(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
[Minority debate] The word change about Norway's treatment of Jews and minorities has again flared up, especially after Mona Levin's Aftenposten chronicle "Jews have weak protection" 8.10.
She showed the absurdity that if you swear at a Norwegian policeman, you can get three weeks in prison. But when the Nazi Terje Sjølie calls Jews "parasites to be purged", he is acquitted by the Supreme Court – on the grounds that it "must be tolerated". Even corrections from the UN Committee on Racial Discrimination do not make the Norwegian authorities comply with international agreements. Attorney General Georg Rieber-Mohn defends the acquittal of Knut Røed, the policeman responsible for the fatal arrest of the Jews in 1942.
Unfortunately, others use the opportunity to pit minorities against each other, instead of seeing the similarity between the incitement against Jews, Muslims, coloreds and other minority groups. Astrid Gunnestad claimed in Aftenposten 30.10. that Norwegian politicians fail to crack down on anti-Semitism, but did not "dare to say the same about anyone calling for 'the purge of Muslims!'"
But Muslim hatred is also common. Those who believe in the Qur'an "deserve nothing but torture and death" are regularly mentioned in the online debates.
The problem is not just the hate messages, but also the erroneous "facts" statements that are repeated and nourish prejudice. In this fall's critically acclaimed bestseller Marion's Veil, by Roy Jacobsen, the police investigating officer is allowed to point out "the fact that Muslim communities to date have not managed to stack a single democracy on their feet."
Novel or not: This "fact" has as much truth value as the anti-Semitic forgery of Zion's wise protocols (1903). Both Albania, Senegal and Mali are democracies and Muslim communities, according to FreedomHouse. In 2004, the UN UNDP report stated that "non-Arab Islamic countries are as likely to be democracies as non-Islamic countries".
Indonesia and Malaysia are ruled by elected officials, unlike the Buddhist neighboring countries of Burma and Thailand. And Turkish EU aspirants are far more democratic than their neighbors in Christian Armenia. Maybe not perfect democracies, but neither have most "Christian" or "Buddhist communities" either.
In short: it is stupid to link some religions more or less to democracy practice or abuse, as even one of Ny Tid's critics did not so long ago.
Unfortunately, political views too often seem to influence rhetoric and case interest. Those who support Israel are most wary of Jewish hatred. Those who fight the cause of the Palestinians focus mostly on the Muslim hatred. Maybe it should have been the other way around?
At the very least, we need greater understanding that the Jewish and Islam prejudices are part of the same minority unit. We cannot fight one without condemning the other. ■