The ban on minarets in Switzerland has shifted the focus from immigration to religion
The hullabaloo over the Swiss referendum against the erection of new minarets appears to accentuate political and legal concerns. The most conspicuous of them are the streamlining of several right-wing political parties around the question of an “European-Christian” character standing in opposition to an “Islamisation of Europe” and the likely divergence between the democratic right to take decisions by polls and the constitutional code of choice to practice one’s faith.
The Swiss referendum, which will most likely be rejected by the European Court of Human Rights—Europe’s widely respected body, has, however, accomplished something in shifting the spotlight away from the societal and economic trouble of migration and towards faith. It is not for nothing that the minaret is being banned in the heart of Europe — to sprinkled ovation in adjoining nations. However, a detailed analysis of voting pattern has thrown some interesting results. The call for ban was propped up predominantly by the Swiss countryside electorate, whose trepidation of Islamic belligerence comes more from unawareness than experience. It is entirely safe to assume that most of these rural voters have never come across a mosque, leave alone a minaret, with the exception of hysterical and over-the-top campaign bills where a menacing looking burqa-clad woman was shown aside minarets that were represented as comic-book missiles.
Reacting on the vote, veteran analyst Eric Margolis, who had extensively reported on Islamic world and Islam in Europe, told TSI, “At present, one out of every four person in Switzerland is foreign-born. This fact profoundly offends Swiss — above all, the German-speaking mainstream. The worldlier, urbane and refined French Swiss are far more tolerant and broad-minded. There is even a Swiss secret police that keeps an eye on all resident of outside origin; natives are encouraged to spy on their non-Swiss neighbours.” Other observers also suggest that the result (more than 57% favouring the ban) is not natural.
All through 2009, most exit polls suggested that not more than 35% Swiss favoured the ban. Therefore, this resounding “No” came only after a spirited drive to rally voters by the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and Switzerland’s smaller but just as xenophobic, Swiss Democratic Union. Also, observers suggest, xenophobic voters are more likely to come out and vote than the secular, suave and urbane population that is against the ban. Another interesting fact was the overwhelming participation of women voters, who were fed with fear about subjugation of Muslim women. Most Swiss women, who only got the right of adult suffrage in 1971, had no idea that Balkan Muslim women who form the majority of Muslim populace in Switzerland are as liberated as they are.
The vote, however, brought the architecture issue in focus. Minarets are usually erected next to Europe’s huge metropolitan mosques, where the preachers and imams are typically reasonable and tolerant establishment figures. In fact, the clergy who support and sermonise jihad don’t do it from big mosques with minarets. Indeed, extremist preachers are more typically found in makeshift mosques run in basements, private garages and stores.
“Minarets are an icon of Islam while church steeples are a mark of Christianity. A minaret on the skyline tells a considerable number of Muslims live in close proximity,” says Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, an independent project that seeks to improve Muslim-West relations. Arguments put forward by the right-wing parties are not merely xenophobic but confusing too. For example, German Christian Democratic state interior minister Volker Bouffier told the press that “[Muslims] should make sure not to overwhelm the German population with them [Mosques].”
Now what sort of post-post-modernistic reason is it that the world is yet to be enlightened of? There are only four minarets in the entire Switzerland, a nation of roughly 7.6 million people. How overwhelming can that be? Naturally, the protests have started. Some 700 odd protesters congregated outside parliament in Bern this week to denounce the ban. Swiss government had to reluctantly agree to it, amid fears that the reactionary steps will lead to boycott of Swiss products in the Muslim world and withdrawal of money from the Swiss banks and market leading to financial woes for the already-battered nation.
The hullabaloo over the Swiss referendum against the erection of new minarets appears to accentuate political and legal concerns. The most conspicuous of them are the streamlining of several right-wing political parties around the question of an “European-Christian” character standing in opposition to an “Islamisation of Europe” and the likely divergence between the democratic right to take decisions by polls and the constitutional code of choice to practice one’s faith.
The Swiss referendum, which will most likely be rejected by the European Court of Human Rights—Europe’s widely respected body, has, however, accomplished something in shifting the spotlight away from the societal and economic trouble of migration and towards faith. It is not for nothing that the minaret is being banned in the heart of Europe — to sprinkled ovation in adjoining nations. However, a detailed analysis of voting pattern has thrown some interesting results. The call for ban was propped up predominantly by the Swiss countryside electorate, whose trepidation of Islamic belligerence comes more from unawareness than experience. It is entirely safe to assume that most of these rural voters have never come across a mosque, leave alone a minaret, with the exception of hysterical and over-the-top campaign bills where a menacing looking burqa-clad woman was shown aside minarets that were represented as comic-book missiles.
Reacting on the vote, veteran analyst Eric Margolis, who had extensively reported on Islamic world and Islam in Europe, told TSI, “At present, one out of every four person in Switzerland is foreign-born. This fact profoundly offends Swiss — above all, the German-speaking mainstream. The worldlier, urbane and refined French Swiss are far more tolerant and broad-minded. There is even a Swiss secret police that keeps an eye on all resident of outside origin; natives are encouraged to spy on their non-Swiss neighbours.” Other observers also suggest that the result (more than 57% favouring the ban) is not natural.
All through 2009, most exit polls suggested that not more than 35% Swiss favoured the ban. Therefore, this resounding “No” came only after a spirited drive to rally voters by the Swiss People's Party (SVP) and Switzerland’s smaller but just as xenophobic, Swiss Democratic Union. Also, observers suggest, xenophobic voters are more likely to come out and vote than the secular, suave and urbane population that is against the ban. Another interesting fact was the overwhelming participation of women voters, who were fed with fear about subjugation of Muslim women. Most Swiss women, who only got the right of adult suffrage in 1971, had no idea that Balkan Muslim women who form the majority of Muslim populace in Switzerland are as liberated as they are.
The vote, however, brought the architecture issue in focus. Minarets are usually erected next to Europe’s huge metropolitan mosques, where the preachers and imams are typically reasonable and tolerant establishment figures. In fact, the clergy who support and sermonise jihad don’t do it from big mosques with minarets. Indeed, extremist preachers are more typically found in makeshift mosques run in basements, private garages and stores.
“Minarets are an icon of Islam while church steeples are a mark of Christianity. A minaret on the skyline tells a considerable number of Muslims live in close proximity,” says Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, an independent project that seeks to improve Muslim-West relations. Arguments put forward by the right-wing parties are not merely xenophobic but confusing too. For example, German Christian Democratic state interior minister Volker Bouffier told the press that “[Muslims] should make sure not to overwhelm the German population with them [Mosques].”
Now what sort of post-post-modernistic reason is it that the world is yet to be enlightened of? There are only four minarets in the entire Switzerland, a nation of roughly 7.6 million people. How overwhelming can that be? Naturally, the protests have started. Some 700 odd protesters congregated outside parliament in Bern this week to denounce the ban. Swiss government had to reluctantly agree to it, amid fears that the reactionary steps will lead to boycott of Swiss products in the Muslim world and withdrawal of money from the Swiss banks and market leading to financial woes for the already-battered nation.
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