DENMARK: The present government in Copenhagen has a long history of hostility to Islam and to Danish Muslims, writes Ole Vigant Ryborg
Denmark is a liberal and open-minded society that respects other cultures and religions.
This message has again and again been the Danish government's main weapon in its efforts to defuse the present crisis, which has choked both the government and the country's five million citizens.
Why should a couple of unfortunate cartoons create so much hatred towards an otherwise liberal and open-minded society, Danes are asking.
But for anyone who has been following the changes in Danish political life over the last decade it is not so difficult to understand that the 12 cartoons portraying the prophet Muhammad came to be seen as more that just some stupid but harmless humour. Instead they were the straw that broke the camel's back.
There are many ways to begin the story that explains the background of this crisis between Denmark and the Muslim world.
One would be the story of Sardar Begum, one of many people at the centre of media attention and political debate in Denmark in recent years.
The 89-year-old Pakistani woman, who for some time had been living with her family in Denmark on a tourist visa, was refused the right to stay permanently in Denmark to be united with her family. She had one daughter, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren in Denmark and hardly any family left in Pakistan. She was old and sick and could hardly walk. Still, the government of Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted she could not stay in Denmark.
Ms Begum and many others fell victim to the new tough policy on foreigners that the current liberal-conservative minority government negotiated with its political partner, the Danish People's Party (Dansk Folkeparti).
The Rasmussen government came to power in November 2001 after a campaign dominated by a promise to clamp down on immigration, especially by Muslims.
This task was given to former MEP Bertel Haarder, who was appointed minister for refugees and integration. In early May 2002 he finalised the new legislation in a deal between the government and the Folkeparti.
A few weeks later, one of his partners in the negotiations, Danish MP and priest Jesper Langballe, explained to parliament his party's position: "We have said that Islam should be fought against. Of course it should, just as Nazism and communism should be combated. But this is a battle of words compared to those who are inflamed by Islam and use other means and terror."
He concluded: "What we are talking about is fighting against a religion that, using the old expression of Hartvig Frisch, is a plague over Europe."
This rhetoric is not exceptional in today's Denmark. On the contrary, the question of foreigners, especially Islamic ones, has been at the centre of most political debates in Denmark and has played a key role in the re-election of the Rasmussen government.
Danish MPs who support the government have repeatedly used harsh language against Muslims, claiming they had a "scary desire to exterminate other people" (Søren Krarup, MP), or were from a "lower civilisation" (Pia Kjærsgaard, party leader, MP).
The key to the power of the Rasmussen government lies in its tough line on immigration.
Contrary to advice from the ministry of foreign affairs and the unwritten rules of normal diplomacy, the prime minister refused to see ambassadors of 11 Muslim countries (including EU candidate Turkey) who had sought a meeting 10 days after the publication of the cartoons.
His decision was applauded by several conservative newspapers.
Mr Rasmussen's refusal was so extraordinary that 22 former leading Danish diplomats, including former secretary general in the EU council of ministers Niels Ersbøll, wrote a public letter of protest arguing that the move was in breach of the Danish tradition of dialogue.
The prime minister refused to give in. On the contrary, when the Danish ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Hans Klingenberg, condemned the cartoons in an interview on AP-TV on January 28th, his action was criticised by MPs in Mr Rasmussen's party. Still, the prime minister did not change his stance. Indeed, he refused to give any opinion on the drawings until the protests turned violent.
The government's policy and rhetoric on Muslims have incited xenophobia among ordinary Danes, while at the same time making it easier for radical Muslims to find supporters among Muslims who increasingly feel unwelcome in Denmark.
Following the prime minister's refusal to meet Muslim ambassadors, a delegation of radical Muslims toured several Muslim countries in January, giving their side of the story, thereby fuelling an already explosive situation in the Middle East.
The Rasmussen government began its period in office by cutting resources and staff in the ministry of foreign affairs and closing embassies. It also cut development aid and subsidies to Danish non-governmental organisations. It even tried to close the Copenhagen-based centre for human rights that had several times criticised the government's plans to change its immigration policy.
Mr Rasmussen has repeatedly acted as if Denmark were a superpower. A television documentary showed how he originally tried to decline a meeting with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the EU summit in Copenhagen finalising enlargement of the European Union. The government also rushed to sign the letter of support for the Iraq war that caused such an enormous split in the EU. And Mr Rasmussen has several times publicly deplored the small state rhetoric from the second World War where Denmark surrendered when invaded by Germany instead of fighting.
When the European Commissioner for Human Rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, wrote a report criticising Danish immigration policy and saying it breached the European Convention on Human Rights, the government responded with remarks that "the Spaniard" had misunderstood everything.
Until a week ago, the government rammed through its foreign policy. Now, the prime minister has left almost all the handling of the crisis to the ministry of foreign affairs. His own role has been reduced to international television appearances to sell the message that Denmark is in fact a small liberal and open-minded country with great respect for all religions.
This argument might well be Denmark's only weapon to get itself out of the mess.