Basically, because they liked my oral presentation (and of course, the incredible work of my partners)
Is possible a terrorist attack, as the Breivik’s one, in Denmark?
I had prepared another oral presentation for the exam in May. But on July 22, it happened an issue which let me amazed. At least, in Spain, the Scandinavian countries are the HEAVEN. So, how a rich and peaceful country like Norway could suffer a deadly massacre and bomb attack at the hands of one of its own citizens is something of a mystery.
I think that you know who I am talking about: Anders Breivik is the 32-year-old man, a right-wing fundamentalist Christian, a gun-loving Norwegian obsessed with what he saw as the threat of multiculturalism and Muslim immigration to the cultural and patriotic values of his country.
Some weeks ago, in the trial against him for the terrorists attack, he declared himself a “military commander” in the “Norwegian resistance” movement. This was a surprise for me because it was exactly the same that I wrote on May in the project. As Tariq Modood explained in his book “The politics of multiculturalism in the new Europe”, both in Norway and Denmark, there are associations and movements anti-immigrants whose “main goal is the desire to establish themselves as citizens engaged in a new resistance movement”. They fight against of what they consider as foreigner invaders and national traitors. That’s why, Breivik admitted his responsibility for the attack but he did not plead guilty, saying these acts were necessary to save Norway and Western Europe. So the problem is not just the immigration, is also the people, politicians, who support with their politics the multiculturalism.
“The common denominator in all the anti-immigration strategies is that they draw an analogy between the alleged mass immigration of Third World refugees, portrayed as an invasion, and Nazi Germany´s invasion of Denmark and Norway in 1940.” (Modood)
And why is it related with Denmark? Four months after the attack in Norway by Breivik, the Danish domestic intelligence agency has warned a similar attack could happen in Denmark. Jakob Scharf, head of PET, told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “We have seen a development in both the politically extreme environments and also a general development in terms of terrorism.” PET also wants to improve the police’s preparedness and their capacity to respond quickly to terrorist attacks. Together, the efforts will attempt to make it impossible to plan and instigate a massacre like the one in Norway that cost the lives of 77 people.
According to Breivik’s manifesto, Muslim communities in Europe pose an unavoidable conflict to the interests of the white, majority populations. He pointed Denmark “as the first Western country to face a civil war due to Muslim immigration,”
Scared? Not yet.
Then, is Denmark a racist country? In my opinion; no. But reading “Thinking sociologically” of Baumann and his “Use and Them theory”, I (and my partners) could understand why DPP are so popular in Denmark or why Breivik killed that people.
Many people agree that the national debate in Denmark around immigration and multiculturalism has been characterized by often incediary, harsh language.
As for example the declaration of Pia, the leader of the Danish People’s Party (DF) some years ago: “Multiculturalism is not tolerance and freedom, but a tense power balance where one word can disturb the peace”.
Civil war, disturb the peace… and one fear. This anti-EU and anti-immigration party shares Breivik’s fear that toward the end of this century, non-western immigrants will outnumber ethnic Danes. And who is the responsible? Politics of multiculturalism.
To sum up, I will tell an anecdote: I was talking about my project with a Danish friend and I asked him which his opinion about DPP campaign was. He answer me he didn’t know where DPP pretend to go with that campaign of hate and what fanatics could do. No one suspected anything about Breivik’s plans however one thing is clear: Fear leads to Anger. Anger leads to Hate. And Hate is the path to the dark side, as Yoda said in Star Wars 😀
Thanks to the Copenhagen Post for the information and RUC for the experience. Hasta la vista Trekroner 😉