Talk:Jostein Gaarder controversy

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[edit] Why was this passage removed ?

The strong attacks and accusations about anti-semitism against Gaarder have prompted some commentators to voice critizism against what they percieve as a misuse of the label "Anti-semitism" against critics of Israel. Middle East Researcher Hilde Henriksen Waage commenting: "Any debate about the politics of the state of Israel drowns in accusations of anti-semitism and racism" imi2 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Just a mistake. Restored it now. pertn 10:24, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Okey imi2 10:28, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reactions

  • Should we divide this section into two parts ? Like condemnation and support ? Because both things did happend, both support and critic. imi2 03:11, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
I think it needs to be better organized, but the reactions didn't fall neatly into two camps. --Leifern 10:46, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
Well, two or more... 'cause some critics were pretty one-sided negative, others supported or satyed rather neutral --imi2 14:03, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] = Proposed change of the reactions section

It is way too unbalanced. I propose to add some detail about W. Nygaards support. It should be noted that he has recieved support (of some sort) from quite a few leading public commentators in norway.


Reactions to Gaarder's piece were mixed and often in stark contradiction to each other: Some, from members of the Norwegian Jewish community as well as historians in Jewish history, expressed deep concern and outrage over imagery and themes reminiscent of religious antisemitism, in which Christianity was promoted as the humanistic, peaceful successor to Judaism[1] [2][3][4]. The official position of the Church of Norway was to renounce the use of Christian themes to put Judaism in a bad light [5].

In numerous interviews after the publication of the op-ed, Gaarder has maintained that he is not an anti-semite and that the piece was never intended as an attack on the Jewish people or on Judaism. Several memmbers of the Norwegian Jewish community, however, have said that regardless of Gaarder's intent, the article serves to legitimize deep-rooted anti-semitic attitudes by tying them in with a public opinion already hostile to Israel. Odd-Bjørn Fure, a well-known Norwegian historian and director of the Oslo Holocaust-centre says: "[...] Gaarder uses a language which contributes to lowering barriers in the description of Israel and Jewish culture. [...] Gaarder has crossed a line, but I don't think he realizes it"[6].

Three days after publishing the op-ed, Jostein Gaarder announced his intention to "withdraw from the debate." While admitting that the style of his op-ed was "challenging" and open to different interpretation, he felt little would be served by his continued contribution. In temporarily closing out his participation, he noted that the oriignal piece was motivated by "disgust for the war, and the wrongdoing of the Israeli army". Gaarder also said:

"We have a very good word in Norwegian for what Israel is doing in Lebanon: Hærverk [vandalism, or literally "the work of an army"]. And I also condemn the rockets of Hezbollah towards Israel, just so that is said. I have said it numerous times, and will repeat it: I'm a humanist, not an anti-semite. Both the Jewish and Greek ideas are in the foundation of what I believe in" [7].

Jostein Gaarder’s Israeli publisher, Schocken Publishing House, announced August 9, 2006, that it would stop cooperating with Jostein Gaarder and no longer publish his books. In addition, Racheli Edelman, the owner-publisher of Schocken Publishing House, is looking into whether the op-ed is basis for a lawsuit against Jostein Gaarder [8], but changed this decision after Gaarders Norwegian publisher Aschehoug contacted Schocken. William Nygaard , director of the Aschehoug company, and himself a vicitim of an assisination attemt because of his publication of a translation of S. Rushdies "Satanic Verses" supported Gaarder:

"I think it is very important that Jostein Gaarder as a active human being in the norwegian public society and as a interntionally reknown author, is willing to take the burden in the name of freedom of speech, that it is to step forward and critizise a sensitive subject that the war around Israel and Libanon represents."[9]

Nygaard also told Schocken that it would be "a scandal if a publisher dropped an author because of a debate", the Israeli publisher decided to continue publishing his works [10]. The strong attacks and accusations about anti-semitism against Gaarder have prompted commentators to voice criticism against what they percieve as a misuse of the label "anti-semite" against critics of Israel[11]. Associate professor in Middle Eastern history Hilde Henriksen Waage at the University of Oslo commented that: "Any debate about the politics of the state of Israel drowns in accusations of anti-semitism and racism" and intimated that Gaarder would not be safe in Norway after this op-ed. [12] The former prime minister of Norway Kåre Willoch critizised the attacks on Gaarder, stating that "whenever Israel's politics are critizised, there are attempts to divert the attention from what this is really about." [13]


If there aren't any comments or corrections (please check my translations) I'll replace the whole section. pertn 13:03, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Leifern

Thanks for cleaning up my mess. Was in a bit of a hurry. pertn 13:09, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks Leifern

Sorry, I was reading/thinking something different. Thanks for reverting that back! --Tom 17:50, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re NAS

I had actually seen this interview. This Bauer-character is pretty eager to use this label, but I agree in your last change Leifern. pertn 08:53, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clarification

Do someone have a translation of Gaarders "attempt to clarify"? I think that section should be expanded, since he quite clearly meet many of the allegations of anti-semitism, and also he expresses that he has been misunderstood because of his "literary" style. pertn 08:53, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] There are English translations on Aftenposten.no/english

Why exactly are there so many Norwegian language links listed at the end of this wiki? It took me 10 seconds to find the exact counterparts in English. Aftenposten has an English version, you know. Could I just just replace all the Norwegian articles with their English counterparts? --Manxruler 11:15, 22 October 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Missing reference

Here's the link to reference nr 16. I do not know how to include it:

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=126001  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pertn (talk • contribs) 13:24, 4 May 2008 (UTC)