Stop Islamisation of Norway

Stop Islamisation of Norway (Norwegian: Stopp islamiseringen av Norge, SIAN) is a Norwegian anti-Islam group that was established in 2008, although its history goes back to a group started in 2000.[1] Its stated aim is to work against Islam, which it defines as a totalitarian political ideology that violates the Norwegian Constitution as well as democratic and human values.[2] The organisation is led by Arne Tumyr, and has several thousand members and supporters.[2][3]

Stop Islamisation of Norway
AbbreviationSIAN
Formation2008 (2000)
Location
  • Norway
Membership
3,000 (in 2011)
LeaderLars Thorsen
Key people
Arne Tumyr
Websitewww.sian.no
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By mid-2011, it was reported that the organisation had close to 13,000 members or "likes" on its Facebook group,[2] although it gathered only a modest attendance at its meetings and demonstrations.[3] The organisation itself had in excess of 3,000 members, mainly based in Oslo but followed by Stavanger.[2] These figures makes it by far the biggest national "Stop Islamisation" group in Europe, also beating Stop Islamisation of Europe.[4]

In 2012 SIAN broke with the mother organization Stop Islamization of Europe.

History

The predecessor to SIAN was started in early 2000 as Aksjonskomiteen mot bønnerop (lit. "Action Committee against prayer calling"), originally to protest against a request by the Islamic Cultural Centre to broadcast the Adhan (prayer calling) at a local Oslo Mosque using loudspeakers.[1][5]

On 11 September 2000, the group changed its name to Forum Against Islamisation (Forum mot islamisering, FOMI). In November 2000, about a dozen members of FOMI held a demonstration against Adhan from Mosques in Norway and Islamisation.[6] Legislation to ban Adhan by loudspeakers was proposed in parliament by Carl I. Hagen and the Progress Party, but was voted down by all other parties.[6] In 2004, the two Jewish founders of the Norwegian Israel Centre were expelled from the Mosaic Religious Community (Jewish community of Oslo), after they had joined FOMI and the Democrats party for the annual commemoration of the Kristallnacht.[7]

As a new series of "Stop Islamisation" groups started become established around Europe, the name was on 16 February 2008 changed to its current name, Stop Islamisation of Norway.[1][8]

Arne Tumyr, leader of SIAN, at a Bergen Student Society debate in 2012.

SIAN was joined by anti-immigration activist and former Norwegian resistance fighter Erik Gjems-Onstad, and the leader of the Norwegian Patriots, Øyvind Heian in May 2009[9] for an anti-Islamism demonstration in Oslo. They were heavily outnumbered by counter-demonstrators. Tumyr also compared Muslim immigration to Norway with the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940.[10] In June 2009, SIAN was again joined by Heian for a demonstration in Oslo. The Blitz movement[11] and the Red Party in turn held an illegal counter-demonstration, against what they called "Nazis and racists".[12] Both demonstrations developed into minor street clashes.[10][11]

Tumyr and SIAN were joined by the leader of the Democrats party, Vidar Kleppe, for speeches when SIAN held an arrangement in Bergen in August 2010.[13] SOS Rasisme held a counter-demonstration at the event.[13] On 11 September, SIAN held a commemoration of the September 11 terror attacks, and were joined by Anders Gravers Pedersen of Stop Islamisation of Europe.[14] Some groups of SOS Rasisme and Blitz movement activists tried to disrupt the event.[14]

The leader of the local Nordstrand chapter of the Socialist Left Party in Oslo, Morten Schau, joined SIAN to much controversy in January 2011.[15] He resigned from the Socialist Left Party later the same day, after the leader of the Oslo chapter deemed membership of SIAN as "incompatible" with being a member of the party.[16]

In February 2011 Walid al-Kubaisi joined a meeting hosted by SIAN, where he held a speech.[3] The Blitz movement demonstrated outside the arrangement, and al-Kubaisi needed police escort to get to the meeting.[3] When questioned about the organisation's relation to the newly emerged Norwegian Defence League, Tumyr stated that their ideology, intent on "stopping Islam" was the same, although their means of expression differed.[3]

In 2012 there was a split in the organisation after the leader Arne Tumyr refused to cooperate with Norwegian Defense League. SIAN left the mother organisation Stop Islamization of Europe (SIOE), while former board member Kaspar Birkeland formed a new organisation SION that is associated with SIOE.[17][18]

On 3 October 2020, SIAN member Dan Eivind Lid was found dead in his apartment outside of Kristiansand. The police are investigating it as a murder, and have no indication that the motive was political.[19]

Organisation

Local radio

In March 2012, the local chapter of SIAN in Rogaland (the organisation's largest chapter) started a local radio show in Sandnes on the Radio Kos channel. The channel's internet radio in turn had to increase its capacity from 25,000 listeners to 200,000 due to high traffic around the same time.[20]

Views by commentators

In a comment in Aftenposten in 2004, Jahn Otto Johansen called the former FOMI "extremely Muslim-hostile."[21] The then general secretary of the Norwegian Humanist Association, Lars Gule, has also stated that the organisation "uses a hateful and vulgar language with a clearly discriminating content."[22] At the same time as Gule was chairman of NHA, the NHA was convicted of libels against the leader of SIAN, Arne Tumyr, after it publicly had characterised a letter to the editor from Tumyr as "racist".[23] Ingunn Økland of Aftenposten has criticized the use both by SIAN and its opponents of labelling each other "Nazi" in the Islam debate.[24]

On the other hand, Iraqi refugee and writer Walid al-Kubaisi has made appearances in the organisation, and in the feature story "Norway for Norwegians" (Norge for nordmenn) in Klassekampen in 2005 stated that "the forum showed a variation of thoughts and opinions within the frame of fear of Islamism. The fear of Islamism is healthy and legitimate for the population of Europe, and in the Muslim world.

See also

References
  1. Tumyr, Arne (5 November 2010). "Spørsmål om SIAN og islam". Stopp islamiseringen av Norge (in Norwegian). Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  2. Andersen, Atle (9 July 2011). "Advarer mot islamister". Stavanger Aftenblad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  3. Olsen, Asbjørn (28 February 2011). "PST frykter ekstrem anti-islamisme". TV2 (in Norwegian). Retrieved 1 March 2011.
  4. Sarwar, Shazia (23 August 2011). "Hevder at muslimer vil være i flertall i Norge i 2060". TV 2 (in Norwegian). Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  5. "Høyreekstremisme i Norge 2004". Antirasistisk Senter (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  6. Hegtun, Halvor (24 November 2000). "Demonstranter ikke bønnhørt". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  7. "Det Mosaiske Trossamfund ekskluderer medlemmer". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). 18 November 2004. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  8. "Hva vil SIAN?". Stopp islamiseringen av Norge (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  9. Torgersen, Hans O. (22 May 2009). "Antimuslimske demonstranter måtte ha politibeskyttelse". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  10. "NorgesPatriotene-profil måtte eskorteres bort av politiet". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). 23 May 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  11. Aass Kristiansen, Arnhild; Granly Meldalen, Sindre (13 June 2009). "Norgespatriotene-leder angrepet i Oslo sentrum". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  12. Akerhaug, Lars (11 June 2009). "Ulovlig demonstrasjon mot islam-motstandere lørdag". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  13. Lura, Christian; Askvik, Kristine (21 August 2010). "Fryktet bråk". Bergens Tidende (in Norwegian). Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  14. "11. september-markering uten dramatikk". TV2 (in Norwegian). 11 September 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  15. "SV-politiker støtter anti-islamiseringsgruppe". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). 12 January 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  16. Akerhaug, Lars (12 January 2011). "SV-lokalleder melder seg ut etter islam-uenighet". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  17. Siv Sandvik: Dette er mannen som trekker i trådene i islamhatbevegelsen NRK, 12. December 2012
  18. NTB: Antiislamister trosset snø og kulde i Oslo Vårt Land, 16 December 2012
  19. "Politiet mener Sian-aktivist ble drept". www.aftenposten.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  20. Larsen, Morten Wiik; Frafjord, Magne; Skien, John; Bruket, Samina (9 March 2012). "– De kan ikke komme her og gjøre Norge islamsk" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  21. Johansen, Jahn Otto. "Muslimer og jøder diaboliseres". Aftenposten 11 March 2004 (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  22. Comment by Lars Gule in Klassekampen, 24.2. 2005
  23. Nærland, Mina Hauge (6 December 2005). "Dømt etter å ha kalt uttalelser "rasistiske"". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  24. Økland, Ingunn (31 January 2011). "Nazisme som trumfkort i islamdebatten". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 March 2011.
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