Re/aktion: BOYKOT DANMARK

BOYKOT DANMARK is an activist project addressing tolerance in the public space. It is a campaign that encourages reconsidering and questioning ‘Danishness’ and national patriotism.
The campaign was first introduced with the radical shift on the Danish Political agenda after the elections of November 2001, and seems today more relevant due to the rightwing warfare rhetoric and political aggressive actions taken towards refugees from Iraq.
BOYKOT DANMARK encourages the boycott of a Danish mentality witnessed in the public space. Boycotting the discrimination that manifests itself in subtle daily attacks on people with un-Danish habits and expressions. BOYKOT DANMARK boycotts the silent exclusion of people according to their cultural background, ethnicity or religion.

National symbols, especially in Denmark, are used to signify a certain standard of quality. All kinds of products become the ambassadors of a certain Danishness, advocating being Danish as something of exceptional high standard. Everything with a Danish origin has become a product selling a Danish outlook on life.

It is common to use the national flag for a wide range of occasions, from family birthdays to public holidays and national achievements. Another of these National symbols is a red and white chequered tablecloth used for family picnics and in traditional Danish restaurants. The tablecloth represents to an even larger degree the Danish way of life, invoking a sense of solidarity among a cliquishness community.

With the latest political development, these symbols have taken on a new meaning. Red and white now personifies intolerance, ignorance and disrespect. It chastises the dissimilar instead of advocating an open democracy, dialogue and respect.
The latest tightening of the political asylum regulations has already caused serious attention and concern abroad. The image of Denmark as a strong protector of human rights has cracked. With the turnover of the EU leadership to Denmark on the 1st of July 2002, the paradox of addressing an open expanding European Union with closed borders is staggering.

BOYKOT DANMARK is in its primary phase a poster project arguing for a new standard, for a new code of conduct in the public spaces. BOYKOT DANMARK uses the current political situation in Denmark as the catalyst for a new awareness of public behaviour.
The poster campaign is accompanied by a series of stickers, targeting the specific spaces where silent discrimination occurs. The stickers trigger a subconscious response in the person’s memory, reverting back to childhood memories of being reprimanded for wrongful behaviour. The stickers are printed in Danish, English, and Arabic with alternating statements and tone of voice. The sticker, as an interactive part of the project, can be used to make comments in specific urban situations.
http://boykotdanmark.dk