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The Norwegian media is lazy and indifferent to the atrocities in the world. Instead, they flooded us with meaningless celebrity news. The Norwegian people deserve the best, and they are hungry for information.
For three days – from May 23-25 - famous activists, journalists and family members of dissidents from all over the world came to us, to Norway, to Oslo to talk about human rights, and how tyrants threaten our free world and expand their empires. From China to Iran, from Saudi Arabia to Ukraine.
They came to us here on the basis of an extensive effort by the Freedom Forum in Oslo and the Human Rights Foundation to tell the world their stories and warn us. Few Norwegian journalists have written about them.
The harrowing and inspiring stories they shared have transcended the role of the Norwegian media. why?
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A view of Norwegian journalists
Reuters Institute lead author Nick Neumann wrote a report in 2017 showing that most media outlets in Norway are to the left of the city center.
I write and report on Iran myself, and have followed the news coverage of Iran closely in the Norwegian media. For example, they have not written a word about the anti-regime protests in which people are shouting “Death to the dictator” in Iran. This has been happening in recent weeks. Incidentally, these demonstrations were reported by Reuters, among others.
Read also: If Iranian voters take to the streets, they risk death. This is their protest
What they write about every time is the killing of an Iranian government official. They follow a recipe they’ve always followed: it’s as if they follow the same recipe over and over again. Ordinary people in Iran don’t matter much, but government officials do. The regime in Iran is also very anti-imperialist and anti-Israel.
Writing about bad imperialists is something we are very good at here in Norway. Israel is also considered a kind of colonial power according to this recipe.
Citizens in the Middle East do not always follow the Norwegian media’s view of the world. We have our own problems and life experiences when it comes to imperialists. For example, Iranians in general are very hostile to Russia now. This is because the country is being severely exploited by the Putin regime, for example through the highly exploitative 20-year agreement that Iran has reached with Russia. But in the West it is not mentioned. Here he focuses only on US sanctions.
The imperialists who make our lives hell in the Middle East are not always the same imperialists that Norwegian journalists consider.
Iraqis, for example, have been demonstrating since 2019 against the imperialist influence of Iran and for greater autonomy. The same thing in Lebanon. In the past, Iran has also been invaded by Russia, which has seized large parts of Iran through shameful historical contracts.
But Norwegian journalists must pressure us into their anti-US and anti-Israel templates. For example, news of the execution of the Revolutionary Guards general appeared on the front page of VG this week, while Iranians risked their lives and shouted “death to the dictatorship” in the streets.
Without mentioning this in a word.
Here you can read more comments from Mina Bay
Mina Bay
A Norwegian-Iranian social debater and author, she has a refugee background and a computer science education from the University of Oslo.
She likes to use experiences from her own life as a woman in Iran and later as an immigrant woman in Norway in her comments.
Pai is concerned with women’s liberation from cultural, religious and traditional tyranny – and from identity and belonging.
Several powerful voices
Many inspiring stories were told at the Freedom Forum in Oslo.
And Saudi Arabia, Areej Al-Sadhan, spoke about her brother, who is imprisoned in Saudi Arabia because of a tweet only. A crying glacier spoke of the forgotten freedom movement in Hong Kong. He told Uyghur Roshan Abbas, whose family members are imprisoned in a Chinese labor camp, how Uyghur women are raped, forced to have abortions and forcibly sterilized.
Read also: It’s time to stand up to Chinese bullies
And last but not least: Iranian freedom fighter Masih Alinejad, who is forced to walk around with a bodyguard 24 hours after Iranian authorities attempt to kidnap her in New York, as revealed by the FBI this year.
You have become the voice of millions of Iranians. Her Instagram account has around seven million followers. I talked about how the regime shut down the internet to kill protesters in Iran.
Read also: She has dedicated her life to being a voice for the voiceless
At the Freedom Forum in Oslo, we heard how tyrants imitate each other’s methods. They use violence, execution, coercion and also propaganda, sports washing and more. For example, FIFA’s role in sports laundry in Qatar was discussed by Lise Klaveness in a panel discussion. It was a proud moment.
Also Read: A Football President To Be Proud Of
Incidentally, Palestinian activists have been given one hour this year to talk about their rights, which is commendable. It is a pity that no one in the Norwegian media comes to meet and interview these ordinary heroes, while we are instead drowning in meaningless stories about celebrities in Norwegian newspapers.
These are the columnists for NetVision
I conclude with what the Ukrainian-born Russian Marina Ovsianikova said. She is the journalist who became world famous after she, in a live broadcast during a news broadcast on Russian TV, raised a poster and said that Russia had started the war:
“After my protest against the live TV broadcast, my children said I destroyed the family’s life. They kept asking me why I did what I did. I want my children to live in a free country that does not attack neighboring countries at night and does not threaten the world with nuclear weapons.
She was here in Oslo without anyone noticing.