Swiss identity and the ban on minarets
Inspired by a trip to the Middle East in 1865, Swiss chocolatier Philippe Suchard added minarets to his home in Neuchatel.
Switzerland’s voters recently passed a ban on the construction of minarets. On the political blog 538, founder Nate Silver and Geneva-based correspondent Renard Sexton look into how religious identity, language spoken, and the foreign population affected how each canton, or Swiss province, voted on the initiative.
Silver kicks off the discussion, finding that the more religious the canton, the more likely it was to vote for the ban. In his follow-up, Sexton examines the role of xenophobia in the decision. He points out that since many multinational corporations and organizations are based in Switzerland, about 22 percent of Switzerland’s population are foreigners. As he says, this means two things:
First, the cultural clash in many Swiss cantons between traditional agriculturally-driven, conservative lifestyle and the “international” culture of more urban areas, who are dominated by the UN, banks and globalized companies, has become very pronounced.
And second, and perhaps more importantly, foreigners can’t vote.
Through their analyses, Silver and Sexton reveal some interesting insights about Swiss culture, especially in the age of globalization. As Sexton wrote, “the politics of culture in a country that is multi-cultural/lingual, yet insular…and isolated are very complicated politics indeed.”
Photo by Tambako the Jaguar. CC 2.0.
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While you can understand the “This is our country and this is how we like it” mentality to some extent, in this modern world it is rather difficult to think of any Westernised country that is not multi-cultural. Should we ban sushi bars just because they are not Swiss/German/English/etc?
The main problem is linked with xenophobia and is a fear of what the minarets represent. It is not fair to paint all of Islam with the same brush and the media has a lot to apologise for but trying to reconcile a culture that accepts and imports artifacts from other civilisations (The West) with a culture that seems to not allow this (Islam), the near future is going to be a tricky one for all Western countries.
The Unexpected Traveller
Unexpected Traveller
30 Nov 09 at 3:38 pm
Even calling it xenophobia seems euphemistic. RT @nicoleAFAR: My summary of 538’s analysis of the Swiss minaret ban: http://bit.ly/6DzHqI
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
shurwitt
30 Nov 09 at 3:46 pm