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rfmcdonaldThe people who talk about the impending arrival of Eurabia base their argument not only on the--charitably--pretended astronomically high birthrate of "Muslims" but on the weakness and decadence of Europeans, unwilling to defend their proud traditions against arrogant incomers. Right.
The recent victory in the Swiss referendum of proponents of a cosntitutional ban on the construction of minarets demonstrates pretty strongly that not only the sort of anti-Muslim sentiment Eurabianists say doesn't exist, but that there's a fairly broad consensus on this across the political spectrum. Not that this sort of thing isn't evident across Europe, of course, with everything from bans on conservative Islamic clothing to restrictive immigration laws to strong pan-European opposition to European Union expansion to Turkey demonstrating that, yet again, Eurabianists aren't in contact with reality.
Some 57.5 percent of voters supported the ban. The initiative was also supported by the required majority of cantons, with 22 of Switzerland's 26 cantons voting in favor of the ban. The two city cantons of Geneva and Basel-City rejected the proposal, as did two French-speaking cantons, Neuchâtel and Vaud.
[. . .]
the organizers of the campaign managed to turn the dispute over minarets into a symbolic referendum on the influence of Islam. They did not speak much about minarets. Instead, they talked about Sharia law, burqas and the oppression of women in the Islamic world. In the end, even the prominent feminist Julia Onken supported the initiative.
The poster which the organizers used for their campaign showed a number of black minarets resembling rockets standing closely together on a Swiss flag. In front of the flag, a woman stared angrily out from beneath a black burqa. It was an image of a Switzerland that had been taken over by Islam. Minarets are "symbols of power" of a foreign religion, argued politician Ulrich Schlüer, who belongs to the SVP's right wing. The ban, he said, represents a clear statement against their spread.
The debate was largely divorced from the reality of Switzerland. Although around 22 percent of the population is of foreign origin, the country has so far had relatively few problems with its roughly 400,000 Muslims. Most of them are liberally minded Bosnians, Kosovo Albanians and Turks and their approximately 160 mosques are practically invisible. Burqas are seldom seen on Swiss streets and there have never been serious calls for the introduction of Sharia law.
The decision, therefore, does not reflect real problems in Switzerland, but rather a general feeling of unease toward Islam. The issue revolves around a deep-seated fear that society's values could be in danger.
The recent victory in the Swiss referendum of proponents of a cosntitutional ban on the construction of minarets demonstrates pretty strongly that not only the sort of anti-Muslim sentiment Eurabianists say doesn't exist, but that there's a fairly broad consensus on this across the political spectrum. Not that this sort of thing isn't evident across Europe, of course, with everything from bans on conservative Islamic clothing to restrictive immigration laws to strong pan-European opposition to European Union expansion to Turkey demonstrating that, yet again, Eurabianists aren't in contact with reality.
