A selection of articles on history, politics, art and literature.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Swiss Ban Minarets
Yesterday a majority of Swiss voters supported a motion from the extreme right wing Swiss People's Party to ban the building a minarets. Read my article published in an Australian e-journal:
"Switzerland, in the SVP mind, is an oasis of pure traditions and beliefs, besieged on all sides by a foreign world of high taxes, crime and the erosion of conservative values. No one can doubt that the SVP mines a rich seam of xenophobia and Islamaphobia. The result will certainly make the country’s Muslim minority feel very uncomfortable".
Whenever citizens read THEIR tiny society is an oasis of pure traditions and beliefs, a bastion of decency in the swirling torrents of indecency outside, citizens should go on immediate alert!!
I don't think the 4 minarets in Switzerland are the core issue. After all, people could pray in a building without minarets, if shove came to push. Rather the Swiss People's Party has a definition of decency that is exclusive and very nasty.
Agreed. Since the referendum certain members of the SVP have spoken in public about initiating a ban on Islamic and Jewish cemetaries. And most recently they have targeted the German population of Switzerland, claiming that Germans now controlled the Universities in Zurich. This led to a letter of protest against the SVP signed by 220 Swiss professors and last week the Tages-Anzeiger's (a serious newspaper) main cover story was on how much German ex-pats contribute to the Swiss economy - a clear rebuke to the SVP's militant xenophobia.
"Switzerland, in the SVP mind, is an oasis of pure traditions and beliefs, besieged on all sides by a foreign world of high taxes, crime and the erosion of conservative values. No one can doubt that the SVP mines a rich seam of xenophobia and Islamaphobia. The result will certainly make the country’s Muslim minority feel very uncomfortable".
ReplyDeleteWhenever citizens read THEIR tiny society is an oasis of pure traditions and beliefs, a bastion of decency in the swirling torrents of indecency outside, citizens should go on immediate alert!!
I don't think the 4 minarets in Switzerland are the core issue. After all, people could pray in a building without minarets, if shove came to push. Rather the Swiss People's Party has a definition of decency that is exclusive and very nasty.
Agreed. Since the referendum certain members of the SVP have spoken in public about initiating a ban on Islamic and Jewish cemetaries. And most recently they have targeted the German population of Switzerland, claiming that Germans now controlled the Universities in Zurich. This led to a letter of protest against the SVP signed by 220 Swiss professors and last week the Tages-Anzeiger's (a serious newspaper) main cover story was on how much German ex-pats contribute to the Swiss economy - a clear rebuke to the SVP's militant xenophobia.
ReplyDeleteOops, I meant cemeteries.
ReplyDelete