Monday, July 25, 2011

Attack in Norway, Islam in Europe, and Multiculturalism

(Note: The death toll  of the terrorist attack in Norway has been reduced to 76.) 

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian bomber, has been described as a Right-wing Islamophobic Christian who wanted to start a revolution in Europe agains multiculturalism and Islam. 

I consider Islam a threat.  I believe the policy of multiculturalism is idiotic, since I do not believe Islam allows for multiculturalism.  I oppose courts adopting Sharia law.  I strongly support Israel, because it is a mordern nation, in contrast to the 7th century nations that surround it, where women are oppressed and gays are persecuted.  As with many other left-wing positions, I am simply confused by the left’s opposition of Israel, seeing as how they venerate human rights and how those Islamic nations have such poor human rights.  

In Norway, the population of Muslims is increasing:

Norway has recently tightened its liberal immigration and asylum rules in the midst of a longstanding debate about assimilation and multiculturalism. Despite Norway’s oil wealth and low unemployment, there has been a growing concern over the increasing size of the Muslim population, especially after Sept. 11 and the Danish crisis over the publication in late 2005 of cartoons depicting Muhammad, which were published in Norway, too.
But the Muslim population is growing, and Islam is now the country’s second-largest religion. The impact of an increasing, and increasingly visible, Muslim population in a relatively monoethnic, liberal and egalitarian Norway has led to a surge in popularity for the anti-immigration Progress Party, now the second-largest party in Parliament. And it appears to have been one of the triggers to the massacre carried out here on Norway’s white elite. The suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, claims he was compelled to act by the failure of mainstream politicians — including those in the Progress Party — to stem the Islamic tide.
I applaud Norway for its tightening of immigration rules and I applaud Norwegians for supporting the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet).  I admire the leader of the Progress Party, Siv Jensen, based on what I know about her.



The city of Malmö, Sweden is the quintessential example of Islamization in Europe.  Apparently, Malmö is one quarter Muslim.
But despite Malmö's usually placid appearance, this experiment in multiculturalism has not gone well. In the Rosengaard section of Malmö, a housing project made up primarily of immigrants, fire and emergency workers will no longer enter without police protection.
Unemployment in Rosengaard is reported to be 70 percent. An immigrant-fueled crime wave affects one of every three Malmö families each year. The number of rapes has tripled in 20 years.

But Malmö has been so accommodating toward immigrant Muslims that a local Muslim politician, Adly Abu Hajar, has declared that "The best Islamic state is Sweden!"

Jews Cannot Walk The Streets

Don't ask Malmö's Jews to give the city the same glowing assessment. Jews who dare walk the streets wearing their yarmulkes risk being beaten up.

"It's true. Jews cannot walk the streets of Malmö and show that they're Jews," said Lars Hedegaard.

Hedegaard lives across the water from Malmö in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was a columnist for one of Denmark's largest newspapers. He says pro-Israel demonstrations in Malmö, like the ones during the fighting in Gaza earlier this year, were met with rocks, bottles and pipe bombs from Arabs and Leftists.

"I was there for demonstration; a pro-Israeli demonstration with about 400 or 500 people," Hedegaard told CBN News. "Jews and non-Jews, and I came over to cover it. The police allowed, I'd say a hundred Palestinians or Arabs to shout and threaten and throw bombs and rockets at us. A homemade bomb landed about ten yards from me, and went off with a big bang. And now of course, I thought the police were going to jump these guys, get them out of the way. They didn't. They just let them stand there."

Swede Ted Ekeroth helped film the Arab-Left counter-demonstrations. He saw Arabs throwing rocks at a 90-year-old holocaust survivor.

"I filmed the police chief and asked him why are they not reacting to this," Ekeroth said. "Why are they not doing anything? And he simply answered, 'It's their right according to the Swedish constitution.' We apparently did not have the same right, because we were forced out of there. Our manifestation for Israel is always peaceful, and theirs is always the quite opposite -- Death, hate and killing of Jews. They come and they shout different slogans," he continued. "It can be everything from Arabic slogans inciting killing of Jews to in Swedish and Danish, 'Kill the Jews.'

Political Alliance Against Israel

And like all over the Western world, some on the Left, along with Arabs and Muslims and anarchists, have formed a political alliance against Israel and Jews. They demonstrate together, and in Sweden, they vote together. Muslims are a core constituency of the Left.

The immigrant issue a big reason the right-wing Swedish Democrats are the fastest growing political party in the country.

Matthias Karlsson is the Swedish Democrats' Press Secretary

"In many parts of Sweden, people are, as I said, fed up," Karlsson said. "And they're being pushed too far and they want to make a stand."

Fascist and Bigoted?

Swedish Democrats, who stand for traditional Christian values and limits on immigration, have been stigmatized by the Swedish media as fascist and bigoted.

Erik Almqvuist is national youth leader for the Swedish Democrats.

"The media has tried to portray us as extremists, racists," he said. "People think we're almost inhuman"

Almqvuist faces regular death threats, and was almost killed recently in a Left-wing knife attack.

"The multicultural model in Sweden has polarized society," Almqvuist explained. "We have a political polarization. We have also an ethnic polarization. And the extremes are growing and it's harder and harder to get to consensus."

Hedegaard says as Malmö goes, so goes the rest of Sweden.

"I think the best prediction is that Sweden will have a Muslim majority by 2049, so we know where that country's going," he said.

Given the heavy immigration to Europe by Muslims, anti-Islamic parties are gaining popularity in Europe.  Other right-wing anti-Islam parties in Europe include: Austria’s Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs), Belgium’s Vlaams Belang (based in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium), Denmark’s Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkeparti), Finland’s True Finns (Perussuomalaiset), Netherland’s Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid) (which is led by the admirable Geert Wilders), Sweden’s aforementioned Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna), and Switzerland’s Swiss People’s Party (Schweizerische Volkspartei).  

In Switzerland, a constitutional amendment was approved in 2009 banning the construction of minarets (the spires at the tops of mosques).  Several locations in Europe have banned the wearing of the hajib (Islamic headscarves) in certain locations, such as schools.  Personally, I disagree with the Swiss amendment banning the construction of minarets, because it seems purely symbolic to me and I don’t see its practical value.  I’m not sure why the hijab is being banned in certain places.  I believe the threat of the spread of Islam should be dealt with more pragmatically. 

Back to Anders Behring Breivik, regardless of his ideology, he is a murderer.  I do not support violence (except for when it is necessary, such as during war).  I condemn his actions strongly.  Anti-Islamism and right-wing ideologies are not generally violent.  I do not support extremism of any kind.  I applaud the efforts of certain non-violent Europeans who mean to rid Europe of multiculturalist policies that harm its native cultures.  In addition to condemning his violence, I am disappointed that Breivik’s terrorist attack may have undermined those efforts. 


Friday's massacre in Norway has placed a renewed focus on the far-right after the killer claimed to have links with extreme right-wing parties in Europe. The parties have quickly responded by condemning the attacks.

I disagree with labelling these parties and these movements as extreme far right or as far right.

I would also like to say that, while I strongly oppose multiculturalism, the spread of Islam, and Sharia law, I do not hate Muslims in general, nor do I believe all Muslims are extremists or terrorists.  The fact, is, however, the spread of Islam (in its current form) poses a threat to Western society.  We cannot let this abhorrent act of terrorism undermine the movement against the spread of Islam.  It is important to remain peaceful and not sink to the Islamists’ level.

UPDATE: Please see the second-to-last paragraph of this post for clarification of my views on Islam.

2 comments:

  1. At the end you say "Islam in its current form" is a "threat to Western society". What do you mean by "in its current form". A quarter of the world's population is Muslim. Do they all practice Islam in the same form? Are they all even religious? And what do you mean by "Western society"? Does your idea of the West include all the non-white people who live in Western countries? If not, why not? And if so, then are you saying that Muslims who live in "the West" should give up their belief in Islam if they want to adopt "Western values". And just what are these Western values anyway? Is "the West" one big homogenous unified bloc, as you imagine Islam "in its current form" is?

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  2. What I meant by "Islam in its current form" is the oppressive, intolerant, 7th century form of Islam (see the 2nd paragraph). I realize that some Muslims are quite tolerant and such, and yes, I should have said that.

    By Western society, I meant this. Yes, my idea of the west includes "all the non-white people who live in Western countries." Muslims who live in the West should have to alter their beliefs so they are compatible with Western culture and law (i.e. no honor killings, genital mutilation, Sharia law, etc.). No, the West is not "one big homogenous unified bloc." Nor is Islam. Those two things do, however, have underlying values. For example, Western values include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. In contrast, Islamic values include no apostasy (I realize some Islamic nations allow for freedom of religion, to various degrees), no insulting Mohammed, Women must wear hajib (I also realize Women have varying levels of freedom in some Islamic nations), and no homosexuality. Many Muslims are also not very tolerant of Jews. Because these values are incompatible with Western values, they should not be practiced in the West.

    Yes, I oversimplified my description of Islam. I apologize for that.

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