Posted on May 23, 2005

The Norwegian Inquisition — Sunset in the Land of the Midnight Sun

Fjordman Blog, May 19, 2005

Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, in April 2005 passed a new Discrimination Act. The act says in pretty clear words that in cases of suspected direct or indirect discrimination due to religion or ethnicity, Norwegians are guilty until proven otherwise. To me, it is surprising that they are allowed to pass such legislation at all. Isn’t it a fundamental part of all international law that a person should be innocent until proven otherwise? Aren’t our politicians thus depriving Norwegians of even the most basic human rights? However, I have heard claims that it is technically legal to do this. The act was passed in April with the approval of all parties in parliament, more than 80 % of MPs, with the sole exception of the right-wing Progress Party. Immigration spokesman for the Progress Party, Per Sandberg, is deeply disappointed and fears the consequences of the new legislation. “This law will jeopardize the rights of ordinary, law-abiding Norwegian citizens. The principle of reverse burden of proof means that Norwegians are guilty of discrimination unless they can prove otherwise. It will lead to many convictions of innocent people. Reverse burden of proof is also combined with liability to pay compensation, which means that innocent persons risk having to pay huge sums for things they didn’t do.”

It is unclear why this act is needed at all, given that a survey of immigrants only a few months ago indicates that a vast majority don’t feel they’ve been discriminated against in Norway. Racism appears to be less widespread than earlier believed. And why on earth are we supposed to show this ridiculous reverence and respect for their utterly failed Islamic cultures in the first place? Why should people who come from some of the most advanced countries on the planet have to crawl for those who come from the most backward ones? If their Islamic societies are so great, how come people from these countries burn their passports and treat their fingers with acid to remove fingerprints, all in order to get into ours?

“Anti-racist” organizations are given a significant role in the new law. There is a new, state-sponsored Equality Ombudsman who will be responsible for enforcing it, and coerce all employers who refuse to abide by it. A multicultural Inquisition, in other words. Cabinet minister Erna Solberg, who has earlier called for the establishment of a sharia council in Norway, proposed the new act. It will cover everything from the workplace to the housing market. In a recent case, a local furniture store wouldn’t allow a female employee to wear a head scarf, arguing that it violated the store’s dress code. Solberg’s proposal will toughen the law, and also require those charged to mount proof of their innocence. Solberg argues that existing law already makes it illegal for employers, for example, to prevent women from wearing head scarves if their religion calls for it. Her proposed law “would make this even more clear.” This law could open the floodgates for all kinds of unreasonable demands from Muslim immigrants in particular, who will be given a licence for extortion of employers, courtesy of the Norwegian parliament. For instance, it is likely that they can now claim that it is “discrimination” if they don’t have a special prayer room provided. Already, Muslim taxi drivers demand a separate prayer room at Oslo Airport, where they can pray during working hours, but have received a negative answer. The leader of the Somali Taxi Association, Ali Hassan, finds this discriminating and unacceptable, and is planning a law suit over the matter: “We think we have a right to pray during working hours. We demand to get a room where we can perform prayers, without losing our spot in the taxi queue.” At the same time as this is going on, blind people with their guide dogs are finding it increasingly difficult to get a taxi ride in the Oslo region, where Muslims make up a high percentage of cab drivers.

It is frustrating that Norwegian authorities make it mandatory for all non-Muslims to accept hijab, the Islamic veil, in their workplace. Many non-Muslims find hijab offensive, and even some Muslims, too. The veil, is not “just a piece of cloth”. It serves as a demarcation line between proper, submissive Muslim women and whores, un-Islamic women who deserve no respect and are asking for rape. The veil should more properly be viewed as the uniform of a Totalitarian movement, and a signal to attack those outside the movement. An Islamic Mufti in Copenhagen, Denmark, sparked a political outcry after publicly declaring that women who refuse to wear headscarves are “asking for rape.” Apparently, he isn’t the only Muslim in Europe to think this way. Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reported in 2001 that 65 percent of rapes in Oslo were performed by “non-Western” immigrants—a category that, in Norway, consists mostly of Muslims. The article quoted a professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, Unni Wikan, as saying that “Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes” because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative. The professor’s conclusion was not that Muslim men living in the West needed to adjust to Western norms, but the exact opposite: “Norwegian women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt themselves to it.” In January 2005, Norwegian media reported that 2004 saw the highest number or rape charges ever recorded in the capital city of Oslo. Strangely enough, there was now no mentioning of how immigrants were grossly overrepresented in rape cases. Why not? Unless there has been a sudden and unexplained drop in the number of immigrants raping Norwegian women between 2001 and 2004, which is unlikely, the statistics should be at least as staggering in 2005 as they were before. If they are not revealed, it can only mean that “somebody” didn’t like the numbers presented in 2001, and decided to bury them. That “somebody” must be a person high up in the police hierarchy, maybe even in the government. The same thing happens in Sweden. So in the end, the safety of young Scandinavian women is sacrificed in order to keep the glossy image of a multicultural society intact.

Militant Islamists like Mullah Krekar do reside in Norway. Besides, Norwegian police have already issued a mobile security alarm to Progress Party leader Carl I Hagen. They worry that he’s a target for terrorists unhappy with some anti-Islamic remarks he made last summer. Hagen criticized Islam, and could see no similarity with the concept of moral and justice found in Christianity. Hagen also said that if Israel loses in the Middle East, Europe will succumb to Islam next, if Islamic fundamentalists have it their way. Christians should support Israel and oppose Islamic inroads into Europe. In an unprecedented step, a group of Muslim ambassadors to Norway blasted Carl I Hagen in a letter to newspaper Aftenposten, claiming he had offended 1.3 billion Muslims around the world. Pakistan’s ambassador in particular has interfered in unacceptable ways in Norwegian internal affairs before, trying to instruct and intimidate a Norwegian politician of Pakistani origin who dared to voice her support for banning Islamic veils from Norwegian schools.

Dr. Ole Jørgen Anfindsen, editor, HonestThinking.org, believes that Norwegian authorities have cheated with prognoses for the number of immigrants. According to his numbers, ethnic Norwegians will become a minority in their own country before 2050 if the current trends continue. The number of Muslims in Norway over 15 years has quadrupled, meaning an annual growth of more than 9%. A Norwegian researcher warns that ethnic gangs can give Norway the kind of immigrant-related organized crime that accompanied waves of migration to the USA. Dr. Inger-Lise Lien concludes that the ethnic groups themselves are worried. Oslo, which used to be a safe Scandinavian city, today looks more like New York City pre-Giuliani. Native Norwegians are quietly moving out of the immigrant ghettos in inner-city Oslo in large numbers. Tensions with immigrants have spread even to smaller towns. The trend is identical to what can be seen in neighboring Sweden, where several cities are now on the verge of collapse. Norway has already experienced what seems to have been an attempted Islamic terror attack. At the same time, there is new legislation proposed against “discriminating” statements made about specific groups, even on Internet discussion forums and websites. Which means that Norwegians can’t say too much about Muslim immigrants destroying the country, because that is racism and thus illegal. At a time when the multicultural ideology is increasingly seen as a mistake in many countries, the authorities here respond by making it the official state ideology and banning all opposition. The heavily left-leaning Norwegian media are remarkably quiet about this, and do not make a fuzz about this infringement of freedom of speech.

Scandinavia is a Utopia lost. Previously quiet Scandinavian nations now suffer Islamic terror threats and death threats against people criticizing Islam. Norway celebrates 100 years as an independent state this year. Judging from this new discrimination act and the runaway Muslim immigration, perhaps the anniversary should be called “From independence to colonization”. At the same time as their women are no longer safe in the streets because of immigrant gangs, the authorities respond by making Norwegians de facto second-rate citizens in their own country. They use their own people as stepping stones for their personal careers in the UN bureaucracy. Pompous, hypocritical Scandinavian clowns, lecturing about how to create the perfect society while their own citizens find it increasingly hard to live in their major cities.

To Americans out there: Tired of hearing Europeans criticize you and how “fascist” your administration is? Well, it wasn’t the USA that just passed a law—with the support of more than 80 % of the lawmakers—that states that their own citizens are guilty until proven otherwise. Want to get even with some smug anti-American Europeans? Here’s your chance. Leave a message on my Fjordman blog if you want to write something about this case. I will try to help with translations as much as I can. There is unfortunately no shortage of material.