Vox Populi Vox Doh

December 13, 2009 at 8:11 pm (Civil liberties, democracy, Islam, libertarianism, rights, Rosie B)

When the referendum in Switzerland banning the construction of minarets was hot news the blogosphere was full of cheers and boos.  Two cheers that I noticed came from:-

• libertarians who were crying a victory for democracy and liberty (this here explains the difference between those two political abstractions and how they can come into conflict); and
• blog commenters who spend much of their time denouncing Iran or Saudi Arabia who were now saying, “This is Switzerland’s business. Who are we to criticise?”

So plenty of people approved a ban that was grossly illiberal and scary too, since the referendum was organised by the far right Swiss People’s Party. 

But this Swiss guy sounds like an honourable liberal acting in a way John Stuart Mill would have approved.

“A Swiss shoe-shop owner has built a mock minaret on the top of his warehouse in defiance of a ban on the Muslim architecture.

Guillaume Morand extended a chimney, gave it the form of a minaret and sprayed it in gold paint to protest against a constitutional amendment approved in a nationwide referendum last month.

“It was scandalous that the Swiss voted for the ban,” said Mr Morand, 46, who owns the Pomp It Up chain of shoe stores.

“Now we [the Swiss] have the support of all the far-right parties across Europe. This is shameful.””

Good for him.  I’ll buy a pair of shoes from one of his stores if I ever get the chance.

But could any libertarian who gave this ban the thumbs up please imagine yourself as a gladiator and the crowd in unison giving the thumbs down as to whether you should live or die.  Your liberty would be severely compromised, however democratic the decision. 

 Also, note this:-

“Our minaret is pretty,” he said. “You could say I’m proud of it and I’m happy that people are talking about it.” His neighbours are less enthusiastic and have showered him with racist insults since the minaret appeared this week, he said.

Another bunch were defending the ban on aesthetic grounds i.e. the Swiss didn’t want alien structures spoiling the look of their cities, or on feminist grounds, because Islam = female oppression.  Mr Morand, though, hasn’t been abused for building something ugly, out of keeping or representing religious patriarchy and the misogyny in Abrahamic religions.  A chunk at least of those voting saw minarets=Islam=religion of a  foreign minority, and that is what they were taking exception to.  Xenophobia isn’t necessarily a vote winner, but it has had popular support in the past to a murderous degree, and it is the reason for existence for a fair amount of political groups in Europe who are active at the moment.