Poster ban harms Swiss democracy

The partial ban on a poster by the right-wing populist SVP for the Swiss referendum on banning minarets slated for November reminds the Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter of the cartoon controversy in Denmark: "With this poster ban the minaret question now has much in common with the dispute over the Danish Muhammad cartoons. Suddenly attention has shifted from the freedom of religion and tolerance to the freedom of opinion. For this reason stopping the poster was not wrong in principle. It was simply stupid. The yes campaign [for a ban on minarets] can now cast itself as victim, something groups with xenophobic messages love to do. The proposed constitutional ban on minarets would stand in conflict with the principles of the constitution on non-discrimination, as well as with the European Convention on Human Rights. For that reason a victory for the yes side could only harm democracy in Switzerland."

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