Prevention of Right-Wing Extremism, Xenophobia and Racism in ...

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danger is of course that the problem may grow when not counteracted by the police, civil soci- ety and/or the local municipal authorities. Inability to take action Recognition of a problem with right-wing extremist activity and violence is of course not a guarantee for adequate action. Those municipalities that meet this problem for the fi rst time will probably neither have the necessary competence to properly analyze the situation, nor the right tools to intervene. The result may be that nothing is done, or that it takes years to do anything. Irresolution may also be the result of disagreement between key actors as to who is responsible. In the small town of Brumunddal in the late 1980s municipal leaders claimed that this was a matter for the police police and the police police claimed that this was the responsibility of municipal agencies like schools and social services (Carlsson, 1995). In the meantime little action occurred, and the problem grew to a size never before seen in Norway or even in all of Scandi- navia so far. In the 1990s Swedish towns like Klippan (Wigerfelt & Wigerfelt, 2001), Karlskrona (Rundquist, 1999) 1999) and Trollhättan, Vänersborg and Uddevalla (Blomgren, 1999) experienced right-wing extremist activity that was even more serious than that in Brumunddal. Moral panic and visible action The attention in the national media given to violent acts and violent group behaviour in specif- specif- ic communities has caused genuine shock, disgust and moral panic. Moral panic tends to lead to over-reactions or misjudged responses to (alleged) incidents of racist violence or manifesta- tions of neo-Nazism. Strong Strong public reactions against racism may however be of great value in themselves. The problem is that the “diagnosis” may sometimes be misjudged or exaggerat- ed. What on the surface appears to be racism or neo-Nazism may sometimes be an expression of something else – e.g. real confl icts between individuals or groups that happen to be divided along ethnic lines. In such situations, one cannot always assume that the ethnic minority side is an innocent victim and the ethnic majority side by defi nition racist aggressors. Quick responses may address only symptoms, thereby failing to address the causes that are the real problem. This typically takes the form of symbolic measures that are highly visible without having any effect on the problem itself – e.g. deciding to build a new community-youth house. In wealthy Norway it may be fairly easy to “throw money at a problem” in order to symbolise a willingness to act. Such responses are usually decided upon without an analysis of what actu- ally constitutes the problem. The causes of racist motivated violent acts or the establishment of a neo-Nazi group are normally much more complicated than the lack of a youth house. Knowledge support – a foundation for community action One lesson learnt from communities with violent racist or neo-Nazi groups in the 1990s, was that problems of xenophobic violence should be considered as responsibility of the entire 18 Violent Right-Wing Extremism in Norway
community. A second lesson was that it was highly useful to involve experienced advisors competent in dealing with such problems, since almost all municipalities meeting this problem for the fi rst time are uncertain and thus waver. As a consequence, the central government decided in 1996 to establish a pool of experts, “The Interdisciplinary Advisory Service for Local Action against Racism and Xenophobia”. This advisory service consists of a dozen researchers and practitioners, including police offi cers, social workers, pedagogues and confl ict mediators. Together, they provide complementary forms of expertise to municipalities and local agencies that have to deal with problems which they do not know how to handle. Usually a team of two advisors will help the the municipal agencies develop an adequate analysis of the problem, ascer- tain the magnitude of the problem and give advice as to which responses might be effective. Basing joint intervention on knowledge: How to produce an analysis of the local problem? Both research and more experience based knowledge of racist and violent youth groups in Norway show that the root causes for the emergence of such groups, and the ways these probprob- lems manifest themselves, may be very different in different communities (Bjørgo & Carlsson, 1999). It It is therefore important to describe the character, magnitude and seriousness of the problem, and also to try to identify both the manifest and underlying factors that have caused the problem in each community. It is also advisable that those agencies that have some kind of responsibility to do somesomething with the problem take part in the process of describing and analysing, as well as propos- ing solutions. Depending on the the model of mapping, participants in this process should include the police, relevant municipal departments, schools, voluntary organisations, and representatives from the youth population. Three different models for mapping and analyzing a local problem have been used in Norway: • An inter-agency working group with knowledgeable representatives (5-10 persons) from relevant agencies work together to collect and analyse information, and on this basis produce a report or action plan. They normally also discuss the individuals participating in the group, their roles, and how to deal with them as individuals. Most Norwegian municipalities are small small (half of the 432 municipalities have less than 5.000 inhabitants) and are thus very transparent. Even bigger municipalities like Kristiansand (77.000 inhabitants) are transparent, so that information on individuals individuals is rich. However, sharing information about individuals is not unproblematic because of the confi dentiality act in public administration. • A “mapping seminar” (one or two days) with 20-40 participants representing different agencies and perspectives. It is useful to bring in an external expert who is experienced in running such processes, and a person who has in depth knowledge of racist and neo-Nazi groups and their mode of operation. This is a “quick” method, but may be “good enough” to assess the problem. In some cases the analysis will show that the problem at hand has little to do with racism or extremism, and that it must therefore be dealt with tools from other Violent Right-Wing Extremism in Norway 19
Page 1 and 2: Prevention of Right-Wing Extremism,
Page 3: Contents Michaela Glaser Introducti
Page 6 and 7: these developments (Minkenberg, 200
Page 8 and 9: institutional framework of this pol
Page 10 and 11: lum. In addition, schools are requi
Page 12 and 13: YNGVE CARLSSON Violent Right-Wing E
Page 14 and 15: Boot Boys. They emphasize physical
Page 16 and 17: The economic explanation Norway is
Page 20 and 21: “tool-bags”. In other cases the
Page 22 and 23: and Norwegian communities are trans
Page 24 and 25: The effects of such demonstrations
Page 26 and 27: Building personal relations as a st
Page 28 and 29: there is of course a possibility th
Page 30 and 31: MIRYAM ESER DAVOLIO; BRIGITTA GERBE
Page 32 and 33: & Wallerstein, 1988). Right-wing ex
Page 34 and 35: If younger people exhibit right-win
Page 36 and 37: had very different effects on attit
Page 38 and 39: For each specifi c fi eld, the the
Page 40 and 41: the problems of right-wing extremis
Page 42 and 43: The networking among community acto
Page 44 and 45: could be most successful, because i
Page 46 and 47: Eser Davolio, Miryam & Drilling, Ma
Page 48 and 49: GÉ GRUBBEN Right-Extremist Sympath
Page 50 and 51: in the way in which they accentuate
Page 52 and 53: digit membership. The mobility of t
Page 54 and 55: Strategies for combating prejudice,
Page 56 and 57: The government Right-wing extremism
Page 58 and 59: Anti discrimination organizations T
Page 60 and 61: shortfall of thorough research and
Page 62 and 63: From intercultural education to act
Page 64 and 65: Appendix - Educational and children
Page 66 and 67: Experience shows that many particip
Page 68 and 69:
Reliable information on members of
Page 70 and 71:
to sympathy with the National Socia
Page 72 and 73:
extremist activities cannot be reac
Page 74 and 75:
do so, social work not only has to
Page 76 and 77:
not neglect content-related dimensi
Page 78 and 79:
Pingel, Andrea & Rieker, Peter (200
Page 80 and 81:
Black people 23 are a lot more like
Page 82 and 83:
stances that encouraged members of
Page 84 and 85:
upon the forces of law and order th
Page 86 and 87:
landscape in contrast to the previo
Page 88 and 89:
Dealing with racism in schools Havi
Page 90 and 91:
New Labour, racism and education In
Page 92 and 93:
REWIND: This organisation carries o
Page 94 and 95:
Gillborn, David & Mirza, Heidi (200
Page 96 and 97:
GYÖRGY LIGETI & TAMÁS NYESTE Righ
Page 98 and 99:
A multitude of amateur bands have s
Page 100 and 101:
ner portraying all possible stereot
Page 102 and 103:
like their children to get their fi
Page 104 and 105:
a so-called Árpád striped fl ag,
Page 106 and 107:
The Holocaust Memorial Center (www.
Page 108 and 109:
Youth work Mobilitas Youth Service
Page 110 and 111:
their programmes and projects. Rece
Page 112 and 113:
exclusion, but that they would then
Page 114 and 115:
fi remen are often greeted by stone
Page 116 and 117:
not want to meet. For example, I’
Page 118 and 119:
disserts about Islam, saying that i
Page 120 and 121:
liceman, which caused quite uproar,
Page 122 and 123:
seat, calmed, quiet. This from a ra
Page 124 and 125:
situation, which is also institutio
Page 126:
Gé Grubben: higher professional ed
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