Most Danes remember it. Don't have a night out in another town than the one you are living in unless it is a town located less than than 20 kilometers from where you live. If you choose to do it anyway remember that you are as much a stranger as if you were from the other side of the world.
One of the biggest reality stars in Denmark Susan K made such a decision where she entered a club marked by a very hostile climate against strangers and very soon she found herself set up by the locals. She is now in jail until January 5, 2010 and the charges based on consequences of local xenophobia could mean 60 days in jail. Because she is the person coming from out of town it is very unlikely that she will be cleared of the charges.
The TV-station she currently has a job for acknowledge that she was more victim than perpetrator and have stalled shooting of a show she is part of. In fact the jail sentence can boost her career so she can continue to remain the rolemodel she has been for our youth so far.
But the case show that even Danes have to remain faithful to their local community when it comes to even such a simple thing like socializing in town.
Second it questions the TV-station's precautions when it comes to secure their stars. Surely she should have been warned against partying in an outside town or at least have been equipped with some bodyguards, so she could have avoided the trap the local set up for her. It is old news that a person from another city can be met with a generally evil atmosphere like Susan K saw at Social club in Aarhus.
If we take a case where a person from Aarhus visit Copenhagen, we could observe exactly the same pattern. Stig Tøfting - a soccer player was celebrating the result together with the rest of our national soccer team after the World Championship in 2002. The same hostile environment met him and he was also tricked into defending himself only to learn that the Danish laws for self-defense is basically non-existing. The conviction back then where he was sentenced to 4 month should be a stern warning that taking a night out in a town other than your own is unacceptable. Otherwise you risk falling into a trap.
It is not than uncommon that you are attacked when you are a celebrity like Susan K. In fact just a couple of weeks before the incident she herself was knocked down back in Copenhagen without any kind of warning simply due to her celebrity status. Denmark is the home for the Jante Law. Second based on the origin of the persons who assaulted her, her presence was a kind of provocation because women in their culture is supposed to remain at home leaving only men partying out in town. Maybe this unprovoked assault made her have her guards up when entering the hostile place in Aarhus. None know and because the court where the trial is located is away ground. she cannot expect to be cleared of the charges regardless of the testimonies.
She made a mistake by coming to Aarhus and choosing this nightclub to party in. The television company however made the biggest mistake by poor counseling and missing out on giving her a bodyguard.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Xenophobia at COP15
Xenophobia against the Danish population is now hitting us inside our own country.
As some might have noticed Copenhagen host the United Nations Climate Council named COP15.
Do we receive any gratitude for hosting this event?
No, we have been using years to prepare it. We had the end document ready to be signed. We made folders in advance to inform people what kind of rules we have in our society. A lot of blogs warned violent protesters from entering Denmark as we as early as May 5, 1872 invented a method to handle violent protesters. This day which we celebrate every year as very important in our culture gave the authorities the solution to handle large out of control mobs.
We even built a new internment based on experiences from the Boer war to house a large number of detainees. Search for “Climate prison” for more information.
Some might think that pre-emptive arrests are a bad thing but in Denmark it has been used for a number of years against football fans who comes from lower social classes and none in general cares about.
Some consultants in personal services even gave their services for free.
But it didn’t prepare us for the criticism from both participants in the meetings and from various common visitors outside.
Why complain about being arrested when we have warned them in advance that they would enter a country which is a state of emergency? Next they weren’t killed like they would have been in most of their native countries if they had tried to do the same peaceful march.
Some might think of Denmark in another way but the damage just by knowing how other nations live has changed the basic in our culture. Police and government find the taste of power good and they want more. That is normal. It is not a ground for any criticism against us Danes. How is your own government doing in that retrospect?
But not only the protesters outside are angry. Sudden some self-proclaimed group called G-77 makes a lot of noise for nothing. Like small children they speak up when they have nothing to say. They should sit down in silence while the adults speak.
Denmark is a proud nation. We have not any past as major power in Africa. We don’t owe them anything due to past behaviors. In fact they live of our aid instead of trying to make a living themselves. Take a country like Zimbabwe. A great hero named Mugabe singlehanded removed Apartheid. While it meant better times for his personal mob of war veterans it was harder to attract investors and to secure Mugabe’s participation at COP15, the high schools students in Denmark did a lot of community work to raise money for the worn down schools in Zimbabwe so Mugabe could show the world that the end of Apartheid was not equal with a total destruction of this country. He entered Denmark today (December 15) so he can lead the African countries.
The disturbance made by protesters outside and inside the conference has however resulted in an increase in security. The secret police arrested some of the participants in the conference today. Their fate will soon be forgotten and I hope that the other protester peaceful or not will understand the message send by these arrests. No other needs to disappear.
As a Dane I am kind of angry about the outcome and criticism. I believe that it is an act of xenophobia. What kind of country wouldn’t turn to mass arrests if they should host a similar conference?
There are many times where I wish that we didn’t volunteer to host this conference in the first place.
As some might have noticed Copenhagen host the United Nations Climate Council named COP15.
Do we receive any gratitude for hosting this event?
No, we have been using years to prepare it. We had the end document ready to be signed. We made folders in advance to inform people what kind of rules we have in our society. A lot of blogs warned violent protesters from entering Denmark as we as early as May 5, 1872 invented a method to handle violent protesters. This day which we celebrate every year as very important in our culture gave the authorities the solution to handle large out of control mobs.
We even built a new internment based on experiences from the Boer war to house a large number of detainees. Search for “Climate prison” for more information.
Some might think that pre-emptive arrests are a bad thing but in Denmark it has been used for a number of years against football fans who comes from lower social classes and none in general cares about.
Some consultants in personal services even gave their services for free.
But it didn’t prepare us for the criticism from both participants in the meetings and from various common visitors outside.
Why complain about being arrested when we have warned them in advance that they would enter a country which is a state of emergency? Next they weren’t killed like they would have been in most of their native countries if they had tried to do the same peaceful march.
Some might think of Denmark in another way but the damage just by knowing how other nations live has changed the basic in our culture. Police and government find the taste of power good and they want more. That is normal. It is not a ground for any criticism against us Danes. How is your own government doing in that retrospect?
But not only the protesters outside are angry. Sudden some self-proclaimed group called G-77 makes a lot of noise for nothing. Like small children they speak up when they have nothing to say. They should sit down in silence while the adults speak.
Denmark is a proud nation. We have not any past as major power in Africa. We don’t owe them anything due to past behaviors. In fact they live of our aid instead of trying to make a living themselves. Take a country like Zimbabwe. A great hero named Mugabe singlehanded removed Apartheid. While it meant better times for his personal mob of war veterans it was harder to attract investors and to secure Mugabe’s participation at COP15, the high schools students in Denmark did a lot of community work to raise money for the worn down schools in Zimbabwe so Mugabe could show the world that the end of Apartheid was not equal with a total destruction of this country. He entered Denmark today (December 15) so he can lead the African countries.
The disturbance made by protesters outside and inside the conference has however resulted in an increase in security. The secret police arrested some of the participants in the conference today. Their fate will soon be forgotten and I hope that the other protester peaceful or not will understand the message send by these arrests. No other needs to disappear.
As a Dane I am kind of angry about the outcome and criticism. I believe that it is an act of xenophobia. What kind of country wouldn’t turn to mass arrests if they should host a similar conference?
There are many times where I wish that we didn’t volunteer to host this conference in the first place.
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