The Swiss Minaret Ban

I’ve been asked to comment about it, so I will.

As you may have heard the Swiss have banned the construction of minarets, towers for announcing the Muslim call to prayer, in Switzerland:

GENEVA — Switzerland’s political leaders faced a chorus of criticism at home and abroad on Monday over a ban on the construction of minarets that passed overwhelmingly by referendum on Sunday.

The ban has propelled the country to the forefront of a European debate on how far countries should go to assimilate Muslim immigrants and Islamic culture.

First, a bit of disclosure.

The Schulers were Swiss (and, arguably under Swiss law still are). I am descended from the patron saint of Switzerland. My ancestor purportedly drafted the Swiss Articles of Confederation. The Schulers are from Canton Schwyz, real Switzerland, as I’ve actually heard Switzers say. My great-great-grandfather David Schuler for whom I’m named emigrated from Switzerland to the United States around 1865. Unlike most immigrants the Schulers have maintained some ties to the old country. In every generation of Schulers in the United States from the very first somebody has returned to visit the Swiss Schulers in Switzerland. My parents did more than 40 years ago and my mother and my dad’s cousin returned some years back. We’ve exchanged emails and letters with family members in Switzerland. I suppose I should notify some of them about my mom’s death.

I have some nostalgic fondness for the old paternal homeland. I’m not an authority on Switzerland but I know a little about it and have, I believe, some insight.

Switzerland is not the Netherlands or Scandinavia. The Swiss are hardnosed, practical, clannish, occasionally backwoods people. There are only about 7 million of them. In Switzerland military service continues to be mandatory for all able-bodied men. Career Swiss military officers are rather rare. The Swiss have guarded their independence and neutrality jealously over the period of nearly a millenium. I’ve heard Switzerland referred to as an army masquerading as a country.

Switzerland is predominantly a Christian country. In some cantons the Catholic church continues to be established (I’m not sure about all of it). There remains quite a bit of very conservative Roman Catholicism in Switzerland (I had a cousin who was a Swiss papal guard).

Women didn’t receive the vote in Switzerland until 1976 (I still needle Switzers about this).

Generally speaking, I don’t feel comfortable telling people in other countries how they should regulate their social arrangements and I expect the same courtesy from them. I just don’t know enough about current local conditions to comment intelligently and this case is no exception.

My hipshot reaction is that the Swiss have made a poorly informed decision but I can’t be certain of what actually precipitated the vote. 400,000 doesn’t sound like an enormous number of Muslims but when there are only 7 million Swiss and the Muslims are undoubtedly concentrated in two or three cities I suspect it feels like a lot more. Considering the recentness of women getting the vote in the very patriarchal Switzerland, I can suspect that sensitivity among a still remaining founding women’s movement in Switzerland may be part of the explanation but I can’t be certain. This article tends to support that view. I suspect it’s also worth mentioning that our Muslim immigrants in the United States for reasons of proximity among others probably represent a different social stratum than the Muslim immigrants in Europe. I’m not trying to excuse anything, only pointing out that there are differences between the American experience and the European that I can’t hope to understand sufficiently.

The coverage of this news has characterized it as the work of “right wing” radicals. I wouldn’t be surprised if, by the standards of Britain, France, or the Netherlands, nearly all of the Swiss are right-wing radicals which, essentially, renders the term meaningless. It’s hard to compare political orientation across national boundaries.

The move highlights something I’ve been saying around here for a long time: immigration poses special social and political problems for the ethnically-defined nation states of Europe. I think this is the beginning of the backlash rather than the end of it. I do not envy my cousins their predicament.

Two good posts (from Muslims) on this subject:

Aziz Poonawalla
Yasir Qadhi

12 comments… add one
  • malthus Link

    The Swiss are a good example of a nation full of patriots who can manage to bend whatever morals they might have to profit from the artwork and gold teeth of genocide victims.

    No, they are not to be confused with the generous and outward-looking Dutch, or even the Italians. I know from personal experience: when I was traveling cheaply by motorcycle, a Swiss farmer roused us from our tiny tent in the morning to announce that, unless we paid him 5 DM for “ruining his grass” in the corner of his field, he would report us to the cops. When, deja vu, an Italian family a year later approached our tiny camp on a corner of their field a year later, I feared the worst. But they were bringing us their wine, bread and cheese, and later put us up for 2 nights and fed us 5-course dinners.

    The only good thin Switzerland ever had to offer humanity is the knife.

  • Thanks, Dave, that contributes to my understanding of this.

    Immigration is a very different matter in countries not accustomed to it, and particularly in countries with a clearly dominant ethnic group.

    I agree it’s hard and almost pointless to throw around words like conservative, liberal, right or left wing as though they mean the same thing in every country.

    I believed Pim Fortuyn was probably right in the Netherlands, and could not quite see how a gay liberal ended up being characterized as a right-winger.

    This minaret ban of course raises the hackles of most Americans. It feels wrong, but I’d need to read and think some more before I could go with instinct on this.

  • PD Shaw Link

    It may also be worth noting that the Vatican opposed the legislation.

    It’s my understanding that the current Swiss state was formed in 1848 as a result of what might have been the last European war of religion btw/ Catholic and Protestant. The resulting federalism compromise provided for individual cantons to establish churches, regulate religion and tax and spend on religion.

    As an outsider, it seems to me that the Swiss Supreme Court may have awakened a hornet’s nest by preventing the canton’s their traditional right to regulate religion. My rough impression is that where Muslims tend to live in Switzerland, the ban was opposed (Geneva and Basel City).

  • PD Shaw Link

    BTW/ Dave have you ever visited New Glarus? America’s Little Switzerland? I visited this Fall, mainly to get some beer. I like these historic/ faux historic villages.

  • BTW/ Dave have you ever visited New Glarus? America’s Little Switzerland? I visited this Fall, mainly to get some beer. I like these historic/ faux historic villages.

    Dozens of times, since earliest childhood. My dad loved it.

    I think that southwestern Wisconsin, generally, is a real gem. Even more worthwhile than New Glarus are Mineral Point and Spring Green.

  • Dave,

    Interesting and an excellent article, without being judgemental!

    I have visited Switzerland, and it is a beautiful country.

    Regarding the ‘beginning of a backlash’,

    I did an MBA analysis of the Swiss Minaret ban, and this is my take on it.

    http://mezba.blogspot.com/2009/12/mba-analysis-of-swiss-minaret-ban.html

  • That’s a good analysis, Mezba, although I think you’re overestimating Swiss tolerance a bit. I may link to it as time allows.

    To me the most attractive part of your analysis is that for a productive solutions both sides may have to change. I think that ties directly to the sociological point I made in my post.

  • Thanks Dave.

    I agree. Compromise always means both sides have to give a little.

    I find Islam in China to be fascinating in terms of this. You might find the following blog post there of interest.

    http://islaminchina.wordpress.com/2009/11/21/first-muslim-minority-thinking-considered-harmful/

  • PD Shaw Link

    Reading some more in the British press, I think a few points emerge:

    1. The view that this is “right wing” appears to be political propaganda. There appears to have been substantial support from feminists and secularist, as well as traditional foes of immigration. The “right wing” label is and was being used to drive a wedge between these groups and tar the leftist as rightist.

    2. It also appears that most business, government and religious leaders opposed the ban. It suggests a crisis of legitimacy from the top which has arisen in a number of European countries in the last several years, particularly on issues that touch on the EU. If the ban is overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, the problem could get worse.

  • PD, in keeping with its traditional neutrality, Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. I’m not sure that the European Court of Human Rights has any standing in Switzerland.

  • PD Shaw Link

    Good point, on this topic I’ve read a number of Swiss denunciations of Europe and the international community that resembled complaints about the EU that I forgot that they aren’t even in the EU.

    But they do appear to be in EuCtHR. It seems to be a background complaint that the Court recently barred a crucifix from being displayed in an Italian school. I’m not sure I follow the analogy, but it does seem that the Swiss are upset about losing sovereignty and direct democracy through international agreements and unresponsive elites.

    It also appears that the illegality of the ban was raised before the referendum by those who thought the elites should prevent it from going forward. This presents the possibility that people voted for the ban as a symbolic gesture.

  • PD Shaw Link

    OT: The driftless region of Wisconsin is my favorite. I’ve stayed at the Brewery Creek Pub in Mineral Point, enjoying the local beer and cornish pasties, toured Frank Lloyd Wright’s Talesin, and enjoyed every bizarre moment that is House on the Rock.

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