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Full sail in Switzerland: "The popular vote is a sacred element of our democracy"

2021-03-08T16:29:18.121Z


FIGAROVOX / INTERVIEW - Switzerland voted yesterday to ban the burqa in public spaces. For journalist Antoine Menusier, this vote, which is the result of a popular initiative specific to the Swiss system, is part of a democratic tradition of the country, for which, the ...


Antoine Menusier is a journalist.

He is the author of the essay

The book of the undesirables: a history of the Arabs in France

(Le Cerf, 2019).

FIGAROVOX.-Switzerland adopted the anti-burqa initiative by a narrow majority.

How was this vote made possible?

Antoine MENUSIER.-

In Switzerland, there is the referendum route, this possibility offered to citizens to modify or deposit a constitutional addition.

The ban on the burqa in public space was made possible by a referendum committee that brings together the nationalist right, which is called the UDC (democratic union of the center), and parties with an identity trend.

Today, we have come to this vote of the Swiss, who, less massively than in 2009 with the minarets, approved by around 51.3% the ban on the full veil in public spaces.

In Switzerland, which is a federal country, in order for popular initiative to be accepted, it is necessary to obtain what is called the “

double majority

”, that of the people and the cantons.

There are 19 cantons out of 23 which accepted this decision yesterday.

It is important to mention the granting of large cities.

Acceptance by the cantons is massive, but at the level of the people, it is much tighter because there is a strong city-countryside divide.

Rurality was mainly for the initiative, and the cities, more cosmopolitan, more sensitive to progressive ideologies, have rejected this proposal.

On the ban on minarets in 2009, the Swiss approved this initiative, which was opposed by the majority of political parties represented in the government.

There have already been precedents in Switzerland, notably with the question of minarets ...

The history dates back to the 2000s with a parliamentary attempt by the Christian Democrat Party in 2006 to ban the burqa in public space.

There is, at the outset, a motivation that one could call “

Christian identity

”.

The Christian Democratic Party does not have the reputation of being a "moderate" party but rather a party of identity.

This parliamentary law is not going to work at all.

To read also:

"The" progressivism "brought in Europe a supremacist and victimary Islamism"

Then, in 2009, there will be a vote in favor of banning the erection of new minarets.

There were four at the time.

The Swiss approved this popular initiative, which was opposed by the majority of political parties represented in the government.

This popular initiative needed 100,000 signatures in 18 months to be presented to the people.

The conditions have finally been met.

Wearing the full veil and Islamism in general, are they visible phenomena in Switzerland?

The visibility of Islamism is not very great in Switzerland., We see very few people fully veiled in public space.

About thirty have been identified by a professor at the University of Lucerne.

And they are almost only converts.

We are talking about the full veil by Swiss women.

Certain tourist localities, rejected this proposal, they rather have an interest in receiving a certain clientele from the Middle East.

It's a different sociological question.

These are often fairly wealthy tourists, but this fact was not taken into account in the decision.

We note an alliance between opposing currents in general, that is to say between the nationalist identity right and the universalist left.

There is a political Islam represented by a radical group the Swiss Islamic Central Council, which proselytizes, mostly led by converts.

Some localities are known to harbor radical Islamists, which worries the intelligence services.

Last year there were murders and attempted murders, probably linked to the issue of radicalism, which drew the attention of the intelligence services and the confederation.

Switzerland is not completely immune to this phenomenon.

What are the differences, from a political point of view, between France and Switzerland on this issue?

It is both an identity vote and a universalist vote.

We note an objective alliance between opposing currents in general, that is to say between the nationalist identity right and the universalist left.

The universalist left is itself very much in the minority in Switzerland.

The one that is in the majority is the multiculturalist left.

The universalist left is secular and this question of secularism is not very meaningful and present in Switzerland.

Yet it was she who made this initiative successful.

In terms of the majority popular vote, in the absence of the support of this part of the left, the result could have been different.

There was a debate in Switzerland on this issue and the leadership of the so-called "

progressive

"

left parties

at cantonal and federal level criticized the universalist left for "

playing into the hands of the racists and the far right

".

Here we join the debate taking place in France.

To read also:

"The comparison of the mask and the veil plays the game of Salafism"

The popular vote, in particular on these questions, would it be applicable and effective in France?

I am not sure. What is most respected in Switzerland are democratic institutions, not so much the idea of ​​voting. This is what keeps the country going and is an integral part of the Swiss identity. In France I am not sure that a popular decision would necessarily be respected. I think that there is not the same relationship to the institutions and to the concept of the referendum. In my opinion, it would not be of the same importance. What counts in Switzerland is respect for popular decision. It is a sacred element!

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-03-08

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