Video : Fareed Zakaria on Swiss Minaret Ban
Mr. Zakaria is correct in stating that the ban only furthers the divide between Muslims and Europeans that the Swiss referendum and possible French ban on burqas are allegedly meant to bridge. Also, calling for assimilation is a farce as assimilation has yet to be proven to work.
After all, the Muslims in Switzerland will always look different from the Swiss, have names that are not entirely European and will be surrounded by public hostility throughout Europe against their religion. Assimilation only works if the majority population accepts that people who are ‘different’ can be just as much Swiss, French, European, or American as the majority despite things that may set them apart from the traditional notions of those identities: