The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland (SP) has discreetly made public an official position paper “on topics related to Islam.” The text rejects xenophobic stereotyping while at the same time emphasizing the need to defend the “largely secular society.” Western European history is characterized as the product of a process of secularization, while on the…
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called for a moratorium on the Swiss minaret ban during a debate on Islam, Islamism, and Islamophobia in Europe. The recommendation was passed with the unanimous support of the entire assembly, including that of all the Swiss representatives, even André Bugnon, who had earlier supported the…
The Austrian publisher Studienverlag has published a yearbook of research on Islamophobia in the German-speaking countries (Jahrbuch für Islamophobieforschung 2010: Deutschland, Österreich, Schweiz). It is an introduction to the academic use of the term “Islamophobia” and includes recent empirical examples such as the courtroom murder of Egyptian Marwa El-Sherbini or the Swiss minaret ban. Further…
Following a heated debate in April in the municipal council between the mayor Siegfried Nagl and right-wing parties over the construction of a mosque for Turkish Muslims, the issue has quieted down. However in anticipation of provincial elections coming up in September, the far-right Austria Freedom Party (FPÖ) has decided to play on the issue…
In a recent interview with Zürcher Landzeitung, the president of the Swiss Coordination of Islamic Organisations (KIOS), Farhad Afshar, stated that Muslims in European countries accept the rule of law and the social order of the country to which they have immigrated on the condition that they are not racially discriminated against. This comment is…
