This may be a little off topic for my blog but there were two stories yesterday relating to very different aspects of Islam in Europe.
The first was the vote In Switzerland, to ban the construction of minarets for existing and future mosques.
This story raises several issues such as religious freedom, tolerance and multi-culturalism among them. But what struck me about the YES campaign was its disgusting poster which showed the Swiss flag pierced by minarets and featuring a woman in a black abaya and niqab.
Swiss Poster in favour of Minaret ban
This immediately reminded me of many anti-Semitic images in the UK press over the years with Stars of David overlaying the UK flag, cartoons which are blood-libellous etc.
Clearly this image is intended to evoke an emotion and that emotion is fear.
Just imagine if this were some anti-Jewish legislation depicting a man with black garb, a beard and a hook-nose.
Islamophobic images should not be part of the European dialogue. If minarets are seen as a political statement of aggressive Islam then the debate should be a little more nuanced, to say the least. Some cantons did not use this poster, it should be noted and the organisers then issued a ‘censure‘ poster, clearly claiming that the banning of an offensive poster was somehow a form of censorship.
Perhaps Switzerland benefits by being outside the EU so it can introduce legislation that would gain little purchase within.
The point of the ban is clear: the Swiss have voted to suppress the overt symbolism of the spread of Islam in their country. However, their own symbolism is offensive and subverts a valid debate. It should also be noted that that Christian and Jewish community leaders in Switzerland joined with the Muslim community in expressing anger about the campaign as an attack on religious freedom.
The second incident was the ‘egging’ of Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a Tory peer, in Luton as she visited a neighbourhood with a large Muslim community. Warsi was surrounded by very aggressive Muslim men and the echoes of stonings of women in some Islamic countries was obvious. The argument of her attackers was that Warsi is not a proper Muslim and not fit to represent their community because she supports the war in Afghanistan and the killing of Muslims (they don’t seem to object to Muslims killing Muslims in Iraq or Gaza, for example, with quite the same vehemence, apparently) and she does not support Sharia. To her credit, Warsi confronted her attackers and tried to debate with them, but they shouted her down and would not engage. Later Warsi compared them to British National Party supporters and said they brought Islam into disrepute.
I was very angry to see a senior politician attacked in this way and shown such disrespect. She is a very brave woman and her attackers are bigoted cowards.
Whether in Switzerland or Luton a bigot is a bigot regardless of faith or race or nationality. The fact that Sayeeda Warsi is Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion is ironic. I’d like to see a statement from the Muslim Council of Britain condemning this incident – there is no mention that I can find on their website although the Swiss minaret vote is condemned.