Category Archives: Denmark

Right-wing Danish youth mock Prophet

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Danish state TV on Friday, October 6, aired video footage showing young members of a Danish party mocking Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him).

Filmed in August, the video shows young adherents of the Danish People’s Party (DPP) – a political ally of the centre-right coalition led by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen – mocking Prophet Muhammad during a summer party, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Participants in the summer gathering were competing who could draw the Prophet in the most humiliating and laughable manner. One cartoon appeared to depict the Prophet as a camel, urinating and drinking beer. A song playing in the background contains the lyrics, “The camel Muhammad has four beers…” Some other participants portrayed the Prophet dressed in a turban and wearing a belt with explosives as others look on in laughter.

The video was filmed by Martin Rosengaard Knudsen who posed as a member of the party for several months to document attitudes among young members.

Islam Online, 6 September 2006

This is par for the course with the DPP. One of its spokespersons is on record as saying that “Muslim immigration is a way for Muslims to conquer us” and a DPP MP has compared Muslim women who wear headscarves to bikers who sport swastikas.

For the Muslim Brotherhood’s view, see Ikhwanweb.com, 7 October 2006

53% of Danes: publication of cartoons was right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A majority of Danes still support the decision to print the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons that enraged much of the Islamic world, according to a poll published Saturday on the one-year anniversary of the printing.

The survey by pollster Ramboell Management – published by the Jyllands-Posten daily, the newspaper that first printed the drawings – showed 53 percent of Danes still think it was correct to publish the cartoons as a demonstration of free speech.

According to the poll, 38 percent of Danes now think the drawings should never have been published, while 9 percent said they were not sure. Ramboell interviewed 1,041 people between September 4-7. No margin of error was given for the poll.

Associated Press, 30 September 2006

Half of Danes see Islam as incompatible with democracy: poll

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nearly half of Danes consider Islam incompatible with democracy, according to a poll published on Monday. The Zapera poll, conducted for Danish think tank Mandag Morgen, showed 48 percent of those surveyed thought Islam was incompatible with democratic values. Thirty-four percent said they saw Islam as consistent with democracy while a further 18 percent said they were undecided. The results were in stark contrast to a poll conducted in February which indicated 51 percent of Danes thought Islamic values sat well with democracy, with 34 percent disagreeing – despite the poll being conducted in the wake of the Mohammed caricature row.

AFP, 4 September 2006

The Danish and Iranian cartoon controversies

Posted on by Bob Pitt

In an article on US-Iranian relations Haroon Siddiqui takes up the antisemitic cartoon contest in Iran:

“Conspicuous by their silence in all this are those who during the Danish cartoon controversy had mounted a noisy defence of the right to offend. They are neither lining up to reprint the cartoons from Tehran nor are they criticizing the exhibit. It is a predicament of their own making. If they condemn the show, as they should, they’ll open themselves to accusations of double standards, namely, that their defence of freedom of speech last spring was meant only to protect their right to malign Muslims and Islam.

“But anti-Islamic prejudice alone does not explain the West’s conflicting emotions. Some people do believe freedom of speech is absolute. But it is not. It is constrained by the laws of libel and hate. It must be balanced against the right to freedom of religion. It is subject to self-restraint, dictated by our evolving understanding of what is and is not acceptable. The Danish and Iranian cartoon controversies have added another element to this complex equation. The global village demands of us a broadened outlook, one that avoids needless needling across all religious divides in these troubled times.”

Toronto Star, 3 September 2006

Denmark condemned for mishandling cartoon crisis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Danish government has been condemned in an official report for its mishandling of the cartoon crisis sparked by the publication of 12 caricatures that lampooned Prophet Muhammad in the Danish mass-circulation paper Jyllands Posten in September.

“The government’s management of the Muhammad (cartoon) affair was a bigger problem than the caricatures themselves and the prime minister … should have entered into dialogue with the Muslim ambassadors,” said the government-sanctioned study, a copy of which was obtained by Jyllands Posten, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen refused in October 2005 to meet with 11 ambassadors from Muslim nations who had asked to see him in a bid to nip a looming crisis in the bud.

The study said that the Danish government has not proved forthcoming and responded negatively to Muslim bids to break the standoff. “Denmark, in practice, did not want dialogue,” said the Danish university researchers who wrote the study. “It did not acknowledge the points of view of the other party (Muslim nations) and … saw being open to dialogue as compromising its own values.”

Danish Muslim leaders had taken pains to settle the crisis, but they were given the cold shoulder by the government. They then took their case to the Muslim world, embarking on a multi-leg Arab tour that outraged the government which accused them of “internationalizing” the issue and inciting anti-Danish hatred.

Islam Online, 26 May 2006

Europe threatened by Muslim hordes (part 346)

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jamie Glazov interviews Morten Messerschmidt of the Danish People’s Party. “Tell us the impact that Muslim immigration is having on Europe”, Glazov asks, to which Messerschmidt replies:

“It is well know that the Muslim immigrants are disproportional in representing crime records; that the hate towards Jews is increasing in Europe, because of these groups. The serious mistreatment of women, which we see in the Muslim world, is now also taking place in Europe. Therefore, we know that the lack of labor-participation, which is connected to these people living on welfare, is an economic threat to the stability of our societies. In many European countries we speak about the necessity of changing the welfare-payments, but the truth is that if we did not have the Muslim burden, many of these changes would not be required.”

Front Page Magazine, 26 April 2006

Hijab-clad Muslim TV host sparks Danish furore

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Asmaa Abdol-HamidA debate has been heating up among Danish viewers over the appearance of the first hijab-clad talk show presenter on the Danish television.

Asmaa Abdol-Hamid, a 24-year-old Danish Muslim of Palestinian origin, appeared last week on the DR2 network to host an eight-part programme on the fallout of Danish cartoons lampooning Prophet Muhammad. The female Muslim host has been selected to co-present the talk show with Danish reporter Adam Holm, an ardent proponent of press freedom, debating on Danish society’s pressing issues.

The appearance of hijab-wearing Asmaa has drawn mixed reactions from Danish women’s groups. Feminist Forum, a Danish women’s organization, said Abdol-Hamid’s TV presence “strengthens ethnic and gender equality in Denmark”. But another feminist group, the Women for Freedom association, echoed a different stance. “The choice of Asmsa Abdol-Hamid (…) is an insult to both Danish and Muslim women,” claimed Vibeke Manniche, the association’s head. “She sends the signal that an honourable woman cannot go out unless her head is covered.”

But DR2 network defended its decision to allow Asmaa’s TV presence, saying “headscarf-wearing women are part of Danish society and we need to accept this fact”.

Islam Online, 5 April 2006

See also Daily Times, 5 April 2006

Danish cartoons: racism has no place on the left

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I’ve just about had it. I cannot watch one more episode of the Daily Show which makes racist jokes about Arabs and Muslims. I am sick and tired of people who see themselves as part of the left writing articles that put a liberal gloss over what is, in essence, a right-wing ‘clash of civilizations’ argument. And I am fed up with an anti-war movement in the United States that will do nothing to defend Muslims against all the attacks they have faced both domestically and internationally. So, I feel compelled to speak out against the steady rightward drift among sections of the left since 9/11 on the question of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism. The Danish cartoon controversy, and the anemic response by the left in this country, is only the latest example of this drift.”

Deepa Kumar in MRZine, 21 February 2006

UN: Denmark acted irresponsibly in cartoon crisis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, which prepared a report about the cartoon crisis, breaking out after the publication of insulting images of Prophet Muhammad, accused the Danish government of acting irresponsibly during the crisis period. UN Higher Commissioner Louis Arbour’s special reporter Doudou Diene made harsh criticisms in his report about the Danish government and intellectuals along with the Danish daily Jyllands Posten, which published the blasphemous images first. The report stressed that “beliefs should not be humiliated under the veil of freedom of expression” as it dwelled on the importance of fighting against Islamophobia.

Diene remarked that xenophobia and taking sides before Islam reached an “alarming” level in Denmark with the publication of the insulting images admitting that, “When political leaders do not fulfill their responsibility about xenophobia and insult to religion, Europe has entered a path, which will confirm the thesis of “clash of civilizations”. The reporter emphasized that Jyllands Posten daily attacked Muslim believers by “showing Islam equal to terrorism”, which is an old prejudice and it acted under the veil of auto-censorship and freedom of expression. “The cartoons are absolutely insulting” said the reporter as he directed his criticisms towards the Anders Fogh Rasmussen government, which did not fulfill its responsibility. Diene’s report highlighted the violation of international agreements by the Danish government guaranteeing freedom of expression and respect to thoughts and beliefs.

Zaman, 19 March 2006

‘When Danes pay Danegeld – dealing with Islam in Scandinavia’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“One thousand years ago Scandinavians were the barbarians of Europe, spreading fear and extracting ‘Danegeld’ from their more civilized neighbors. In the 21st century Scandinavians are peaceful and soft-spoken, and the roles seem to have been reversed with certain newly arrived immigrants. There are claims that immigration costs Sweden 40 to 50 billion Swedish kroner every year, perhaps even several hundred billions, and has greatly contributed to bringing the Swedish welfare state to the brink of bankruptcy.

“In Denmark right-wing politicians are already debating the threat of immigrant ‘welfare tourists’, should the Swedish system collapse. In Norway almost half of all children with a non-Western background claim social security benefits. This is ten times the rate of the native population. A Danish commission concluded that Denmark could save 50 billion kroner every year by 2040 if it shut the door to third world immigration. At the same time, statistics indicate that Scandinavians will become a minority in their own countries within a couple of generations, if the current trends continue. While their political elites insist that immigration is ‘good for the economy’, Scandinavians are in reality funding their own colonization.

“Although the cost of welfare is significant, it pales in comparison to the price paid through rapidly declining social harmony and increasing insecurity caused by Muslim immigration. Some of the increase in insecurity is due to the rise of mafia groups and organized crime, but most is mainly due to terror threats and intimidation of critics of Islam and Muslim immigration.”

Fjordman in the Brussels Journal, 17 March 2006