Agora

Berlingske, February 14, 2006

Naser Khader and the rest of the Radicals

By Ole Birk Olesen

85 percent of all Danes think that Naser Khader has handled the cartoon issue well. So why hasn’t the Radicals made him their front man on matters of non-natives, is the question asked within the party.

NEWS ANALYSIS

If there is such a thing as losers and winners in the cartoon issue, the Radical MP Naser Khader definitely qualifies as a winner. According to a survey published by B.T. five days ago, 85 percent of all Danes think that Khader has handled the cartoon issue "well" or "very well".

That’s an unusually high number and certainly not something usual for the Radicals in issues of this kind. The Party received a lot of support for their principled stance on naturalisation, but not from a broad base of the population. Here the Radicals have been seen as too soft.

But Naser Khaders line in the sand in the on the cartoon issue has been a hit with the voters. He has taken a firm stance against the traveling Imams and for the right to say satirical and critical things about Islam. And he has founded "Democractic Moslems" with the express goal of challenging the Imams as first spokesman for the 200000 Moslems in Denmark.

Because of that the Radical MEP Anders Samuelsen yesterday was quoted by Jyllands-Posten as saying that he hopes "that when people wake up in the morning and think of Radical naturalisation policies, Naser Khader is the name that springs to mind." Not only is that a hope, it is also a cloaked suggestion to his colleagues in Parliament to let Khader lead when the Radicals make and present their naturalisation policies, a task currently assignes to MP Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen.

Anders Samuelsen is like Naser Khader hawkish on naturalisation policies. The hawks aren’t much different from the doves except on matters of rhetoric and will to negotiate. Leader of the Radical MPs Marianne Jelved has so far been unyielding in her terms of negotiation whereas Khader and Samuelsen and the Helveg family would rather negotiate and influence events.

Naser Khader: "I would rather seek to gain influence than bark at those who do."

The reason for the dovish policies so far has been that it has Marketed the Radicals as the main opposition to the government’s naturalisation policies and they think that this is why the Radicals nearly doubled their mandates in the last election.

But, it does seem difficult to imagine where the government and the Radicals might find some common ground on naturalisation. Neither Khader, Samuelsen or the Helveg family or any other of the party’s pragmatics have gone on record as being willing to swallow either of the twin camels - the 24 year rule and the "most attached country" rule which are the cornerstones of current Danish naturalisation policy. So how would the twain ever be able to meet?  Is the question being asked.

This doesn’t change that Naser Khader is considered a boon by the whole party these days. Marianne Jelved yesterday in an open letter said "It is you, Naser, who will become the example of a new age of peaceful coexistence in a multicultural world building on democratic principles. You are the man. Thank you for your personal effort."

This spring the Radicals are set to launch a new advertising campaign inspired by DPPs "Fresh wind blowing" campaign. That might be the first opportunity for the Radicals to show how much they like Naser Khader and how the party is planning to use his personal popularity to generate popularity for the Radicals.