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Rune Engelbreth Larsen
How the Danish People's Party Challenges the Open and Inclusive Society
In several parliamentary debates, newspaper-campaigns, political speeches, and interviews the Danish People's Party and the radical right in general have made it their trademark to stigmatize ethnic and religious minorities, often by blatant exaggerations and accusations based on prejudices and stereotypes. Misrepresenting facts about immigrants and their cultural heritage while critisizing human rights used to be the game of extremists with little or no significance in public debate, but have gradually become an increasingly accepted and influential part of Danish politics through the influence of the Danish People's Party ...
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Rune Engelbreth Larsen
The Cartoon Crisis - how and why it all began
Five years ago, on September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, some of which were extremely demonizing in their outspoken anti-Muslim symbolism. Four months later violent protests erupted outside Danish embassies in some Muslim countries, and the terror threat against Denmark increased dramatically. Yet what happened during those four months, and could the escalation of the crisis have been prevented? Was it simply about freedom of speech and a "clash of civilizations" or were other agendas in play? Moreover, why did it happen in Denmark of all places?
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Jacob Holdt and Rune Engelbreth Larsen
An Open Letter to Barack Obama: On Danish Racism
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http://www.panhumanism.com/letter_to_obama.php
Dear Mr. President!
We respectfully request a few moments of your precious time for an important message. Thank you!
In the spirit of optimism, and the courage to hope for real change which has been kindled throughout the world by the historic election in the United States, we hope to bring to your personal attention, and to the awareness of the American public the distressing state of affairs in our own highly privileged corner of the world.
We wish to express our deep concern at the incremental rise of racism and the use of racist propaganda in mainstream Danish politics over the past decade.
Ethnic and religious minorities are demonized and marginalized. Discrimination and hate-filled rhetoric reminiscent of anti-Semitic propaganda of the 1930's has become an accepted part of the Danish political debate ...>> Full text >>
Rune Engelbreth Larsen
The Terror Myth
After the collapse of the East Block and the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, terrorism has truly replaced communism as the West's favorite "threat". Hardly a week passes without we hear terrorism vividly depicted as a threat against world peace, even though the true proportions and impact of global terrorism cannot even begin to be compared to the security risks that characterized the Cold War.
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