Swiss Review 6/2020

Swiss Review / November 2020 / No.6 26 Politics GERHARD LOB Ticino did its own thing when it banned the wearing of full-face coverings in public – the first canton to do so, af- ter a popular initiative was emphatically accepted by 65.2 per cent of Ticinese voters in September 2013. Although the initiativewas actually aimed at prohibiting burkas and niqabs (and “countering Islamification”), the amendment to Ticino’s cantonal police legislation resulted in all types of full-face covering being banned. Demonstrators and football fans, for example, are no longer permitted to con- ceal their faces in public either. The law came into force on 1 July 2016. The Ticino initiativewas down to aman calledGiorgio Ghiringhelli, who is now 67 years old and somewhat of a political loner. Ghiringhelli, a former journalist, says that he is alarmed at the “Islamification of Europe”, explaining that the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA sparked his activism. “Afterwards, I read essays on Islam by Oriana Fallaci that shook me up.” In 2010, Ghiringhelli launched a petition calling for a ban on full-face coverings, quickly followed by a cantonal popular initiative that was modelled on a similar ban enacted in France. Ticino’s can- tonal parliament rejected this effort – concluding that it was a “non-issue”, given that womenwearing full-face cov- erings were practically never seen in the canton. But Ghiringhelli would not let it go. He refused towith- draw the initiative, insisting that full-face coverings were the “thin end of the wedge”. In his view, the niqab is a sym- bol of oppression. Amajority of Ticino voters chose to back him up. Ghiringhelli also hoped for a copycat effect, and this was actually what happened. The canton of St. Gallen introduced a ban on full-face coverings on 1 January 2019 – again following a popular vote (66.7 per cent in favour). However, Glarus’s annual open-air assembly, the Lands- gemeinde, rejected a similar cantonal proposal in 2017. In- stead of a canton-wide ban, there were calls in Glarus for a nationwide ruling on the matter. This is exactly what the “Yes to a ban on face cover- ings” popular initiative aims at achieve. This initiative is based almost word for word on the legislative text ban- ning full-face coverings in Ticino. It was launched in October 2017 after amassing 105,000 valid signatures. The popular vote is scheduled for March 2021. The Egerkin- gen Committee, headed by the Lucerne SVP National CouncillorWalterWobmann, is behind the initiative. Its successful anti-minaret initiative in 2009 attracted inter- national attention, because it led to a national ban on the construction of minarets. The Federal Council and parliament have rejected the Egerkingen Committee’s latest project, saying that it in- fringes the autonomy of the cantons, while pointing out that very few women in Switzerland wear burkas or niqabs in the first place. According to a government esti- mate, only 95 to 130 women in the entire country wear full-face coverings. The debate on banning full-face coverings is also about religious freedom, women’s rights, the right of women to self-determination, dress codes, and the role of Islam in society. Yet there is an economic element aswell. Some peo- ple say that any ban would have a detrimental impact on tourism, and that regions popular among Arab visitors would lose out as a result. “An exemption for tourism would not be possible,” said the head of the Federal Depart- ment of Justice and Police, Karin Keller-Sutter, during the parliamentary debate. To date, only a very small handful of fines have been issued in Ticino against women wearing full-face cover- ings. Nearly all of these were picked up by Nora Illi – the controversial co-founder of the Swiss Central Islamic Council who deliberately showed up in the canton wear- ing a full-face veil in protest. Illi, a Swiss convert to Islam, died in March 2020. Meanwhile, St. Gallen cantonal po- lice say that they have not imposed a single fine yet for sim- ilar infractions. The Ticino police have produced leaflets explaining the ban in English and Arabic. However, some tourists have circumvented the ban by swapping their veils for a ubiq- uitous symbol of the COVID-19 pandemic: medical face masks. This trend has been notable among visitors to the open-air miniature model museum Swissminiatur, a venue popular among Arabs. Despite this, the effect on tourism appears to be minimal. “The so-called burka ban Freedom to choose? Voters to decide on burka ban Should Switzerland prohibit the wearing of full-face coverings in public? Swiss voters will give their verdict next March on an initiative that is calling for just that. The proposal is a classic example of direct democracy in Switzerland. All eyes will be on Ticino in the run-up to the vote. To be banned? Niqab Burka Still allowed: Hijab Chador