The Swiss referendum against the construction of new minarets caused a lot of criticism from all over Europe. Debates started, whether referendums are suitable to decide on difficult topics. Could highly complex questions be answered by direct democracy or would it be better to count on expert knowledge? Is the Swiss referendum representative for a European Union where the population seems to fear the expansion of muslim religion?
Some voices state that Islam would not fit into an individualistic and secular lifestyle in the Western world. On the other hand, some Arab politicians revealed the development in Switzerland as a growing islamophobia; a neologism which has become common usage after the attacks back in September 11, 2001. Anyway, the Islam world was shocked after the referendum: the first protests and demonstrations started on Monday afternoon in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The Swiss decision is also seen by Pakistani politicians as discrimination of Muslims and even as violation of human rights. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Hence, the United Nations plan to examine the legitimacy of the building ban.
Now Switzerland has to face the fury of millions of Muslims, after Denmark had to bear the consequences after Mohammed-caricatures back in 2006. The Swiss referendum is another reason for harsh discussions and arguments between the Western and the Islam world, and might have a bad impact on the dialogue between Europe and some Muslim countries.
The minaret ban shows that even in apparently very open-minded European societies, there are still a lot of prejudices, fears and latent xenophobia. But on the other side, it is also a sign of lacking integration, which also means that people have to show the will to integrate and assimilate into society. All participants have to do something in spite of themselves and have to make efforts to overcome cultural barriers.
