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DIGITAL DIALOGUE: Arina Aamir is Vice President of Aker Unge Høyre and Sentralt Ungdomsråd. Here he talks to Lena Marie Andreassen, who resigned from SIAN last week. Photo: Fredrik Solstad
Arina Aamir (15) received death threats after criticizing the organization that Lena Marie Andreassen was recently part of. On Monday, they met screen to screen.
– I’m so glad I can say it now, it sounds on the other side of the Teams conversation.
Lena Marie Andreassen is clear about what she thinks about the burning of the Koran from the organization of which she was a member of the board until last week:
– I just think it’s reprehensible.
The 15-year-old you are talking to could feel it in her body when she faced Stop the Islamization of Norway (SIAN). Young conservative politician Arina Aamir was threatened with death and incited on social media after two articles and a television debate with SIAN leader Lars Thorsen.
Now she is sitting on a brown leather sofa with the iPad in front of her and smiling at the woman who has been protesting against Islam since before Aamir was born.
– It is important that we manage to dialogue and respect each other even if we do not agree. Criticism of religion is fine by me, but you have to discuss where the line goes. SIAN’s goal is to provoke people to take actions they regret, says the 15-year-old.
TAKE INITIATIVE FOR DIALOGUE: After she resigned from SIAN, Lena Marie Andreassen (right) got in touch with Arina Aamir on Twitter. “I mean you are a tough and beautiful girl,” he wrote to the 15-year-old. Photo: Screenshot / Private
– You’ve made a serious mistake.
Andreassen was outraged by all the hatred he railed against Aamir. She also expressed this internally in the organization, she says.
– You’re Norwegian, but they don’t want to know anything, Andreassen tells Aamir.
Now he is conforming to the strategy of his former co-activists:
– I already said when I started that we should have a dialogue with Muslim leaders and mosques. It never fell on good soil.
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Arina Aamir (15) denounces threats after SIAN article
Andreassen was beaten when SIAN during a demonstration in Kristiansand in November 2019 burned the Koran in front of several hundred counter-protesters.
That was the beginning of the exit process. A long process, he emphasizes.
– When you stand in the middle, it is really very difficult. I have felt that I have never been good enough and one is well received in such an organization. But sometimes you have to admit to yourself that you have made a serious mistake.
I WAS EXCITED: Arina Aamir was very excited before the conversation with Andreassen. Photo: Fredrik Solstad
– I know I’ve done a lot of stupid things.
– You have made similar statements before, but you are still part of this type of environment. Why should people believe in you this time?
– I know I’ve done a lot of stupid things and that people have a hard time imagining that I won’t return, but I don’t. I’ve seen too much and really learned, although it should have been out a long time ago.
– How were the reactions after you registered?
– You do not want to know. There has been an outcry that has been so serious that the police web patrol has been involved. But I wonder: What are they so afraid of? Is there something you are afraid I should say?
– I live with an alarm of violence, which I hope to deliver soon.
QUESTIONS: Arina Aamir asked Lena Marie Andreassen several questions during the conversation, including why she chose to join SIAN. Photo: Fredrik Solstad
– Strongly agree with you
Andreassen contacted Aamir on Twitter shortly after the announcement. They agreed to meet digitally to demonstrate that it is possible to build a bridge even if you are on the opposite side of the debate.
The 15-year-old speaks enthusiastically, inhaling and exhaling, about why it is important to distinguish between religion and culture.
– There are different cultures in Norway where it is common to exert negative social control, forcibly marry your sons and expose your daughters to coercion. It is a culture that must be resolved with better integration, he says.
“SO MUCH TO CONTRIBUTE”: Lena Marie Andreassen says she’s impressed with 15-year-old Arina Aamir. – He’s very smart and has a lot to contribute, says Andreassen. Photo: Fredrik Solstad
– I very much agree with you. This with negative social control is a culture and of course it is also found in small sects in Norway, says Andreassen.
– When they talk together, it seems that they are quite in agreement. Are you surprised?
– In fact, I am very surprised that we agree as much as we are. But you cannot mention to anyone in SIAN that it is about culture, then they will reply that it is about Islam.
Aamir is also surprised and thinks it shows how important it is to engage in dialogue with dissidents:
– As she says she is critical of Islam, I figured she thought that this culture was part of the religion. I’m glad you knew the difference. In fact, one does not disagree as one would think.
SIAN leader rejects criticism
SIAN leader Lars Thorsen rejects that the organization’s goal is to provoke. He believes that “it sounds as if Aamir acknowledges that Muslims tend to behave unorthodoxly, in the face of what they perceive as an attack on their religion.”
– Burning the Koran as a political tool has several very specific reasons, depending on the context, for example, as a protest against politicians who refuse to protect the interests of the country. But it has intrinsic value to show the public that there are many thousands who are unfit to live here because they cannot behave democratically.
SHOWN: Lars Thorsen, SIAN leader, here from a demonstration outside the Storting in July. Photo: Terje Bringedal
To Andreassen’s accusations that it has worsened after the resignation, the SIAN leader responds:
– Hets is a term that includes some degree of falsehood, and we have not said anything about it that is not based on facts. We have confronted it with the characteristics that it has directed us. It is certainly perceived as stressful, but it is based on facts.
