They don’t want schools to fly pride flags, considered limiting the numbers of refugees allowed into Norway, urge tax cuts and want more Norwegians to have more babies. The Christian Democrats huddled in Bergen over the weekend and emerged as a decidedly more conservative party.
It was the decision to allow only Norwegian, Sami or Kvensk flags to fly over public schools that grabbed the most media coverage of the Christian Democrats (Kristelig Folkeparti, KrF) annual meeting. They also formally elected their new leader, Dag Inge Ulstein, who emerged victorious after a bitter leadership battle last year.
He’s been described as resembling both a musketeer and a retired boy-band leader, and he’s not seeking re-election to Parliament. He also has claimed he’s most interested in bringing peace to his party, but the proposed ban on pride flags prompted quick and angry reaction from those who feel KrF is no longer preaching tolerance or promoting diversity. Among them was Noman Mubashir, a journalist and media personality in Norway who often speaks at public schools about his own struggles as being the only kid in the class with a minority background and as a Muslim who came out as gay.
“My goal is to get youth to show more empathy and tolerance in meetings with homosexuals,” Mubashir told newspaper Aftenposten after a recent unpleasant incident at a school near where he grew up in Romerike, northeast of Oslo. He was challenged by school students who questioned “how can you be a Muslim and homosexual at the same time,” and claimed that “being homosexual is a decision you make. You aren’t homosexual.” Others claimed being gay is “one of biggest sins in Islam,” and Mubashir was shocked over how uncompromising, direct and even hostile his young audience was. He has also experienced intolerance among Christians and other immigrant groups, particularly from Eastern Europe.
He has thus publicly challenged KrF leaders this week over their decision to propose what in essence is a ban on pride flags and all others except for the national flags in Norway. “Dear KrF,” he wrote on social media and in newspaper Dagsavisen on Tuesday, “there are still youth who tell gay jokes in the classroom … there are still children and youth who feel lonely at school and are scared someone will reveal that they’re different (from others) … when I speak at junior high schools, guys sit there and ridicule me because I’m homosexual… it worries me that so many students and teachers still react when a pride flag is raised in the schoolyard, because the pride flag represents love, pride and diversity. Now you want to remove it from the schools. Don’t forget all the children who need to be seen, heard, loved and respected for who they are.”
Commentator Cornelia Kristiansen was also blasting KrF after its annual meeting, for rejecting its own earlier principles of tolerance, benevolence and charity. “It’s become painful to hear KrF leader Dag-Inge Ulstein,” she wrote in Dagsavisen. “Last week he was talking about KrF’s engagement for diversity.” On Monday morning he was challenged on national radio by Tina Bru of the Conservative Party, with which KrF hopes to help form a government after the fall election. The Conservatives support flying pride flags and promoting diversity, but suddenly KrF doesn’t, with Ulstein clarifying that KrF supports diversity of opinion, while struggling to combine that with the Christian values of love, acceptance and how he’s earlier spoken about “working for a warm and inclusive society with policies for those who need fellowship most of all.”
That was when Ulstein was on the left side of his party’s politics, when KrF’s former leadership even wanted to cooperate with a Labour-led government. Now Ulstein leads the party and wants to side with the Conservatives, even though they differ on diversity issues.
The Christian Democrats also came under fire before the annual meeting over a proposal to reduce the number of UN-verified refugees admitted into Norway to just 1,000 a year. That ended up being changed to the 5,000 recommended by the UN, saving the party from more criticism. At the same time, KrF promoted family-friendly policies, offering more tax deductions for having more children and removing a requirement that fathers take a “use it or lose it” quota of parental leave during the year after a birth. KrF also rejected recent calls to allow euthanasia in Norway, opting instead for better offers of pain relief and palliative care.
Like several other parties, KrF also supports a more rapid defense build-up, allowing police to be armed at all times and strengthening customs regulations. Its members voted to oppose joining the EU (even though its former longtime leaders Kjell Magne Bondevik and Knut Arild Hareide now support EU membership) but support Norway’s trade agreement with the EU that gives Norway access to the EU’s inner market.
KrF members also voted to head into the fall elections with a goal of supporting a center-right government led by the Conservatives’ leader Erna Solberg. Since the party has shrunk from its glory days of being part of a coalition government and even holding the prime minister’s post to commanding less than 4 percent of the vote, it may not make any impression on formation of the next government, or qualify for full representation in Parliament.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
