SWISS MINARET BAN REFLECTS FEAR OF ISLAM, NOT REAL PROBLEMS
Mathieu von Rohr
Der Spiegel
Nov 30 2009
Germany
The Swiss have voted in favour of a complete ban on the construction of
minarets. But the decision is not a reaction to problems with Muslims
in the country. Instead, it reveals a deep-seated fear of Islam.
There are only four minarets in Switzerland. One of them was completed
just a few months ago in the village of Wangen bei Olten, population
5,000. It may just be a tiny tower in the middle of an industrial area,
but its construction sparked a national controversy. It eventually
led to a referendum campaign by a right-wing religious grouping that
wanted to enshrine the following sentence in the Swiss constitution:
"The construction of minarets is forbidden."
On Sunday [ 29 November], the Swiss voted in favour of the ban. The
results were highly surprising, contradicting all the polls and
the fact that the government and almost all the major parties had
campaigned for a "no" vote.
Some 57.5 per cent of voters supported the ban. The initiative
was also supported by the required majority of cantons, with 22 of
Switzerland’s 26 cantons voting in favour of the ban. The two city
cantons of Geneva and Basel-City rejected the proposal, as did two
French-speaking cantons, Neuchatel and Vaud.
It is a shockingly clear success for a proposal which originated from
politicians on the far right of the political spectrum.
Symbolic Vote
For a long time, the initiative only seemed to be supported by a
right-wing splinter group. Even Christoph Blocher, the longtime
leader of the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party (SVP),
publicly distanced himself from the initiative, although his party
almost unanimously expressed its support for the ban in the end.
But the organizers of the campaign managed to turn the dispute over
minarets into a symbolic referendum on the influence of Islam. They
did not speak much about minarets. Instead, they talked about Shari’ah
law, burqas and the oppression of women in the Islamic world. In
the end, even the prominent left-wing feminist Julia Onken supported
the initiative.
The poster which the organizers used for their campaign showed a
number of black minarets resembling rockets standing closely together
on a Swiss flag. In front of the flag, a woman stared angrily out
from beneath a black burqa. It was an image of a Switzerland which
had been taken over by Islam. Minarets are "symbols of power" of a
foreign religion, argued politician Ulrich Schluer, who belongs to
the SVP’s right wing. The ban, he said, represents a clear statement
against their spread.
The debate was largely divorced from the reality of Switzerland.
Although around 22 per cent of the population is of foreign origin,
the country has so far had relatively few problems with its roughly
400,000 Muslims. Most of them are liberally minded Bosnians, Kosovo
Albanians and Turks and their around 160 mosques are practically
invisible. Burqas are seldom seen on Swiss streets and there have
never been serious calls for the introduction of Shari’ah law.
The decision, therefore, does not reflect real problems in Switzerland,
but rather a general feeling of unease towards Islam. The issue
revolves around a deep-seated fear that society’s values could be
in danger.
However it is also conceivable that the ongoing conflict with the
Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi could also have played a small role.
Gaddafi is currently holding two Swiss citizens hostage in retaliation
for the arrest of one of his sons in Geneva. But the crucial element
was probably a fundamental need to clarify once and for all who has
the final say in Switzerland.
The vote will undoubtedly change the image of Switzerland abroad. The
country likes to present itself as a neutral guardian of human rights.
It is the country where the Red Cross was established and the Geneva
Convention was passed. But now the supposed model democracy has
violated the human right of the freedom to practice one’s religion
and has discriminated against a group solely on the basis of their
religion.
The ban wil l have serious consequences. It will not eliminate
immigration-related problems in Switzerland, but it will produce major
problems for Switzerland in its international relations. The Swiss
banks and the Swiss economy, which have close ties with economies
around the world, including in the Arab world, will suffer as a
result. There may also be damage to the tourism industry.
The ban will damage Switzerland’s credibility as a mediator in the
eyes of Muslim countries, whether it be as a diplomatic representative
of the US in Iran or in the conflict between Armenia and Turkey. And
finally it will cause massive damage to the relationship between the
Swiss and the Muslims living in the country, promoting exactly that
isolation from the rest of society which the initiative was supposedly
intended to address.
Negative Publicity
The problems for Switzerland don’t end there. The last year has been
a difficult one for the country as economic superpowers blasted Bern
for protecting tax dodgers, the result being a significant retreat
from the country’s almost mythical banking secrecy rules. In addition,
Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, almost fell victim to the financial
crisis and was further damaged by allegations of illegal activities.
Even the arrest of star director Roman Polanski in Zurich generated
the kind of publicity many in Switzerland would rather avoid. The fact
that Swiss citizens are now discriminating against a religion in a
manner that violates human rights will further damage the country’s
reputation.
Still, it is likely that minarets will continue to be built in
Switzerland. The European Court of Human Rights is sure to take on
the case, with most legal experts seeing a violation of freedom of
religion and a clear-cut case of discrimination. Nevertheless, the
damage has been done.
Europe-Wide Concern
Concern about growing numbers of Muslims and the visibility of Islam
isn’t, of course, just limited to Switzerland. Both Cologne and
Copenhagen have seen minaret debates of their own, the burqa is an
issue in France and anti-Muslim politicians have had great success
in Holland. So far, centrist politicians across the continent have
failed to find an adequate response to the growing concern.
As such, it would be inaccurate to explain away the Swiss referendum
results by merely pointing to xenophobia in the country. It is also
an expression of the failures of the liberal political elite to
adequately address the issue and to find solutions to the real and
perceived problems with Muslim immigrants.
It is an issue that clearly concerns a large portion of the Swiss
population; it would be a major misstep to allow right-wing populists
to control the debate. Otherwise, bans on minarets and other human
rights violations can be expected to increase – in Switzerland and
elsewhere in Europe.