In June I wrote that Norwegian left-wingers are raising money to buy a full-page ad in the Washington Post to explain that the people of Norway disagrees with the way George W. Bush runs the war on terror. This is a dumb idea for many reasons, the least of which is the actual text of the $100 000 ad. I didn't take it seriously. I only wrote about it for its far-left-wacko entertainment value.

I mean, who'd contribute to a thing like that? Well, how about half of all students in Norway? Without knowing it, and through a fund supposedly meant for international aid.

When Norwegian students pay their semester fee, many of them are asked to contribute 20 NOK (ca $3) to SAIH, a student charity which supports "education projects in Africa and Latin-America". The 20 NOK are included in the semester fee by default. At the University of Oslo, payment is mandatory - but you may ask for a refund afterwards. What kind of person asks for a $3 refund from a charity? 119 000 out of Norway's 210 000 students made the donation in 2003. I'm sure they are more than happy to contribute $6 a year to "education projects in Africa and Latin-America".

Turns out that "education projects in Africa and Latin-America" includes educating George W. Bush about anti-war opinion in Norway.

SAIH presents itself to donors as "a religiously and politically independent organisation":

Our political base is the UN declaration of human rights. We believe that people have the right to participate and define their own needs and solutions towards political, social, cultural and economical liberation. ... SAIH does not have field staff, but supports projects through partner organisations and institutions in Africa and Latin-America. SAIH supports local organisations working within the field of education. SAIH’s definition of education includes both formal and informal education and focuses on higher education, hiv/aids, vocational training, work creation, indigenous empowerment and democracy awareness.

Great! So how come they've contributed 10 000 NOK (ca $1500) to TellHim.no? That's not a lot of money, but it's the principle of it. When students donate to a non-political charity for education in Africa and Latin-America through a semi-official opt-out scheme, they expect it to be spent on education in Africa and Latin-America, not foolish political campaigns in the US. And if SAIH will support this today, what more will they support tomorrow?

I've heard from several students on this. One of them, Tor Erling Bjørstad at NTNU in Trondheim, writes "I am extremely pissed off & I feel cheated ... This is wrong on so many levels that I find it difficult to put into words." A friend of mine at the University of Oslo, Rune-Kristian Viken, is equally pissed off. He paid his semester fee recently, and like everyone else had no intention of asking for the $3 refund. Now he will, and I think he'll think twice about supporting SAIH again. As will many other students who either disagree with the anti-Bush message or believe this is a moronic way to present it.

Student organizations have also been critical. Maria Serafia Fjellstad at the NTNU Student Parliament says to Adresseavisen, "this is very unfortunate, and has nothing to do with the work of SAIH. I and other students have donated 20 NOK for humanitarian work, not an anti-Bush campaign." The National Union of Norwegian Students (NSU) agrees, and fears that SAIH has undermined its own credibility.

Political leader of SAIH Eirik Gulseth defends the decision: "The American war on terror is one of today's largest international conflicts. As an international organization SAIH should have a presence in that." But that's missing the point. SAIH has obligations to their donors about how they spend their money, and doubly so because of the opt-out nature of the donation. It doesn't matter if most of the money goes where it's supposed to. Why should anyone trust SAIH with their money again?

Students are not the only ones with a reason to feel cheated. Most of SAIH's funding actually comes from NORAD, the Foreign Ministry's development agency. Every NOK given by a student is matched with 4,50 from NORAD, adding to a total of 21.4 million NOK in 2003. I doubt NORAD approves of their money being wasted on a controversial political campaign in the US, any more than the students do.

These guys had it all - regular donations from NORAD and Norwegian students, which they were free to spend on all kinds of worthy projects. And they jeopardized that to pay for a political ad? What were they thinking? They may have assumed that Bush is so unpopular in Norway that it's not really "political" to disagree with him, but that's an arrogant assumption. It's only partly true here in Norway, and it certainly isn't in the US, where the ad will be interpreted as support for Kerry. And apart from the political angle, the whole project is meaningless, a waste of money.

The only thing for SAIH to do now is apologize and take back the money they gave TellHim.no. Anything less and they're finished as a "non-political organization" supported by 120 000 Norwegian students.

Update: SAIH has announced that they will withdraw their support after all, but they also "deny incorrect accusations that the support for the Tell Him campaign would have been an abuse of aid funds. SAIH spends its money on development projects, administration and information. The donation to the Tell Him campaign would only have made up 0,4 percent of the information budget." Which is a lame politician-like apology. "We're sorry that we were caught." I don't think this would restore my trust in SAIH if I was a student. Which political campaign will this "non-political organization" support next?

Thanks for covering this case, Bjørn.

As you surely can imagine, I'm in no way satisified with their excuse, nor their appology. First thing Monday, I will ask for my refund. I've also sent them an email stating why I demand a refund.

I will continue to ask for refunds the rest of the time I attend UiO.

I was quite annoyed about forced charity and just because of that I wished to get my money back. I didnt do anything about it as it was such a little amount. I do not wish to support a charity where the leaders can use it for their own political reasons. I need to find that piece of paper now and write why im asking for the money back

The fact that they withdrew the support is something I had already expected by the time this was first mentioned in the media.

What really makes my blood boil is the fact that the board of SAIH naturally assumed that this was a just cause and something they could get away with. What kind of people and what kind of thinking is behind such a decision? How detached from reality do you have to be to do something like this?

The number of factors that makes me angry is almost too many to list, but lets just go through some of it.

1) The ad campaign was co-started by the radical norwegian political party SV (Socialist Left Party)
2) It specifically targets a politician in another democratic country
3) It claims to speak on behalf of the norwegian people
4) The website of the campaign features a picture of George W. Bush where he appears to be holding his right hand up, resembling Hitler's typical gesture. Do these guys even want to be taken seriously?
5) The announcement of withdrawing the support denies all accusations, which makes you wonder why they actually withdrew it at all, since they appear to think it's perfectly OK. In other words, they are not sorry, far from. They even appear to be annoyed by the protests.

As a student at UiO, I will not trust these people with my money again. The damage is done, the confidence in SAIH is shattered, completely broken.

I will also encourage the norwegians who are reading this to tell your fellow students about it, talk about it in class, or e-mail them, make them aware of it so that they can make their own decision with regards to the refund.

At the bottom of the page linked below, you will find the form that you have to send to get your refund. Fill it out, and you will get your money+postage back. Myself I will include a short letter explaining my frustration with it and I encourage everybody to do the same. SAIH needs a reality check.

http://www.saih.no/Norsk/Om_SAIH/SAIH-tierne/Studentinfo/index.html#

It appears SAIH has made statements already early this week:
http://www.lnu.no/pages/nyhet.asp?nr=4842

Written 08/18 it says:
_________________________________
"Representatives from SAIH will not admit to any self-criticism. Political leader Eirik Gulseth points out that they have always been involved in international conflicts. "It is our duty, as part of society, to speak up when things are heading in the wrong direction" he writes in a letter to newspaper Dagsavisen. In the letter he defends the contribution."
_________________________________

I don't know the exact day this was printed in Dagsavisen, and I tried searching their site, but I couldn't find it. If someone can, that would be really helpful.

However, I think it's safe to conclude already at this point that there will be no apologies from the ideologists at SAIH. Their agenda is obviously political.

Mail sent to SAIH. Wish more people will mail them

This is realy outrageous, I will demand my refund + mail them. If SAIH wants to make political statements they should find better targets, like the government of Sudan, North Korea or their likes.

Protest going on against the visit of Pakistani extremist Qazi Hussain Ahmed:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/002926.php

SAIH stepped over the line. Their quick withdrawal is a real give-away. But... worse things happen at sea. No one is dead. I'm probably not going to claim a refund of my 3$. I think the system is somewhat questionable too. Mandatory charities?? It's often called tax. But it's too little to make a fuss about in my opinion.

I read through the text of the ad once more. I agree with you Bjørn that the text is a bit off the mark. I know a few people with positions in the left side political parties. (I know right side people too, so don't take it as an indication of my political standing)I'll ask them if they really think the "Norwegian people's convinced that pacifism is the right way to "fight" terrorism"

From your position within the more Hagen-friendly camp you should at least be pleased by the fact that the left side is splashing out campaign funds abroad instead of using them to rally support of Norwegian voters.

Ali: There's been enough Islam discussions in the other threads. Please stay on topic.

i'd like to know your guys take on this qazi ahmed guy visiting your country. i put a link to his pakistani interview on the previous thread.

Anders it is not about the money,its about making a point that may get their attention if enough people mail them.

bjorn last night charles put up a thread on the 527 groups [what they take in and what they spend]its interesting in how moveon.org has spent almost 8 million they didnt take in, while the swift boat guys spent a portion of what little they took in donations. as for foriegners supporting Kerry i think that it will be his downfall. i say this because what i have observed in real life [offline]is that we dont want a leader who is a puppet [owes for support] of non americans. just like a week or so ago i talked to people who were really pissed about those lawmakers who invited election observers from the un

I mailed Bjørn about this case last evening shortly after finding out about it, in a state of rather incoherent rage. I'd first of all like to thank him for decrypting my ramblings and covering the case.

I have read the "apology" from SAIH posted today (dated yesterday, but it certainly was not there yesterday evening). It appears rather forced, and shows an apparent lack of insight into why people are reacting. Let us take a short look at a few of the things that have been said by SAIH.

(Let me in advance apologise that all the links are to Norwegian text.)

The donation to the Tell Him campaign would only have made up 0,4 percent of the information budget.

(source: http://www.saih.no/Detailed/1989.html)

This quote misses the point entirely, and shows precisely why SAIH should not be trusted in the future, either. The issue here is not the amount of money SAIH wanted to donate to the Tell Him project. The issues here, as I see them, are the following;

Many students went to anti-war rallies last year when the war was looming. [...] Like the rest of the Norwegian population, most students are against the war in Iraq.

(source: http://www.saih.no/Detailed/1950.html)

A majority of Norwegian students may indeed be "against the war in Iraq". And so what? If Norwegian students want to protest against the war in Iraq, they may take action, and can donate, either singly or collectively, to an organisation publicly stating its aim of protesting against the war in Iraq. This is not SAIH's job, and SAIH has no mandate whatsoever to carry out such a stealth-protest on the students' behalf.

Like many other students, I have seen no reason to opt out of paying NOK 20 to SAIH twice a year. It's a mere pittance, and I'm a soft-hearted guy, and it's for a good cause. Right? This year I will have to demand my money back. This may not be entirely trivial, as NTNU does not have the same "refund" system in place as UiO. Instead, the student may choose to pay NOK 20 less than the specified sum. However, I shall certainly contact SAIH directly and demand a refund.

It's the principle of it. Whether I am for or against Mr. Bush's re-election bid (I am, for the record, against) is quite irrelevant. This is none of SAIH's business, and as long as they do not clearly understand this, they will not get my support again.

Tor: Your feelings very much echo my own here, and I'm glad there's others confirming my reaction not being that off...

The decision itself to support tellhim.no strikes me as amazing, I simply don't have other words for it. It is so obviously not in line with their stated aims. I guess we can speculate forever about how they still came to that decision, but obviously the political views of the board or whoever distributes the money influenced it.

And to assume that norwegian students would simply accept the use of their money for a political campaign, is to some extent scary. Who are they to impose their views on people who contributed to development projects and education?

And the last straw (as you can probably notice, and I'm not trying to hide it, all these factors together only infuses my disappointment and anger) is the fact that the statement for withdrawing the support is so obviously defiant and arrogant. It literally states that they have aquitted themselves of what they label "false" charges.

I've translated the withdrawal statement, judge for yourselves:
___________________________________________

"SAIH disproves incorrect allegations that the tellhim.no support would be abuse of development funds. The money SAIH has collected is being used for development aid projects, administration and information. The money for the tellhim.no campaign would only have consisted of 0.4% of information budget."
___________________________________________

Guys, that org is a piker - Nader's got you beat by a mile.

He started an org - something beginning w/a P--PERC? - which is funded nationwide by college fees. The kids don't know, they/their parents/or me, the taxpayer, just pony up the bread.

---

It was one of the toughest fights Jorun Lyngstad had experienced during her time as a Norwegian police officer. A wood grouse, Europe’s biggest game bird, attacked Lyngstad during a Wednesday bike ride in the woods, ramming the off-duty officer from the side and sending her flying through the air, local media reported. ---

Well, beats Jimmah' Carter and the rabbit during his presidency.

Sandy P. -- PIRG is the name you want, "Public Interest Research Group". As a college student in Missouri, we had a similar opt-out addition to our fees to support MOPIRG. And, like the Norwegian students above, I thought, "What the hell, it's only a few bucks, and it's for a good cause." Well, I no longer have confidence that the PIRGs are non-partisan or for a good cause. Unfortunately, I only found this out recently; I haven't been a student for a long time.

Here's the US PIRG site.

Here's the MOPIRG site. That seems even less non-partisan than the US PIRG site. 'Course, in them days we didn't have web sites to look these things up. You young 'uns have it easy. We had to program our computers using only 1s. Life was hard, then...

Radley Balko's TCS article on Ralph Nader's PIRG scam, "Public Shakedown Artist."

Eirik Gulseth of SAIH is certainly in denial, and also stuck in his own delusion. While admitting that the campaign is too controversial, he says this is because of the method of which the message is conveyed.

Not necessarily the message itself, then, which is obviously not in accordance with neither SAIH's presentation of itself nor the political conviction of many of those donating funds to the organisation.

Thanks, guys, that's it!

Me's no young'un. Except to my 92 y.o. grandmother.

I mailed SAIH on Monday requesting a refund and summarizing in short my reasons for doing so. Today I got an e-mail reply from Eirik Gulseth, the leader of SAIH.

Vi har tatt studenters bekymring til etterretning, og på bakgrunn av dette valgt å trekke støtten til kampanjen Tell Him. Reaksjonene på vår tilslutning har vist at kampanjens form er for splittende og kontroversiell. Vi lytter til din og andre studenters bekymring. Deres meninger er viktige for oss. Vi vil selvfølgelig etterkomme ditt ønske om å få refundert dine 20 kr.

That's just sad. Whether you like Bush or not (and people shouldn't have to admit they dislike Bush to be heard in this matter), SAIH were way off the mark on this one. Politics and personal convictions got in the way. Apologizing shouldn't be that hard... that is, unless they're not really sorry.

The ad is now posted. It's about our freedom of speech. No one was forced to sign or donate to get the ad posted.

Thanks for that insightful comment! It makes interesting reading, especially when I need a cash advance.

http://visa.finances-inco.com productionriseshifted

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Armies of Liberation: Skipping around the blogosphere, August 27, 2004 02:41 AM

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