Muslim Women Rise Up

As I said to many friends this weekend and as I have always believed - If Muslim women would rise up en mass against the cruelties of Islam we would soon see it defeated.  We're not seeing that quite yet, but when "Swiss voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on minarets on Sunday, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers in a surprise vote that put Switzerland at the forefront of a European backlash against a growing Muslim population"... the successful vote "received an unlikely boost from radical feminists arguing that the tower-like structures are “male power symbols”. 

Let me say that if we really get down to the nitty-gritty here, it's not the minarets themselves that people were really voting against, it is what they stand for, it's one step in the right direction.  Women and men in other Western nations (especially the U.S.) should take note, from Times Online: 

“If we give them a minaret, they’ll have us all wearing burqas,” said Julia Werner, a local housewife. “Before you know it, we’ll have sharia law and women being stoned to death in our streets. We won’t be Swiss any more.”  [snip]

A similar battle has been raging in Germany over plans to build one of Europe’s biggest mosques in the shadow of Cologne cathedral. The Danes are also locked in debate over plans for two grand mosques in Copenhagen.

In an initiative that would please Switzerland’s antiminaret campaigners, an Italian town seized the headlines last week by putting up signs banning women from wearing the burqa in public.  (Times Online)

Dr. Phyllis Chesler sees this as the West "beginning to fight back":

According to the BBC, more than 57% of Swiss voters in 29 cantons supported a referendum proposal to ban the building of minarets. Partial results from the final canton indicated 68% of people there supported the ban.

Western as well as Muslim and other immigrant women who wish to assimilate have the most to lose if radical Islam takes over. Thus, early on, women led the Swiss in a poll about whether or not minarets should be banned. Only 31% of men compared to 39% of women voted for the ban. Some say this was due to a vigorous feminist campaign about women’s rights. Socialist politicians viewed the feminists as unacceptably anti-immigrant. Women viewed the minarets as unacceptably anti-woman. Julia Werner, a local housewife said:

More good news:

Britain’s most prominent Muslim businessman, who was trapped inside a burning hotel in the Mumbai terror attacks, is calling on the government to toughen measures against extremist preachers. Sir Gulam Noon, one of Labour’s most generous donors, says the door is being left open for foreign imams to radicalise thousands of young Muslims in mosques.

Finally, miracle of miracles, Thomas L. Friedman, in today’s New York Times, writing about the Fort Hood jihadist (“America vs the Narrative”) concludes thusly:

“Whenever something like Fort Hood happens you say, ‘This is not Islam.’ I believe that. But you keep telling us what Islam isn’t. You need to tell us what it is and show us how its positive interpretations are being promoted in your schools and mosques. If this is not Islam, then why is it that a million Muslims will pour into the streets to protest Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but not one will take to the streets to protest Muslim suicide bombers who blow up other Muslims, real people, created in the image of God? You need to explain that to us — and to yourselves.”

Is the old magic not working anymore? Are people no longer as easily fooled by false allegations of “Islamophobic racism”? Do we understand that it is dangerous to tolerate the intolerant?  (more)

"The minaret is a sign of political power...

and demand, comparable with whole-body covering by the burqa, tolerance of forced marriage and genital mutilation of girls," the sponsors said. They noted that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has compared mosques to Islam's military barracks and called "the minarets our bayonets."  (MSNBC)

  ... the rights of women under Islam were pointed to as a reason to support the ban ...The Guardian reports that the pro-ban SPP

said that going to the European court would breach the popular sovereignty that underpins the Swiss democratic model and tradition … It dismissed the arguments about freedom or religion, asserting that minarets were not a religious but a political symbol, and the thin end of a wedge that would bring sharia law to the country, with forced marriages, “honour” killings, female genital mutilation and oppression of women … The prohibition also found substantial support on the left and among secularists worried about the status of women in Islamic cultures. Prominent feminists attacked minarets as male power symbols, deplored the oppression of Muslim women, and urged a vote for the ban.

 The Times reports that there’s some evidence that more women were in favor of the ban than men, too.   (Via Crooked Timber)

 

I applaud the Swiss decision, it's one step in the right direction.  But of course not everyone agrees.

MSNBC:

Muslim groups in Switzerland and abroad condemned the vote as biased and anti-Islamic. Business groups said the decision hurt Switzerland's international standing and could damage relations with Muslim nations and wealthy investors who bank, travel and shop there.

"The Swiss have failed to give a clear signal for diversity, freedom of religion and human rights," said Omar Al-Rawi, integration representative of the Islamic Denomination in Austria, which said its reaction was "grief and deep disappointment."

Have no fear, the Muslims will still be able to build mosques and practice their religion  I think this vote is simply sending a "NO Sharia" message and I hope the Muslims are listening.  One small step ...

Quote of the day from View From The Right:

[T]he Swiss People's Party, led by millionaire Christoph Blocher, has defended the Swiss nation. Where are America's patriotic millionaires?
-- Brenda Walker, Vdare, November 29, 2009

Also see:

Swiss Minarets, Syrian Vulture, Israel Imports Syrian Books, Hamas Bans Women Dancers.

Other news:

Obama and Chavez Backed Zelaya Repudiated in Honduras electionTerrorist Attack: Bomb derails

130mph Russian train, leaving 26 dead, 100 injured UPDATE: Monday morning, Another Train bombed

Comments

[MK]

If muslim women are to rise up, they'll have to go against their own religion, because the cruelty perpetrated on them is based on islam. I don't see that happening any time soon.

I can see the swiss burning those mosques to the ground before muslims turn on their religion.

[Ron Russell]

Male power symbols--I never quite thought of them that way! What about the Washington Monument? To me thats a stretch, but the missile symbol on the campaign posters I can go for. The vote by the Swiss was an eye-openener and a first step in Europe to curve the rise of Islam in that part of the world.

[Ralph E.]

snake hunters sez,

FRONTPAGEMAG Editor Jamie Glasov has a recent expose' on Female Genital Mutilation
of young girls (FGM) in the Muslim-dominated nations.

Grim stuff indeed. It's been an ugly reality for centuries, and if women do not take the lead, who will?

If this practice had more publicity, Women's Rights Groups might come alive, demand an end to this human butchery of little girls.

reb

[Donna]

This is very uplifting news! It' about time!!!