dawn.com
Norwegian court allows 'Europeans only' lettings
By Owen Bowcott
Headings - my input
DIPY: clean toilets, but U can't use it. Are U not glad that your lot is better in India than the lots of Bosnia, Iraq and Kosovor immigrants to Norway
BJP, VHP RSS COME OUT SMELLING LIKE ROSES
Asians Stay OUT
Asian boy DROWNS after a chase with a "KILL the NIGGER" taunt
Next Time, U want the British back in INDIA, See the MOVIE " MY SON THE FANATIC"- the life and times of a pakistani in GREAT BRITAIN, no longer great
OSLO: Private landlords can discriminate openly on racist grounds and advertise their lettings for "Europeans only" under a judgment that has exposed the tension produced in Norway by immigration and the steady rise of the far right.
The supreme court ruling has blown a hole through the government's anti-discrimination legislation, and is a severe embarrassment to an affluent, Scandinavian country belatedly coming to terms with itself as a multicultural society.
But it has not come in isolation: the hard-right Progress party has become the third largest in the country since local elections this month. It provides a public platform for politicians seeking to blame asylum-seekers for crime.
With a population of 4.4 million, Norway is home to almost 250,000 first and second generation immigrants, according to official figures. Many are foreign workers who
stayed on; large numbers are political refugees from countries such as Chile, Vietnam,
Bosnia and Iraq. This spring sanctuary was offered to 6,000 Kosovars.
For centuries the country's only ethnic minority was the native Sami population, who
lived off reindeer herds on the edge of the Arctic Circle.
Having failed to acquire any overseas possessions since the Viking era, Norway
remained a uniformly Nordic, Christian society until the late 60s.
But in the latest elections nearly one in four of those entitled to vote for the first time in
Oslo had a foreign background. As Norway's economy booms - it is the world's
second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and has unemployment of merely 2.9% -
competition for housing is exacerbating racial tensions.
Until this summer immigrant groups believed they were protected by paragraph 349a of
the penal code, which outlaws discrimination on the grounds of colour, ethnic origin or
sexual orientation. The code was aimed primarily at preventing discrimination in shops
and businesses.
Several years ago the Institution Against Public Discrimination (OMOD) in Oslo, which
had been pressing the police to act in race cases, began investigating an
accommodation agency, Eindoms Service, which allowed private customers to
advertise apartments with terms such ah as "Norwegians only", "No foreigners", or
"Europeans only".
But when the case, finally taken up by a public prosecutor, reached the supreme court
in late August the judge ruled that paragraph 349a covered businesses only, not private
individuals.
BJP, VHP RSS COME SMELLING LIKE ROSES
Heidi Hansen, the owner of Eindoms Service, confirmed on Wednesday that some
clients had asked for "Europeans only". She said that landlords "want people who have
some sort of idea of Norwegian culture and Norwegian way of living".
"The government has said it will change the law, but it is a scandal which is continuing,"
said Jesper Hansen of OMOD. Its director, Akhenaton de Leon, added: "Everyone
thinks Norway is a paradise until you start talking about the facts."
Asians Stay OUT
There have been numerous cases of black and Asian youths being refused admission to
nightclubs. In one incident a young man repeatedly barred returned with a gun and shot
a doorman.
The authorities have failed to act in many other race incidents, said Babou Sarr, born in
the Gambia but now running Non-Fighting Generation, a group dedicated to preventing
racial violence.
Asian boy DROWNS after a chase with a KILL the NIGGER taunt
"There was an adopted Asian boy, for example, who was chased by a gang earlier this
year shouting 'Kill the nigger' in a small town on the west coast. The boy fell into the
river and drowned."
But the most disturbing development for immigrants has been the rise of the Progress
party. In the run-up to the Sept 13 local elections two members of the party, Vidar
Kleppe and Oeystein Hedstoem, accused immigrants of destroying Norwegian society
with crime and drugs.
To judge from the neat row of pine cabins used as party stalls along Oslo's Karl Johans
Gate before the elections, the orderly atmosphere of Nordic politics was unperturbed.
In the Progress cabin, however, Ole Paulsen, a constituency secretary and former
journalist, relished his party's controversial policies.
"We have taken a stand on immigration," he said. "It's necessary to discuss immigration
issues. We are a small nation of 4 million, and outside Norway there are hundreds of
millions who want to come here. In Britain, you had a commonwealth and people from
there had easier access. Our commonwealth ended with the Vikings in 1100.
"We are for a limited, strict regulation of immigration into Norway. We don't want to
take more [refugees] than we need under international regulations. It's too easy to
become a Norwegian citizen. There should be requirements, they should be able to
speak Norwegian and sign a declaration that they will obey the Norwegian
constitution."
Britt Hildeng, an MP and leader of the Labour party in Oslo, blamed Progress for
exploiting race to advance its rightwing agenda: Labour's vote dropped sharply to
28.2% in the election.
The Progress party "has no understanding of the welfare state", she said. "In Norway
there are great feelings of loyalty to a large, official state sector. Racism is a
consequence of their politics but they will not be able to ride on two horses.
"All the parties and the press, - apart from the Progress party - have spoken out about
humanity and human rights. In the east of Oslo there are schools where children speak
up to 50 different languages and only 10% of the pupils are white. We are now a
multicultural society."-Dawn/The Guardian News Service.
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