(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The fall of 96 years ago, in 1922, Fridtjof Nansen received the Nobel Peace Prize. Committee chair Stang praised Nansen for not allowing humanitarian measures "hindered by political arguments". Nansen chose to be in the front line to help refugees in Europe. In the Armenian Genocide Center in Yerevan, the image of Nansen and his secretary Vidkun Quisling has a prominent place. There, the two are praised for their efforts for refugees and human rights in Europe. The continent was flooded by survivors in search of land to plant its roots in the war-torn horrors and the grotesque distress of new peace. Country by country, Nansen and his assistants negotiated assistance. The prominent Nansen statue in Yerevan today reminds Armenians and all of us of this.
Nansen stood in the front line to help refugees in Europe.
When people suffer, we can look for good excuses to do the least, or we can look for opportunities to alleviate the need. Nansen chose the latter: Nearly half a million nansen passports were handed out. The Nansen passport became a concept, a breakthrough for a humanitarian view of refugees, and today visible in the UN refugee institutions. Nansen built on Henrik Wergeland's humanism to open borders to Jews and others persecuted, and he formed the basis for Norway today being perceived as a humanitarian superpower.
Nans descendants?
But this picture is obtained by today's reality. Several countries have reminded us of this when we are now seeking membership in the UN Security Council, and in many fields the picture has dramatic cracks.
For generations, the Palestinians have filled the refugee camps in the Middle East, without Norway's involvement appearing to have developed, or been a success. And the Palestinians are not alone in escaping in this area: 588 Norwegian bombs over Libya gave Norwegian soldiers "fantastic military experience", we believe former Prime Minister Stoltenberg. But the bombs also contributed to new refugee flows into Africa and across the Mediterranean, where five percent of the refugees are believed to drown.
Thousands of refugees are still gathering on Europe's beaches – hoping for visas, respect and help. Some refugees are generously placed in containers, others in prisons or prison camps. Countless have to find a vacant space under a bridge, or along hot sewer ditches. Several countries have made it illegal to assist refugees. Politicians brag about blocking their way into Europe, brag about closing borders. We congratulate each other when we manage to make the help numbers fall. Preferably we will send them back to the disorders or "neighborhoods" – only we do not have to see them here.
Norway today has "Europe's strictest immigration policy", boasted former integration minister Sylvi Listhaug. The Labor Party is "debating" whether to follow Listhaug's recipe. This is how it is played again on ugly political strings, in both ours and other "civilized" countries. "It is important that Norway is not more generous than our neighbors," says Aps Masud Gharahkhani.
"I am pleased that the Progressive Party in government has not only shielded Norway from an asylum explosion," Per Sandberg said at the FrP national meeting in 2015, "but is also one of the few countries where asylum numbers go down, while asylum flow to Europe went up by as much as 40 per cent in 2014. Norway simply cannot afford to maintain a high non-western immigration if we are to maintain the good and safe welfare state we have today. ” The "idiots" who welcomed the refugees, such as Fredrik Reinfeldt in Sweden and Angela Merkel in Germany, urged to use the heart. But that is not how elections are won in today's Europe.
Nothing more valid
It is a story of irony that Quisling and the National Socialists Germany in the thirties withdrew the nuance passes Germany had issued through Quisling and Nansen's help. With Nothing more valid ("No longer valid") stamped in the passports, the masses were again sent out for hiking. Today it is called "back to third countries". Today, Trump is withdrawing aid to Palestinian third-generation refugees, and Norway is sending home people who have lived here for decades. Trump splits Mexican refugee families and puts children in jail. The right-wing forces are cheering, in both the United States and Norway. The humanitarian is suffocated by politically viable coins; the Nobel Committee leader in 1922 praised Nansen for fighting. For the efforts of those who suffer to be accepted – not only for Sandberg and Listhaug, but for more and more of us – it must pay themselves. For FrP is far from alone about this. Rather, they have become the ones who set the standard.
We boast that we are blocking the way of refugees entering Europe.
Nansen fought and won in cases for nearly half a million refugees. In the 96 years that have passed since receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Norway has gone from being one of Europe's poorest countries to becoming the richest. There is unbelievable suffering beyond our borders. But if we remain rich, we cannot afford to have Nansen's refugees among us. So let's put him carefully behind beautiful reminders of exciting Arctic discoveries and heroic wilderness tales. We can't afford to pay homage to Nansen the way he was. His humanitarian example is nothing more valid.
