"All terrorists are Muslims"
To say that all terrorists are Muslims isn't really true. Most, yes, but not all. By the way: SOS-Racism went on record when the appalling rape statistics in Oslo were discussed in 2001 as arguing that the media shouldn't talk about these numbers "because they could fuel xenophobia". SOS-Racism receive state funding for their activities:"All terrorists are Muslims"
Progress Party leader Carl I. Hagen sees the fight against terrorism as a fight against Islam. "I know that not all Muslims are terrorists, but we have seen that all terrorists are Muslims," Hagen told Aftenposten after an appearance on TV 2 on Thursday, referring to the attacks in London and New York. Hagen said that comparisons to Northern Ireland and Basque terrorism in Spain were "national conflicts" that did not fit into the picture. On TV 2's program Hagen said his party wanted tougher measures to battle terrorism, and said that "we must expel people who resist western values and encourage terrorism". Hagen said that measures must be taken against those who spread fear and rejected the idea that his stance might do the same. "No, no absolutely not. We fight for democracy and freedom of speech," Hagen said. The head of SOS-Racism, Trond Thorbjørnsen, believes that Hagen runs the risk of standing accused of fearmongering if such legislation is passed. "It is peculiar that a law and order party distinguishes between terrorism in internal Christian conflicts and terrorism in international conflicts where Muslims are involved. This doesn't matter much to the victims," Thorbjørnsen said.
Labor soars in latest poll
The Labor Party has not been so popular since May 2000, with 34.6 percent of the vote in this week's political party poll by Opinion for Aftenposten. The party is up 7.2 percent points in the past week Jens Stoltenberg has never had such numbers since taking over as party leader in 2002. The swelling in Labor ranks is due to mobilizing voters that sat out the previous election, and they are also stealing supporters from potential coalition ally, the Socialist Left Party (SV). The so-called 'red-green' alliance of Labor, SV and the Center Party would gain 94 seats, well over the 85 needed for a majority.
posted by Unknown @ 2:17 PM
3 Comments:
Fjordman - How much support does the Progress Party have among regular Norwegians? What are the chances of Hagen's ideas being implemented?
One larger question: from America Norway and Sweden seem like very similar countries (I think they used to be one country) so why do Norwegiana and Swedish political elites (or for that matter the general public) take such radically different views of the Islamist threat? In other words where is the Swedish Progress Party?
Thomas: The Scandinavian countries do indeed have a lot in common, but there are differences, and sometimes quite significant ones. The immigration debates in Sweden and Denmark are VERY different, to name one example.
The political elites in Sweden and Norway are pretty similar. The difference is that Norway has slightly more public dissent than Sweden, as demonstrated by the popularity of the Progress Party, a party that has no real equivalent in Sweden. The Progress Party has been claimed to be an "extremist" party by some of its opponents, which is nonsense. It is, however, an anti-establishment protest party. Under the leadership of Mr. Carl I. Hagen for 25 years, it has grown from a small fringe movement to the second largest party in the country (after Labor), with about 20% support. But it still doesn't have a great deal of influence, as the other parties, including our current centre-right government coalition, view it with some skepticism. This is the major issue in the ongoing election campaign. The split on the non-Socialist side could give the Socialists the victory.
Hello to Bjørn Stærk, a rare guest here. You're right: I haven't read his statements in Norwegian, so I don't know how accurate Aftenposten's version is. It's not true that all terrorists are Muslims, and Hagen is usually smarter than saying stuff like that. So maybe he didn't.
About (10%?)of Muslims side with Western(Christian) Values.
I think that number is larger, but still not large enough. Ibn Warraq has estimated that maybe 15% of all "Muslims" in the UK are secret or open ex-Muslims. Add to that a number of "secular" Muslims, or perhaps we should say lax Muslims, people who just don't care about religion that much. The problem is that the ideology itself is hateful. Muslims are tolerant and peaceful only to the extent they don't actually follow Islamic teachings.
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