Many claim that Norway is one of the countries where freedom of expression is the strongest. That may be true, legally, but I must admit that I would never have dared to draw the Prophet Muhammad. Teachers also do not dare to show pictures of him in the classrooms. Do we really have freedom of speech in Norway?
The fear after the attack on Charlie Hebdo and Samuel Paty still hangs in the air. One in three teachers does not dare to display the caricature of Muhammad, and half are afraid of offending someone in the classroom. You can say that freedom of expression in Norway is strong on paper, but there are no cartoonists who dare to draw Muhammad.
It is understandable that many teachers are reluctant to show certain images in the classroom, but it is important that all students receive the same teaching. Freedom of expression must have a strong place in the classroom. Critical thinking is an important part of the curriculum, so shouldn’t it be possible to criticize religion?
It is quite clear that teachers need much stronger protection from the state when they want to highlight such issues.
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On the website Muhammed.no we can read that Charlie Hebdo, and those who died there, do not deserve any sympathy, as they mocked Muhammad. The website compares drawing the Prophet Muhammad to raping a woman. This website is linked to the Norwegian Islamic organization Islam Net.
In what we like to think of as the world’s richest, best and freest country, there are still people who don’t dare to draw a religious prophet because of the consequences it could entail. When something as fundamental as the freedom to criticize religion cannot even be enforced in Norway, do we have freedom of speech?
In recent weeks, we saw the terrorist Zaniar Matapour in court after he killed two and injured 21 people in his terrorist attack. We know through reports from the police that Matapour was a radical Islamist who wanted to kill as many infidels as possible. The fear of radical Islamist violence in Norway is closer to the people than ever before, and PST considers extreme Islamism to be one of the biggest threats to Norway.
As long as cartoonists do not dare to draw the prophet Muhammad, and teachers do not dare to show the pictures, then we do not have real freedom of speech in Norway. It is a fundamental foundation in a liberal democracy that one can criticize and portray religion in different ways.
No one is free until everyone is free.
