Due to the rise in extremist sentiment, hate and propaganda over the past decade, a number of Nordic cities are now dealing with the dilemma of preventing polarisation, hate speech and threats towards minorities, while upholding every citizen’s right to freedom of expression. It is clear from our conversations with our member cities that many of them are experiencing a concerning rise in hate speech that may amplify division amongst citizens and groups and drive certain individuals towards extremist influences and actions. Furthermore, cities are concerned that hate and threats towards politicians, professionals and citizens voicing their opinions in the public sphere will limit their willingness to take part in public debate.

Hate Speech or Freedom of Expression?

Recent extremist incidents in Nordic cities have spurred efforts to prevent hate towards minorities. Copenhagen (DK) and Kristiansand (NO) have experienced Quran burnings at authorised public protests. A Mosque in the city of Bærum (NO) was attacked by a gunman who claimed to be inspired by white supremacist attacks in the United States and New Zealand. Malmö (SE) has tackled incidents of anti-Semitism, while Oslo (NO) has seen a rise in hate speech toward its Muslim community. Addressing these issues requires cities to address dilemmas around the best approach to protecting those targeted without infringing on anyone’s fundamental democratic rights.

In the Nordics, democracy is defined by the core values of our welfare states that ensure protection from physical and social risks, trust in our governmental institutions, fundamental freedom for all, and equality under the law. It can therefore be argued that in an ideal democracy, anyone, regardless of their political affiliations, should be allowed to express themselves and speak freely even if that speech is considered hateful. Restricting hate speech can be seen as a limitation on freedom of expression that undermines democracy as it curbs the capacity of citizens to express their views and prevents them from participating fully in the democratic process.

Conversely, hate speech can be more harmful to the democratic process as it is used to undermine the political status and to violate the rights of certain groups. The increasing exposure to hate speech forms our understanding, which may create prejudices and make certain groups see others as inferior. In this sense, hate speech may lead or contribute to hate crimes and thereby be a threat to democratic unity, social cohesion, the protection of equal rights, and the rule of law.

Nordic cities are continuously addressing these arguments and assessing whether taking measures to prevent hate speech becomes censorship and infringes on the right to free speech.

The Rise of Far-Right Extremism

The experienced rise in hate coincides with the rise and mainstreaming of far-right ideology and practice. In the past five years, the world has experienced a significant shift to the right, challenging the values of liberal democracy. Right-wing populism has taken its place in mainstream politics and in the governing bodies of three of the world’s most populous countries – the United States, Brazil and India. Democratic nations have turned to unconventional leaders that represent entirely contrasting ideals to those that encouraged global collaboration over the past two decades.

The president of the United States, a position often referred to as the leader of the free world, has not shied away from making inflammatory remarks about minority groups while violent attacks fuelled by white supremacy are increasing under his presidency. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) elevated racially and ethnically motivated attacks to a ‘national threat priority’ in 2020. The United States is not unique in this phenomenon. The chief of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency labelled far-right extremism as the greatest threat to democracy in Germany, and all over Europe we are experiencing an increase in xenophobia. This is particularly evident in the political and public response to refugees and asylum seekers.

The Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish intelligence agencies have all elevated the threat level from right-wing extremism in 2020. While Jihadist movements still pose significant threats, the number of violent Jihadist-motivated terrorist attacks decreased in 2019, whereas terrorist attacks in the Western world carried out by violent right-wing extremists have increased.

More people systematically use violence, threats and harassment against politicians, other social representatives and minority groups. This tendency signals a rise in extremist sentiments and can be a breeding ground for recruitment. Some of the driving forces behind far-right extremism mentioned by the Swedish intelligence agency are radical nationalism, racism and xenophobia, anti-Semitism, exclusion, segregation, anti-feminism or a pure contempt of women. Animal rights activism, climate activism, LGBTQ+ issues, gender equality and equal rights can also cause individuals in or on the outskirts of extremist communities to act.

The national intelligence and security agencies in the Nordics consider it most likely that attacks will be carried out by small groups or lone actors. These perpetrators are likely to become radicalised or prone to violent action by disinformation, hate and extremist propaganda shared on social media and in public and encrypted online forums, making it increasingly difficult to detect and track.

Our Safe City Actions

Defend democracy and reduce extremist hate

To prevent hate speech, polarisation, and potential violent extremist actions, some of our member cities have initiated the following actions:

The Norwegian city of Kristiansand is developing new initiatives for the strategy ‘A city for all’ to promote diversity and inclusion, and to prevent hate speech targeting minorities, while the city of Skien (NO) is taking action to increase dialogue between minority and majority populations through new initiatives. The Danish city of Aalborg (DK) is exploring new practices to reach individuals with anti-democratic sentiments in religious and far-right extremist environments and will further explore how to prevent extremism amongst people from higher socio-economic backgrounds.

The capital city Copenhagen (DK) is taking action to develop new ways of establishing dialogue with environments and groups at risk of extremism in order to increase trust in the authorities and prevent further radicalisation. Fredrikstad (NO) works to promote democracy and citizenship and counter extremism and hate through universal preventive programmes in arenas such as schools, youth clubs and libraries. The Norwegian city of Bærum wants to gain a better understanding of the root-causes of extremism and takes action to prevent hate speech and hate crime, and to identify how to prevent right wing extremism on a local level.

In Nordic Safe Cities, we help cities prevent radicalisation and violence by taking action to reduce the level of hate, threats and propaganda from extremist groups. We further help the cities navigate the difficult space between hate and free speech. Together with the cities, we explore how cities uphold free speech without protecting hate speech, and how cities defend democracy and everyone’s right to speak up without defending extremist groups.

Nordic Safe Cities further sets out to explore how we can adjust the existing prevention models to better capture and prevent right-wing extremism. We will start by giving all cities the opportunity to better understand the methodologies, dynamics and propaganda of the far-right and alt-right groups. With this, we hope to help our cities adjust or transform their current practices to address the threat from far-right extremist environments. Specifically, we aim to identify and pilot new practices that cities can use to prevent and counter far-right extremism.