CURRENT THEMES IN IMER RESEARCH 13 MIM CURRENT THEMES IN IMER RESEARCH is a publication series that presents current research in the multidisciplinary field CURRENT THEMES of International Migration and Ethnic Relations. Articles are published in Swedish and English. They are available in print and online (www.mah.se/muep). IN IMER RESEARCH NUMBER 13 THE DANISH MUHAMMAD CARTooN CoNfLICT Peter Hervik MALMÖ 2012 MALMÖ 2012 MALMÖ UNIVERSITY SE-205 06 Malmö Sweden tel: +46 46 665 70 00 www.mah.se CURRENT THEMES IN IMER RESEARCH NUMBER 13 The Danish Muhammad Cartoon Conflict Peter Hervik PETER HERVIK, PhD in anthropology and Professor in Migration studies Center for the Study of Migration and Diversity (CoMID) Department for Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University [email protected] CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 7 The study of political populism: new questions to be answered ....8 What do we know so far? ......................................................8 From France to Denmark and Norway: the development of populist parties ................................................................11 Populist parties of the 21st century: radical right-wing populism ...12 Current Themes in IMER Research Number 13 THE IDEOLOGY OF RRP-PARTIES: A COMBINATION OF ANTI-PLURALISM, VALUE CONSERVATISM AND POPULISM ..... 18 editorial board Björn Fryklund, Maja Povrzanovi ´c Frykman, Pieter Bevelander, The critique of the development of the multicultural society: Christian Fernández och Anders Hellström editor-in-chief Björn Fryklund anti-pluralist segments...........................................................18 published by Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversityand Welfare (MIM), The view of the nation: anti-pluralist segments .....................19 Malmö University, 205 06 Malmö, Sweden, www.mah.se/mim The elite, immigrants and the anti-establishment strategy ......20 © Malmö University & the author 2012 THE ESTABLISHMENT VS. RRP-PARTIES: Printed in Sweden THE STRATEGIC APPROACH ................................................ 23 Holmbergs, Malmö 2012 New theories, new results, new knowledge .............................25 ISSN 1652-4616 / ISBN 978-91-7104-438-9 Understanding political strategies from a Online publication, www.mah.se/muep theoretical perspective .....................................................26 THE CASE OF SWEDEN: STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH THE SWEDEN DEMOCRATS ....................................... 37 From extreme to mainstream? The development of the Sweden Democrats .........................................................37 Tendencies towards divergence and convergence: the case of Sweden .........................................................38 AN EXTENDED UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRATEGIC APPROACHES TOWARDS RRP-PARTIES: CONCLUDING REMARKS ................................................... 43 The presence of radical right-wing populism: a democratic or strategic dilemma? .......................................46 REFERENCES ...................................................................... 48 SUMMARY ......................................................................... 56 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ......................................................... 60 CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................... 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 8 CHAPTER1. THE CARTOON CRISIS AND THE RE-POLITICALIZATION OF THE DANISH NEWS MEDIA ........... 15 Denmark becomes unified ....................................................17 (Re)Politicizing the media ......................................................19 Amin - Jyllands-Posten’s Story ................................................21 The Mona Sheikh story of 2001 and Jyllands-Posten’s editorials ... 23 Cultural war of values ..........................................................27 Incompatible cultural differences ...........................................29 Kurt Westergaard’s “terrorist” drawings .................................32 Conclusion ..........................................................................35 CHAPTER 2. A STRUGGLE OF NEWS AND VIEWS: ENTRY-POINTS TO JYLLANDS-POSTEN’S CARTOON STORY ... 37 The beginning of the cartoon story ........................................41 Jyllands-Posten’s project ........................................................43 Three Danish Frames of Interpretation .....................................46 Blaming the imams ...............................................................52 The Hostile Danish Debate on Minorities .................................58 Conclusion ..........................................................................63 CHAPTER 3. THE DANISH CARTOON CRISIS AND THE DISCOURSE OF ETHNIC IDENTITY CONFLICT ................ 66 The ambivalent use of the terms “ethnic” and “ethnicity” ...........67 The identity turn ...................................................................69 The analysis of “ethnic” conflict ............................................70 Ethnic groups as “ethnicized” minorities .................................73 Muhammad cartoon conflict of 2005/6 as an “ethnic” conflict ...77 Media consumers’ response ..................................................79 Conclusion ..........................................................................83 CHAPTER 4. DIALOGICAL OPPOSITION IN THE DANISH GOVERNMENT’S HANDLING OF THE MUHAMMAD CARTOON CONFLICT ........................................................ 84 Mocking and the refusal of dialogue ......................................85 Origins of Incompatibility......................................................86 Vicarious Dialogue in Egypt .................................................89 Egyptian media coverage .....................................................91 Staged Dialogue..................................................................95 Conclusion ..........................................................................97 EPILOGUE ........................................................................ 101 CHRONOLOGY OF MAIN EVENTS .................................... 107 SUMMARY ....................................................................... 108 REFERENCES CITED .......................................................... 111 Other Newspapers and news agencies ................................127 ENDNOTES ..................................................................... 128 4 ABSTRACT The “Muhammad crisis,” the “Muhammad Cartoon Crisis,” or “The Jyllands-Posten Crisis” are three different headings used for the global, violent reactions that broke out in early 2006. The cartoon crisis was triggered by the publication of 12 cartoons in the largest Danish daily newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005 and the Danish governments refusal to meet with 11 concerned ambas- sadors. However, Jyllands-Posten’s record on covering Islam; the ever growing restrictive identity politics and migration policies and the popular association of Islam with terrorism made it predictable that something drastic would eventually happen, although neither the form of the counter-reaction or the stubborn anti-Islamic forces were unknown. This collection of chapters seeks to fill out some of the most glaring holes in the media coverage and academic treatment of the Muhammad cartoon story. It will do so by situating the conflict more firmly in its proper socio-historical context by drawing on the author’s basic research on the Danish news media’s coverage of ethnic and religious minorities since the mid 1990s. The author uses thick contex- tualization to analyze this very current theme in IMER studies, which has consequences for most immigrants of non-Western countries to the Nordic countries. Keywords: Muhammad Cartoons, Jyllands-Posten, ethnic conflict, freedom of speech, spin communication. BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: Peter Hervik, PhD in anthropology, docent in IMER, Professor in Migration studies at the Centre for the Study of Migration and Diversity (CoMID), Department of Culture and Global Studies, at Aalborg University, Denmark. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several institutions and individuals have contributed economically and academically to the preparation of this manuscript. My special thanks go to the remarkable Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of the Social Sciences in Tokyo for giving me the unique opportunity to finish the manuscript while serving as a visiting professor. Grants from the Malmö Institute for Studies of Migration, Diversity and Welfare (MIM) and Malmö University College made it possible to become a visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the spring of 2008. At MIM the bookwork benefitted from comments at seminars and in daily exchanges. The Helsingin Sanomat Research Foundation and Professor Risto Kunelius provided a unique oppor- tunity to participate in a research project on the global media coverage of the Muhammad cartoon conflict. Finally, my employer since April 2010, Aalborg University has provided me with an academic home, where I could finish the manuscript. My special thanks goes to the great colleagues and friends at CoMID (The Center for the Study of Migration and Diversity). A huge acknowledgement goes to these economic