Press Release
Time to Stand Firm

Within the last 24 hours, Denmark has been hit by a series of dramatic events. It is reported that the suspected perpetrator has been killed, so the details will probably remain blurred. Despite this, there has already been an overwhelming amount of statements about this being an attack on Danish values - democracy, freedoms and cohesion of society.

This case will no doubt fill the media and the political debate for the time being, where politicians will exceed each other with law proposals and rhetoric. Some will demand that Muslims disassociate. Others will more cunningly plead that not all Muslims are extreme, but rather a part of the Danish collective, as long as they adhere to secularism and freedom of speech. In essence, both reactions have the same purpose. The Muslims have to be secularized by force, and every Muslim, who refuses and insists on Islamic values and laws, will be considered a potential security threat.

Recently the Parliament chose to allocate 60.9 mill. Danish Kroner to a so-called anti-radicalization plan, where they portray Islamic values and Muslims as a violent threat, and therefore want to force-feed the Muslims with its western values. It is however a direct lie and manipulation to portray democracy and the freedoms as absolute opposites to violence and conflict, when we, in newer times, have not seen more death and destruction than the one caused by western troops, in the name of democracy and liberalism.

Danish politicians and opinion leaders, by the way, have no moral authority to target neither Muslims nor Islam as being violent, when one considers how much blood they have on their hands. When some politicians state that it is irrelevant to discuss the causes for this type of incidents, then it is most likely because the exact discussion will reveal that they carry a large part of the responsibility.

The last 15 years there have been all kinds of attempts to strangulate Muslims both through a bloody foreign policy, where thousands of Muslims have been killed, in the attempt to export democracy to the Islamic world. Not only that, but also through a hard discourse against Muslims internally in Denmark and Europe, with tightening of laws, stigmatization and impeachment, supplemented by a hateful rhetoric that has led to a more fragmented society and more verbal and physical attacks on Muslims. They have succeeded in taking everything from the Muslims except their Islam. Therefore they insist, with the pretext of a fight of values, on violating the most holy in Islam to force secularize Muslims. They repeat these violations repeatedly to kill the strong sentiments Muslims have towards Islam.

In the light of all this, it is vital that we as Muslims do not disassociate, but on the contrary place things in the right context. It is the Danish politicians, who should disassociate themselves from the policy, which has created the circumstances that lead to hate, threats, violent attacks and as an ultimate consequence killing, regardless of who the victims may be. We, as Muslim community, can in no way bow down to the pressure and accept the premise that Islam is on trial.

The western values are among the reasons for the problem, and the politicians are well aware of their values being under pressure. Not because of actions in the inner city, since bullets cannot shake values nor conviction. No, contradictions of western values and the lack of ability to create societies in harmony has become clear to many people; as it has become clear that western values and systems have caused humanity huge suffering and catastrophes - this is their biggest crisis. Thoughts, are challenged by thoughts, so we as Muslims have to continue to carry the Islamic thoughts and challenge the false western values and inhuman policy.

Junes Kock
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Scandinavia