Monday, November 30, 2009

Blog 53_Swiss voters said No to minarets

Earlier last month, our blog featured an entry about a referendum that was to take place in Switzerland to ban the building of minarets. On Sunday, 29th November, the Swiss voters had spoken: more than 57% of the voters and 22 out of 26 provinces voted in favour of the ban.

The proposal was brought by the Swiss People's Party (SVP), which is also the largest party in the parliament. They claimed that the shape of minarets reminded them of missels and is a symbol of Islamisation.

Martin Baltisser, the SVP's general secretary, told the BBC. "This was a vote against minarets as symbols of Islamic power."

Many are surprised by the result and feared of what happened in this often-neutral country in the heart of Europe would start a trend on the continent. Although it accepted and respected the decision, the Swiss government did initially oppose the ban, saying that it would harm the country's image, particularly in the Muslim world.

Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf told the BBC, "Concerns [about Islamic fundamentalism] have to be taken seriously. However, a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies."

She then reassured Swiss Muslims that the decision was not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture. Despite her optimistic clarification, many believe that Islamaphobia has increased intensively.

"This will cause major problems because during this campaign mosques were attacked, which we never experienced in 40 years in Switzerland."The president of Zurich's Association of Muslim Organisations, Tamir Hadjipolu, told the BBC

Observers believe that the referendum result will act as a catalyst to speed up the identity search of many European countries, as a result of immigrations.

Germany is considering a new "contract" idea to bind immigrants to the country's fundamental values, such as gender equality and basic human rights.

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