This Is Also…

...Norway ;-(

I wrote about Stavanger being

• one of the world most expensive cities.
• one of the most desirable city in Norway.

And also about Norway being

• the world happiest country.
• the best country for mother.
• and they even have the (probably) best prisons!

But it can also be this…

Stella Mwangy has won Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix and thus the right to represent Norway in the Eurovision in Düsseldorf. But the Norwegian/Kenyan has been the target of what many are calling blatant racism, with even a local politician caught in the scandal. Singer Stella Mwangi herself, however, doesn’t want to talk about it.

Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) was forced to shut down the comments section of its website after a string of offensive items were submitted by viewers who clearly don’t think Mwangi is “Norwegian enough” to represent Norway at the Eurovision finals. Mwangi was four years old when she arrived in Norway with her family 20 years ago. She grew up in Eidsvoll, northeast of Oslo.

The most serious racist incident this past week involved a politician from Norway’s Conservative Party (Høyre), who wrote a sarcastic reaction to Mwangi’s victory in the song contest in heavy local dialect on her Facebook page. Roughly translated, Rita Ormbostad, deputy mayor of Aure County on Norway’s west coast, wrote that she would rather have “Sami, polar bears and muskox” as winners and that “that’s what we should sell, not that we are open to asylum seekers!”
Ormbostad later added that she had “sharpened a spear and bought bongo drums” in anticipation of the Eurovision finals where Mwangi will represent Norway. “Maybe I’ll travel to Africa and watch from there, where I can eat wildebeest!”

Stella Mwangi - Haba Haba