The Politics of Race and Religion in Denmark
A reader living in Denmark writes:
' I was most surprised to hear that there had been a demonstration of "as many as" 5000 Muslims here in Denmark. I do recall a demonstration, but 5000? That's a darn big demonstration here! We didn't a much bigger turnout here when we had to suffer the ignominy of a visit here by Bush this last summer. Perhaps there was one too many zeroes?
Your point that the Saudi gov't or parts of it have not been responsible for the inflammation is correct. However, the source you draw on is ignorant or ignoring the local political and social situation in Denmark. That and the activity of a few Imams here who represent a very small percentage of the Muslim population of 180,000 are essential to understanding what the Danes are now experiencing as practically a 911 event.
The Venstre party of Mr. Fogh-Rasmussen is about as far right as you can get in Danish politics. The only party to the right of them represented in the Folketing is the Danske Folkeparti, run by Pia Kjærsgaard. The DF has quite a few seats and although not in the gov't it's support is absolutely necessary for Fogh's gov't. The DF is a right-wing populist party, which split off from the even more right Fremskridts (Progress) party some 10-15 years. Pia is a damn talented politician, sort of a Maggie Thatcher type. She and her party have been hammering away in particular using (and increasing) the tensions between the "Danes", the "new-Danes" and "second-generation immigrants" (these are of course all code words -- if I refer to myself as a "new-Dane" or my sin as a "second-generation", people find it funny -- has something to do with the fact that I don't have brownish or dark skin, I guess... ).
The Jyllandsposten is a right-wing paper -- but it's the two tabloids, BT and Ekstra Bladet, who along with the help of Pia K's DF who been stoking the fires of racial/ethnic tension. There among the Danes a perceived anxiety and mistrust because of murders, "honor" murders, general criminality, gang rapes, arranged marriages, female circumcision, sending youngsters to madrasses and so on. The fact is, of course is that entire Muslim community, to a certain degree, is getting tarred with the same brush because of a few.
There are approx. 180,000 Muslims in Denmark. A very small number, from congregations composing 2-3% have been very visible the past couple of years -- in particular a handful of imams, two of which I should name, Abu Laban and Mohammad Fouad Albarazi have been very visible. What can I say of them? Sort of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell wannabes, I guess. Anyway they sent delegations to the Middleeast -- and misrepresented the character of the drawings. Supposedly, Mohammed was shown in sexual encounters of some sort, and was shown with a pigs nose, among other things. Also, people in the M.E. were told that the Koran was being burned. (To be fair, there was some talk of it when the Danebrog (the Danish flag) was burned -- but nothing came of it.
The Danebrog differs from most flags in that it was not designed -- it fell down from heaven in Estland in 1219!
Also, to be fair, the Imams I mention don't know Danish, some of this group, not even English. On the other hand, this is also a source of irritation and tension -- how are they supposed to guide people on how to live as good Muslims in Denmark when they know little of our culture here?
One of the parliament members here, Nasar Kharder, has made quite a stink about Abu Laban saying one thing to the Danish media and the complete opposite to Arab media. A concrete case is that he thought the boycott wrong (to the Danish media) but to the Arab press, that it was good and that he was very happy about it . . .
Nasar Kharder is from the "Radikal Venstre" (Venstre means "Left", but it is usually translated as "Liberal"). The RV party is one that pretty much defines the center in Danish politics and has been in many governments over the years -- both to the right and to the left of center. They are not in the government at the moment, which for the past 5 years has been Konservativ / Venstre (with the support of the DF, as I mentioned before. The RV has made a point of attracting "people of other ethnic background" (code for people with Arab/Muslim/ origins into their party work -- both on the national as well as the local level.
Nasar Kharder was born in Damascus of Palestinian parents. The tabloids are making a big deal over threats being made against him and the fact that he is (again) under police protection. He's long made a lot of effort to activate the moderate Muslims in Denmark. '
Charles E. Cliff
posted by Juan Cole @ 2/08/2006 04:00:00 AM
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8 Comments:
Too little about Nasar Kharder, an immigrant MP who has evidently done well and might be the archetype of an assimilated Euromuslim. Is it merely a "big deal" if the tabloids bring public attention to threats made against this moderate? Would it not be better if the Left wing press showed some guts and defended him too?
Rather too much about whether a politician or a paper is "right" or "left." Surely anything in Denmark is "left" by the standards of the US. Here the label "Liberal" (venstre) has become a much-feared epithet to tar and discredit someone as some sort of breezey lunatic.
Is there any information on what share of the 180,000 Muslims in Denmark have citizenship, vote, or learn Danish? Are they mixed or mainly from one geographic region?
I keep seeing rumors about supplementary and heinous cartoons claimed to have been printed in Jyllands-Posten: "...and misrepresented the character of the drawings. Supposedly, Mohammed was shown in sexual encounters of some sort, and was shown with a pigs nose,..." (here, quoting newDane Mr Cliff). Is it just rumors, or is there a reliable source about this? If true, it surely makes the reactions look less like overreaction.
BTW Mr Cliff, your newDane remarks sound familiar. The code here in Norway when I moved here 30-odd years ago was "guest-worker" (or, often, "framandarbeidar"), and I used to call myself that, invariably getting the reaction "But you are not a guest-worker!" as they took another look at my pale, freckled skin. Then I could play indignant and ask "Are you suggesting that I don't work?!"
--nbm
As we are occupied with the current outrage over the cartoons - there are other stories that I think we should keep tracks of...
The first, reported by The Independent, is that Israel is building a Museum of Tolerance on top of a Palestinian Muslim graveyard - the bodies of the dead are being excavated and moved:
(QUOTE)
Skeletons are being removed from the site of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem to make way for a $150m (£86m) "museum of tolerance" being built for the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
Palestinians have launched a legal battle to stop the work at what was the city's main Muslim cemetery. The work is to prepare for the construction of a museum which seeks the promotion of "unity and respect among Jews and between people of all faiths".
Israeli archaeologists and developers have continued excavating the remains of people buried at the site - which was a cemetery for at least 1,000 years - despite a temporary ban on work granted by the Islamic Court, a division of Israel's justice system. Police have been taking legal advice on whether the order is legally binding. The Israeli High Court is to hear a separate case brought by the Al Aqsa Association of the Islamic Movement in Israel next week.
The project, which a spokesman said had been conceived in partnership with the Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli government, was launched at a ceremony in 2004 by a cast of dignitaries ranging from Ehud Olmert, who is currently the acting Prime Minister, to the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
(END QUOTE)
This is so bloody hilarious - for those of you who don't know, Muslims HATE having their dead being dug up and thrown about... And, by the way, Israeli PM Olmert threw in another little f-you to the Palestinians yesterday, asserting that Israel would annex portions of the West Bank settlements and completely encircle the Palestinian districts...
And if you haven't noticed yet, Israel has been chipping away at Palestinian restraint, killing more and more Palestinians in military raids (10 since Saturday), even as Hamas has tried to present a moderate face.
Of course, when it all falls apart, who will be blamed? Whose violence and land grab will be forgotten, and who will once again be the villains? Don't answer yet - wait for the Neoconned to tell you on their views-shows in a few days.
I want to thank you people who found it worth your time to comment on my small effort to give some background and feel of the “cartoon” situation as seen by me from Denmark. There was a lot of ground to cover so there are some questions which I’ll try to answer.
The, by now hierostratic cartoons, are a small thing in themselves -- I actually a bit afraid they are symptomatic of larger things moving in the world. In a sense, I guess, Denmark has sort of become the appendix of the world -- well, the western world.
Denmark is a happy little kingdom where the king is a Queen (not in drag).
Not including 7 million pigs, the country has 5½ million inhabitants. Of those five, a large minority of 180,000 are Muslims -- most of them immigrant or refugee or their 1st or 2nd generation descendents. A not insignificant number of the Muslims here are Danish converts -- in fact, one of the imams here is a Dane (not a fundie, by the way).
My wife got onto my case about Nasar Khader even more than John did in his comment. It seems I did not make it clear that the threats against Mr. Khader are serious. This is not the first, nor likely the last time threats will be made against his life. He is not the only person to have trouble of this sort. A Muslim stand-up comedian has had threats and a lady member of the Copenhagen City Council has been attacked. Mr. Khader is a very brave man.
I wrote about the left/right spectrum in Danish politics because it is important. “Venstre” (lit. “Left”) is referred to as the Liberal Party -- but it by no means “liberal” as used in American politics! Venstre is big on privatization and is quite to the right of the Danish Conservative Party. I know, it is accepted wisdom that all Danish politics is to the left of American -- but this is a “truth with many footnotes”, as the Danes say. When I tell my friends that Fogh is a sort of “Bush Light”, they laugh and know what I mean. He lied to the parliament as well as the Danish people to get us into that damn “Coalition of the Willing” and we still have a contingent in the south of Iraq.
To get Danish citizenship is not at all hard -- it’s nothing at all like what is required to get US citizenship. After 6 years, you apply (was 5 years until the Venstre changed it) pay some money up front and that’s about all you have to do. Most of the Muslims here are Danish citizens. The problem is with integration -- and again, the word doesn’t mean at all what it meant when I grew up in Florida. There are problems with the formation of ghettoes and there are problems with Danish language skills and understanding Danish culture.
The Danes are not racists -- not in the sense that Americans understand the term. However, there are some racists and cultural tensions. We have are own Nazi party, and the Danish Front. We also have the Hizb ut Tahrir.
The Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), is now getting ten times the normal application for membership (500 a day as opposed to 50). It will be problematic if the DF gets a larger vote (it is the third largest in the Folketing at the moment).
The story about the picture of Mohammed with a pigs nose was partly cleared up yesterday. It was taken from a picture taken from a festival in France were CLOWNS compete in making the loudest and most piercing piggy SQUEAL!
I say, partly cleared up, because it is not clear just who gathered all the mis- and dis-information which the delegation from the Islamic Faith Society (Islamisk Tro Samfund) took with them and disseminated in the Middle East.
I think I have written enough -- my train will soon arrive at my destination in Copenhagen.
By the way, NBM, we also used to have the term “foreign worker”, but then, they figured it sounded degrading, so, the PC term became “guest worker” -- but that was long ago.
Regards
Chuck Cliff
The Mohammed-cartoons in a Danish context
While there are riots in the Middle East my focus will be my home country Denmark and the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which printed the cartoons. The Mohammed-cartoons was the last entry in a long path from Jyllands-Posten to discredit Muslims in general, and in seeking a confrontation with hardliners. The newspaper has sadly succeeded beyond any scope believed possible.
Jyllands-Posten has historically been a solid partner with the current governing party Venstre and Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who in Danish context is far right wing on economic and social issues.
The Prime Minister won his first election in 2001 by copying the Danish Peoples Party (Dansk Folkeparti) hard-line against Muslims.
The Danish Peoples Party’s chairman has in the Danish Parliament proclaimed, that there is only one civilization in the world - the West. During the Kosovo killings of Muslims the party stated that Muslims had themselves committed war crimes - anything short of defending the killings of Muslims in Kosovo as self-defence.
By the 2001 election a more conservative line was adopted by the wining Danish Primeminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who supported NATO’s peacekeeping effort in Kosovo.
Even though the hard-line confrontation from the Danish Peoples Party was silent during the election, a more conservative discredit of Muslims as a threat to the Danish welfare was stated by Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
This anti-immigrants (muslim) issue was the prime issue duing the election in 2001.
Two days before the election Jyllands-Posten printed a story about how Palestinians claimed social security even though they lived in Palestine. The story was a fake designed to help the current Prime Minister win his first election.
When Jyllands-Posten today is claiming, that it is defending democracy and freedom of speech, it should be remembered that the paper tried to manipulate a democratic election by printing fake stories about immigrants/Muslims.
Today Jyllands-Posten and the Danish Prime Minister still have strong ties. The Prime Ministers "Karl Rove" has been chief of Jyllands-Postens Parliamentary bureau. Other ministers has also recruited their spin doctors from Jyllands-Posten. And the discredit of immigrant/Muslims in general is continuing.
Just a short comment on the Daneborg not being created but falling from the sky.
The writer says it fell from the sky in "Estland" in 1219.
Here is Estonia, practically at Denmark's doorstep, part of the European Union, and the Danes don't even know what our name is. In the year 1219 the Danes who fought in Estonia were part of the poorer Crusaders who could not afford the fare to Palestine, so they decided to take on the pagans in Estonia. And there came the "miraculous" flag with a Christian cross from the sky!
Isn't there just a touch of smugness and insularity among the Danes?
Bo: Exactly, there is something quite fishy about the role of Jyllands Posten in this mess - they were looking to stir up trouble and poked a hornets nest.
All the wrong people are "benefitting" from this - for example, the Dansk Folkeparti is close to becoming the second largest party in Denmark after Fogh's Venstre -- hopefully this surge will fade before the next election. However Pia K., the DF leader, is crafty as hell and will do her best to hang on to the gain.
Punnik: sorry if I hurt your sensibilities!
Of course I know that where you are it is called Estonia -- just as I know that where I am it is called "Danmark" and not "Denmark" as the English say or "Dänemark" as the Germans say.
Did I say "Germany"? Now there is a case!
"Tyskland", "Allemagne", "Germany" -- nobody calls it anything close to "Deutschland" (except maybe the Danes) -- now how do you think that makes them feel?
Gee -- sorry my tongue in cheek reference to the Danebrog was taken serious -- it's kind of a joke here
Whereas it would be nice to see moderate Muslims have a stronger presence in Danish politics, Naser Khader is rather problematic as such, and even though I sort of hope for his new organisation to succeed, I hope others than him will quickly become dominating.
Naser Khader is a typical politician of the sort who seems to believe in little more than his own career. To further this, he has played the role of some sort of "coconut" or "bounty bar", sweet-talking Pia Kjærsgaard and lambasting immigrants in order to get votes from the "white" Danish constituency. A Muslim living in Denmark (the writer Tabish Khair) had an excellent piece in The Guardian about being squeezed to silence between Abu Laban and Naser Khader.
Khader is also scheming within his party to keep Muslims with less apologetic views - thus, the parliamentary candidates Mona Sheikh, Babar Baiq and Tanweer Ahmed were all marginalized within the party (the most tolerant and immigrant-friendly in the Danish centre) due to his and his allies' scheming.
If marginalization of Muslim voices in Denmark is a problem (and it is!), then Naser Khader ain't the answer.
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