Swiss Minarets: Part I

By a wide margin, Swiss voters approved a constitutional amendment banning the construction of new minarets, even though there are only four in the country. Not surprisingly, the event touched an exposed nerve. The media had not expected such an outcome and public opinion was not prepared. In fact, the Swiss paper Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote that the outcome was a disgrace for journalism since the papers had completely misread the situation.

Today – a few views from Europe. Tomorrow – a remarkable contribution from Sweden published in the Arab-controlled Al Jazeera.

The Swiss Weltwoche observed that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg may see fit to curtail this exercise of sovereignty. “The clear yes in favour of banning minarets will no doubt be the start of a fundamental – and thrilling – conflict. At stake is the legal basis of state sovereignty and self-determination. Should Strasbourg decide that the decision of the Swiss people is inadmissible, we are in for a gripping showdown.”

It is time for a basic discussion on European traditions, wrote the Austrian daily Der Standard. “Europe’s liberals turned away in disgust from the U.S. under former president George W. Bush when he began to trample, not only on international law, but also on the rights of U.S. citizens after 9/11. But the U.S. have never so much as tried to do something like banning minarets. Something like that is completely unthinkable there. Here people are starting to worry – and even to suspect – that since Europe has the stronger tradition of illiberality, it is perhaps in greater jeopardy of losing its traditions altogether.

The Swiss are trying to hold back time, wrote the writer Oscar van den Boogaard in his column in the Belgian daily De Standaard, published in Flemish. In his view many fail to see that if migration means change, it also brings a vital contribution to society: “Why not say yes to minarets? Why not embrace change?… How soulless Flemish country life has become. The villages are abandoned, the churches empty. Shutters remain closed, and people no longer sit before their doors on summer evenings. Nature is ruined and overplanned, while people have locked themselves away in their own little palaces, feeling like cosmopolitans because they’re connected to the Internet. Could it be that we’re envious of minarets because they adorn places that are attended by people who willingly call each other brothers and sisters?”

Religious freedom should only be restricted if the basic values of a free society are under threat, observed Francesco-Marc Alvaro in the daily La Vanguardia: “My thesis is that we should only defend ourselves against customs, behaviour and rules that jeopardize our basic values. The headscarf doesn’t affect our basic values but, for example, a Muslim male doctor who is not allowed to make a house call to a Muslim woman does, as do parents who demand separate visiting times for their daughters at public swimming pools or who resist compulsory school education for their children.”

The Swiss-born Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, a speaker at the 2004 Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs conference “God’s back with a Vengeance,” wrote in the German paper Die Welt that it was not only populism that was to blame for the ban on minarets. “The failure is greater than that: a lack of courage, a shockingly petty lack of faith in the new Muslim citizens.”

But he also believes Muslims were too slow to react: “In recent months, Muslims have been laying low, avoiding confrontation. But it would been more sensible if they had actively sought to forge new alliances with the Swiss organizations and parties, who were opposed to the initiative. So Muslims in Switzerland are also partly to blame. I should add, though, that the political parties in Europe and Switzerland have let themselves be intimidated and have shied away from taking courageous steps to further religious and cultural pluralism.”

The German-Egyptian historian Hamed Abdel-Samad, author of the book My Departure from Heaven, addressed the issue of Islam’s failure to modernize in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: “Enemy stereotypes have cemented the victim role among Muslims and prevented them from taking responsibility for their own problems. It is time they reshaped their self-image and began looking for answers, leaving histrionics and conspiracy theories behind them. For its part, Europe should break off its unholy alliances with Middle East dictators and look for new allies. Europeans should press ahead with their criticism of Islam, ignoring fundamentalist threats and avoiding the lazy thinking of political correctness. This criticism should be tough, but it should steer clear of polemic and resentment. And if the Muslims can’t take criticism from outside, then they should start practicing it themselves.”

Let us give Domingos Amaral, director of the Portuguese edition of the men’s magazine GQ the final word – for today.

He pointed out that, “this is first and foremost another typical Swiss obsession,” he wrote. “They are anything but tolerant and love banning things.”

Tomorrow – Al Jazeera.