Swiss Miss On Islam

In recent years, Switzerland has seen the rise of a xenophobic Right. Of course, like nearly all European nations the country has long had an extreme-right faction but the last few years has seen a once dormant movement rise to relative heights. The cause: European Islamophobia. The Swiss People's Party (SVP) seeks to stroke worries about Muslims. The party claims that Muslims in Switzerland want nothing but the Islamization of Swiss society. Though unfounded, these fears are shared by a many Swiss and have contributed to electoral success for the SVP (the party still remains a very small minority faction, however). The SVP is unabashed in its racism. A campaign ad in 2007 did not even portray opposition to Muslims being rooted in opposition of Islam, but simply a question of race:

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Ironically most Muslims in Switzerland - 400,000 - are not Black or Olive-skinned Arabs and Berbers, but Bosnian, Albanians and Turks of whom the former two are identical in facial features to the Swiss. The point of the SVP ad, I believe, is not that Muslims are Black but that Christian Swiss are the pure "White" people and all Muslims the "Black" welcomed "Other."

A favorite of the European far-right is rallying opposition against the construction of Mosques. In the effort, the small Swiss town of Langenthal has provided a new opportunity to showcase the SVP's intolerance.

Home to 14,000 people, 8% of Langenthal's population is Muslim according to town mayor Thomas Rufener. While there are 11 churches in Langenthal, not a single Mosque exists.

The town Muslim community is committed to building such a Mosque and in doing so brought on its head the SVP's propaganda machine. The SVP claims it does not want to ban Mosques per se, but only minarets in all Mosques because, it claims, they represent not only Muslim aspiration to dominate the country and a threat to the Swiss constitution (that constitution, by the way, did not even give women the right to vote until 1970).

The town has become representative of the debate about Muslims in Europe.

Ulrich Schüler, an SVP MP, stated: "They are symbols of a desire for power, of an Islam which wants to establish a legal and social order fundamentally contrary to the liberties guaranteed in our constitution." This is unfounded racism against Muslims. Most Muslims come from secular countries where sharia law is non-existence. Turkey, Bosnia and Albania are all secular democracies. And they all give women the right to vote and run for office long before the Swiss did. Turkey has had a female prime minister, Switzerland has yet to.

The heart of the SVP is nothing but historical Western, predominantly Christian, opposition to Islam. Muslims do not pose a threat to Swiss life and their culture is not antithetical to it. This is just a campaign of vilification by White supremacists.

Fortunately all mainstream Swiss parties have endorsed the Mosques and the local town council has given its approval both for a high dome and minaret. The Mosques is expected to be able to house 100 people in time for Ramadan.