Swiss vote to ban the building of minarets - Statements
A week ago the results of the vote on banning minarets, which was held in Switzerland last Sunday, were starting to pour in. Everyone was thinking that the outcome of this was clear, all the polls had suggested that the proposal made by the Swiss People's Party would get rejected. Everyone was wrong!
The building of minarets was banned in Switzerland through a phrase that will be amended to the Swiss constitution.
I wanted to know what people think about the result of this vote and asked a few for a statement. Three people were willing to write down their toughts. All of them are students, all of them are in their twenties. One of them is a Swiss citizen currently living in Germany, another one is a German who has been living in Switzerland for the better part of the last five years, and the third statement was written by an Egyptian muslim who has been living in Switzerland for a litttle bit over a year. Read what they think and contribute with your own oppinion. Additional perspectives and oppinions are more then welcome.
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M. is an Egyptian student studying in Switzerland who was pleasantly surprised how he was welcomed in Switzerland a liitle more than a year ago and now is shocked about the result. But read for yourself:
When I was asked to write about the minaret ban as a Muslim living in Switzerland I had no idea where to start. Thus I decided to relay my own experience of living in Switzerland. When I first arrived in Switzerland at the beginning of September 2008 I had very different expectation from reality. My expectations were that I would find it hard to integrate and that I would be met with much more prejudice than I faced. At that time I was the beginning of the month of Ramadan. This is the Muslim holy month where the Muslim fast from sunrise till sunset. This sparked the intrigue of my colleagues that continued to ask me about Islam. I gladly explained and I tried to portray the true image of the Islam as a tolerant religion. As time passed I found myself forming strong friendships and all my expectations of integrations issue were proven wrong. Even though some of my friends were skeptical at first I felt that Switzerland was home.When I look back at the day when I found out that the Swiss voted for the ban I remember many feelings. I felt that I was being personally targeted by the ban. This seemed to me, and I am sure to many of the Muslims living in Switzerland, like a clear message ‘We do not want you here’. However as days passed I began to understand why did this come to pass. The argumentation for the ban is that if the minarets are built then this will be the first step to the creation of a Taliban like state in Switzerland. There were also claims that minarets are a symbol of political victory. Both are not true. The Muslims in Switzerland are the most moderate in Europe with only 13% practicing Islam. Minarets have no political meaning what so ever in the history of Muslims. The main reason for the result of this vote is the fear of the unknown and the SVP was able to manipulate this fear well. Fundamentalism has nothing to do with minarets those kinds of people can still meet at empty rooms. Thus the result of the vote is alienation of the Muslims living in this country and giving the Fundamentalist a reason to try to spread their message of hate by claiming that ‘they hate us’.Thus in closing all I would like to say is that the result of the vote is due to fear and ignorance of the true nature of Islam. I would like to also say that I am very proud of my Swiss friends for reacting the way they did and their show of solidarity and commitments to tolerance and democracy.
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D. is a German student currently writing his Master's Thesis. He argues that Switzerland has to consider more than one perspective. They should think around the next corner:
I can understand them, really. Although the overwhelming majority of people I (and probably most of you) know voted no, the one person I know who voted yes, made a good point - at first glance: Why should the Swiss people adapt even at home? Everywhere Swiss people go, they have to adapt. They have to speak English, they won't find politics and everyday life based on consensus, and most probably there won't be decent cheese, bread and cervelat, either. Switzerland offered a shelter for many muslim refugees and it is glad to administrate Middle Eastern wealth, but at some point there got to be a stop. Minarets? No thanks, they will be able to live their belief without them.Many critics would (and have) pointed out that the Yes-Majority did not incorporate any thoughts on the economy within their decision. There might be boycots of Swiss products abroad or even some violent repercussions, demonstrations, you name it. The more striking feature, as one columnist of the German Handelsblatt pointed out today, is that the "man on the street" does not understand how "globalization cannot be divided". Most Swiss people are proud of the embeddedness of their financial and manufacturing industry in the world economy. Firms such as ABB, UBS, CS, Nestlé contribute to the Swiss wealth with revenues achieved mainly abroad. However, one cannot have this global outreach in economic terms and just "shut" the cultural and social door.Some Germans living in Switzerland might make this experience, too. It is widely known that e.g. the Swiss health sector in the meantime has come to rely on German staff to a large degree. Many of the bankers in Zurich are German, too. Nonetheless, from time to time one has the feeling that high German is a lingua non grata on the street. I myself find it already awkward how much high German is spoken if one walks through Zurich. This distinction between internationalization or globalization of the economy and the same process in society has to be made clear to the Swiss people as not sustainable.If Switzerland wants to be part of the global community it has to be ready to be that in more than just one aspect. Not in vain does the new Swiss constitution from the year 2000 begin with the intent "to strengthen liberty, democracy, independence and peace in a spirit of solidarity and openness towards the world, determined to live together with mutual consideration and respect for their diversity".Regardless of what the European Court for Human Rights or the UN might finally make of this initiative, the Swiss people and especially those who voted yes, should understand that globalization means more than just exports and tax revenues. Splendid isolation is no option.
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N. is a Swiss student currently working on an internship in Germany. She tries to explain and takes up the cudgles for democrazy:
The oponnents of this ban have mobilized only weakly, and the result shows that their efforts definitely weren't sufficient. It might be the right thing to do to ban minarets in Switzerland (I truly don't want tio be woken up by a Muezzin) but to do so through an amendment of the Swiss constitutione is not the right way. The avarage citizen of course isn't aware of this, he just want's to achieve that the foreign minorities adapt to the Swiss way of life and not the other way around.
What the opposition to this initiative forgot to communicate was that a NO to this initiative would not heave meant that minarets would start appearing everywhere. They forgot to make clear that the fears the right tried to instill weren't justified.
Even though many people, myself included, don't agree with the result of this vote the majority has spoken and we have to accept this. This is part of democracy and to blindly deny the result, and start protesting, definitely isn't the way to go.
At the moment I live in Germany and a lot of people talk about the controversial result of this vote and surprisingly a lot of people support the Swiss decision. They admire the concept of direct democracy and that the people can decide on such delicate matters. An that decision in the end counts.
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Once again I would like to encourrage you to contribute your view as well in the comments.
