JOST A MON

The idle ramblings of a Jack of some trades, Master of none

I'm not sure if I understand this Swiss brouhaha. A referendum has voted to ban the construction of minarets in the federation. So what does this mean? If a Muslim body wants to construct a mosque, or convert an existing building into a mosque, they are free to do so? As long as it doesn't have a minaret? Why is the minaret in itself a creeping sign of Islamisation?

As I say, I don't understand the nuances here.

But I would like to point out the cries of outrage from neighbouring France. The foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said he was shocked a bit by the decision. It was, he said, an expression of intolerance.

So, according to the French, if a woman is prevented from wearing a veil if she wants to, that's not intolerance, but if she wants to build a minaret and is prevented from doing so, then that is.

Again, no doubt I'm missing some subtlety.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm sure Mr Kouchner wouldn't be too pleased if he realised that his political point scoring act has been exposed.

But with the Swiss, I guess the issue lies deeper than the minarets' ban.

Fëanor said...

I say we boycott the Swiss where it hurts them. No more Swatches for me. (I was going to say Nestle, but Nespresso is such a neat product, isn't it?)

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