The initiative to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland is discriminatory and unnecessary, according to two pro-minority organisations.
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The society for minorities in Switzerland and the Swiss foundation against racism and anti-Semitism said in Bern on Tuesday that such a move to change the constitution had to be soundly rejected.
The anti-minaret initiative, which goes to a public vote on November 29, was proposed by members of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party and a small ultra-conservative Christian party to counter what they describe as “creeping Islamicisation”.
In their opinion, this includes the repression of women, such as forced marriages, and the spread of sharia law and parallel Islamic societies within Switzerland.
The government strongly opposes the initiative and has launched its own campaign against it.
Seven political parties, including three of the four represented in government, have announced their own campaign against the initiative, saying it is an unnecessary, unlawful provocation that endangers peaceful religious and cultural co-existence.
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Voters to decide on controversial minaret ban
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The cabinet has come out against the controversial people’s initiative which was launched by members of the rightwing Swiss People’s Party and an ultra conservative party, the Federal Democratic Union, in 2007. Islamic countries as well as the United Nations expert on racism raised concern over the initiative. Jasmin Hutter, a People’s Party parliamentarian said…
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The government strongly opposes the initiative, and has launched its own campaign against it. The proposal, backed by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party, is also opposed by all the other main parties. Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf tells swissinfo.ch why she and her colleagues believe that it is counterproductive, but plays down fears expressed by some…
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Cities around Switzerland have reacted differently. While Lausanne, Montreux, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Yverdon-les-Bains followed Basel in outlawing the posters in publicly owned spaces, Geneva, Zurich, Biel, Winterthur and Lucerne have rejected the ban on free-speech grounds. The main poster, which shows a woman in a burka and a Swiss flag with minarets springing out of…
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A burka-clad woman, rocket-like minarets shooting from a Swiss flag: A poster by the rightwing Swiss People’s Party ahead of a nationwide vote on whether to ban the construction of new minarets in Switzerland has been banned as racist by the city of Basel. Swiss go to the polls on November 29 to decide on…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.