Swiss know what they are doing and that's one of the reasons you want to return,or why bother? Why do you miss Switzerland and want to return? I love that Switzerland doesn't get into parellel societies. This group has this right, this group has another right etc...It's ruining some countries that I won't bother to mention here. Being PC (politically correct) is not part of the Swiss psyche and I love that...at least they can still speak their mind without being sued at every turn.
But can you ban a discussion just because somebody is saying something you disagree with? Wouldn't it be more in the spirit of democractic discourse to start collecting money yourself and putting up posters with the counter argument, or supporting an organisation that does so? If you tear down a poster you are automatically giving the person who made the poster the underdog bonus (and the SVP is very good at playing the underdog card despite being the strongest party and having a bundesrat). Every SVP poster you see that has graffiti on it or otherwise been defaced is a win for the SVP. It strengthens their claim that they're alone against a big wicked world.
Only tyrants need to silence their opponents. The SVP pray that some tyrant will try.
This reminds me of my time at Uni, the Student's Union had a ploicy of "no platform for racists and fascists". I always thought this was ludicrous, let them say their shite and then be subject to the deserved ridicule and abuse that would entail.
If you campaign for parlement seats, yes ok, I agree with you. You can pass a message but racism and discrimination should not be acceptable in this society. Freedom of speech, no matter what? No thanks, I don't agree that everything is good to say.
Would it be acceptable if tomorrow morning I put posters saying black people stinks, let's kick them out? Or Nazi was right to kill Jewish, let's kick them out?
Do you still believe it is my right to do it? And in the law to protect those posters to not be put down, or teared?
Freedom of speech is a precious right. But it should be used with respect for other human being.
To call someone an idiot is something, but to make racist comments against a group of people for their origines, cultures and skin color is not a freedom of speech one should aspire to.
Good, as long as we can agree that it is a democratic decision that is majority based and backed up by the constitution. I guess then our freedom of speech is to bitch and complain as much as we want about the racist SVP posters and it is thier freedom of speech to post them as much as they want, until the Law is changed. Commercial organisations will follow the law, not an outraged minority.
That is, if you agree that the democratic process should be allowed to create any law, including such laws that limit free speech and curtail democratic expression. I would agree that a democracy that doesn't have the power to abolish itself is not truly empowered. From a philosophical perspective, giving up freedom is also a form of freedom and if you take that right from someone you are limiting his freedom. However, having said that, I do hope that the will of the people to remain free will always be sufficiently strong that they will never voluntarily take such a step.
And now we have an SVP politician attacked by 2 Kosovar brothers and having his throat cut. Have to say, this doesn't do their countrymen any favours at all, and just fuels the SVP's diatribes.