Swiss vote to ban minarets in referendum

[mateykatie]

Switzerland has voted to ban the construction of mosque minarets in a national referendum. 57% supported the ban.

Here is the BBC story.

Women voted for the ban more than men according to the Times.

This seems pretty horrible to me. I always thought the Swiss were tolerant but obviously not.

MmeLindt, I was at the fetes de Geneve this year and was pretty shocked at how "made up" the muslim women were.

Colourful headscarves, yes - along with ridiculous amounts of make up, jewellery and revealing attire!

It was like B'ham Broad St on a sat night - not that I frequent it. At all.

alexpolismum;

i came on here to support the Swiss.....they want to keep their "swissness"...nothing wrong with that.

not being in the EU means they have a say in how their country is run....(sensible country that they are)

we have to take whatever's thrown at us.

I do really hope the swiss get a big (negative) financial response to this... I would never dictate to any religion they can only build half their building for worship

Riven i went on hols to france for last Eid and it was full of women in scarves i never got a second look and felt really comfortable, i get stared at and dirty looks alot here (irl) i really felt so 'normal' in france if you decide to go wit your dd i hope you hav a lovely time

so, daftpunk, I assume from your last post thst you would vote against the Lisbon Treaty.

Riven - I also think you would have no trouble in Paris. I lived there for admittedly a very short time, and I saw plenty of Muslim women wearing headscarves going about their daily business with no bother whatsoever. If you encounter rudeness, then console yourself with the thought that the person would probably have been just as rude to anyone else. Having said that, I did meet some lovely people in Paris, as polite as you could wish for.

I would have voted no to the Lisbon Treaty. I suspect a majority of UK voters would have done so, too. That's precisely why we didn't get a referendum - because our wonderful "democratic" government knew it would lose.

It's definitely an anti Islamic vote, but is being anti Islamic the same as being racist?

Many people in Switzerland and the UK, dislike many of the manifestations of Islam, such as sharia law, women in Burka's, supprssion of women generally,a growing fundmentalism, an anti westren stance, a reluctance to integrate in the countries they migrate to, not to mentin the rise of Islamic terrorism.

Of course Isalm is more than just this, but these issues are a big problem for Islam and it's perception in the West, and will continue to led to anti Isamic feeling growing in the west and votes such as this, which are based on illogcial argument but really underpined by a general fear of what Isalm seems to stand for to them.

Imo the West needs to cling to it's tolerance, which is in danger of sliping away from us, but Islam needs to take hold of the fundementalism that is gripping it.

They cannot rely on western tolerance for much longer, evdently, and all this adds up to bad news for us all I'm afraid.

Ahem - swiss person butting in here (insert slightly embarrased by compatriots emoticon) - This is about buildings not people...........!

This is about people and far more controversial IMO. Didn't seem to get the same amount of publicity in 2006 as this fuss about minarets is.

As I said earlier this thread, Switzerland traditionally has always shut itself off and others out.

On the one hand, it is a rather aggressive move. I can understand not allowing the call to prayer (having repeatedly been woken up at 4am by it, in a non-Muslim country, I'm not a fan) as it is an intrusion into non-Muslims lives, whereas banning part of a building (considering they have to apply anyway for permission) is a bit much. But then, Switzerland is a secular/Christian country and can do as they choose. You don't see the same sort of outcries when Muslim countries ban the building of churches or synagogues, and why is that?

I've lived in several muslim countries and I loved the call to prayer, very beautiful and emotive.

Don't think I'd want it here though (in UK)but nor would I wnat church bells 5 times a day either.

As for the French "headscarf" ban - it is a ban on all overt religous symbols, be they Muslim, Christian or even Jedi, it's just all the fuss was around head-scarves. Again, head scarves are banned in many Turkish institutions but you don't get the uproar that you have had about France.

I think it's significant that it wasn't just a handful of MPs or a pressure group that decided, but a majority of the population. A more democratic system than in the UK where a small group with an agenda can claim to speak for everyone.

Over here you could say "oh well most people don't want this really" but clearly an awful lot of ordinary people there do.

Whether you agree with their decision is another matter of course.

Daftpunk maybe it is an alien concept to you but you can be Swiss born and bread and be a Muslim at the same time. I have not lost my "swissness" when I decided to become a Muslim.

Drayford, my Parents are adament it was not about building but about people, they are very involved in political life, I really cannot imagine them having got it that wrong. They also did campain at the time of the assylum referendum and were equallly sad at the turn things took then.

I was very sad to read this this morning as well, I think our world is really not going too well at the moment.

Hmm I don't think much of them calling the operation 'white christmas'.

However the paper refers to an 'immigrant purge' and it's important to remember that it's an illegal immigrant purge. The majority of the immigrants will have got there openly and honestly. Surely no one thinks that those who did in a dishonest and criminal way should be left in peace and not bothered.

That was referring to Gorionine's link

Well at least the Swiss government are prepared to let their people have a say, which is more than we can say for the UK government when it comes to matters that people care about.

Not sure I agree with the decision btw, the campaign posters are awful too.

i think the Swiss saw this as islamification of their country, they didn't want it so voted against it.

there is alot of anti-Islam feeling across Europe....read BBKs post of 17.30.17 for reasons why.

what's the difference..?

Riven you don't have to answer but I'm a little confused... You're a muslim I understand but I've heard people say you're a 'white Muslim', are you Englidh married to a muslim and have converted or a Bosnian Muslim for example?

I'm just interested to know where you're coming from.

Thanks

Daftpunk I think as a fellow Catholic you are on dodgy ground to be criticising a faih for ots effects on society.

I am sure that like me you are upset, hurt and embarressed by the abuse scandals that have rocked our faith. I could see that some countries would want to ban Catholic churches or to prevent Catholicism from taking a hold of a country.

We would hate to think that people judge us because of the actions of a few (and some would say it is more than a few and that the abuse involved those in power) I don't get why someone of faith would speak with some venom of another faith.

As far as I can determine, and from talking to my and DH's family, there is very little anti-muslim feeling in the metropolitan areas of switzerland. I was in Bern 3 weeks ago and there are many women in headscarves and burkhas on the street and none of them seem to get a second glance. My Swiss SIL converted to Islam 17 years ago and has no problems whatsover.

However, in the countryside things are different - very WASPish and intolerant of ANY variences to the WASP way of life whatsoever, be it homosexuality, different religion or colour of skin. But that is no different to the rural area of england that I live in really.

I do think that the Swiss can be very right wing and predjudiced in their views - I think you need to look at the history of the country and the Swiss Federation to truly understand this. It's easy to be critical without understanding the swiss psyche.