Extreme Right in Denmark

Le Monde.fr : L'extreme droite danoise alimente une xenophobie bien-pensante

Below is a very rough translation of the article starting at paragraph 2 and going down through paragraph 4, I do believe. These paragraphs focus on Denmark, while the other two briefly discusses Norway & Sweden. Again, it's a rough translation for now, and if there are any mistakes, you francophones, please let me know (and try not to laugh to hard at them).

In Denmark, nothing changed: neither since the arrival to power of the Liberal-Conservative government in 2001, nor since the end of the 1990's, when the social-democrats were in power. It is at this time when the Danish People's Party, formed by the extreme-right Pia Kjaersgaard, came to impose her agenda in Danish politics. "The Danish People's Party doesn't accept Denmark transforming into a multi-ethnic society. (...) The free access to Denmark destroys our welfare state" clearly affirms her program. Since, her success hasn't been refuted.

Context

For numberous Danish observators, the scandal of the cartoons of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper - principle publication of the right and the largest printing in the Danish press - has to be put in this context. "It's not by accident that this scandal exploded in Denmark. No other member of the European Union is so islamophobic and xenophobic," says Bashy Quraishy, a Danish of Pakistani origin who presided over ENAR (European Network Against Racism - financed by the European Commission) today.

In 2000, in a newspaper, a German and a British residents in Denmark had described the Danish debate over immigration as "cursory, irrespectful, and insolent." The Danes prefer to say that [they do not have a taboo?]. Pia Kjaersgaard succeeded in making common xenophobic opinions, such as, recently, comparing Muslims to a "cancerous tumor." Or, since 2001, her party (13% in legislative elections in February 2005) is the indispensable supporter of the minority liberal-conservative government in Parlaiment. Her success is explained by, notably, the role played by certain newspapers, such as Jyllands-Posten, in making commonplace negative clichés against the Muslims, according to the Danish Center on Human Rights in their 2005 report. "The story of this week's drama, that is story of a triumph domestic policy that becomes a catastrophy in foreign policy, that's the heart of the problem." says Toger Seidenfaden, Director of editing of the daily of the center left, Politiken.