Danish Writers Protest
Want the Danish government to be active, not just condemn Israel
While Israel is converting Gaza to rubble, killing thousands and driving millions away from their homes, while at the same time preventing emergency aid to get to these people, there is no scarcity on condemnations from Western governments.
Not all Western governments, it should be said, as the USA, for instance, seemingly enjoys seeing how the area is being cleaned and prepared for Trump’s dreamed-up beach paradise to be created, while putting everybody in prison who disagree.
But all normal governments regularly tell Israel that they are not happy with what they see.
And then – nothing.
The trade between Israel and other countries continue, all other collaborations, including such as the participation in the Eurovision Song Contest, which, as an example, Russia was thrown out of when they began a similar operation towards Ukraine.
I have before mentioned how Danes in general prefer to do nothing at all, apart from sitting in their sofas, watching it all on TV, and expecting someone else to fix it.
But now, at least, a group of 210 Danish writers have sent an open letter to the Danish government, asking for some action, like the end of selling military equipment to Israel and in general put a real pressure on the Israeli government.
This is described in an article on DR.dk (in Danish): https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/kultur/210-danske-forfattere-kritiserer-statsministeren-det-er-ubegribeligt-danmark-ser
It is not clear why only writers have signed that letter, but probably it was found to have a certain weight when the Danish intelligentsia joined forces around such a thing.
Also unclear: what the Danish government will do about it. The foreign minister did already, earlier on the same day, go to the press with a criticism of Israel and their behavior towards the people in Gaza. But that is exactly the kind of non-action, the writers are protesting against, since nothing further is done, typically. Only words said to the press, nothing required from the Israeli government.
I know that many Danes do not agree. They believe that Israel is better than “Arabia”, or whatever they prefer to call the non-Israelian parts of the Middle East, and they have long had a similar set of thoughts as Donald Trump, rather wanting to see the back than the face of people from there, having convinced themselves that all crimes and all misery are a result of people from the Middle East moving to Denmark.
It has been easy for the press to tell the story of the attack by Hamas on Israel, which apparently started this whole modern holocaust that is taking place now, in such a way that many Danes spontaneously would answer “but they have a right to defend themselves” when confronted with the magnitude of Israel’s violence.
But, at least 210 writers are thinking otherwise. As nothing in this protest could be a surprise to the Danish government, it is unlikely that they will change their minds about anything, but there could be a (very) small chance that some of the other Danes would change their minds, which the politicians would then perhaps consider reacting upon.
So far, the prime minister has refused to express an opinion about the letter.