Sunday, May 3, 2015

Norway: Union not sure whether to ban antisemitic sign at May 1st parade dedicated to fighting antisemitism


Via Adressavisen (h/t On Elpeleg):

For the past three years antisemitic professor Trond Andresen has come to the traditional May 1st parade in Trondheim with this sign.



The sign says: 'The continuous whining about antisemitism is a diversion tactic... that is beginning to get old"

This year he was called out on it.  Art historian Daniel Johansen wrote that the organizing committee should ban racist and antisemitic placards such as this one.

At first the union leader in Trondheim, John-Peder Denstad, refused to do anything.

But after the issue hit the news, some left-wingers got to the conclusion that the sign is really out of place.  Peder Martin Lysestøl, a board member of the Palestine Committee, asked Andresen to leave the sign at home.  The union also asked Andersen to drop the sign.  Because May 1st is about unity, and this issue is creating disunity.

The antisemitic content of the sign apparently did not bother them, but rather the argument over it.  It certainly did not bother them in previous years.

Andersen says that the sign is just portraying facts.  Anybody who criticizes Israel is accused of antisemitism, and Jews do not suffer from hate.

The main slogan this year for the May 1st parade was "Fight antisemitism and Islam-hatred".

In the end, this was what Andresen came up with.  He put a smiley face over "The continuous whining about antisemitism" part.  The sign is now no longer antisemitic.


Note the "boycott Israel" sign in the background.  This is what Norwegians call a march against antisemitism.

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