Islamophobia

Bigotry has once again proven its unique ability to unite communities and the world. After a small group of anti-Islam activists in Norway tried to desecrate a copy of the Holy Quran at a protest rally in the city of Kristiansand, citizens from all walks of life rallied around the local Muslim community to show that they stand “together, even if we are different”. Kristiansand Mayor Harald Furre said his city is “for everyone” and described the protest as a “planned provocation”. He also credited the police for subduing the violence which broke out between protesters and counter-protesters.

The protest by Stop Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) was led by prominent bigots Lars Thorsen and Arne Tumyr, the group’s current leader and founder, respectively. Thorsen was arrested after the protest, while no action was taken against the 86-year-old Tumyr — a former journalist who was kicked out of various political and intellectual organisations after making his bigoted views public some 20 years ago. So what motivated the protest? “This is a move by SIAN to provoke Muslims and get them to look dangerous and violent,” Tore Bjørgo, a professor at the University of Oslo who specialises in extremism, told Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, adding that “Some people fall for that.”

A Norwegian police commissioner has already said that allowing the rally was about allowing free speech, but the hate speech and the blasphemous act could lead to criminal charges against the organisers. In September, PM Imran Khan had made a plea to world leaders at the UN to end Islamophobia, noting that freedom of speech should not be used to insult Muslim religious sentiment. The commissioner’s words echo that.

Pakistan and Turkey have formally condemned the act, with Pakistan announcing on Sunday that it would raise the matter at the international forums by submitting resolutions to the OIC and the EU. But several Muslim states have remained silent. There are arguments for both approaches — condemn an act to avoid it being repeated, or ignore these unknown attention-seeking bigots so that they fade away. Now that a course of action has been chosen, we can only hope that the people express their outrage thoughtfully, rather than violently.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2019.

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