Saturday 22 August 2009

In the back of the buss.


White norwegians moving their children to "white" schools. They claim it's not racism. They only want their children to have white norwegian friends, to have white children they can identify with, children who speak the same language they do. They want their children to learn norwegian culture. And they even admit to contributing to segregation, but like they say in their own words: " to those of you who criticize me, you can take my place" And I would in a heartbeat If I had kids. Norwegian culture... It's a term that has several layers. There is an ongoing debate over the meaning and content of norwegian culture, and the only conclusion to me is that the term itself is vague and undefineable, at least in a traditional sense. And it is in this traditional sense these ethnic norwegians think. They have an archaic view on norwegian culture. Clinging to the 1950's if you will. And herein lies the racism. Norway is a multi cultural country, and has been so for about 45 years. ( Not counting the Sami people, Gypsies [lack of a better term]and The Fins) Mela is norwegian culture now, muslim mosques are norwegian culture, all the world religions are practised in norway. You can find a restaurant from every corner of the world here in Oslo, even norwegian restaurants, serving old style norwegian food. STILL these parents cling onto the past due to their fear. So now we have "white" schools and "mixed schools" Is there another word for that besides segregation? No. Is there another word for parents who take their children out of mixed schools and place them in white schools than rascism? No. I really don't give a shit about all the fluff they wrap around their opinions, all their fancy words and so called "honesty" It's racism, and there is no other word for it. This country is in a state of fear, a fear created by media and the extreme right. There was a shooting next to my work place, and the first thing my mom ask me was : "was he black?" No mom he was not black. There was a stabbing outside my block and everyone assumes the stabber was black. There is a head line conserning a rape, and everone assumes the assailant to be black. The mentality these people have makes me seriously ill, and I fear the next level of bigotry.

And then we have the 3. and 4. generation of imigrants who ALSO move their kids to more white schools... Because they are so pressed on the matter of "integration" they are willing to sacrefice their own culture to become more "norwegian". It's so important for them to be seen as some of the few imigrants who are accepted. What ever happened to the Salad Bowl? I like salad, it makes my life more interesting. The illusory melting pot of olden days is not just out dated, it's a very naive and assimilst way of thinking. What's so horribly wrong with being multi cultured? Why can't we have both? Why can't ethnicity be a thing of worth and pride? Norway is a cold country....and I fear a winter of hate is upon us...

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for your bravery and your honesty. As a fellow European (from the UK), I too see this same desperate 'clinging' to tradition that ends in segregation. OK, so there's no place in the civilised world for fundamentalism in any faith, so mistrust of some religions will be commonplace, but the judging of an entire race based on the acts of a few is heinous.
    Before the separatists start voicing their rights to their own identity, perhaps they should ask where the rights to an identity for the millions of victims of Nazism were.

    Peace, and GRAT blog. Pity I don't speak Norwegian tho'. LOL

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  2. Thank you for that kind comment!
    some of my entries are in norwegian but most of them are in English, so do stop by and have a read once in a while.

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