Swiss ban on minarets
Mind boggling. The Swiss just voted to ban the building of new minarets.
What explains this vote? Crooked Timber points us to a sad attempt to defend explain the vote at The Volokh Conspiracy. Some commentators have noted that it was only in the 1990s that all women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in all elections. This is interesting because it is hardly a case of the tolerant and long-enlightened west versus the oppressive east. Indeed, I agree with Matt Yglesias that the main pushers of the ban on minarets have been a pretty much frankly racist right-wing party, the SVP. Do I exaggerate? Look at this poster from the 2007 campaign that advocates security (Sicherheit) by kicking out the "black" sheep:
Tyler Cowen offers some thoughts from a non-crazy center-right perspective. The first commentator over at Jacob Levy's blog gives some humor to new reports on the vote.
What explains this vote? Crooked Timber points us to a sad attempt to defend explain the vote at The Volokh Conspiracy. Some commentators have noted that it was only in the 1990s that all women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in all elections. This is interesting because it is hardly a case of the tolerant and long-enlightened west versus the oppressive east. Indeed, I agree with Matt Yglesias that the main pushers of the ban on minarets have been a pretty much frankly racist right-wing party, the SVP. Do I exaggerate? Look at this poster from the 2007 campaign that advocates security (Sicherheit) by kicking out the "black" sheep:
Tyler Cowen offers some thoughts from a non-crazy center-right perspective. The first commentator over at Jacob Levy's blog gives some humor to new reports on the vote.
posted by Timothy at 2:16 PM
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