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“Of course it is completely useless!” Hanspeter Krüsi laughs so happily that it is contagious even over the phone. “There is no one in the canton who wears a burqa or a nikab. So there have been no fines, no convictions, nothing in the last two years. “
Krüsi heads the communications department of the St. Gallen Police Department; he now has to speak more often about a law that does not cause his police officers any work: in the canton of St. Gallen, a two-year cover ban has been imposed. But the police have not found a single woman wearing a burqa in two years.
A similar ban could soon apply across the country: on Sunday, the Swiss will vote on an initiative that wants to write the regulation in the Swiss constitution that has proven to be “completely useless” in St. Gallen. It is causing a stir in the country.
The posters of the proponents have been hanging across the country for weeks: in the well-known harsh propaganda style of the Swiss national conservatives, they show a caricature of a woman with a veil on her face, large eyes and a frown. Next to him is: »Stop extremism! Disguise of prohibition yes «.
Specifically, an article 10a will be introduced into the Swiss federal Constitution, which reads: “No one may cover his face in public spaces or in places accessible to all.” And further: “No one can force a person to open his face for his To cover up sex.”
Behind this initiative is the notorious Egerking Committee of Switzerland, an association of right-wing conservative politicians, lawyers and publishers who have set themselves the task of stopping the »Islamization of Switzerland«.
One of the committee’s best-known successes dates back to 2009; At the time, the Swiss said yes to an initiative that to this day is used over and over again as a warning example of the constitutional law problems that direct democracy can cause. What can happen if the majority decides on the rights of a minority by referendum? More than 57 percent voted at the time to ban the construction of minarets. The ban has been in the constitution ever since.
It is about the hierarchy of religions.
The Egerking Committee was always concerned with anchoring a hierarchy of religions in the constitution. Managing Director Anian Liebrand says, for example: »You can live what you want. But we have a certain dominant culture, and that is the Christian one. ‘This idea can also be found in the current proposal against facial veiling. In point 3 it says: »The law provides for exceptions. These only include reasons for health, safety, weather conditions and local customs. “
In other words: if you want to cover yourself for “local” reasons, you can continue to do so.
According to official estimates, there are around 20 to 30 women in Switzerland who wear the nikab, a veil that only reveals the eyes. Almost all of them live in French-speaking western Switzerland. In Ticino, where there has also been a cantonal-level cover-up ban for several years, only a few tourists from the UAE have been informed of the rule.
Lucerne religious scholar Andreas Tunger-Zanetti fears that the ban, as in France, could even lead to further cover-up. In an interview with the »Luzerner Zeitung« describes a “solidarity effect”. Muslim women could feel cornered and even wear the veil in protest against a constitution that increasingly introduces special rules against their religion.
Others suspect that the few women who use Nikab today will not even leave the house in the future. Women who wear burqas, a piece of cloth that also blocks the eye area with a mesh and is known in Afghanistan, do not exist in Switzerland anyway. If someone wanted to force a woman to wear the veil, there are already laws against it.
Many Muslims share a feeling of exhaustion
Journalist Tuğba Ayaz spoke with practicing Muslim men and women for the »Tages-Anzeiger« magazine, published in Zurich. His recently published report “Among Muslims” describes a state of mind that many Swiss Muslims probably share: exhaustion. Ayaz, who grew up in a Muslim family, also understood the research as an examination of his own roots: “Since my Koran lessons, I had only been to a mosque abroad, to marvel at its construction. I had no impression of Muslim life in Switzerland, I had no feeling of what it looks like, ”he writes.
Talks with experts, an imam, a headscarf and a Nikab wearer (like almost everyone who wears the facial veil in Europe, she has converted to Islam), give Tuğba Ayaz a complex picture. But one thing he often ran into in conversations: the prejudices and stereotypical attributions that Muslims in Switzerland face lead to fatigue. Many, according to Ayaz, no longer have the desire to enter this loaded dialogue. Others, however, see it as their duty to educate.
For the Egerking Committee, this depletion of Muslims is a stroke of luck. Most opponents of the veil ban come from the political left, but are also divided on this issue. Above all, it is the female voters who otherwise would never vote for right-wing causes, but who are sympathetic to this initiative.
For example, the feminist Regina Probst, who used to work for Terre de femmes. She says she generally agrees with Alice Schwarzer. On the phone, she says she fought with younger feminists on this issue, emphasizing that it hurts to vote with right-wing conservatives on Sunday. “The initiative has flavor and does not solve any problems,” admits Probst frankly.
Why did you vote yes anyway? “No one can deny that the burqa is misogynistic.”
This is the conflict that many voters face. Can you be against the burqa and against the prohibition of the burqa at the same time? And what is the message of the result?
The obstacles to a popular initiative are high in Switzerland: a constitutional amendment must be approved by the majority of voters, but also by more than half of the 26 cantons. The latest polls predict a tight result: more recently, 49 percent said they wanted to vote for the ban, 47 percent were against.
