Most parts of the Swedish left have met the controversy around the racist caricatures of the prophet Mohammed with caution. In the Swedish CWI weekly, the Danish left is, amongst other things, accused of \u201cacting as an advisor for the Danish government\u201d. That is a critique one can easily agree with, and a brief look at the websites of Socialistiskt Folkeparti and Enhedslisten gives an even worse impression than the wording of that article.<\/p>\n
Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) could be described as a Danish version of the post-Stalinist Swedish Left Party. Villy S\u00f8vndal, the party chairman, really went out of his way to help his \u201cown\u201d government out of the mess it has found itself in. Among other things, he has made an appearance on Al-Jazeera. For six minutes he did his part to \u201ccalm down the conflict\u201d. He emphasised that the Danish government \u201chad now done everything possible to solve the crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n
Not a word to Arabic viewers about the occupation of Iraq, in which Danish troops play an active part! Instead SF goes for suggestions along the lines of \u201cinviting a delegation from the Middle East\u201d, so they can see how nice everything really is in Denmark. S\u00f8vndal originally suggested that a Danish delegation could go the other way, but, after a \u201cno\u201d from the government, he\u2019s now modified the suggestion. He\u2019s hoping for a \u201cconstructive dialogue with politicians from the Middle East\u201d. One can only guess what kind of dictators or hirelings he\u2019s got in mind. Maybe the Quisling regime of Iraq or the clerical dictatorship of Iran?<\/p>\n
S\u00f8vndal is indeed a man of peace and calm, and angrily accuses Pia Kj\u00e6rsgaard, leader of the racist Dansk Folkeparti, for \u201cpouring gasoline on the fire\u201d, which harms \u201cDenmark\u201d. \u201cIn this situation,\u201d he asks rhetorically, \u201cone could perhaps expect a bit of wise caution even from Dansk Folkeparti?\u201d<\/p>\n
S\u00f8vndal says that he personally thinks that the caricatures should not have been published. But he is willing to participate in the Danish truce:<\/p>\n
\u201cI support the statement from the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Al Arabiya that the Danish people wish to live in peace and respect with our Muslim citizens and neighbours.\u201d For those who thought that the main problem is imperialist policy in the Middle East and the racism at home, S\u00f8vndal gives an explanation which is typical for the right wing of the labour movement:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe enemy is injustice, discrimination and lack of respect for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Different petitions have also been launched within the Danish left, among others a call for \u201canother Denmark\u201d. It is filled with meaningless and empty phrases: not contain a single word on the ravages of imperialism in the Middle East, and no demands for decisive action against racism.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most tragic thing about the Danish left is that not even Enhedslisten, which the Danish Fourth International supporters are a part of, manages to raise itself above the bourgeois perspective. One is more than surprised when reading the texts on the Enhedslisten website, bearing in mind that this is a party, which is seen as being on the far left in a country with a right wing government, in close co-operation with a racist party, and taking part in the military occupation of Iraq.<\/p>\n
On 3rd December, the party board stated that \u201cEnhedslisten fully recognises Jyllands-Postens right to publish these cartoons in the name of free speech.\u201d Only when the protests started was the question of freedom of speech pushed to the back.<\/p>\n
On 30th January, Frank Aaen, on behalf of the party\u2019s parliamentary group, suggested to the Danish prime minister Fogh Rasmussen, a \u201creconciliation conference\u201d to cure the \u201cpoor debating climate\u201d, which is developing in Denmark. He demands the government \u201cwork against the tendencies present in Denmark that demonise parts of the population and certain religions\u201d.<\/p>\n
But isn\u2019t that precisely the government, which allows Kj\u00e6rsgaard\u2019s racist party to influence its policies? Isn\u2019t that precisely the government, whose leading politicians bawl about Muslims?<\/p>\n
One week later Aaen has polished his suggestion for a \u201creconciliation conference\u201d further: \u201cWhat the government has done in the last couple of days is clearly not enough\u2026 the cartoons have become a symbol of how many Muslims feel they are being tramped upon.\u201d But instead of calling for struggle against the bourgeois government which is in the forefront of racism and attacks on the living conditions of the working class, Aaen suggests a \u201creconciliation conference\u201d which should be led by a \u201cneutral person\u201d, such as Desmond Tutu or Kofi Anan!<\/p>\n
One could at least hope that Enhedslisten would demand the immediate withdrawal of all Danish troops from Iraq. But they don\u2019t even manage to do that. Here and there the war is deemed illegal, but who cares about that? For Enhedslisten, the goal of overthrowing the bourgeoisie is non-existent. The real question is: How long will the Danish members of the Fourth International remain in this muddle of bourgeois reformism and utopian petit-bourgeois liberalism.<\/p>\n
More repression in Denmark<\/p>\n
Seven members of Venstresocialisterna, the Left Socialists, in Denmark, have been arrested charged with \u201csupporting terrorist organisations\u201d. The mentioned \u201cterrorist organisations\u201d are the FARC guerrilla in Colombia and the Palestinian PFLP. These organisations, with all their flaws, still carry out a necessary and progressive struggle against the Colombian military and the paramilitaries armed by it, and the Israeli occupation forces respectively. It is each and every socialist\u2019s duty to support them in this struggle – while we still criticise them for their shortcomings.<\/p>\n
The same Danish government which think it has the right to decide who are terrorists directly supports the bloody, imperialist occupation of Iraq, and can only rule thanks to support from the racist Dansk Folkeparti. Again it is proved that democracy is completely arbitrary for us as long as capitalism lasts and as long as the capitalist regimes have terrorist laws to support them.<\/p>\n
Demand the immediate release of all the accused!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Most parts of the Swedish left have met the controversy around the racist caricatures of the prophet Mohammed with caution. In the Swedish CWI weekly, the Danish left is, amongst other things, accused of \u201cacting as an advisor for the Danish government\u201d. That is a critique one can easily agree with, and a brief look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7724,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[104],"class_list":["post-4878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7724"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fifthinternational.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}