I think I get what you’re saying. I know a tiny bit about the position of women in Japanese culture (well, I watched a documentary about gropers, child prostitutes and the struggle of Japanese businesswomen in the 90s). I cringe when I see some mangas (and not just hentai). Also, an acquaintance is Iranian and she has told stories about the past in Iran, so I had a glimpse of that. The steps backward that Iran has taken are horrible for its entire society, that is true.

But I haven’t witnessed the hypothetical problems the People’s Party is conjuring. Out of three Muslim women I know, one has only recently arrived in Switzerland from a Muslim country, and she doesn’t wear a niqab or a hijab. None of them do. But they could if they wanted to. And it’s only their children’s children (third-generation immigrants) who would profit from the law.

If a woman veils herself be because she’s being oppressed, that is another matter entirely, but we won’t solve this problem just by banning the outward signs of her oppression. We have to get rid of the inner reasons for the oppression, pluck them out by the root. That is a long road and will require a lot of dialog with many men (again, men) who are perhaps unwilling to listen and caught in a cultural and religious trap, just like Japanese men were for a long time, or still are. Hell, Switzerland still doesn’t have equal pay for women, still doesn’t have a decent number of women in leadership positions. We have our own homework to do before we try to teach newcomers to our culture.

What irks me about this campaign is that the law on the billboard is not about burqas or niqabs at all. It is not about equal rights. It has nothing to do with oppressing women, it is only about removing some bureaucratic hurdles around the naturalization of third-generation foreigners. But the People’s Party makes it look like naturalizing people more easily will automatically introduce — what? A different culture? Islamist terror? Veiled women that blow themselves up at Bern train station? I don’t think it will.

Hell, you have to be more Swiss than most Swiss people to even pass the naturalization exams. You will be speaking perfect French/Swiss-German/Italian/Rumantsch if you are a third-generation foreigner. If trends continue chances are high you’ve even dropped your original religion completely and are now officially non-religious. I just don’t see the problem here. By the way, the state doesn’t even differentiate between Muslim and non-Muslim. It depends on the canton, but all you can choose from is usually Jewish, Christian reformed, Christian Catholic, Christian Old Catholic or “other/irreligious”.

So in case the blog post left too much unsaid: It is in no way about supporting the oppression of women. Whether that oppression happens on a cultural, religious or simply being-an-asshole level. It’s often a mix of all three, I guess.

You are right that preserving some hard-earned rights is important and I would very much hope that some of these white old men have launched the campaign with that in mind, instead of simple fearmongering. But because the motif of the campaign is so disconnected from the content, I still don’t like it. I prefer it when politicians use facts instead of emotions and Nazi color schemes to drive their point home. Though to be fair, even our socialist parties have made use of those Nazi colors in the campaign against the Corporate Tax Reform 🙁

It would be interesting to talk to the People’s Party about how to solve problems of integration and cultural assimilation, but usually they are not willing to discuss any actual topics.