Islamophobia Watch

Socialist MP Maria Roth-Bernasconi said it was irritating that she had angered feminists in Iran. Ms Calmy-Rey said she was observing protocol. "When you are a guest you respect local customs," she said.

Social Democrat MP Liliane Maury Pasquier accepted that customs had to be observed. But she was quoted by one newspaper complaining that the minister should have shown solidarity with "the women who fight against wearing the headscarf". Swiss daily Le Matin said on Wednesday it was shocked that Switzerland's "icon of a liberated woman" had been transformed into an image of one who was oppressed.

BBC News, 20 March 2008

Switzerland's Federal Court has overturned two decisions by local assemblies to refuse citizenship on the grounds of women wearing a religious veil. Muslim organisations welcomed the rulings, which were announced on Wednesday, as a "step forward". Under the Swiss federal system, communities also have a say on naturalisation issues.

The court ruling came after two local assemblies in canton Aargau, in northern Switzerland, rejected applications for Swiss citizenship by a Turkish woman and a Bosnian couple last year. Objectors said the veil was a sign of inequality between men and women and was therefore unconstitutional.

But Switzerland's highest court found that wearing a veil was an expression of religious beliefs, which are protected under the Swiss constitution. The veil in itself was not a sign of the debasement of women, the judges wrote. The court urged citizens to look beyond their prejudices and said the fact that a Muslim woman wore a veil did not mean she was flouting the basic values of Swiss society.

Local decisions on citizenship applications have been a controversial issue over the past few years. Swiss citizens are due to vote on an initiative that aims to enshrine communities' right to decide on naturalisation requests in the constitution. Launched by the rightwing Swiss People's Party, it demands that voters be free to decide on how to proceed on citizenship questions and that appeals against negative decisions be no longer possible.

Swissinfo, 5 March 2008

Switzerland's rightwing People's party, accused of racism and fanning Islamophobia, strengthened its position as the country's leading political force yesterday, gaining more than 2 percentage points to win a general election for the second time in a row, according to projections.

Led by the populist industrialist Christoph Blocher, the People's party, or SVP, was projected to have taken almost 29% of the vote, securing six more seats in parliament and two seats in the seven-strong cabinet that is always a coalition of the four strongest parties.

Guardian, 22 October 2007

Peter Beaumont warns against the threat from Christoph Blocher and the racist Swiss People's Party (SVP):

"... the reason why Switzerland is suddenly important is not because of its politics – it's because it represents the most visible manifestation of the nasty Islamophobia currently rising throughout Europe, that has connected self-avowed liberals such as Martin Amis in the UK with men like Blocher in a spectrum of fear and xenophobia. Tomorrow, it seems likely that the most Islamophobic mainstream party on the European continent will win the largest number of votes by wrapping itself in a fake past. It is a warning to us all."

Comment is Free, 20 October 2007

See also Der Spiegel, 17 October 2007

From London's docklands to the rolling hills of Tuscany, from southern Austria to Amsterdam and Cologne, the issue of Islamic architecture and its impact on citadels of "western civilisation" is increasingly contentious.

The far right is making capital from Islamophobia by focusing on the visible symbols of Islam in Europe. In Switzerland it is the far-right SVP that is setting the terms of the debate.

Next door in Austria the far right leader Jörg Haider is also calling for a ban in his province of Carinthia, even though there are few Muslims and no known plans for mosques. "Carinthia," he said, "will be a pioneer in the battle against radical Islam for the protection of our dominant western culture."

In Italy the mayors of Bologna and Genoa last month cancelled or delayed planning permission for mosques after a vociferous campaign by the far-right Northern League, one of whose leaders, Roberto Calderoli, threatened to stage a "day of pork" to offend Muslims and to take pigs to "defile" the site of the proposed mosque in Bologna.

While the far right makes the running, their noisy campaign is being supported more quietly by mainstream politicians and some Christian leaders. And on the left pro-secularist and anti-clericalist sentiment is also frequently ambivalent about Islamic building projects.

Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne has voiced his unease over a large new mosque being built for the city's 120,000 Muslims in the Rhineland Roman Catholic stronghold. A similar scheme in Munich has also faced local protests.

The Bishop of Graz in Austria has been more emphatic. "Muslims should not build mosques which dominate town's skylines in countries like ours," said Bishop Egon Kapellari.

Guardian, 11 October 2007

Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed on Sunday that British foreign policy had nothing to do with the latest attempted terror attacks. In an echo of his predecessor Tony Blair, Mr Brown claimed that this weekend's shambolic bomb plots were the work of phantom menace terror group al-Qaida.

He claimed that the would-be bombers were not motivated by the carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan but had "a grievance against society, particularly against the values that we represent and the values decent people of all religions represent".

"Irrespective of Iraq, irrespective of Afghanistan, irrespective of what is happening in different parts of the world, we have an international organisation trying to inflict the maximum damage on civilian life in pursuit of a terrorist cause that is totally unacceptable to most people," he declared.

Identifying the bomb plot with Islam and British Muslims, Mr Brown said: "We have got to fight a battle for hearts and minds. We have got to separate those moderate members of our community from a few extremists who wish to practise violence and inflict maximum loss of life in the interests of a perversion of their religion."

But Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: "The government is in denial on this question. Even a government inquiry last year found that the growth of terrorism in Britain was due to the war in Iraq. There is one simple fact – before the Iraq war, Britain was not under threat from terrorism and now it is. What Britain needs is not more terror laws but a change in foreign policy."

Morning Star, 2 July 2007

Swiss Muslims expressed deep disappointment Saturday, June 2, at government rejection of plans to build Europe's largest Islamic cultural and economic center in the capital city of Bern. The Umma group, which proposed the construction of the giant Islamic center, said it hoped that authorities would have a closer examination of the proposal and compared notes with Muslim leaders before turning down the project.

Muslims voiced fears that the Swiss authorities may have been influenced by the recent ferocious right-wing anti-Islam campaigns. The right-wing Swiss People's Party and the Federal Democratic Union lunched a nationwide campaign to collect signatures to ban the construction of mosques with minarets.

Islam Online, 2 June 2007

One of the Catholic Church's leading experts on Islam says the Swiss authorities need to keep a closer eye on the country's mosques. Pierre Bürcher, assistant bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, tells swissinfo it is what goes on inside mosques rather than the construction of minarets that poses a greater threat to peace. His comments come just weeks after a group of rightwing politicians launched a nationwide campaign to ban the construction of minarets.

swissinfo, 20 May 2007

The construction of minarets in Switzerland looks sets to go to a nationwide vote after a group of rightwing politicians launched a campaign calling for a ban. The country's Muslim community says it is stunned by what it sees as an "Islamophobic" move, which it warns will undermine already fragile relations. Those behind a people's initiative, who include members of the county's biggest political party, the Swiss People's Party, have until November 2008 to raise the 100,000 signatures required to force a ballot.

People's Party parliamentarian Ulrich Schlüer, who is co-president of the campaign committee, argues that the construction of minarets will create problems in communities and threaten the peace. "The minaret has nothing to do with religion: it is not mentioned in the Koran or other important Islamic texts. It just symbolises a place where Islamic law is established," Schlüer told swissinfo.

The rightwing drive to force a nationwide vote on minarets is being seen as a major setback by the League of Swiss Muslims. Adel Méjri, the organisation's president, says the construction of minarets is not even a priority for Swiss Muslims. Méjri also points to a report by the Federal Commission against Racism in September last year, which revealed that Swiss Muslims face discrimination in all walks of life – a situation that could be exacerbated by the minarets' affair. "Through dialogue we can find solutions but the aggressive – or dare I say 'Islamophobic' – way in which this is being treated could have unforeseen consequences. This kind of initiative threatens peace and hurts Muslims," he said.

Both the Protestant and Catholic churches have rallied to the defence of the Muslim community, claiming the constitutional right to religious freedom allows the building of minarets. "We must recognise that there are a large number of Muslims in Switzerland and they have a right to practise their religion," said Walter Müller, spokesman for the Swiss Bishops Conference.

swissinfo, 3 May 2007

Projects to build minarets in several communities in German-speaking Switzerland have come up against strong opposition from local residents. On Monday the Zurich cantonal parliament said it would look into banning the construction of minarets across the canton. The decision came after parliament accepted an initiative from the rightwing Swiss People's Party calling for the canton's planning laws to be altered to forbid minarets. The move has been condemned by centre-left and centre-right parties as well as by a leading Muslim organisation in the canton.

The Swiss Federal Commission against Racism last week called for more tolerance towards Muslims. It called on local authorities to show greater flexibility over building and zoning restrictions to allow the construction of religious buildings and to "reduce populist pressures".

Swissinfo, 5 September 2006