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Beyond its excellence in watch-making and financial services, Switzerland is still a retrograde nation in many ways. This neutral and very wealthy state did not give women the right to vote until 1970 - long after most of the vote.
While Switzerland has finally caught up with women’s rights, it still needs to understand the concept of minority rights. The rise of far-right, neo-fascist parties in Europe in recent years is not an exclusively Swiss phenomenon. Fueled by anti-Muslim prejudice - the “Eurobia” fear - far-right parties from the British National Party (BNP) to Holland’s Geert Wilders (who calls for banning the Qur’an) has been able to capture an worrying, albeit relatively very small, part of the electorate. In this past summer’s European Parliamentary elections, Wilders’ Freedom party and the BNP both secured enough voted to now place MPs in Europe’s congress.
Thus while Switzerland may not be singled out for being alone in the anti-Muslim hysteria, the nation’s far-right parties are most blatant in their anti-Islam, racist political posters:
The message here is not only based on anti-Muslim prejudice, but a message of White Supremacy. That was one for an election a few years ago where the far-right party ran on a platform of ending immigration.
There were back this year in an ad campaign meant to rally support for a referendum that will prohibit the construction of Minarets in Mosques:
In a public demonstration of such blatant and uncouth bigotry, the Swiss public has passed the Minaret banning referendum by 57.5%.
Two matters are worth noting on the poll. First, of the four states in which a majority did the decent thing and voted NO, three of these states are in the French-speaking west and the fourth is the tiny state of Basel-Stadt in the Germany-speaking region. Nice to know that Little Germany and Little Italy still cling to xenophobia, racism, and fascism.
Second, although a setback for the civil rights of Europe's Muslims it needs to be understood in a broader context. First, Europe's Muslims have made great strides elsewhere: politicians have attended the opening of Mosques, the mayor of Rotterdam is a Muslim (a European big city first), Muslims are becoming generally more prominent in politics, and several huge Mosque projects are being built in laying the roots of European Islam (and this time to stay).
The Cologne Mosque (Germany) (supported by 63% of city residents) is but one. Once completed the 48,000 sq ft Mosque will be able to accommodate thousands of worshipers. The $20-million Mosque will feature two 166-ft Minarets and in an effort to engage the city it will include a piazza with a fountain, people can enjoy the cafe, there will also be a library, and a shopping mall, along with an art gallery that will all be open to the public Muslim or non-Muslim.
And while the Swiss have banned Minarets, Dutch-Muslims are getting creative with them. European (and American) noise laws prevent Minarets from broadcasting the call to prayer whether they are there or not. The petty objection by European neo-fascists is simply the sight of them. But it does the raise the question of why have Minarets if you cannot even use them. But what if you could broadcast the call to prayer without the human voice? That is what the An-Nasr Mosque in Rotterdam intends to do:
An-Nasr's minaret will be glass — transparent and subtle, rather than dominating the skyline. The call to prayer will be broadcast in lights, pulsating to the rhythm of the muezzin's voice. Once the mosque is built, Erkoçu hopes Rotterdam's citizens will see the call to prayer beamed across the sky. Muslims will be able to look up and, no matter where they are in the city, turn their thoughts to prayer.
So European Muslims have a lot going from them and should not fret the Swiss resolution in a country that awaited so long just to give women the vote.
And the 57.5% while bad, could have been worse. Despite the worst fear-mongering, a large percentage of the Swiss public showed up and voted in a referendum for no other reason than to defend the rights of Muslims in an issue that does not affect them. That is endearing and shows that there is a lot of goodwill to build upon in the Swiss public. This tolerance and respect in not to be tarnished by the ill acts of the unfortunate majority.
More work to be done.
