Switzerland has voted. But what Switzerland? Is it still possible to believe that our country is alone in the world, and can manage without pacified relations with the rest of the planet? One might think so, given the 57% yes vote in a referendum to ban the building of minarets. We’re not managing to look beyond the end of our own noses. We think we’re protecting ourselves, and we create humiliation and arouse tensions.

That there’s a problem, that there are problems, is obvious. The arrival in Europe of millions of Muslims is a relatively new phenomenon, and we cannot close our eyes to the consequences. It takes time to bring together national, ethnic and religious cultures. There need to be changes of habit on both sides. Bans and laws will not protect us. Fear arouses fear. The only true protection is the art of dialogue. In France, it has taken years of dialogue, decades even, to allow the building of the major mosques. This has helped the development of a moderate Islam. The height of minarets has been the result of long negotiations between Muslim communities and municipalities. And through this process of dialogue, links of trust and even friendship have been built.

But alongside such difficult negotiations, we must add our daily dialogues, reach out to meet those who are different from ourselves. Greet our Muslim neighbours at their festivals (like Eid, the feast of the Sacrifice, which curiously fell this year just as we were voting). We can show that we are concerned about what ‘they’ may be feeling. ‘They’ in turn may appreciate finding out what ‘we’ feel. Have an honest conversation – why not? And then perhaps there’d be no ‘them’ and ‘us’.

No-one can foresee what may result from this irrational vote. Doubtless other irrational reactions. But it might also lead to a more thoughtful response, to innovatory initiatives. And some way down the line, the vote of 29 November 2009 may sink in to oblivion.

Eid al-Adha, the festival of Sacrifice’ or ‘Greater Eid’ is a holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Abraham (Ibrahim) to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.

Jean-Jacques Odier

From a Geneva banking family, at the end of his university studies, Jean-Jacques Odier started working with Moral Re-Armament, now Initiatives of Change. In 1971, he founded the IofC French-language magazine Changer, and has written several plays. In 2008 he published an autobiography* which is also something of a history of the movement.

* Jean-Jacques Odier : Nous rêvions de changer le monde. 2008, Editions Ouverture (‘We dreamed of changing the world’).

Translated by Andrew Stallybrass

NOTE: Individuals of many cultures, nationalities, religions, and beliefs are actively involved with Initiatives of Change. These commentaries represent the views of the writer and not necessarily those of Initiatives of Change as a whole.