Switzerland Votes on Muslim Minaret Ban

[DaRk WaVe]

Swiss projected to OK ban on new minarets​

Right-wing initiative regards mosques’ spires as symbols of militant Islam

A woman walks behind a campaign poster on Nov. 23 in Corseaux, Switzerland, of the far-right Swiss People's Party supporting a ban on the building of new minarests in the country.

​

GENEVA - Swiss voters approved a move to ban the construction of minarets in a Sunday vote on a right-wing initiative that labeled the mosque towers as symbols of militant Islam, projections by a widely respected polling institute showed.

The projections based on partial returns say Swiss swung from only 37 percent supporting the proposal a week ago to 59 percent in the actual voting.

Claude Longchamp, leader of the widely respected gfs.bern polling institute, said the projection contracted by state-owned DRS television forecasts approval of the initiative by more than half the country's 26 cantons, meaning it will become a constitutional amendment.

The nationalist Swiss People's Party describes minarets, the distinctive spires used in most countries for calls to prayer, as symbols of rising Muslim political and religious power that could eventually turn Switzerland into an Islamic nation.

Muslims make up about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million people. Many Swiss Muslims are refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Fewer than 13 percent practice their religion, the government says, and Swiss mosques do not broadcast the call to prayer outside their buildings.

"Forced marriages and other things like cemeteries separating the pure and impure — we don't have that in Switzerland, and we do not want to introduce it" said Ulrich Schlueer, co-president of the Initiative Committee to ban minarets.

Broader backlash

The move by the People's Party, the country's largest party in terms of popular support and membership in parliament, is part of a broader European backlash against a growing Muslim population. It has stirred fears of violent reactions in Muslim countries and an economically disastrous boycott by wealthy Muslims who bank, shop and vacation in Switzerland.

Taner Hatipoglu, president of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Zurich, said, "The initiators have achieved something everyone wanted to prevent, and that is to influence and change the relations to Muslims and their social integration in a negative way."

Hatipoglu said if in the long term the anti-Islam atmosphere continues, "Muslims indeed will not feel safe anymore."

Campaign posters draw objections

The seven-member Cabinet that heads the Swiss government has spoken out strongly against the initiative, and local officials and rights defenders objected to campaign posters showing minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman.(picture at start)

The People's Party has campaigned mainly unsuccessfully in previous years against immigrants with campaign posters showing white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss flag and another with brown hands grabbing eagerly for Swiss passports.

The four minarets already attached to mosques in the country are not affected by the initiative.

Geneva's main mosque was vandalized Thursday when someone threw a pot of pink paint at the entrance. Earlier this month, a vehicle with a loudspeaker drove through the area imitating a muezzin's call to prayer, and vandals damaged a mosaic when they threw cobblestones at the building.

Swiss projected to OK minaret ban - Europe- msnbc.com

 

[Kompromat]

I do not hate Pakistan. I said i would support india taking pakistans nukes IF the taliban took over Pakistan (The Taliban took over the government) I do not support a Taliban run Pakistan.

oh really , it would never matter would it?

Let your senses have some rest , India would never be able to Invade Pakistan they themslef "shiver" and BTW Pakistan is not a piece of cake that Taliban can take over it.

 

[Awesome]

There would be a huge backlash once they come to demolish the parts of the mosques which already have minarets.

Amongst Muslims the demolitions of mosques is not an easy task, even when done by Muslims themselves.

Ignorance!

 

[EjazR]

Being secular is not the problem. Secularism need not be anti religion. The Americans, British and Indonesians e.t.c. have no official state religion and are secular countries but provide full freedom of religion.

 

[Kompromat]

Minarets BANNED in Switzerland -Minaret ban 'wins Swiss support'



There are About 400,000 Muslims live in Switzerland, most from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey .

Voters in Switzerland have approved a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques, official results posted by the Swiss news agency ATS have shown.

Over 57 per cent of those who cast votes in Sunday's poll approved the ban while only four cantons out of 26 rejected the proposals, paving the way for a constitutional amendment to be made.

Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Bern, the Swiss capital, said: "There is concern in Switzerland undoubtedly about what is being seen as the spread of radical Islam, but the Muslim community here has always been regarded as fairly moderate.

"They were saying that they wanted to see this proposal defeated, so I'm sure it is a real shock to them that at the moment we are seeing that most of the people here have voted in favour of [the ban]."


The Swiss People's Party (SVP) had forced a referendum on the issue after it collected 100,000 signatures within 18 months from eligible voters.

The Swiss government had opposed the call for a vote, saying that a ban on minarets would hurt Switzerland's image in other countries.

'Anti-Islamic hate'


Supporters of the proposed ban say minarets represent the growth of an alien ideology and legal system that have no place in the Swiss democracy.



in depth



Behind the Swiss minaret vote


"Forced marriages and other things like cemeteries separating the pure and impure - we don't have that in Switzerland, and we do not want to introduce it," Ulrich Schlueer, co-president of the Initiative Committee to ban minarets, said.

"Therefore, there's no room for minarets in Switzerland."

But Switzerland's Muslims have said that the referendum is fuelling anti-Islamic feeling in the country.

"The initiators have achieved something everyone wanted to prevent, and that is to influence and change the relations to Muslims and their social integration in a negative way," Taner Hatipoglu, the president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Zurich, said.

"We are frightened, and if the atmosphere continues to be like this and if the anti-Islamic hate increases, then the Muslims indeed will not feel safe anymore. This of course is very unpleasant."

About 400,000 Muslims live in Switzerland - whose population is just under eight million. Most Muslim citizens are immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and Turkey.

Although Islam is the country's second largest religion after Christianity, there are only four mosques with minarets in the whole country.

'Know your place'

Posters have appeared in many Swiss cities showing a dark, almost menacing figure of a woman, shrouded from head to foot in a black burka. Behind her is the Swiss flag, shaped like a map of the country, with black minarets shooting up out of it like missiles.

The cities of Basel, Lausanne and Fribourg banned the billboards, saying they painted a "racist, disrespectful and dangerous image" of Islam.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee called the posters discriminatory and said Switzerland would violate international law if it bans minarets.

Al Jazeera's Fisher said that there was a political message behind Sunday's referendum.

"The reality is, as was described to me by a Swiss resident who is not a Swiss citizen, this is the right-wing Swiss People's Party sending out a message to Muslims: 'Know your place in Switzerland'," he said.

"They believe, the right-wing People's Party, that if the Muslims get their mosques and their minarets it will follow on that they will want, perhaps, separate schooling and there could be a campaign to turn Switzerland, of all places, into a place that practices Sharia."

The Swiss government and business leaders have opposed a minaret ban, saying it would be harmful to the country's image abroad and disastrous for the Swiss economy.

The Swiss People's Party forced the referendum after collecting 100,000 signatures within 18 months from eligible voters supporting the motion.

 

[Nemesis]

The rise of fascist sentiment in Switzerland? What is the world coming to...

The logic behind the banning of minarets makes no sense. Since the Swiss are known to be neutral, will they be banning the crucifix on churches next?

Let them ban it. I agree with Asim here, i would be more concerned if this kind of crap happened in India.

 

[DaRk WaVe]

now have a look at this...

Feminist support for Swiss minaret ban​

​

A right-wing campaign to outlaw minarets on mosques in a referendum being held in Switzerland today has received an unlikely boost from radical feminists arguing that the tower-like structures are "male power symbols" and reminders of Islam's oppression of women.

A "stop the minarets" campaign has provoked ferment in the land of Heidi, where women are more likely than men to vote for the ban after warnings from prominent feminists that Islam threatens their rights.

Forget about tranquil Alpine scenery and cowbells: one of the most startling features of the referendum campaign has been a poster showing a menacing woman in a burqa beside minarets rising from the Swiss flag. It seems to have struck a nerve in Langenthal, a small town near Bern where Muslims plan to put up a minaret next to their prayer room in a bleak former paint factory.

"If we give them a minaret, they'll have us all wearing burqas," said Julia Werner, a local housewife. "Before you know it, we’ll have sharia law and women being stoned to death in our streets. We won't be Swiss any more."

A spoof video game on the internet called Minaret Attack shows minarets popping up all over the idyllic Swiss countryside, after which a message proclaims: "Game over! Switzerland is covered in minarets. Vote to ban them on November 29."

Socialist politicians have been furious to see icons of the left joining what is regarded as an anti-immigrant campaign by the populist Swiss People's party, the biggest group in parliament. One of them, Julia Onken, warned that failure to ban minarets would be "a signal of the state's acceptance of the oppression of women". She has sent out 4,000 emails attacking Muslims who condone forced marriage, honour killings and beating women.

Islamophobia Watch - Home - Feminist support for Swiss minaretban

 

[Kompromat]

All i know is Muslims are not going to do anything about it , all they will do is Keep quiet , i will be surprised if 53 countries Bycott swiss products and Trade and Teach them and their economy a lesson which they would never forget!

Wake up sleeeping Creed

 

[Kompromat]

The rise of fascist sentiment in Switzerland? What is the world coming to...

The logic behind the banning of minarets makes no sense. Since the Swiss are known to be neutral, will they be banning the crucifix on churches next?

Let them ban it. I agree with Asim here, i would be more concerned if this kind of crap happened in India.

We have just came to know about their Neutrality have'nt we?

 

[Awesome]

"If we give them a minaret, they'll have us all wearing burqas," said Julia Werner, a local housewife. "Before you know it, we’ll have sharia law and women being stoned to death in our streets. We won't be Swiss any more."

If that's their mentality then they got what they deserved!

 

[SekrutYakhni]

I support secularism, however this vote is religious intolerance.

yeah...

Secularism does not mean to wear bikini and go out...
It is stupidism….I know it is not a word but still…..

Secularism is tolerance....
To listen to others and to respect their ideas
Islam is a secular religion…It says us to tolerate other people….

 

[Kompromat]

Now look at this

 

[asq]

Regrettable !!!

by the way every coin has 2 sides,

Switzerland is following the path of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

But kingdom of Saudi Arabia never say that they are SECULAR and never grants the freedom of speech, expressions and all.

On the part of Swiss It is all a facade and nothing more, when the truth comes out Swiss will be proved acting as extremists and they are using claims of secularism as a cover up.

Soner or later Truth will bite you where it hearts the most.

 

[sonicboom]

The Swiss far right party is claiming that "Islamic systems" like forced marriages, honor killings, e.t.c. when these are all AGAINST Islamic laws and Quran anyways. Why not pass laws outlawing these because any muslim would support it.

More Clarifications


Forced Marriages:

Marriage in Islam is a social contract that requires the consent of both parties. Neither the bride nor groom can be forced into a marriage. Contrary to popular misconceptions, the woman has the right to choose her husband; Islamic law does not permit her to be forced into any marriage. The wife also has the right to retain her family name and to keep and manage her own money from her work, inheritance, investments, gifts or other sources. It is her right to keep her money separate from her husband’s, and he has no right to it.

According to Islamic custom, parents and guardians have specific rights in this matter; to arrange the marriage ceremony and conduct it as a respectful family event; give their advice and recommendation for a life partner for their children. These rights are encapsulated within the philosophy of ‘willayah’. However, Islam does not allow parents, guardians or other relatives to enforce their will or choice on a boy or a girl since it is they who are the real parties to that contract. The right to exercise free will and consent in choosing a spouse is a God given right.


Honour Killings:

Honour killings are tribal practices and has nothing to do with Islam. For them, honour is associated with women and women have to be guarded and protected. A woman dishonours her family and tribe if her body is violated - even by force. The shame can be cleansed only by killing the body in question.

Since this terrible inhumane practice does exists only among the Muslims of the world—very often civilized people do blame Islam as the precursor of this dreadful act.

 

[purepak143]

Sallam to all members !

Dear i gotta ask you guys for something that i really need.
I've been called for my interview for the post of sub inspector ministry of defense. How to give the interviewers a satisfactory pause ?
I need your suggestions that may help me come up successful in my interview.......................
If any of you or your friends has ever had certain interview do share it with me.........
awaiting your urgent reply
Purepak