Release of Max Göldi and his return home
We are very happy with the repatriation of our fellow-citizen Max Göldi and we wish him a nice back home.

Swiss Muslim Citizens

The press release of “keep off my country” demonstration held on Saturday, March 6th, 2010

The « keep off my country » demonstration has laid for us the foundation of a new citizenship pact.
We strongly believe that cultures have three main destinies:

  • Living in conflict leads to genocides.
  • Living in rivalry leads to apartheid.
  • By living together, everybody contributes an additional value. This last destiny can’t be achieved if a real and strong political will isn’t available. Demonstrators have actually assumed their own responsibility. So, we do wholeheartedly hope that decision makers will do the same.

After that demonstration which was held on March 6th 2010, in Helvetiaplatz in Berne, we would deeply express our gratitude to the journalists who did their best to cover and comment that event through written or audio visual media. Their wonderful job has created echoes all over Switzerland. By doing so, we are strongly convinced that achieved a true citizenship action. They have also taken part in laying the foundation of a new vision of a mutual citizenship. That is, the vision of a citizenship that brings both Suisse Muslims and Non Suisse Muslims citizens together.

The media has considerably contributed in raising awareness among Swiss Muslim citizens and therefore enabled them to hold an attitude and to express it overtly. The aim of our movement is to live, here In Switzerland, together and in harmony regardless of the diversity of our religious and cultural backgrounds. We consider our duty to express our loyalty and our attachment to our host country, Switzerland.

We would warmly thank all those who attended the « keep off my country » demonstration. It was so brave of them to have come despite the cold and the snow.

Speech of the sit-in (March 6th, 2010)

Good afternoon everybody

Ladies and gentlemen, we do warmly thank you for having replied to our call/invitation.

We would also like to deeply thank you for coming to join us here in Bern

For the time being, here we are in the Helvetiaplatz ( Helvetia Square). We intended to demonstrate before the Libyan Embassy. However, only a team of five demonstrators were permitted to go round there. This restriction is due to the tense diplomatic relations that Switzerland and Libya are going through over the last few months. So, once again we do like to thank you for having taken into account the reasons behind changing the demonstration location.

Still being here, in this square dedicated to allegory that stands for our country is symbolically pregnant since it reveals the extent to which we are strongly attached to Switzerland as well as to its democratic values…. We do believe in a strong democratic State and our wish is to show and express a national unity.

As Muslim Swiss residents and citizen belonging to a Muslim cultural background, reacting to Mouammar KADAFI’s statement is the type of action that lay the basis of citizenship. His call for the Jihad has to be stood against through such symbolic actions.

So, we react as Swiss citizens and Swiss living in Switzerland. We ask him to keep off our country. We reject any attempt to wrongly use the religious consideration and also that of Islam in order to raise Muslims’ hatred, be it among Swiss Muslims or other Muslims in different parts of the globe, against our country and against our fellow citizens.

Reactions received by email

Hands off my country

This is a cry of anger uttered by Swiss citizens belonging to a muslim cultural and religious background. We would like to react against Mouammar KADAFI’s call for the Jihad against Switzerland after the referendum banning the building of mosque minarets.

As Swiss citizens with a muslim cultural origin, we have opted for the path of reacting and expressing our total disagreement with KADHAFI’S statement. In whatsoever way, we wouldn’t like to be handled by a dictatorship. Banning minaret is a Swiss domestic issue, and we are completely convinced that it should be settled down through democratic ways. We do wholeheartedly believe in the state of law of our country.

We remind the fact that our country is not to be converted to a democracy pupil expecting demo lessons from others and even less from well known dictatorships.

We reject any attempt to wrongly use the religious consideration and also that of Islam in order to raise Muslims’ hatred, be it among Swiss Muslims or other Muslims in different parts of the globe, against our country and against our fellow citizens.

We also reject any call for the Jihad or boycott or any action that is likely to undermine our country.

As Swiss citizens belonging to a Muslim cultural and religious background, and living in Switzerland, we would like to tell the whole world that we do really appreciate the state of rights we live in. We do also have the right to use different means to solve and fix out issues through democratic and legal ways.