Danish Free Press Society

Last updated
Danish Free Press Society
Formation2004
Type Freedom of expression advocacy group
HeadquartersDenmark
Chairman
Aia Fog
Website trykkefrihed.dk

The Danish Free Press Society (Danish : Trykkefrihedsselskabet) is a Danish organisation founded in 2004 and originally led by Lars Hedegaard, that works in support of freedom of expression. [1] It presents an annual award, the Sappho Award. [1] The organisation has a publishing house, Trykkefrihedsselskabets Bibliotek, which focuses on research and criticism of Islam, and the organisation had about 800 members in 2010. [1]

Contents

Background and activities

The organisation was founded in 2004 by Lars Hedegaard, David Gress, Kai Sørlander, Søren Krarup and Jesper Langballe, [2] after Danish PEN objected to admit Hedegaard as a member due to his writings on Islam. [3] The organisation published an online magazine, Sappho, that was edited by Helle Merete Brix [4] and Katrine Winkel Holm. [1] Winkel Holm took over as chairman of the organisation in 2014 after Hedegaard was subjected to an assassination attempt. [5]

In 2009, the organisation reprinted the Muhammad cartoon drawn by Kurt Westergaard. [6]

The organisation formerly counted Venstre politician Søren Pind and Conservative politician Naser Khader among its advisory board members, but both left the organisation in 2009 after controversial comments on Muslims by the chairman Lars Hedegaard. [7]

The organisation was extended internationally with the International Free Press Society in 2009, [8] [9] and has been described as a part of the counter-jihad movement. [9] [10] [11]

The Sappho Award has been awarded to people including Mark Steyn, Thilo Sarrazin, Ezra Levant, Roger Scruton, Olga Romanova and Tommy Robinson. [12]

Aia Fog became chairman of the organisation in 2018. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lars Barfoed</span> Danish politician

Lars Barfoed is a Danish politician representing the Conservative People's Party and was the party's leader from 2011 to 7 August 2014. He was Justice Minister of Denmark from February 2010 to October 2011, and Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark from January to October 2011. He also served as Minister for Family and Consumer Affairs from 18 February 2005 to 14 December 2006.

Democratic Muslims is a political organization in Denmark founded by Naser Khader, Yildiz Akdogan and other Muslims in February 2006 after the escalation of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Its goal is a peaceful co-existence of Islam and democracy. Its original name was Moderate Muslims, but they changed their name quickly after being founded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kurt Westergaard</span> Danish cartoonist (1935–2021)

Kurt Westergaard was a Danish cartoonist. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, wearing a bomb in his turban as a part of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which triggered several assassinations and murders committed by Muslim extremists around the world, diplomatic conflicts, and state-organized riots and attacks on Western embassies with several dead in Muslim countries. After the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard received numerous death threats and was a target of assassination attempts. As a result, he was under constant police protection.

The International Free Press Society (IFPS), founded in 2009, is a creation of the Danish Free Press Society. The stated purpose of IFPS "is to defend freedom of expression wherever and by whomever it is threatened". It has been described as a key component of the counter-jihad movement.

Jesper Marquard Langballe was a Danish Lutheran priest, author and politician who represented the right-wing populist Danish People's Party in the Danish parliament, Folketinget, from 2001 to 2011. Langballe was elected in the Viborg constituency. His son Christian Langballe was elected to the Folketinget in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anders Gravers Pedersen</span> Danish anti-Islam activist

Anders Gravers Pedersen is a Danish anti-Islam activist. He is the chairman and founder of Stop Islamisation of Denmark (SIAD), and leader of Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE). He also established transatlantic connections with Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamization of Nations (SION).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lars Hedegaard</span> Danish journalist and author

Lars Hedegaard is a Danish author, historian, editor, journalist and critic of Islam. He established the International Free Press Society in 2009, an extension of the Danish Free Press Society founded in 2004, of which he served as chairman until 2014. Hedegaard was the subject of an assassination attempt in 2013, after which he has lived under police protection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Danish general election</span>

General elections were held in the Kingdom of Denmark on 5 June 2019 to elect all 179 members of the Folketing; 175 in Denmark proper, two in the Faroe Islands and two in Greenland. The elections took place ten days after the European Parliament elections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Right (Denmark)</span> Political party in Denmark

Nye Borgerlige is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. Formed by Pernille Vermund and Peter Seier Christensen in 2015, it first entered the Folketing in 2019 with four seats and again in 2022 with six. After three defections in the first months after the election, by March 2023 the party's number of seats in the Folketing was reduced to three.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rasmus Paludan</span> Danish-Swedish political activist (born 1982)

Rasmus Paludan is a Danish-Swedish politician and lawyer, who is the founder and leader of the Danish political party Stram Kurs. Paludan has become known for his extremist views, including that Islam should be banned and that non-Western citizens should be deported from Denmark. He is considered by political scientists and media to be far-right and a right-wing extremist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DBU Bredde</span> Danish football organization

DBU Bredde is a special interest organization for grassroots association football in Denmark and the six regional associations under the Danish Football Association (DBU); DBU Bornholm, DBU Copenhagen, DBU Funen, DBU Jutland, DBU Lolland-Falster and DBU Zealand. DBU Bredde is one of three formal members of the Danish FA, is subject to the laws and regulations of the national association, and elects two out of seven members to the board of the Danish FA. The nation-wide organization consists of a board of representatives and a board of directors, representing their member's political and strategic interests towards the Danish FA, men's professional football represented by Divisionsforeningen (DF), women's elite football represented by Kvindedivisionsforeningen (KDF), referees represented by Danish Football Referee Association (DFU), and the national and local municipalities. Areas of co-operation between the members include the education of coaches and referees, counseling on club development, and volunteering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikkel Bjørn</span> Danish politician

Mikkel Bjørn Sørensen is a Danish politician and former teacher. In November 2022, he became a member of the Folketing for the Nye Borgerlige (NB) party, but in January 2023 changed his party allegiance to the Danish People's Party (DF). Formerly, in 2016-2021 he was the first national chairman of Nye Borgerlige's youth wing. Growing up near Juelsminde in Jutland, Bjørn has since 2022 lived in Nyborg on Funen.

The International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) is an international counter-jihad organization that was originally founded in 2006, and which has spanned over twenty countries. Central to the organization has been Edward S. May of the Gates of Vienna blog, Alain Wagner and Christine Brim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Weidinger (politician)</span>

Andreas Sebastian Weidinger is a Danish politician and entrepreneur. Weidinger is a member of the Municipal Council in Gentofte Municipality, elected for the Conservative People's Party. From 2016 to 2018, Andreas Weidinger was national chairman of Conservative Youth.

For Frihed is a Danish organisation that supports free speech, and opposes what it sees as Islamisation and fundamentalist Islam in Denmark. The organisation was originally part of the Pegida movement, and is part of the broader counter-jihad movement.

Henrik Ræder Clausen is a Danish politician. Clausen has been noted as a critic of Islam, and formerly published the news blog EuropeNews.

Kim Møller is a Danish blogger and former editor of the political news blog Uriasposten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katrine Winkel Holm</span> Danish theologian (born 1970)

Katrine Winkel Holm is a Danish theologian, priest and author. She co-founded the Danish Free Press Society in 2004, of which she became deputy chairman, and later chairman in 2014. She has been a member of the board of Danish state broadcaster DR since 2006.

Helle Merete Brix is a Danish author, journalist and literary critic. She has been noted as a critic of Islam since the late 1990s, and was formerly associated with the Danish Free Press Society as editor of its online magazine Sappho until 2010, and was later a part of the Lars Vilks Committee.

Morten Uhrskov Jensen is a Danish politician and leader of the national conservative party Danish Unity.da

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Nielsen, Peter-Kühn (28 April 2014). "Trykkefrihedsselskabet af 2004". Den store danske (in Danish).
  2. ↑ "Hvad er Trykkefrihedsselskabet?". TV 2 (in Danish). Ritzau. 5 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Pagh-Schlegel, Peter (13 March 2015). "Trykkefrihedsselskabet: Vi har brudt isen". Jyllands-Posten (in Danish).
  4. ↑ Remar, Dorte (12 January 2008). "Den kæmpende mand". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish).
  5. ↑ Kott, Sarah (28 February 2014). "Lars Hedegaard går af som formand for Trykkefrihedsselskabet". Jyllands-Posten (in Danish).
  6. ↑ "Muhammed-karikaturer trykkes opp på nytt". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). 8 April 2009.
  7. ↑ "Pind forlader også Trykkefrihedsselskabet". Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). Ritzau. 22 December 2009.
  8. ↑ Sedgwick, Mark (2019). Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy. Oxford University. p. 175. ISBN   9780190877613.
  9. 1 2 Pertwee, Ed (October 2017). 'Green Crescent, Crimson Cross': The Transatlantic 'Counterjihad' and the New Political Theology (PDF). London School of Economics. pp. 129, 267.
  10. ↑ Othen, Christopher (2018). Soldiers of a Different God: How the Counter-Jihad Movement Created Mayhem, Murder and the Trump Presidency. Amberley. p. 99. ISBN   9781445678009.
  11. ↑ Berntzen, Lars Erik (2019). Liberal Roots of Far Right Activism: The Anti-Islamic Movement in the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 70. ISBN   9781000707960.
  12. ↑ Lakmann, Cathrine (19 January 2020). "Dansk pris til britisk højrefløjsaktivist: 'Han er en ledende ytringsfrihedsforkæmper'". DR (in Danish).
  13. ↑ Christensen, Anders Brønd (19 March 2018). "Trykkefrihedsselskabet får ny formand". Altinget (in Danish).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.