The annoying difference : the emergence of Danish neonationalism, neoracism, and populism in the post-1989 world

324 Pages·2011·3.12 MB·English

by  Peter Hervik

THE ANNOYING DIFFERENCE

Th e Annoying Diff erence
Th e Emergence of Danish Neonationalism,
Neoracism, and Populism
in the Post-1989 World
(cid:1) (cid:2)
PETER HERVIK

Berghahn Books
NEW YORK • OXFORD
First published in 2011 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
©2011 Peter Hervik
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hervik, Peter, 1956-
Th e annoying diff erence : the emergence of Danish neonationalism, neoracism, and
populism in the post-1989 world / Peter Hervik.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-85745-100-2 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Muslims—Denmark. 2. Denmark—Ethnic relations. 3. Denmark—Politics and
government—21st century. 4. Nationalism—Denmark. 5. Islamophobia—Denmark.
6. Freedom of the press—Denmark. I. Title.
BP65.D4H47 2011
305.8009489—dc22
2010049894

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Printed in the United States on acid-free paper.
ISBN: 978-0-85745-100-2 Hardback
(cid:1)
Contents
List of Tables and Figures vii
List of Acronyms ix
Preface x
Introduction 1
Part I. Methodological Framework and Historical Context
 
Th e Emergence of Neonationalism and Neoracism
in the Post-1989 World 21
Part II. Th e Campaign(s) of 1997
 
A Newspaper Campaign Unlike Any Other 55
 
Th e End of Tolerance? 73
 

Th e Danish Cultural World of Unbridgeable Diff erences 91
Part III. Th e Mona Sheikh Story of 2001
 
Th e Mona Sheikh Story, 2001 113
 
Mediated Muslims: Jyllands-Posten’s Coverage
of Islam, 2001 133
 
Th e Response from Muslim Readers and Viewers 149
vi t Contents
Part IV. Th e Muhammad Cartoon Crisis
 
Th e Original Spin: Freedom of Speech as Danish
News Management 177
 
A Political Struggle in the Field of Journalism 197
 
Th e Narrative of “Incompatibility” and the Politics
of Negative Dialogues in the Danish Cartoon Aff air 231
 
“We Have to Explain Why We Exist” 242
Conclusion 269
Notes 282
References 287
Index 305
(cid:1)
Tables and Figures
TABLES
1. Immigrants and descendants according to country of origin 24
2. Muslims in Denmark according to nationality in 2006 110
3. Editorials, columns, feature articles, and op-eds by newspaper 200
FIGURES
1. Th e basic circuit of cultural production 14
2. Immigrants and descendants in Denmark by 1 January
1983–2005 23
3. Percentage of Western and non-Western immigrants and
descendants of total population by 1 January 1983–2005 23
4. Lars Løkke Rasmussen among Mujahedin guerrilla leaders, 1988 30
5. Cas Mudde’s far right populism triangle 46
6. Basic far right wing populism 47
7. Contours of far right populism in the two Maastricht referenda,

1992 and 1993 47
8. Far right populist strategy of the Progress Party
(Fremskridtspartiet) and later the Danish People’s Party
(Dansk Folkeparti) 47
9. Danish newspapers’ circulation 1997, 2001, 2006, and 2009 56
10. “Ask the Danes”: “Yes” or “No” to immigrants (Ekstra Bladet
22 April 1997) 57
11. E kstra Bladet’s story about Ali from Somalia (Ekstra Bladet
9 May 1997) 58
viii t Tables and Figures
12. Danish political parties in the Parliament (Folketinget), 1997,
2001, 2005, 2007 61
13. Th e number of Somali refugees in Denmark in the 1990s 65
14. P olitiken’s placard, 13 March 1997 80
15. Danish and non-Danish attributes found in interviews 97
16. Attributes of guests as used by the host 103
17. Th e narrativizing sequence of the fi gured world of host-guest
relations 104
18. Th e development of far right populism 111
19. “Multi-Denmark,” Jyllands-Posten, 29 August 1999 135
20. “Th e New Denmark,” Jyllands-Posten, 15 July 2001 137
21. Kurt Westergaard’s drawing of Babar Baig 146
22. Front page of Jyllands-Posten, 11 September 2005 174
23a. Kurt Westergaard’s illustration in Jyllands-Posten, 12 April
1997: “Th eocracy in Iran as guilty of state terrorism.” 182
23b. Kurt Westergaard’s illustration in Jyllands-Posten, 27 August
2005 182
24. Number of sold and read copies of newspapers during the peak
of the Muhammad cartoon confl ict 200
25. Th e three frames—a struggle of news and views 217
(cid:1)
Acronyms
CHR: Danish Centre for Human Rights
DCISM: Danish Centre for International Studies and Human Rights
DMGT: Coalition of Muslim Immigrant Associations (Turkey)
ECRI: European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
EEC: European Economic Community
EUMC: European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia
IMER: International Migration and Ethnic Relations
ISESCO: Islamic Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization
MIM: Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement
NPR: National Public Radio
OIC: Organization of the Islamic Conference
(cid:1)
Preface
(cid:2)
Th e politicizing of the Danish media and the emergence of neonation-
alism have polarized Danish society over the last couple of decades.
In Parliament, the veil is compared to the swastika; Muslims in Denmark are
compared to tumors in need of radiation; and Islam is called a plague that
must be fought like Nazism. Th ese three radical comments were made by
members of Parliament. Th ere seems to be no limit to what can be said in the
Danish public, or what the majority allows itself to say about the country’s
ethnic minorities including Muslims. Th e stigmatization, marginalization,
and criminalization of Denmark’s ethnic minorities and the discrimination
against them disturb me and have motivated me to write this book.
I have spent much of my professional research time studying Denmark’s
drastic transformation, trying to understand the underlying mechanisms of
radically anti-Muslim commentary and the racialized belief system that such
speech reveals. In research projects since the mid 1990s, I have experienced
and analyzed the incremental change in how ethnic minorities were dealt
with in the media, in policy, and in popular culture from various perspec-
tives. Th is book will seek to bring these projects together in order to provide
background for understanding the Muhammad cartoon crisis of 2005–2006.
Th e cartoon crisis occurred as a logical extension of the polarization of Dan-
ish society but reached its global peak in February 2006, with violent re-
actions triggered by high-profi le news of the publication of those Danish

cartoons.
Th e development of Danish neonationalism has had a signifi cant impact
on my own research. When the new right-wing Danish government coali-
tion of Denmark’s Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Conservative People’s
Party (Det Konservative Folkeparti) came into power in November 2001,
it chained itself to the far right wing, the Danish People’s Party (Dansk
Folkeparti), to the extent that the three groups’ attitudes and politics to-
ward the country’s immigrants and refugees seemed indistinguishable. Th e
three parties agreed to close a number of “useless” committees and institu-
tions that were run, they argued, by the elite “judges of taste” (smagsdom-
mere). I was working for one of these targeted institutions, the Board for
Ethnic Equality (Nævnet for Etnisk Ligestilling), in Copenhagen. According