Susi Meret shows how a housing association’s decision not to buy a Christmas tree this year was exploited by the far-right Danish People’s Party with the assistance of the mainstream media. Conservative and liberal figures helped to reinforce the narrative that Danish culture is under attack from Muslims.
“The most worrying aspect of this controversy was the total lack of response from the other side…”, Meret writes. “Those who violently oppose non-western immigration could make their point – extensively. And the voices that should have contradicted them were nowhere to be heard.”