Group of Swiss Muslims: the project

to reflect and act after the vote of 29 November 2009

1. Background

A popular initiative to add a paragraph to Article 72 of the Federal Constitution banning the construction of minarets in Switzerland was launched on 1 May 2007 by several political figures, most of them from the Swiss People’s Party (UDC). After a year-long campaign to collect signatures from the public, the initiators reached the required threshold and on 8 July 2008 submitted 114,137 signatures to the Federal Chancellery in Bern, of which 113,540 were validated.

From spring 2009, the initiative sparked a lively debate in the Federal Assembly and was finally declared valid by a large majority. Both the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council called on the public to reject the text of the initiative when it was put to the vote.

Following its validation by the Federal Assembly, and once the date of the vote had been set, a campaign to raise awareness and mobilise voters was launched; it lasted several months.

During this campaign, as during the collection of signatures, two positions confronted each other: one that saw minarets as “political symbols of domination” and said that banning them in no way affected Muslims’ religious freedom, and another that argued, on the contrary, that the measure violated a fundamental human right, the right to express one’s belief, and that it was inapplicable because it did not comply with the conventions to which Switzerland is a party.

The initiators committed considerable resources to their professional and multifaceted campaign: a sustained media presence, frequent appearances in public debates, posters and so on.

The presence of Swiss citizens of the Muslim faith, for its part, was rather timid. The debate on the issue was markedly unbalanced and asymmetrical, often characterised by the absence of credible opponents facing the supporters of the initiative.

The initiative was accepted on 29 November 2009 in a popular vote by a majority of the Swiss people (57.5% of voters, with a turnout of 53.4%) and by a majority of the cantons. Only three French-speaking cantons (Geneva, Vaud and Neuchâtel) and one German-speaking half-canton (Basel-City) rejected the text of the initiative.

In Switzerland the astonishment, at times bordering on shock, was almost universal, including in the initiators’ camp. The surprise was all the greater because the polls published on the eve of the vote predicted that the text would be rejected.

Reactions abroad, particularly in the Muslim world, have been marked by incomprehension and concern, while remaining factual overall and calling for dialogue.

The conspicuous absence of Muslim voices in the debates that accompanied the signature and voter mobilisation campaigns, as well as the angelic discourse of those who opposed the initiative, are undoubtedly among the main factors explaining the unexpected result of the vote of 29 November 2009.

In the aftermath of the vote, in every circle in Switzerland (government, intellectuals, political forces, including the initiators), the question arose of how to manage “after 29 November”, both in Switzerland, to safeguard national cohesion, and abroad, where Swiss political reality may at first sight seem incongruous and lose legitimacy.

To contribute to this national reflection, the Cordoba Foundation proposes to pay particular attention to (1) the poor perception, in Switzerland and abroad, of the reality of Swiss Muslims and (2) the under-representation of Muslims in public debate in Switzerland. It intends to study the causes of these shortcomings and explore ways of remedying them, with a view to fostering the emergence of an audible and credible Swiss Muslim discourse, able to interact positively with the other discourses on the Swiss public stage and to convey Swiss reality intelligibly abroad.

2. The reality of Swiss Muslims

In Switzerland and, to a lesser extent, abroad, Swiss citizens of the Muslim faith are often perceived as a foreign entity linked to migration. They are regarded as “Muslims” living in Switzerland: fundamentally, perhaps even “fundamentalistically”, “Muslims”, and only incidentally Swiss, whom some extremists have called to be expelled from Switzerland because they supposedly represent a danger to the country, a kind of “fifth column”.

This perception does not reflect the new sociological reality in Switzerland, i.e. the Muslim presence in the country’s multi-faith landscape. It should be corrected, because it helps to maintain confusion between two distinct issues: on the one hand, the Muslim presence in Switzerland, with its contributions and the fears it may arouse; on the other, the phenomenon of migration, with the challenges it poses to society (integration).

In public discourse it would therefore be wise to speak of “Swiss citizens of the Muslim faith” or “Swiss Muslims” rather than “Muslims of Switzerland” or “Muslims residing in Switzerland”. Moreover, the expression “Muslim community of Switzerland” is deliberately avoided in this project because of the inward-looking attitude it may induce.

3. Under-representation of Muslims in public debate

An in-depth study is needed to identify the causes of Muslims’ under-representation in Swiss public debate. But to start the reflection, two factors that seem decisive can already be mentioned: lack of organisation and weak participation in public life.

3.1. Lack of organisation of the Muslim faith in Switzerland

The lack of organisation can be explained by several factors, including:

1. The absence of clergy in Islam;
2. The heterogeneity of Islamic thought (various schools are present in Switzerland);
3. The Swiss authorities’ wish not to interfere in Muslims’ internal affairs;
4. Interference by foreign states and organisations.

3.2. Weak participation of Swiss Muslims in public life

The weak participation of Swiss Muslims in public life and their limited involvement in associations, politics and the media deprive them of audibility, visibility and interaction in society, and condemn them to symbolic isolation. Both the Swiss Muslim elite and the rest of the Swiss elite (media, political forces and associations, trade unions, etc.) share responsibility for this situation.

4. Group of Swiss Muslims

The idea presented in this project is to bring together a number of Swiss citizens of the Muslim faith who are representative of the linguistic regions and of Islam in Switzerland in all its diversity. This “Group of Swiss Muslims” (GSM) would not be yet another Islamic association but would offer an informal civic space for exchange, reflection and proposals (a think tank).

The GSM’s mission would be to:

1. Analyse the result of the vote of 29 November 2009;
2. Identify the causes of this result and ways of remedying them;
3. Study and describe the reality of Muslims in today’s Switzerland;
4. Examine the under-representation of Muslims in Swiss public debate;
5. Reflect on what Swiss citizens of the Muslim faith should do following this result;
6. Open an exchange with the various actors in society: opinion-makers (intellectuals, media, wise figures from the various faiths, etc.), including among those who launched, supported or accepted the initiative;
7. Make concrete proposals to Swiss Muslims;
8. Make concrete proposals to opinion-makers;
9. Make concrete proposals to the public authorities;
10. Communicate Swiss reality abroad.