A Dream from Disneyland

Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated the excellent op-ed “A Dream from Disneyland” that was mentioned in our earlier post about Hanne Herland. The translator includes this note:

After translating that article I did some research, hoping to find an English version of the earlier op-ed, but I wasn’t able to. Therefore I decided to translate it myself. It was actually published in Aftenposten in 2010. One of the authors, Christian Tybring Gjedde, was the target of numerous death threats after 22/7 and consequently he had to take time off work.

I also include this link to an English-language newspaper article about those threats, and a link to a YouTube clip in which Tybring Gjedde describes the reality for Norwegians in the eastern parts of Oslo. I believe GoV has featured that particular clip before.

The translated op-ed from 2010:

A Dream from Disneyland

By Kent Andersen, member of Oslo FrP, and Christian Tybring Gjedde, MP for the FrP.

Published: August 25, 2010

What’s so awful about Norwegian culture that it would prompt the Labour Party to replace it with Multiculturalism, which in essence is the absence of roots put into system, and which will eventually tear our country apart?

Fond of Norway

Those of us who are fond of Norway and value the sense of belonging and identity that this community represents react with wonder and dismay when we see how this community withers away and how it is undermined by an unsustainable immigration policy.

What was wrong?

We can see the changes taking place, and we’re constantly told that these changes are for the better. But something isn’t quite right, something is out of tune. And in light of this we would like to ask the postwar architect of Norway, the Labour Party (Ap) some questions:

What is it that is so awful about Norwegian culture that makes you so determined to replace it with what you call multiculturalism?

What is the goal of stabbing our own culture in the back?

And what country are you trying to emulate with this multicultural experiment?

Opened the borders

It was the Labour Party that opened up the borders, despite the existing immigration moratorium [the immigration moratorium was introduced in 1975 in an attempt to discourage more non-western immigration to Norway — translator]. It is the Labour Party that gives us thousands of new Norwegians from different cultures and non-cultures each year. It is the Labour Party that has created conditions compelling people with a Norwegian cultural background to flee many of the suburbs of Oslo, leaving behind Muslim enclaves where mono-culture, dogmatism and intolerance have found fertile ground.

The way our society has developed is not due to bad luck, trends, the FrP, racism, or sorcery. It is a result of deliberate political decision-making, or the lack thereof. But, what is the goal? Well, let us try to describe some possible social democratic goals.

A transformed Norway

Every year the Labour Party allow thousands of asylum seekers, fetched brides, families and a small number of refugees to settle in Norway. And when these representatives of different cultures, traditions and religions begin interacting they’ll start learning from each other and thus melt together in a unity of understanding, respect and dialogue.

A miniature United Nations?

And sim-sala-bim, Norway has been transformed from a mono-cultural potato-land (Norwegians are referred to as potatoes by our new countrymen) to a country where people from all cultures, traditions and religions live together in harmony and create a peaceful new culture that you call multiculturalism. Kind of like a miniature version of the United Nations. Have we understood you correctly? Is that the intention in your pleasant dream?

Explanation

Why all this focus on plans and goals? Well, because before one starts undertaking a process that will change our country forever, one should be able to explain the desired goal and present a plan outlining how this goal will be achieved. The plan should also be subjected to an assessment and evaluation process which will predict the outcome for the original culture.

And of course one should be able to give examples of other multicultural success stories. These plans should also be made public so the people, through democratic processes, can decide whether they agree with the Labour Party and whether they share the Labour Party’s eagerness to change and transform. But, unfortunately, we don’t believe that you have a plan. We don’t even believe that you understand what you are doing, and that’s the most frightening part of it.

The lamenters

Yes, we have heard the lamenting voices, indignantly claiming that Norway has always been a multicultural society and that this cultural invasion is nothing new, nor does it constitutes a threat. Cultural movements across the borders are enriching, they cry out from their towers of Babel. OK. But there is a big difference between shaving and cutting ones head off. There is a difference between a gradual and natural cultural development, and a quick politically driven cultural revolution. There’s a big difference between a group of ethnic Norwegians adopting a country music lifestyle and allowing 20,000 cowboys to settle in Norway and live in accordance with their culture, or isn’t there?

Naive cultural relativists

We’ve also noticed that naive and superficial cultural relativists label us as chauvinists, and that they through bullying and attrition tactics attempt to prove that Norwegian culture does not exist — and therefore it doesn’t matter that foreign cultures and non-cultures congregate in Norway, and hocus-pocus, form a new culture.

We find it contemptuous.

Our culture does exist

We were born in the early ‘60s and we were raised in a Norwegian culture, so don’t come here and tell us that our culture doesn’t exist. And even though people from Oslo, northerners, westerners [people from the west coast of Norway — translator], and people from “up country” and “down country” have been in conflict with each other for more than a thousand years, we have all defined ourselves as Norwegians. And those who have absolutely refused to be part of the team have been allowed to remain on the outside and call themselves Bergensere. All in a friendly way. [Bergenser is a nickname for people from Bergen — whom are truly passionate about their city. For them Bergen is the centre of the universe — translator].

May 17

Norwegian culture is the sum of everything we celebrate on May 17 [constitution day in Norway, equivalent of the 4th of July — translator]: A common nation, history, traditions, language, festivals, religious background, values, heritage, laws, money, etiquette, flags, environment, defence, national anthem, royals, national sport teams, and a thousand other things both large and small that make up a cultural community. This is Norwegian culture for all of you who feign ignorance. Norwegian culture in all its varieties — just like every other strong and proud culture have its variations. Done, discussed. And which leads us back to square one.

Not good enough

Why wasn’t this good enough for the Labour Party?

We know that we will never get a meaningful answer from them. Norwegian culture will continue to be marginalized, and eventually it will be transformed into symbols of an intolerant and exclusionary past.

But are we going to help the Labour Party replace Norwegian culture with “Multiculturalism”? Never! Are we going to contribute to the cultural betrayal? Not even if someone put up poster proclaiming “He who … will be shot!” [‘skutt blir den som’ was the message on posters plastered onto streetlamps by the Nazis during the occupation of Norway — translator] Will we ever feel “multicultural”? Not in a million years!

Dream from Disneyland

Because we don’t believe in Multiculturalism. We think it is a dream from Disneyland. It’s the absence of roots put into the system. Idiocy in the long term, and we fear that it will tear our country apart.