princess olga said:
That's a great question, Alexandria, I should have explained. Let me start by going back in time to I think 2003, when the Danish paper Jylland Posten was offered a set of offending cartoons re. Mohammed the moslim profet. That paper, at that time, refused publication and even stated that their reason to do so was because religious people would be offended by these cartoons.
Fast forward to 2005. In April of that year, Queen Margrethe herself wrote an article (or perhaps it was a speech) that was published in the British Telegraph, a large, centre-right British daily. In that article (or speech) she was quoted as saying that "the Danes have to show their opposition to Islam."
Hardly a year later, the infamous cartoons depicting the profet were published in Danish papers and all hell broke loose with large parts of the Moslim world boycotting Danish products costing Danish society billions of euros. The Danish government refused to apologise. And what did Margrethe the monarch? Absolutely nothing. Not a word from this queen. Because of her earlier comments on the moslim faith, people assumed she agreed with the insulting cartoons.
By not saying anything, by not coming out and making the kinds of gestures her colleague Beatrix would have made, Margrethe helped make the situation worse than it otherwise might have been. Instead of being a unifying force, as Beatrix has turned out to be, Margrethe jumped on the anti-moslim wagon and escalated the fire.
If her brave father, who used to walk through German-occupied Copenhagen with a yellow star on his coat, knew this, he'd be turning in his grave I'm afraid. Bad judgment on Margarethe's side. I know this is off topic, but put this in contrast to how Beatrix has acted, has stepped up to the plate. It isn't difficult to spot the difference, imo.
Princess Olga, allow me to say that when you make these kinds of statements, the first thing would be to at least try to get your facts right.
If her brave father, who used to walk through German-occupied Copenhagen with a yellow star on his coat, knew this, he'd be turning in his grave I'm afraid.
Are you by this wrong reference trying to refer to King Christian X - QMII's
grandfather? And he didn't walk - he rode a horse - and many historians by the way say that the story about wearing the yellow star is not true but a subsequent embellishment.
In April of that year, Queen Margrethe herself wrote an article (or perhaps it was a speech) that was published in the British Telegraph, a large, centre-right British daily. In that article (or speech) she was quoted as saying that "the Danes have to show their opposition to Islam."
No - she was wrongly translated as having said that!
The offensive word here is 'modspil' which has wrongly been translated to 'opposition'; modspil may be the interaction between equally strong parties, it may be response or even opposition but not in a negative way.
And no, she didn't write an article or speech about it
(wouldn't it have been great to check something like this out before making claims?)
As to the
book by Annelise Bistrup about Queen Margrethe II, excerpts from this book can be found eg. here:
http://jeppesn.dk/kongerige/citater-annelise-bistrup.html
I disse år udfordres vi af islam. Både globalt og lokalt. Der er noget imponerende ved mennesker, for hvem religioner gennemsyrer tilværelsen fra morgen til aften, fra vugge til grav. Der er også kristne, der har det sådan.
Men det er en udfordring, vi er nødt til at tage alvorligt. Vi har
ganske givet ladet det flagre i alt for lang tid. Fordi vi er
tolerante - og temmelig dovne. Jeg synes virkelig ikke, det er
nemt. Og heller ikke så rart.
My translation:
"In these years we are challenged by islam, globally and locally. There is something impressive about human beings for whom religion pervades their life from morning till night, from cradle to grave. There are Christians who feel the same way"
But it is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have certainly let it blow in the wind for far too long time. Because we are tolerant - and rather lazy. I really do not think it is easy. And not very pleasant either"
Other quotations from the book:
»Der må vises et modspil, og man må en gang imellem løbe den risiko at få en mindre flatterende etiket hæftet på sig. For der er visse ting, man ikke skal være tolerant over for. Når man er tolerant, skal man lige mærke efter, om det er af bekvemmelighed eller overbevisning.«
My translation:"One has to show a response ['modspil'] and sometime one has to run the risk of being labelled something less flattering. Because there are certain things one should not tolerate. When you are tolerant you have to check out whether you are so because of convenience or conviction"
And what did Margrethe the monarch? Absolutely nothing. Not a word from this queen. Because of her earlier comments on the moslim faith, people assumed she agreed with the insulting cartoons.
Funny, I would assume that a person making this sort of statement would have at least a figment of knowledge of the monarch's role in Denmark.
The monarch in Denmark is non-political - FULL STOP. Had QMII transgressed that the political scene would have had her head on a platter.
By not saying anything, by not coming out and making the kinds of gestures her colleague Beatrix would have made, Margrethe helped make the situation worse than it otherwise might have been. Instead of being a unifying force, as Beatrix has turned out to be, Margrethe jumped on the anti-moslim wagon and escalated the fire.
Utter speculation and nonsense IMO. YOu have no way of knowing what would have happened, had QMII exceeded her powers and interferred in a firehot political matter. Do you know what e.g. QMII and Fogh Rasmussen, who is the Danish Prime Minister' discussed about this?
'jumping on the anti-moslim wagon...' - I really don't know how to respond to a comment of this nature without being extremely offensive - so I won't.
Twisting comments to serve a specific agenda is nothing new. QMII is an active Christian, she believes in the Christian values and she appears proud of them. IMO she is saying that she respects other religions [see translation above] but she reserves herself the right to stand up for her own religion, her own views and she - IMO - does not want to let her own faith take second seat in the name of politeness and political correctness. And that is
exactly how a queen and prominent member of the Christian church should react.
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Admins, sorry for taking up this much space about a Danish issue in a Dutch thread; but had to react to a post so filled with misinformation.
