May Day In Norway (in pictures)

A-list bloggers Glenn Reynolds, Michelle Malkin and Bill Quick have been breathless in coverage today over protests by immigrants in the United States to coincide with the internationally celebrated (with varying degrees) May Day. CNN has a pretty good account of the extent of the strikes, which have made immigration once again the big issue in the Untied States:

The immigration debate has split Republicans as midterm elections approach. President Bush, taking pains to woo Latino voters to the GOP, has called for a guest-worker program and a way to legalize the status of people in the United States illegally. A bipartisan measure backed by Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, would include the proposals Bush has advanced. Critics have denounced any legalization plan as "amnesty" and vowed to oppose it.

The demonstrations have impacted organisations all over the country, most notably Tyson, which was forced to shut operations today as a result. Via Instapundit, this report  over at Pajamas Media exemplifies the extent of the strikes in L.A., which is always a point of contention:

With large crowds of illegal immigrants gathering at two locations in Los Angeles, extensive backroom planning to avoid offending U.S. citizens appeared to have failed: crowds are carrying about 60% Mexican flags, just 40% U.S. or other flags. KABC TalkRadio reported “there’s not a sign out there saying they want a ‘guest worker’ program — they all say they want full amnesty.”

Indeed, there is so much going on it's easy to forget May Day in other parts of the world! So what was happening elsewhere? Here in Oslo, Norway, the world capital of social democracies, demonstrations were startlingly socialist, even by U.K. and U.S. left-wing standards. What is more, the demonstrations here are a cultural thing: almost the entire city seemed to be involved in one way or another. What follows is a photographic account of today's parades in the city centre.

Being a national holiday here in Norway, at first sight the city seems completely deserted, except for the national flags.

And then you walk into the parade:

The national socialist slogan flies higher and stronger: "A 6 hour working day with full compensation for workers"

The theme continues:

And then the Kurds chime in:

... even the locals hold banners high encouraging others to boicott Israeli products

"Boicott Israel, NOT Hamas"

A sea of red encompasses you suddenly as the Socialist Youth party enter the fray with cheers and fists held high in the air to proclaim solidarity for worker's rights worldwide:

"Veto EU directive":

"In the fight for socialism":

In the square of the parliamentary parties stands the symbol of social-democracy: not a major political figure as we are accustomed in the U.S. and the U.K. but a worker holding tools:

The Tamils and those fighting American ideology - "Support Tamils in the right to our own self-governence":

"Our father works every other weekend": 

More anger with U.S. politics:

And parades to celebrate the cause outside the parliament:

The worker's party HQ is unavoidable (part of the left wing government coalition):

... and of course, the socialist/communist star:

All in all, an eye-opening experience. The most alarming thing of all is the sheer quantity of the population involved in the demonstration, and the number of anti-Israeli slogans around, as well as the seemingly universal belief that working days are too long. This is opinion I have never encountered anywhere else in the world before, and I have certainly never seen such a large majority of people involved in ultra left-wing demonstrations.

Fascinating.

Comments

[Samir M. Nassar]

For the image captioned:

"And then the Palenstinians chime in"

It appears to be a banner for a Kurdish group.

I am a Palestinian and a native Arabic speaker and know no Farsi or Kurdish, but the script comes from the Arabic. The last two words on the lowest sentence (reading right to left) says "Kurdistan Iran" or maybe "Irani Kurdistan"

[John Doe]

Let this spread across the globe.

[Geir Arne Brevik]

Living in Oslo, I just have to comment this. It may be that the average left-winger in Norway is more "left-wingy" than leftists elsewhere (I have no way to compare), but your claim that "almost the entire city seemed to be involved" is, eh, very subjective.
The thing is, the night before May First is one of the most traditional party nights in Norway, and may explain the deserted city except for the demonstration. I saw yesterday's parade (when walking to the office to work overtime!), and I didn't think the crowd was very impressive. You can find more Norwegians in one place at en Elton John concert or a ski jump competition. And that doesn't mean that Norwegians as a whole are Elton John fans or ski enthusiasts. Ok, maybe ski enthusiasts.

[Ea]

Interesting to see a Scandinavian May Day from an American POV. Though I'm Danish and not Norwegian, the political 'make-up' of our countries is much the same, and I am a bit surprised that you think of socialists and social-democrats as ultra left-wing (we can agree on communism though, but they only make up a very, very small part of the political scene). If it was ultra left-wing, there wouldn't be so many people out.

I don't get the anti-israeli thing at all though. It has nothing to do with May Day, but I guess they simply used an opportunity to demonstrate. ('They' being people politically involved with that cause and not the general population).

[Daniel M. Harrison]

Geir: what do you mean? The parade went on for a least 45 minutes from the front of the line to the end?

Samir, thanks for the update: v helpful.

[scribe10]

Looks like the Norwegian Quisslings are in the majority again.

Let's boycott Norway.

Of course, with a six day work week there won't be much to boycott since they won't be producing anything to sell.

Next time I see a Norwegian though I'll make sure to give the Jew hater wide berth.

[Geir Arne Brevik]

I stand by my claim that the parade was not very impressive. From what I've read in Norwegian papers today (compares well to what I could estimate myself) the parade had around 4000 participants. For being the most traditional annual political event in this country, it's not much at all, and the day have had a declining popularity since the 70's.

A couple of other points I think you miss:

1) The parade had a wide variety of paroles, and you don't necessarily agree to the one's you're not walking under. To suggest a veto a very controversial EU directive, is that very leftist?
2) Although the Labour Party (the biggest party in the center-left government) use what may seem like communist symbols (and, in a way are), that's in a large extent due to historical reasons, not their real politics today. For instance: The speaker at the party's official celebration later in the day, was one of Norway's most famous investors, and he started his speech by proclaiming "I'm a capitalist". And he got applause.
3) Yes, I wrote "center-left"-government, not "left-wing" like you did. One of the three parties, The Centre Party, have clearly stated that they are not a "socialist party". And the government's politics are in most ways very similar to the previous center-right coalition.
4) Your implied conclusion that there's a large jew-hating red scare in Norway is actually a bit amusing, because that's very far from the political trend here. Actually, the largest party (35%-40%) in the polls now is the populist Progress Party, that's so right-wing in many questions that no other party wants to cooperate with them.

I'm not arguing that many of the people you saw were extremists, they are indeed.
I'm saying that they don't represent the Norwegian people or any kind of trend among us. However, you probably got to meet most of the extremists.

Are you staying for May 17th? Then you'll see the rest of us.

[Martin]

In a typical Norwegian May day parade you'll find most any cause being marched for that fits into the leftist scheme of things. That being solidarity with Palestine, antiracism, feminism or workers rights.

Norway has a strong tradition of the May day as "workers day" and so the date is more or less owned by the left-oriented and slightly red factions. The left side in Norway are quick to rally up behind stuff like this, something that was even more obvious during the protests against the World Bank meeting a couple of years ago.

One reason you may be awed by the "ultra-leftist" movement as you describe it is that in Norway Socialism/Communism carry none of the stigma it does in the US. In Norway (for the most part) these are perfectly legit political views. Although the Communist Party doesn't have a representative in the government this period, the Socialists have several.

Exciting to see how we come across to "foreign" eyes. Thanks for an interesting read.

-M
(Oh... And scribe10; No worries. I'll give the Norwegian haters the same courtesy, so it doesn't seem like we'll be in danger of talking anytime soon.)

[Daniel M. Harrison]

Martin - thanks for the helpful comments: it's true, here in Norway, what appears to be left wing radicalism in parts of the UK and the US is in fact perfectly acceptable politik. I think one reason for this is certainly down to the amazing welfare programme here: education, healthcare, benefits are all much, much better than almost anywhere else in the rest of the world (except Sweden, Iceland & perhaps Denmark which are pretty much on par). It's a great argument for a social democratic model being the chosen political model in the establishment of the emerging economies of the East like China and the south American countries.

Geir - I'll be here on the 17th, yes. Can't wait: should be really interesting :-)

[yori]

what happen to norwegen people????they use to be nice beafore...is it they are afraid standing against terror..or jast beacom stuped..i hope one day they will know what terror meens from a closer look. wake up.....n o r w a y

[yg]

"boikkot israel not hamas" ...my god...
norwegen people you are becoming the devil write hand.you become sick people..you disgusting me and many others.