The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has severely condemned the ban on the construction of minarets within a resolution against the defamation of religion. Though Switzerland was not explicitly named, it is the only country in the world to have banned minarets. Consequently, this represents the first acknowledgement by the UN of the adoption of…
Erich Kocina reacts to the recent IMAS study (see above) in this op-ed piece, pointing out two main points made clear by results: firstly, in coming out 59% against minarets, Austrians do not think much differently than the Swiss. And secondly, demagogues have done just as good a job in Austria as they have next…
The French party Front National is advertising their rightwing agenda on election posters that very much resemble those of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) during their campaign against minaret construction. The SVP’s poster showed a Muslim woman, almost completely veiled in black cloth, next to an “army” of minarets, covering the Swiss flag. The poster…
A photography competition has begun in Strasbourg to celebrate the most beautiful minarets in Europe’s landscape. The competition results will be announced in Strasbourg on April 19th.
A week after Switzerland voted to ban the construction of minarets, in an apparent act of defiance, a new minaret unexpectedly sprang up in Bussigny, a small town near Geneva. But the new minaret is not attached to a mosque; Bussigny doesn’t even have one. And it’s not the work of a local Muslim outraged…
