Professor Jocelyne Cesari Government E-1182 November 8, 2010

Swiss Minaret Ban TIMELINE: 2005: A Turkish mosque in northern Switzerland asked for a permit to build a 6-meter minaret : Swiss People’s Party and Federal Democratic Union attempt to launch initiatives banning the minaret. November 29 th, 2009: referendum banning the construction of minarets on mosques was backed by a solid majority. Switzerland became the first country in Europe to vote to curb the religious practices of Muslims.

Swiss Minaret Ban KEY PLAYERS: Egerkinger Committee Made of the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and the Federal Democratic Union Recep Tayyip Erdogan (PM of Turkey) Speech in 1997 was misquoted by SVP and FDU equating minarets to guns, which helped fuel the propaganda Ulrich Schluer Member of SVP, helped launch initiative against minarets Ergodan Schluer

Islam and the Narrative in Europe Islam in Europe versus Islam of Europe Mahomet the Prophet or Fanaticism by Voltaire Battle of Lepanto, 1571 The Women of Algiers, 1834 by Eugène Delacroix

Religion in Public Space Decline of Religion in the Western public space With modernity, change in religious consciousness Democracy: self-governing, free, equal citizens which make choices based on rationality, not religious convictions Religion sometimes enters the sphere of public debate

Islam in Public Space Minarets reveal the Muslim actor in public space Islam: a political and cultural resource for singularization of immigrants In Swiss society, minarets symbolize the difficulty of recognizing newly-settled Muslims Movement of Islam to the West confronts Muslims with questions about visibility an invisibility (aesthetic, architectural, economic, religious, spatial etc.) Minaret in Zurich, Switzerland