Abstract
This chapter addresses the new forms of ethno-nationalisms that are challenging (gender) equality and solidarity in the Nordic region. It explores the intersectional dilemmas of gender politics following growing immigration and the ‘refugee crisis’, reflecting critically upon the links between exclusionary nationalism and feminism. The theoretical and methodological approach integrates key concepts from theories on social movements, citizenship and gender, with special emphasis on intersectionality at the interface of immigration, gender and race/ethnicity. The empirical section on gender, welfare and neo-nationalism addresses the conditions for citizens’ activism against racism, discrimination and ‘othering’ from within the particular Scandinavian context. The Danish case study analyses how right-wing populism influences politics and acts of solidarity contending with anti-immigration and anti-Muslim politics. The focus is on the agency, goals, strategies and motivations of activist groups, looking at the role of women activists and whether gender issues and feminist politics are part of the anti-racist strategies and claims. It examines the potential for forging transversal coalitions of solidarity against racism and discrimination in the Danish context. The perspective is to discuss the conditions for fostering inclusive solidarity against exclusionary nationalism in the particular Nordic context with a focus on intersectional relations between immigration, gender and race/ethnicity.
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Notes
- 1.
This study was part of the comparative research project Eurosphere: Diversity and the European public sphere. It was based on elite interviews with political actors in EU member states, Turkey and Norway. The results are published in Siim and Mokre 2013.
- 2.
The first strategy was presented by the Greek Golden Dawn and the Bulgarian National Union, the second presented by the Freedom Party of Austria and the Italian Forza Nuova, and the third by the two Nordic right-wing populist parties, the Danish People’s Party and the True Finns (Sauer et al. 2017, 104–121).
- 3.
The selected parties, the Danish People’s Party, the Dutch Party for Freedom, AfD, the Italian Lega Nord, the Croatian Party for Rights and the Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary, represented Northern, Continental, Southern and Central Eastern European countries.
- 4.
The three parties are the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), the French Front National (FN) and the Italian Lega North (LN) (cf. Farris 2017).
- 5.
The study was part of the European research project Hate-speech and populist othering through the racism, age and gender looking-glass, Siim, Krasteva and Saarinen, (Eds.) 2018. Citizens’ activism and solidarity movements in contemporary Europe: Contending with populism, Palgrave Macmillan.
- 6.
The original analysis included focus-group interviews with activists from eight anti-discrimination and pro-migrant organizations and face-to-face interviews with ten activists (cf. Meret and Siim 2018).
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
The analysis and results in this section are all based on empirical data from the RAGE-project Hate-speech and populist othering through the racism, age and gender looking-glass (cf. Siim and Meret 2018).
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
Trampoline House started the campaign for the children of Sjælsmark. This encompasses several ways to act: street-level demonstrations, mobilization through social and traditional media, and the launching of a citizens’ proposal in December 2018 aimed at changing the law. In May 2019, it reached the necessary 50,000 signatures required to be discussed in Parliament: https://www.asylboernsfremtid.dk/borgerforslag/.
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Siim, B. (2021). Gender, Citizenship and Intersectionality: Contending with Nationalisms in the Nordic Region. In: Keskinen, S., Stoltz, P., Mulinari, D. (eds) Feminisms in the Nordic Region. Gender and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53464-6_3
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