Remember the news on the ban on minaret's in Switzerland? In that
post
I tried through a series of comments to argue that although the people of Switzerland could vote on pretty much everything, still reason would prevail, some sort of "peer-imposed-equilibrium" that would prevent the system to fall into the one or the other extreme.
I still believe in this system, but recently this system has been extremly challenged. Our parties are on the campaign trail, the elections are less than 6 weeks away.
No the Independent brings a piece that summarizes and critiques the proposals of the swiss peoples party (right) and argues that Switzerland might be Europe's new hearth darkness.
via "The Independent"
3 Comments
i saw the campaign poster the other day and was alarmed and relieved by its explicitness. i was relieved because a lot of people who have been denying these things as real, are now seeing it with their own eyes.
only way to counter it, is to counter it in the open.
i think what is happening in switzerland also happening across the board in europe. it is up to people like ourselves to counter it wherever we are.
there is going to be more of this polarization in much more beligerent forms.
european people will be greatly challenged by immigration issues in coming years. there is no shortage of people who want to exploit the political end of it.
A Conradian allusion is somewhat over the top when considering the other EU countries where this essential debate is playing out. I shudder to think what Paul Vallely would make of Germany's imbroglios.
After reading your comments last Spring Sasha, I poked around a little on the Swiss side of the web and briefly exchanged e-mails with a moderator on a popular forum. He met with some considerable bigotry and ignorance which he went out of his way to defuse.
They had conducted an online poll regarding the minaret which showed, despite the above, that more than 50% of the respondents were okay with the presence of mosques with minaret. Hardly representative of the pop. given the modest turnout but indicative at least of an vital airing of the issues.
I'll second your sentiments Orhan.
Here's more fodder from the Economist:
The politics of mosque-building
As a Swiss who considers himself exposed to foreign cultures, I also see our most advanced democracy in danger because our culture of discussion is being observed and taken out of context from all over the world.
www.swissreviews.blogspot.com
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