Sometimes the most obnoxious aspect of the coverage of Islamic issues by right-wing newspapers is the sickening online comments their articles provoke. Two days ago the Express published a short report on the Swiss parliamentary vote in favour of banning the veil. The one comment it has so far attracted openly calls for Muslims to be killed. Despite the comment being reported, the admins at the Express website evidently have no interest in removing it.
Swiss MPs have approved a far-right move to impose a ban on the burqa or other face coverings in some public places, including on public transport.
With 101 votes against 77, the lower chamber of the house approved the motion, which was titled “masks off!”, on Wednesday. The draft bill will still have to be examined by the upper chamber.
Wilders on the platform with Oskar Freysinger of the Swiss People’s Party and (right) René Stadtkewitz of Die Freiheit
Dutch populist MP Geert Wilders has hit out at both the EU and Islam at a small far-right German party in Berlin.
Amid tight security, the Dutch anti-Islam politician spoke at a gathering of Die Freiheit, led by René Stadtkewitz, widely seen as the German version of Mr Wilders’ Freedom Party. Mr Stadtkewitz accuses the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, of selling Germany to Europe. He also claims that most of Germany’s unemployed come from Muslim countries.
In his speech, Mr Wilders attacked the European Union and Islam, which he described as the two biggest threats. He stressed, however, that “Breivik is not one of us”. He was referring to the Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik who invoked Mr Wilders as an inspiring example after killing 77 people in twin attacks in and near the capital Oslo in July. “We reject violence, we are democrats, we believe in peacefulness, we reject Islam for its violent character,” Mr Wilders said.
The meeting was attended by 600 people, far fewer than expected. Police had cordoned off the area around the hotel where it was held. Several hundred demonstrators protested against the meeting.
Die Freiheit had originally tried to charge €100 a seat for the meeting. Unable to attract sufficient interest at that inflated figure, the organisers were forced to slash the price to €5 in an attempt to fill the 1,000-capacity venue. All in vain, it would appear.
Europe’s rights court on Friday rejected two cases brought by Muslims against Switzerland’s constitutional ban on the construction of new minarets.
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights said it would not consider the cases because the plaintiffs “cannot claim to be ‘victims’ of a violation” of the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court enforces.
One of the cases was brought by a former spokesman for the mosque of Geneva and the other by a number of Swiss Muslim associations.
Switzerland held a referendum in November 2009 in which citizens voted to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew criticism worldwide. The vote inserted a new line in the Swiss constitution stipulating that “the construction of minarets is forbidden”.
The plaintiffs had said the ban violated their religious rights, but judges in Strasbourg said they had not proven the ban “had any concrete effect” on the plaintiffs.
As the plaintiffs could not prove they planned to imminently erect a mosque with a minaret, they could not show they were subject to any discrimination, the judges said. “The simple fact that this could be the case in the near or far future is not, in the eyes of the court, sufficient” to warrant the examination of the cases, the judges said.
The Strasbourg court is due to consider three more cases on the minaret ban.
See also “Strasbourg minaret ruling causes no surprise”, Swissinfo, 6 July 2011
The Swiss news agency ATS reports that the Islamic Youth Association of Switzerland (AJIS) demonstrated on Sunday in Lucerne against the Islamophobia to which they had been subjected.
After being refused premises for a planned seminar in Lucerne and Emmen, the AJIS booked a room above the Lucerne station buffet. But when they arrived there they were told that the room was unavailable because it was being set up for an event the next day.
So between 100 and 150 participants went down to the floor below and occupied the station buffet, where they unfurled banners reading “No to Islamophobia” or “We won’t be silenced”.
The president of the Central Islamic Council of Switzerland (CCIS), Nicolas Blancho Abdullah, complained of growing restrictions on the rights of Muslims. The planned seminar in Lucerne was a gathering of mainstream Islam, he said.
Reported cases of racism against blacks and Muslims went up in Switzerland in 2010.
Incidents mainly happened in public areas, at work and in contact with the police, according to the 2010 report by the Federal Commission against Racism and the non-governmental humanrights.ch.
It mainly took the form of verbal abuse.
“It is striking how often those accused were in socio-economic positions of power and used this position, directly or indirectly against the victims,” the report says.
Those affected came from a wide range of backgrounds, and were both Swiss and immigrants.
Not all abuse is reported and the real figure is believed to be much higher, the report says.
The report calls on cantons to improve measures protecting people against discrimination.
The report can be downloaded here.
Right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders is not allowed to speak next month in the canton of Valais. Officials in Savièse said right-wing figures could bring unrest to the community, and that applications for protest permits had already been filed. Wilders was invited to speak by Swiss People’s Party member of parliament Oskar Freysinger.
A petition in Canton Ticino could force a referendum on prohibiting women from wearing burqas in public, a first for the country.
A local committee in Ticino, Switzerland’s Italian-speaking region, said it has collected 11,316 signatures, over a thousand more the required number to launch a referendum. Canton authorities will check the signatures over the next few days, reports say and could then call for a referendum.
According to local newspaper Corriere del Ticino, as well as banning burqas, niqabs and other Islamic headresses, the initiative also aims to ban the use of balaclavas and other headgear that disguise people’s faces. These are sometimes worn by people attending football matches in Switzerland.
If the referendum goes ahead, it will be the first time in Switzerland that citizens have been asked to express an opinion on burqas. A similar ban came into effect in France recently, causing a hot debate on personal and religious freedom in the country and beyond.
In 2009, the Swiss voted to ban the construction of minarets in a country, a decision that has sparked controversy in the Muslim world and in other European countries.
A government-appointed committee has supported a partial ban on the traditional Islamic burqa and the niqab. The Federal Commission on Women’s Issues calls for traditional full-face veils to be banned in government offices and in public schools. It is a move, the group says, to prevent gender discrimination. But the burqa is not alone in what the commission wants banned. WRS’s Alex Helmick asks Etiennette Verrey, president of the commission, whether women living in Switzerland should have the right to wear the burqa to work even if they work for the state.
A year after Swiss voters approved a ban on the building of minarets, both pro and contra groups are launching new campaigns to put the issue back on the political agenda.
An anti-minaret movement led by Ulrich Schlüer of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party presented a manifesto on Monday against the Islamisation of Switzerland. The document underlines Switzerland’s Christian foundations and aims to prevent the creation of a parallel society inspired by Islamic sharia law.
Schlüer said the group had waited a year in vain for the government to implement the minaret ban. A sign of the lack of progress was the green light canton Bern gave in September to the building of a minaret in the town of Langenthal, the politician said. The Bern authorities argued at the time that planning permission was originally granted months before the controversial vote.
Also on Monday, an Islamic group based in Bern said it was launching an initiative to lift the minaret ban. The Islamic Central Council – which represents 13 Islamic organisations with 1,700 members – said the aim of the initiative was to restore “the constitutional right of equality of all citizens regardless of their religious faith”.
The council said it would submit a text to the federal chancellery in January for initial examination. If the group decides to go ahead, it will have to collect 100,000 signatures within 18 months in order to force a nationwide vote.
More than 300,000 Muslims reside in Switzerland. When it is completed, the Langenthal minaret will be the fifth in the country.