Switzerland shocks itself by passing a ban on minarets. - 2-Dec-2009 - Generational Dynamics

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 2-Dec-2009

Switzerland shocks itself by passing a ban on minarets.

The UN is heavily criticizing the ban as "anti-foreigner scaremongering" and "clearly discriminatory," after the Swiss voters overwhelmingly ratified a referendum forbidding the building of minarets on any mosques in Switzerland.

Switzerland has a fairly small Muslim population, and there are only four mosques with minarets in the entire country, and those will not be affected by the referendum. However, the referendum forbids minarets on new mosques.

A minaret is a tower that stretches high above a mosque. Five times a day, a muezzin, or crier, climbs the minaret and intones a call to prayer directed at all Muslims in the vicinity.

For those who are unfamiliar with minarets and the Islamic call to prayer, it's well worth your time to take a couple of minutes to watch this video, which illustrates many mosques with minarets, accompanied by an Adhan, an Islamic call to prayer:

In terms of symbolism and purpose, the above is not much different from a Catholic priest intoning the Lord's prayer, as a bell rings in the steeple of the Church.

Campaign poster by Swiss People's party advocating the ban on minarets

Campaign poster by Swiss People's party advocating the ban on minarets

But the atmospherics surrounding the Muslim call to prayer is quite foreign to a Christian. At times like this, I like to use the phrase "looking for reasons." A Christian who is "looking for reasons" to like Muslims will ignore the difference in atmospherics; one who is "looking for reasons" to dislike Muslims will emphasize the differences.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, these changes in attitude are highly dependent on the generational era. Europeans and Americans were last in a generational Awakening era in the 1960s and 1970s, and during Awakening eras, attitudes emphasize diversity and commonality. Today, we're into a generational Crisis era, and during Crisis era, public behavior becomes increasingly xenophobic.

The party that sponsored the referendum is the anti-immigrant Swiss People's Party, generally characterized by the media as "far right-wing." The conducted a very aggressive campaign, symbolized by the above poster, which depicts minarets as missiles being launched by a woman in a burka.

This was actually a stunning victory for the People's Party.

2007 anti-immigration People's Party election poster, declared "racist" by opponents, depicts white sheep kicking a black sheep away from a Swiss flag, with the caption, "Establish your security."

2007 anti-immigration People's Party election poster, declared "racist" by opponents, depicts white sheep kicking a black sheep away from a Swiss flag, with the caption, "Establish your security."

In 2007, the Swiss People's party conducted a very aggressive anti-immigrant Parliamentary election campaign, and got 29% of the vote, making it the largest single party in the Parliament. They called for the forced deportation of any foreign family where any family member is a criminal. The party's campaign featured posters, such as the one shown above, of white sheep kicking a black sheep away from a Swiss flag. (See "Anti-immigrant Swiss People's Party makes large gains in election.")

This time they got 57.5% of the vote in the referendum, a sharp increase.

It's very hard to see any rational reason for banning minarets. An opinion column in the Jerusalem Post by a Muslim writer, sympathetic to the referendum result, defends it for the following reasons:

"Inhumane applications of Islamic law (Shari'a) wherever it is implemented."
"Sending a message that their tolerance did not change the Muslim world and is not reciprocated."
Minarets represent "the superiority of Islam, especially when they are taller than the churches; this sheds some light on the hidden intentions of Muslims who insist on building minarets in the heart of Europe."
"Non-Muslims in the Muslim world are denied basic and fundamental religious rights."

These are all deeply emotional reasons, but they do not explain why banning minarets is going to make the Swiss people any safer.

I've written about several examples of European xenophobia on both sides in the past:

In the past we described the sudden growth in popularity of the British National Party in the UK. And Holland became increasingly nationalistic when filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim extremist.

In 2005, France experienced several days of rioting by Muslim youth in the suburbs. A year later, French youth counter-rioted over fear of losing jobs to Muslims.

Nonetheless, the Swiss referendum vote is a startling new round of purely emotional xenophobia. As the world approaches the "Clash of Civilizations" world war, the fault line between Europeans and Muslims is going to see increasing conflict.

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Europe thread of the Generational Dynamics forum.) (2-Dec-2009) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 2-Dec-2009 Switzerland shocks itself by passing a ban on minarets.

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 2-Dec-2009
Switzerland shocks itself by passing a ban on minarets.