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    Guest Azathoth's Avatar
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    Default Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34191036...ld_news-europe

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Swiss vote on referendum to ban new minarets
    Right-wing parties regard mosques’ spires as symbols of militant Islam


    GENEVA - Swiss voters are deciding in a referendum Sunday whether to accept a ban on the construction of minarets, which right-wing parties regard as symbols of militant Islam.

    The move — led by the Swiss People's Party, which has campaigned in previous years against immigrants — has stirred fears of boycotts and violent reactions from Muslim countries.

    Polls indicate growing support for the proposal, but doubt remains about whether it will pass. The seven-member Cabinet that heads the Swiss government has spoken out strongly against the initiative.

    Muslims have been keeping a low profile so far. Still, the Geneva Mosque was vandalized Thursday when someone threw a pot of pink paint at the entrance.

    Earlier this month, a vehicle with a loudspeaker drove through the area imitating a muezzin's call to prayer, and vandals damaged a mosaic when they threw cobble stones at the building.

    Ban could impact economy
    Business leaders say a ban on minarets, the distinctive spires attached to mosques, would be disastrous for the Swiss economy because it could offend wealthy Muslims who bank in Switzerland, buy the country's luxury goods and visit its resorts.

    The vote taps into the anxieties about Muslims that have been rippling through Europe in recent years, ranging from French fears of women in body veils to Dutch alarm over the murder by a Muslim fanatic of a filmmaker who made a documentary that criticized Islam.

    Local officials and rights defenders have objected to the campaign posters, which show minarets rising like missiles from the Swiss flag next to a fully veiled woman.


    Four minarets in country would remain
    Minarets are typically built next to mosques for religious leaders to call the faithful to prayer, but they are not used for that in Switzerland. The four minarets already attached to mosques in the country will remain even if the referendum passes.

    Muslims make up about 6 percent of Switzerland's 7.5 million population, many of them refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Fewer than 13 percent practice their religion, the government says.

    A survey by the respected polling institute gfs.bern last week indicated that 53 percent of voters oppose the initiative, although support for it has grown by 3 percentage points to 37 percent since last month. Typically in Switzerland the margins on such votes narrow as balloting nears. Ten percent of the 1,213 people polled were undecided. The survey had an error margin of 2.9 percent.
    Is this the populism we've been hearing so much about?

    Really, what's the point of this? Is the intent to prevent the construction of mosques in the event of an influx of Muslim immigrants to Switzerland?

  2. #2
    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Not something I would do even if I am not very fond of the Islam, freedom of religion is freedom of religion. All that bull on minarets and headscarves are a bit silly to me, this is a complex problem banning religious symbols isn't going to make that go away. They can buy a piece of land a build a mosque how can we say 'no you can't', I don't like it, but what can you do it's a free country

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    Devout worshipper of Bilious Member miotas's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by Azathoth View Post
    Really, what's the point of this? Is the intent to prevent the construction of mosques in the event of an influx of Muslim immigrants to Switzerland?
    They aren't trying to stop mosques altogether, just stopping them building the minarets(the spikey bits) on the top of them, which makes even less sense then stopping the construction of mosques. The whole idea sounds pretty stupid to me.

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    Tuba Son Member Subotan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    This is just racism, plain and simple. There would be a storm if Morocco said it was going to ban Church bells, and yet the Swiss are quite happy to prevent the building of a fourth minaret in Switzerland. That's right, there are a grand total of three minarets in Switzerland, and yet the way the Swiss xenophobic parties describe them, you'd think that primary schools and orphanages were being knocked down to make way for Mega-Mosques. The Swiss People's Parties are merely the same spawn as the BNP, Geert Wilders, etc.
    Last edited by Subotan; 11-29-2009 at 13:27.

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Geert Wilders really doesn't belong there, a lot of his voters are secular muslims, mostly Iraqi's and Iranians, and other immigrants from the old colonies as well.
    Last edited by Fragony; 11-29-2009 at 13:36. Reason: wrong word

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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    They aren't trying to stop mosques altogether, just stopping them building the minarets(the spikey bits) on the top of them, which makes even less sense then stopping the construction of mosques. The whole idea sounds pretty stupid to me.
    So if banning minarets won't even prevent Muslims from building mosques...

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Word is in, the Swiss voted in favour of a ban

    Thank you very much Switzerland, makes it all that much easier for me to explain that the decent right only has it's eyes on the political Islam

    idiots. Gah I am furious you are hurting our cause you cheesemelting mongrols
    Last edited by Fragony; 11-29-2009 at 14:52.

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    BrownWings: AirViceMarshall Senior Member Furunculus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by Subotan View Post
    This is just racism, plain and simple. There would be a storm if Morocco said it was going to ban Church bells, and yet the Swiss are quite happy to prevent the building of a fourth minaret in Switzerland. That's right, there are a grand total of three minarets in Switzerland, and yet the way the Swiss xenophobic parties describe them, you'd think that primary schools and orphanages were being knocked down to make way for Mega-Mosques. The Swiss People's Parties are merely the same spawn as the BNP, Geert Wilders, etc.
    it is daft, but it is also their right.
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    has a Senior Member HoreTore's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by Furunculus View Post
    it is daft, but it is also their right.
    It's their right to deny other people their freedom?

    That's stretching things, methinks.
    Still maintain that crying on the pitch should warrant a 3 match ban

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by HoreTore View Post
    That's stretching things, methinks.
    You just wait, this is a disaster for Europe the mother of 'yeah but', thanks for giving away the higher ground, really, good job. I now have nothing to say for myself, and that's going to be exploited, Switzerland FU

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    Tuba Son Member Subotan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Word is in, the Swiss voted in favour of a ban
    I'm ashamed to be on the same continent as the pigs who voted for the ban.
    Quote Originally Posted by Furunculus View Post
    it is daft, but it is also their right.
    Viva tyranny of the majority!
    Last edited by Subotan; 11-29-2009 at 15:59.

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    Senior Member Senior Member naut's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by Furunculus View Post
    it is daft, but it is also their right.
    Yep. You can't stop a political vote just because its daft. You can however stop it if it goes against the laws of said country (ie, an unconstitutional law/ruling/statute). I'm not versed in Swiss law though, so I'm in no position to pass judgement.
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    has a Senior Member HoreTore's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by Psychonaut View Post
    Yep. You can't stop a political vote just because its daft. You can however stop it if it goes against the laws of said country (ie, an unconstitutional law/ruling/statute). I'm not versed in Swiss law though, so I'm in no position to pass judgement.
    I would be surprised if they aren't subject to the European human rights court...

    So honestly, I can't really see how this can be passed...
    Still maintain that crying on the pitch should warrant a 3 match ban

  14. #14
    TexMec Senior Member Louis VI the Fat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    I am a bit torn.

    One argument in favour of a ban is that it stops the exceptional status Islam enjoys. Switzerland looks as good as it does because of very strict building laws. One is not allowed to build anything that clashes with the natural or cultural environment. And it shows in the beauty of the land.
    Nobody, however, has dared to say 'no' to minarets, for fear of being labelled a racist.

    A secular group is not allowed to build a large tower next to the clubhouse. Their Muslim neighbours are allowed to build it.

    Clubhouses for traditional Swiss religions are allowed to build spires. Which moves the question to is essence: is multiculturalism about integration, or separation? All Swiss inhabitants of non-Swiss ancestry are perfectly well allowed to live in Switzerland, as Swiss. To integrate, as Swiss. But not as Non-Swiss. This referendum to some extent deems Islam 'non-Swiss'.

    What the proponents of this ban ought to do, is test Switzerland by inventing a religion, and then to ask permission to build a 400 meter fluorescent pink tower in the centre of Bern - claiming their god demands this of them. This permission will obviously not be granted, neither before or after the current referendum. Which then puts the ball into the court of the 'pro-minaret' camp: what is so special about minarets that they should be accepted as Swiss, but other modes of expression via towers is not?





    Also, it appears that all of the Frenchspeaking cantons voted against the ban, all of the other cantons voted in favour of it. The famous 'barrière de röstis' (Röstigraben) strikes again!
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    has a Senior Member HoreTore's Avatar
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    Default Re: Switzerland About To Vote On Minaret Ban

    Quote Originally Posted by Azathoth View Post
    Really, what's the point of this?
    Some people just enjoy making life harder for others.

    It really is nonsense. It's like saying that we should stop building bell towers for churches to stop catholic priests abusing alter boys.

    Anyway, minarets and mosques are beautiful architectural pieces.
    Last edited by HoreTore; 11-29-2009 at 13:27.
    Still maintain that crying on the pitch should warrant a 3 match ban

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