Switzerland has passed a ban on building new minarets. There are 150 mosques in Switzerland, but only 4 have minarets, and apparently only two more were planned. (That’s less than the number on this racist poster!) Apparently, four was more than enough and six was too much for the SVP (tiny religious party of ignorant people), so they went to far as to ban new structures. The majority government isn’t crazy about this, and everyone seems surprised. This also smells like a breach of human rights (I certainly think it.) Why didn’t the whole “can-this-legally-be carried-out” issue come up during the vetting of amendments?
This might have gone down (at least with too many Americans) back in 2002-2003, but the Swiss have definitely missed the jingoistic racism bus. This is like the Von Dutch trucker hat of laws: unnecessary, cringe-worthy, enough to make you want to burn the pictures. Hopefully, this rightist trend will become an awkward memory, and not a new reality.
Not like I was planning a visit anyway–
Published November 30, 2009 nonsterdam Leave a CommentTags: human rights, Islam, Switzerland, Trellis
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