Boykot Danmark. Normally this blog is not for political rants. Politics is often a futile endeavor. More often I simple do not understand politics and its inner workings. However, forgive me because I cannot help posting this one. I promise that it will be a while before this happens again.

Yesterday evening, on my way back after one of my all too infrequent jogs in Kongens Have (the King’s Garden), I noticed a poster on one of the building walls. It simply said: Boykot Danmark and had a pointer to a web-site http://www.boykotdanmark.dk/.

According to the web-site, BOYKOT DANMARK is a project addressing tolerance in public spaces. It is a campaign, which encourages the reconsidering and questioning of Danishness and the national patriotism. BOYKOT DANMARK encourages the boycott of a Danish mentality witnessed in public spaces. Boycotting the discrimination that manifests itself in subtle daily attacks on people with un-Danish habits and expressions. BOYKOT DANMARK boycotts the silent exclusion of people according to their cultural background, ethnicity or religion.

I – and probably most other people – wholeheartedly agrees with that we should always be addressing tolerance in public spaces and that any silent exclusion of people according to their cultural background, ethnicity or religion should be boycotted. What makes me suspicious and nervous about reading such always true and right statements is first of all that I have not got a clue about who are making them. No where on the web-site are there any information let alone indications as to who are the people or the organization behind the project. Not even a query on boykotdanmark.dk to the DK-Hostmaster will help you. I cannot see whether this web-site is the doing of right or left wing fanatics or of respectable people or organizations.

The web-site states about red and white as a symbol of Denmark and Danishness, that with the latest political development, these symbols have taken on a new meaning. Red and white now personifies intolerance, ignorance, and disrespect. It chastises the dissimilar instead of advocating for an open democracy, dialogue and respect. How can you talk about concepts as ignorance, open democracy, dialoque and respect when you are hiding behind anonymity!

Our western civilization is in badly need for constructive critique. After the fall of the world capitalistic thinking has not been challenged sufficiently. And challenged it needs to be. Enron, WorldCom and other manifestations of markets that are not working the way they should calls for a reaction from the people and their legislator. We must learn to recognize the need for bringing many more foreigners into our society in order to secure the welfare of the comming generations. We need to be internationalistic not nationalistic. It is a simple matter of demographics.

Please, come up with some constructive, intelligent and potent arguments that can better our democratic society instead of swimming without moving in old long forgotten and undemocratic paradigms of the 70s.