On Thursday, 27th
February, a protest against racism and hate crime was held in Norway’s capitol,
Oslo. Even though there were, according to the Facebook event, between four and five hundred people present, even
though the protesters went from city’s central square to the house of parliament, even though a lot of good points were made by many panelists and
even though racism seems to be blooming in this northern country, there are no
reports on it in any of the popular newspapers today.
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| (facebook.com/pages/Antirasistisk-Senter/148172115254308) |
Why is that? Or even better – how is it possible? We’re talking
about the country were, 13 days ago a 53 year old man, Jacob Kuteh was attacked
outside his own home probably because he was an immigrant; the country where
the leader for Youth against racism (Ungdom mot rasisme) also was attacked outside
her home, by right extremists; the country where gay people are attacked or discriminated against almost
daily, especially if they aren't white; the country where the only terrorist attacks came from the right
extremist groups, but people still consider Muslims to be the terrorists… A
country that has experienced 22nd July 2011 and still hasn’t learned
anything.
If you ask people in Norway about their opinions on race and
racism, most of them will tell you that they either are anti-racists or that race doesn’t mean anything to them. I don’t think Norway’s population has
recently been reduced to 500 people, so where were these anti-racist,
open-minded people on Thursday? Probably thinking this protest is just for
those with other skin tones or cultural backgrounds…
But what about media, then? Even if there was only one person
standing in front of the Norwegian house of parliament, this topic is so
important and controversial in the society that it’s media’s obligation to
report on it.
Every fight for a better society deserves to be talked about and
made visible. Get a grip, journalists!
