Swiss vote on proposal to ban minarets

[struggle4progress]

GENEVA — The campaign posters are inflammatory: Minarets rising like missiles from the national flag.

A proposal championed by right-wing parties to ban minarets in Switzerland goes to a nationwide vote on Sunday in a referendum that has set off an emotional debate about national identity and stirred fears of boycotts and violent reactions from Muslim countries.

With tensions running high, the Geneva Mosque was vandalized Thursday by unidentified individuals who threw a pot of pink paint at the building's entrance.

It was the third incident against the mosque this month: earlier, a vehicle with a loudspeaker drove through the area imitating a muezzin's call to prayer, and vandals threw cobble stones at the building, damaging a mosaic ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSvKwQU-w3j6Gp8PWHRzV2hnh54QD9C7RL180

[GreenStormCloud]

1. All across Europe, anti-Islamic feelings are rapidly rising.

In America too, for that matter. Recently Obama made an extremely eloquent speech attempting to counter that rise in America. But the fact that such a speech was needed at all is scary. I fear that in a few years Europe will erupt in civil war against the Muslims. If today's train wreck is found to be an act of Islamic terror that future will be a huge step closer.

[unabelladonna]

2. there is a way to counter the hate

leaders of the faith should be more vocal in condemning any islamic themed acts of terror. they shouldn't need to, but they must.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. If the Islamic moderates speak out, the radicals kill them.

Further, the moderates, by Western standards aren't that moderate anyway. Even the moderates want Sharia Law in Western countries too.

[unabelladonna]

4. fear is what

drives many islamophobes....and it isn't getting any better. i certainly don't know what can be done. where are the leaders of jordan, morrocco, malaysia, egypt or tunisia? there are moderates? they must speak if we're going to make any progress.

[Odin2005]

11. Salman Rushdie still fears for his life, IIRC.

:(

[struggle4progress]

5. Ban on Minarets Rejected by Swiss Majority (Angus Reid | Nov 28)

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The controversial proposal that seeks to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland is set to fail in tomorrow’s referendum, according to a poll by the GfS Research Institute released by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. 53 per cent of respondents would vote against the proposed ban.

Since 1959, Switzerland has formed its government under a power-sharing agreement known as the "Magic Formula." The country’s four major political parties are represented in the seven-post cabinet. Presidents are elected by the Assembly for one-year terms from the pool of cabinet members. The president remains a member of the cabinet and does not hold any extra powers

Within the frame of Switzerland’s direct-democracy system, a group of citizens or leaders of the eight cantons together can call a referendum to challenge a law approved by the federal legislature. The vote is decided with a simple majority.

Last year, the ultra-nationalist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) gathered more than 113,000 signatures to force a nationwide referendum on banning the construction of minarets in Swiss mosques. The minaret—a tower from which the call to prayer is sounded—is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques. At this time, only the mosques in Geneva, Wangen near Olten, Winterthur and Zurich have minarets ...

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/34584/ban_on_minarets_rejected_by_swiss_majority/

Support for the SVP in Switzerland seems roughly comparable to support for Teabaggers here

[GreenStormCloud]

8. It is good that it should fail.

But failing by only 53% is scary. Maybe the polls will be wrong and it will be more lopsided.

[ZombieHorde]

12. I am glad this failed. I am not a fan of Islam, but I don't want to ban their art. nt

[dmallind]

6. A rather silly gesture

Banning minarets makes no more sense than banning spires on churches (on private property of course)and expecting that that means the Christian fundamentalists won't turn out any more Rudolphs or McVeighs.

I understand the suspicion of some portions of the Islamic religious spectrum, but whether they have stereotypical architectural features on their mosques is entirely irrelevant to what they preach or condone, which is the real problem.

[GreenStormCloud]

10. +1 N/T

[uberllama42]

7. It strikes me that many of the older people who support this ban

and complain that Islam suppresses women probably voted no on the referendum to mandate women's suffrage in 1972.

[GreenStormCloud]

9. I would not count on the support of the youth.

Many of them will look at Muslims working and think that they should have had that job. In times of economic depression and high unemployment, immigrants always get blamed. Add in the reality of Islamic global terror, and things just don't look good for people being tolerant.

[Angry Dragon]

13. It is a sad commentary

when the most virulent of a faith or those of many faiths can cause others to condemn the whole faith.

[charlie]

14. Projected to pass

The Swiss have approved a ban on the construction of minarets, according to incomplete results of voting on Sunday.

The gfs.bern polling institute said an estimated 58 per cent of voters had backed the initiative. A majority of cantons were also in support of a minaret ban.

Turnout was high at around 55 per cent.

The result, if confirmed, comes as a major surprise and a slap in the face of the government. Opinion polls ahead of the vote had predicted the ban would be rejected by 53 per cent of the electorate...

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Minaret_ban_approved_incomplete_results_show.html?siteSect=105&sid=11553929&cKey=1259497991000&ty=st

[struggle4progress]

15. Danish, Dutch Populist Parties Want Referendums On Minaret Ban

... Geert Wilders, head of the Dutch Freedom Party, told the Dutch daily "Volkskrant" that his party "will call upon the government to make a similar referendum possible in the Netherlands."

And in Denmark, Danish People's Party head Pia Kjaersgaard welcomed the Swiss ban and said her party would also seek a similar vote. Martin Henriksen, a deputy for the Danish People's Party, acknowledged that Denmark currently had no mosques with minarets ...

http://www.rferl.org/content/Danish_Dutch_Populist_Parties_Want_Referendum_On_Minaret_Ban/1891427.html