Qur’an burning in Norway: stop the Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) and far-right capture of free speech in a Scandinavian context

Abstract

ABSTRACTFringe political actors’ Qur’an desecrations in Scandinavia have over the past few years resulted in international media attention, diplomatic crises, calls for boycotts and pressures from Muslim states and organisations to criminalize such acts. This article explores the historical genealogies of Qur’an desecration – a transnational phenomenon – that emerged in the wake of the post-9/11 ‘Global War on Terror’. In Norway, public Qur’an burnings have been integral to the strategies of the far-right organization Stop the Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) since 2019. Inspired by Titley’s notion of far-right “free speech capture”, we demonstrate that Qur’an burning functions as a powerful symbolic means to incite hatred against Islam and Muslims in the name of “free speech”. We contend that Qur’an burning in the Norwegian context lies at the intersection between transnational and national flows and modalities of Islamophobia.KEYWORDS: Qur’an desecrationQur’an burningfreedom of expressionIslamophobiaMuslimsNorway Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Ethics statementApproval of the research ethics of this study, provisionally entitled INTERSECT: The Hate Speech v. Free Speech Conundrum, reference no. 678679, was granted by NSD/SIKT-Kunnskapssektorens Tjenestesenter in Norway. Informed consent was required from each research participant, and recordings and transcripts stored securely, and deleted after the completion of the study.Notes1 In as much as freedom of expression is a right balanced with other human rights under Norwegian and international law, and Norwegian General Penal Code § 185 prohibits certain forms of hate speech, Kallmyr is of course incorrect in contending that freedom of expression is «unconditional» in Norway.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Norges ForskningsrÃ¥d: [Grant Number INTERSECT].