Transcript Slide 1

The Infrastructure of Hatred Unbound:
Islamophobia in Norway
Northern Scholars Lecture, University of Edinburgh,
Scotland Monday October 10 2011. By Sindre Bangstad,
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Oslo, Norway.
What are the central rhetorical tropes of
Islamophobia in Norway?
Muslims as a threat against Norwegian ‘values’ relating to:
- Freedom of expression
- Gender equality
- Gay rights
- The welfare state and its sustainability.
Muslims as the embodiment of a security threat (radical Islamism).
⇨ The appeal to Norwegian ‘values’ (culture rather than economics)
appealing beyond the constituencies of the populist right-wing
(Goodwin 2011)
• ⇨Articulation of the ‘nationialisation of liberal values’ (Lægaard 2007,
see also W. Brown 2006).
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The role of the ‘Progress Party’ (PP or FrP)
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PP established as Anders Lange’s Party in 1973 as an anti-taxation, antibureacratic party. Partly funded by apartheid South Africa.
Anti-immigration and anti-Muslim agitation central part of the party’s platform
since the elections of 1987, when the party made its electoral breakthrough in
Norway.
Agenda-setting role in Norwegian politics on immigration and integration
(Hagelund 2008): has greatly influenced the shift towards the right of the
governing social democratic Labour Party on immigration and integration
since the early 1990s.
Reached the zenith of its popular support during the ‘cartoon crisis’ in Norway
in 2006: 30% popular support and Norway’s most popular party.
Gained a record 22.9% of the votes in the parliamentary elections of 2009
(Norway’s 2nd largest party) after party leadership launched a campaign
against alleged ‘stealth islamization’ through hijab-wearing.
The ‘Mustafa-letter’ 1987
• A forged letter, allegedly written to FrP Chairman and
MP Carl I. Hagen by a Norwegian Muslim named
Mohammad Mustafa from Oslo, was read out by Hagen
at an electoral meeting at Rørvik on 07.09.1987.
• The Norwegian press soon revealed the letter to be a
forgery; Mr. Mustafa demanded a compensation of
NOK 500 000,- from Hagen and FrP; the case settled
out of court in 1988.
• In 1987, FrP made its best election ever, and gained
12.1% of the votes; it marked the beginning of FrP’s
electoral ascendancy on the back of anti-immigration
and anti-Muslim popular sentiment, which has
continued unabated untill 2011.
The ‘Mustafa letter’ 1987: Contents
• “To Carl I. Hagen, Parliament. From Mohammad Mustafa,
Underhaugsveien 15, 0354 Oslo 2.
• Allah is Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet! You are
fighting in vain, Mr. Hagen! Islam, the only true faith, will
conquer Norway too. Some day, mosques will be as
common in Norway as churches are today, and the
children of my grandchildren will live to see this. I know,
and all Muslims in Norway know, that some day, the
Norwegian population will come to [the Islamic] faith, and
that this country will be Muslim! We give birth to more
children than you, and many a right-believing Muslim
come to Norway each year, men in fertile age. Some day,
the heathen cross in the flag will be gone too!” Dated July 8
1987.
Who are the main Islamophobic civil society-activists
in Norway?
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Ms Hege Storhaug. A former newspaper reporter, a popular author of books on
Islam and integration, and a lesbian secular feminist, she runs the state-funded
Human Rights Service (HRS) based in Oslo. Enjoyed a privileged relationship
with secular feminist minister and leader of the Women’s Movement of the
Norwegian Labour Party Karita Bekkemellem Orheim untill 2007. Storhaug
has on occasions supported the (right-wing of the) Labour Party and the
Progress Party. Have pan-European links to Geert Wilders Freedom Party in
the Netherlands, Caroline Fourest of Pro-Choix in France and the Danish
People’s Party through Lars Hedegaard (convicted of racism in Denmark in
2011) and Helle Merete Blix. Awarded an honoray prize to Ayaan Hirsi Ali in
2006; took part in ‘counter-jihadist’ conference in Copenhagen with Bat Ye’or
and Robert Spencer in 2007. Have had contacts with Fjordman (aka Peder Are
Nøstvold Jensen), the blogger who inspired Norway’s 22/7.
Who are the main Islamophobic civil societyactivists in Norway?
• Mr Hans Rustad. A former Maoist-Leninist and reporter at Norway’s
press bureau NTB, he runs the website document.no, which in the
months leading up to 22/7 had a readership of 50 000 regular readers.
The website was the favourite website of Anders Behring Breivik (32),
the mass murderer of 22/7, who also regularly posted on the site
under his full name.
• Mr Ole Jørgen Anfindsen. Anfindsen and his brother set up the website
honestthinking. no after 2001. Anfindsen is an exponent of biological
racism, and in 2009 published the book The Suicide Paradigm on a
personal imprint (but funded by the Fritt Ord Foundation), with
appendices written by Fjordman (aka Peder Are Nøstvold Jensen).
Who are the main Islamophobic civil societyactivists in Norway?
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Arne Tumyr of the Stans Islamiseringen av Norge [Stop the Islamisation of
Norway] or SIAN. Has issued calls for non-Muslim Norwegians to arm
themselves against an ‘impending’ islamisation of Norway on the private
broadcaster TV2 in 2009. Post 22/7, SIAN proclaimed that this would not have
happened «if it was not for Islam.»
Mr Christian Tybring Gjedde of the PP. Mr Tybring Gjedde, who holds a B.A.
from Purdue University in the USA, and is born into a wealthy family dealing in
paperware and stationary, is an MP for the party from Oslo, and hugely
influential within PP circles in Oslo. In 2010, he compared the hijab to ‘Ku Klux
Clan-symbols’, and in 2011 alleged that «Islam can not stand the values of
freedom», demanded drastic reductions of immigration from Muslim
countries, and that new immigrants be requested to declare «an unconditional
commitment to Norway and our Christian values.»
Mr Kent Andersen of PP in Oslo. A close associate of Tybring Gjedde, he
compared Islam to Nazism on his blog in 2011.
‘Freedom, Equality and the Muslim Brothers’
• A ‘documentary’ funded by the Fritt Ord
Foundation in Norway, TV2 and Vestnorsk
Filmsenter.
• Manuscript by Walid al-Kubaisi, produced by Per
Christian Magnus (TV2/NRK), academic
consultant Prof. Terje Tvedt, University of Bergen.
• First screened at Vika Kino on Thursday
November 25 2010 and at TV2 on Monday 29
2010.
Plot lines of ‘Freedom, Equality and the
Muslim Brotherhood’
• Alleges a plot directed by the Muslim Brothers [al-ikhwan al Muslimin]
in Cairo, Egypt directed at turning Norway and Europe into a unitary
Islamic state, i.e. an Islamic caliphate.
• Alleges that the central instruments for doing so are: (1) the Islamic
headscarf [hijab], (2) democracy, (3)freedom of expression, and (4)
‘baby trolleys’ (i.e. higher fertility rates among Muslims)
• Alleges that practising Norwegian and European Muslims are by and
large willing instruments for this ‘islamisation of Europe’, since one can
be a ‘conscious’ as well as an ‘unconcious’ instrument of and in this
plot.
• Main villains of the plot: Tariq Ramadan (1962 - ), Professor at Oxford
University in the U.K., Yusuf al-Qaradawi (1926 -), Muslim Brothersaligned sheikh in Qatar.
• Sees suburban riots in the banlieues of Paris in 2005 as expressions of
this plot.
The launch of the documentary: Some
statements by al-Kubaisi
• “Muslims in Europe are told by their imams that they get
more [state] support, more child benefits, and more social
security the more children that they have.” al-Kubaisi to
Hustad, Jon (2010). ‘Til kamp mot brorskapen’ (Fighting
the brotherhood), Dag og Tid 26.11.10.
• “I have made an anti-racist film” al-Kubaisi to Sandvik,
Hilde (2010). ‘Alt du har ofret, Europa’ (Everything you
have sacrificed, Europe), Bergens Tidende 25.11.10.
• “I have made a film warning against the fascism of our time
[i.e. Islamism as fascism]” al-Kubaisi to Bisgaard, Anders
Breivik (2010). ‘Vil spre ‘sunn frykt’’ (Wants to spread
‘healthy fear’), Morgenbladet 03.12.10.
The launch of the documentary: Some
statements by al-Kubaisi
• “Mohammad Usman Rana and Abid Raja are errand boys
[løpegutter] for the Islamists” al-Kubaisi to Sandvik, Hilde
(2010). ‘Alt du har ofret, Europa’ (Everything you have
sacrificed, Europe), Bergens Tidende 25.11.10.
• “The hijab is the main symbol of the Muslim Brothers” alKubaisi to Sandvik, Hilde (2010). ‘Alt du har ofret, Europa’
(Everything you have sacrificed, Europe), Bergens Tidende
25.11.10.
• “I have made this film against the ‘islamization by stealth’ [
snikislamisering] of Norwegian society” Al-Kubaisi, Walid
(2010). ‘Djevelens verksted?’ (The Devils’ Workshop?),
Klassekampen 27.11.10.
The politics around the documentary
• The ‘moral panic’ that the ‘documentary’ had attempted to create was
instrumentalised by FrP through a parliamentary motion to have the
use of the hijab for children banned in public schools in Norway,
launched some weeks after the launch of the documentary, in
December 2010.
• Representantforslag 51S by Mette Hanekamhaug and Per-Willy
Amundsen and others cites an op-ed by al-Kubaisi from 2004; charges
that the hijab is an expression of ‘gendered apartheid’, links MB to alQaida etc.
• Al-Kubaisi’s 2004 op-ed in Aftenposten(‘Den sanne historien om skaut
og slør i islam’) claims that the modern hijab was invented by MB in
Egypt as ‘political uniform’, and based on a pattern of dress worn by
MB activist Zeynab al-Ghazali.
• By all accounts, an ‘invented tradition’ by al-Kubaisi; finds no support
in serious academic literature on the hijab (el-Guindi 1999).
What is so tendentious about the
documentary?
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Mainstream Islamist discourse (MB) is not static, but dynamic, it must be
historisized and seen in light of particular contexts: it will not do to think that
MBers in Egypt have the same aims in 2011 as in 1928, when it was founded
by Hasan al-Banna, nor to think that the aims of MBers in Egypt are the same
as MBers in Europe.
Sources in the ‘documentary’ are with two exceptions Arab secularists;
Egyptian sources felt misrepresented, in as much as they were led to believe
that they were commenting on MB in Egypt, and were not presented with alKubaisi’s wider conspiratorial plot (Wahhab 2010).
Presents a rosy picture of Egypt as a beacon of secularisation in the Middle
East; no mention of the repressive police state under Hosni Mubarak (19812011), 30 years of emergency laws, systematic human rights abuses and the
most fraudulent elections ever in November 2010.
The international tanzim (organisation) of MB established in 1982 deeply
fractured along national lines over the Gulf War in 1991, as well as the
occupation of Iraq in 2003 (Pargeter 2010, Vidino 2010).
What is so tendentious about this
documentary?
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MB in Europe best seen as a heterogenous trend [fiqri], rather than a
structured and hierarchical organisation.
Muslims living in Europe are in terms of internal discourse profoundly affected
by the European context; that applies to European MBers too (Silviestri 2010).
Riots in France: Historically MB-aligned Islamic organisations in France
actually issued legal edicts or fatawa against these riots, and very actively
involved in trying to prevent it (Fassin 2006, Roy 2011).
The ‘documentary’ a part of systematic attempts to blur the lines between
Islam and Islamism, practising Muslims and Islamists, which has become
commonplace in anti-Muslim circles in Europe and Norway since 2001. AlKubaisis allegations on TV2 Tabloid that Abid Raja and Mohammad Usman
Rana are ‘secret members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Norway’ to be seen in
this light. F. ex. Hege Storhaug, HRS.
All available demographic evidence from Europe suggests that second
generation Muslims display strong tendencies toward convergence with nonMuslim populations when it comes to fertility patterns (Østby 2004 for
Norway, Krohnert 2006 for Germany)
Al-Kubaisi on the new Egypt and on Norway’s
22/7
• “The closest parallell to what is happening in Tunisia
and Egypt, is Iran in 1979…As they [sic] started in
Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood wishes to continue”,
Klassekampen 14.02.2011.
• “The West should warn [Egyptians against MB] by
boycotting democracy [in post-Mubarak Egypt]”
Klassekampen 17.02.2011.
• «Islamists were responsible for this attack [on 22/7].
It is time we told them to integrate or leave»
• Finansavisen 23.02.2011.
Who is Walid al-Kubaisi?...
• Born in Baghdad in Iraq in 1958.
• Undergraduate degree in electronical mechanics from the
University of Baghdad in Iraq.
• Left Iraq after the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88) in
1981 – in order to avoid conscription.
• Was granted leave to stay on humanitarian grounds in Norway
in 1987.
• Settled in Arendal. Friendship with poet Håvard Rem. Municipal
funding for an ‘information office about Islam’.
• At an early point declared himself an apostate from Islam.
• Embroiled in violent conflicts between refugees in Arendal in
1993 after al-Kubaisi had written in a column in Agderposten
that Muslims “do not pay taxes, nor obey the laws of ‘heathen’
governments.” Dubbed the “Salman Rushdie of Arendal [sic]” by
local media. Moved to Oslo shortly thereafter.
Who is Walid al-Kubaisi?...
• Author of a number of books, of which Min tro, min
myte (Aventura, 1996) is perhaps the most wellknown.
• Received state scholarship [statsstipendiat] initiated
by Prof. Emeritus in Philosophy Gunnar Skirbekk, and
30 other prominent Norwegian academics and
intellectuals, in 2006.
• In spite of having declared himself an atheist 1 year
earlier, in newspaper interviews in 2010 claimed to be
a practising Muslim.
And what is his ‘discursive field’?
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(1) The notion of a centrally directed Muslim conspiracy to take over
Europe and to turn it into an Islamic caliphate central to the Eurabialiterature (Bat Yeor, Mark Steyn, Bruce Bawer, Mark Gabriel):
⇨ Besson, Sylvain (2005). La Conquête de L’Occident: Le Projet Secret Des
Islamistes. Paris: Seuil.
(2) The analogy between Islamism and fascism:
⇨ Berman, Paul (2002). Terror and Liberalism. New York: W. W. Norton.
The Flight of the Intellectuals. New York: Mellville House.
⇨ Podhoretz, Norman (2007). World War IV: The Long Struggle Against
Islamofascism. New York: Doubleday.
But NB! The term ‘islamofascism’ also used twice in speeches by George W.
Bush (2000-2008) during the ‘war on terror’, in 2006.
(3) The incompatibility between ‘Western’ and ‘Islamic’ ‘civilizations’:
⇨ Huntington, Samuel (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking
of World Orders. New York: Simon and Schuster.
And what is his ‘discursive field’?
• (4) Muslims as a fifth column in Europe:
• ⇨Ali, Ayaan Hirsi (2010). Nomad: A Personal Journey Through The
Clash of Civilizations. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• (5) Muslim fertility as a threat against Europe’s welfare states’ very
survival:
• ⇨ Sarrazin, Thilo (2010). Deutschland Schafft Sich Ab: Wie wir unser
Land auf Spiel Setzen. München: DVA.
• (6) Tariq Ramadan as the ‘main representative of the MB in Europe’:
• ⇨ Fourest, Caroline (2008). Brother Tariq: The Doublespeak of Tariq
Ramadan. New York: Encounter Books.
• (7) Islam and Muslims as the embodiment of ‘unreason’ and ‘counterEnlightenment values’:
• ⇨Ali, Ayaan Hirsi (2010). Nomad.
And why is it that he can be politically
effective?
• Like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, al-Kubaisi can claim ‘cultural authenticity’
and seem as a credible ‘witness’ to the alleged pernicious nature
of Islamism, in spite of having few academic or scholarly
credentials (see Mahmood 2011; Dabashi 2010).
• In web reception, he is often cast as a ‘refuge from Islamism’ (in
spite of having fled an authoritarian secular regime).
• As a ‘culturally authentic witness’ he is able to make claims and
allegations for which one would otherwise be accused of racism
in mainstream discourse.
• By invoking Enlightenment and its critique of religion he preempts allegations of promoting racism and anti-Muslim
sentiment (see Weaver 2009 on liquid racism).
What is Islamophobia?...
• “Socially reproduced prejudices and aversions against Islam and
Muslims, including actions and practices which attacks, excludes or
discriminate against humans on the basis that they are, or are
presumed to be Muslims, and associated with Islam.”
• Mattias Gardell (2010). Islamofobi. Stockholm: Leopold Förlag.
• “At the heart of Islamophobic discourse is the question of civilization,
the notion that Islam engenders a worldview which is fundamentally
incompatible with and inferior to Western culture”
• Matti Bunzl (2005). ‘Between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the
new Europe’, American Ethnologist 2005 32 (4).
• “The hard core of Islamophobia is racist. Nowadays, the antipathy
towards foreigners or people who look different is often styled as
criticism of religion because it makes it more digestible for the centreright and left-wing liberals.”
• Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt to Qantara.de 2010.
And why should social anthropologists be
concerned about it?
• Norwegian opinion surveys from 12/2010 suggest that 61 % of
Norwegian surveyed feared ‘conflicts with Muslims more than
anything else’ (Monitor 2010).
• “The subject for anthropology is human existence in all its
diversity” (Nader 1992).
• ⇨Doesn’t imply an embrace of identity politics, but does imply
something of a professional commitment to contribute to an
unthinking of hegemonic binaries based on reductionistic
culturalist assumptions, and to furthering knowledge and
understanding of the choices human beings make in increasingly
multicultural and multireligious contexts.
• Both the Bin Ladens and Hirsi Alis of the contemporary world
promote a huntingtonesque clash of civilizations: Anthropology
has a role to play in avoiding turning this into a self-fulfilling
prophecy.
And finally…
• “David Hume was right: reason is a slave to the passions,
especially our darker ones. The real driver [behind
Islamophobia] is that otherwise polite people have given
themselves permission to be racist. Now is the time to disturb
the cosy rules of the dinner party and speak up against the
bigots. There may well be a row. You might not get invited
back. But so what?”
• Giles Fraser (Canon Chancellor, St. Paul’s Cathedral,
London, U.K.) (2010). ‘Islamophobia is the moral blind spot
of modern Britain’, The Guardian 22.01.2011.