Wednesday, January 3, 2007

National anthem in Nazi propaganda?

Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs promises action after a group of neo-Nazis have used Norway's national anthem, "Ja Vi Elsker", in a propaganda video.
The video has been placed on the popular web site YouTube and shows images of various European cities combined with Nazi symbolism.
A neo-Nazi group calling themselves Nordreich are behind the video.
This is an unacceptable way of using the national anthem.
You can see the video here.

Not "real" neo-Nazis

Nordreich is in fact a virtual community linked to an online role-playing game, and their "Head of State" says they are not really neo-Nazis.

The leader of Nordreich, one "Magnus Nordir, Head of State of the Folksish Reich of Vinland", ridiculed Norway's Foreign Ministry and press in a statement Wednesday for misinformed efforts to curtail free speech in connection with a game.

"Our 'group' is based in a popular online nation simulator/Role playing game called Cyber Nations; located at http://www.cybernations.net The game consists of tens of thousands of players, of which participate in several player created alliances of all different types of affiliations, be they conservative, communist, nationalist, libertarian, or "far right"," Nordir wrote in a forum at Cyber Nations, aiming his statement at the government and press of Norway.

Erik Johannessen, an active Cyber Nations player from a different alliance, said that Nordreich is not at all likely to be a neo-Nazi group, but that there were Nazi elements there who used the platform to recruit to extreme right-wing organizations.

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