Siv Jensen

Siv Jensen

Leader of the Progress Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 
5 October 2006
Preceded by Carl I. Hagen
Member of Parliament
for Oslo
Incumbent
Assumed office 
15 September 1997
Born 1 June 1969 (1969-06-01) (age 41)
Oslo, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Political party Progress Party
Residence Oslo, Norway
Alma mater NHH
Occupation Politician
Profession Economist
Religion Christianity[1]

Siv Jensen (born 1 June 1969) is a Norwegian conservative-liberal politician, and the current leader of the Progress Party. She was the Progress Party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 2009 parliamentary election.

Contents

Early and personal life

Jensen was born in the capital city of Oslo, Norway to self-employed Tore Jensen (1926–1989), and Monica Kjelsberg (born 1939),[2] owners of a shoe store during her childhood. While she holds that her neighbourhood was a nice place to grow up, her home was the scene of numerous burglaries.[3] Her parents where however divorced around 1980,[4] with her father moving to Sweden,[5] making Jensen closer to her mother,[6] though she remained strongly attached to her father, and generally claim to have a "closely knit" family.[7] Her mother was for a short while active in the Ullern Progress Party, until finding out that politics was "not her thing".[6] Besides three half-sisters,[7] she has a one-year younger brother and a seven-years younger sister, Nina Jensen, a noted leader for the WWF.[8] She is not married.[9]

Jensen is educated as an economist.[10] Her great-grandmother was the early feminist Betzy Kjelsberg.[10] In September 2006, a biography on Siv Jensen was released, written by Martine Aurdal, chief editor of the feminist magazine Ny Tid.[11]

Political career

Her political interest was according to herself sparked at her school, Marienlyst skole, where discussions were common in class, and would include two students who were members of the Socialist Youth, one being her socialist-turned best friend.[5] She however found herself strongly opposed to their views.[7] Jensen joined the Progress Party when she was eighteen[5] or nineteen years old (c. 1988), having partly been introduced to the party through her mother,[6] though she had found her own views to closely fit those of the party herself.[7] Sometime before this, she had also shortly been a member of the Young Conservatives, but left after a mere week after attending a meeting where she didn't feel comfortable.[5][7]

She was elected deputy MP for Oslo in the period 1993-1997, and has since 1997 been a regular MP.[2] During the early 1990s conflict within the party, started by many young libertarians, Jensen stood firmly by party chairman Carl I. Hagen.[5] In 2001 she said Hagen had been like a father figure for her, and she had also expressed a great admiration of Hagen.[4] She became first vice chairman of the Progress Party in 1998, and parliamentary leader of the party in 2005. In 2006 Carl I. Hagen, prominent leader of the party since 1978 resigned to become vice president of parliament, and Jensen assumed leadership of the Progress Party temporarily for two years, until being re-elected consecutively at the national convention of the party in 2008. While many had been speculating about the viability of the party and its future after a resignation of Carl I. Hagen, a 2004 survey actually showed that Jensen had a better approval rating than Hagen, which was explained by her not being as controversial.[12] Many had also predicted a more moderate course for the party with her being the leader, but she has however stood firmly by the main policies of the party.[5]

Siv Jensen speaking before a Youth of the Progress Party summer camp.

Since becoming chairman of the party in 2006, the Progress Party even became the largest party in Norway in many opinion polls, led November 2006 opinion polls with a support of 32.9% of respondents, and continued to poll above 25 percent during the following years.[13][14][15][16] With the recent popular support, Jensen has managed to increase the party's appeal to voters and has built bridges to liberal-conservative parties, such as the Conservative Party, the party likely to join the Progress Party in an eventual government.

In May 2009, Jensen held a lecture in the British House of Commons at the invitation of Conservative Party MP Sir Malcolm Rifkind. Media director Alex Try of the think tank Henry Jackson Society, who was responsible for the arrangement, said that the main background for the invitation was her "engagement in questions about terrorism and challenges attached to the multicultural society." Up to one-hundred MP's, business leaders and key persons in British politics was expected to show up at the arrangement. Jensen said that "we have much to learn from the British, but when it comes to the immigration policy I think Britain has failed completely".[17]

Political views

Islam and immigration

In February 2009, Jensen delivered a speech where she warned about what she called "sneak-Islamisation" of Norway.[18] The speech turned out to be highly controversial among the other mainstream parties, and condemned even by the right-of-centre Liberal Party leader Lars Sponheim who called for freezing the Progress Party entirely out of the immigration debate,[19] and Conservative Party MP Per-Kristian Foss who controversially compared the speech with the attacks by Nazi Germany on Jews in the interwar period.[20]

During the speech she used the immigrant-dominated Malmö, Sweden city district of Rosengård as an example of a worst-case-scenario of failed integration policies. She also claimed that Sharia law had replaced Swedish law and that emergency staff were afraid of driving into certain areas. While some Swedish scientists ridiculed the claims,[21] the debate itself was welcomed by Norwegian Liberal Party MP Abid Raja and left-wing newspaper Klassekampen.[22] The statements turned out to be highly controversial in Sweden, and Jensen and the Progress Party accepted an invitation to a tour around Rosengård by the mayor and police chief of Malmö.[23][24] The party had hesitated for a short while, as immigration political spokesman and MP Per-Willy Amundsen had questioned if the Swedes might only show them the "good side" of the city district together with a PowerPoint presentation.[25] Jensen herself did not join the tour, which were instead attended by party colleagues Per Sandberg, Per-Willy Amundsen, Solveig Horne and Mazyar Keshvari.[26]

Further, in March 2009, she claimed that the fight against radical Islam "is the most important fight of our time". She said that she, as a liberalist, would always fight against such ideas and movements as communism and nazism, and that radical Islam "is a dark and scary ideology". She also accused the other parties of being cowardly and ignoring the questions raised by the Progress Party, and that "it is probably an expression of the fact that they don't understand what's happening in society around them. They close their eyes and try to present themselves as tolerant and liberal, when in fact they are deeply intolerant."[27]

Both these controversies resulted in large popular gains for the Progress Party in polls.[27]

At the annual congress of the Oslo Progress Party in February 2010, she however retracted her claim of a "sneak-Islamisation" of Norway, claiming it was now instead a debate of a full-blown Islamisation.[28][29] This was in response to an incident earlier the same month, when thousands of Muslims had demonstrated in Oslo (one Islamist leader even warned of a 9/11 or 7/7 in Norway to applause from the crowd) after the newspaper Dagbladet had published a caricature of Muhammad (the one drawn by Tatiana Soskin in 1997) in the context of a news story.[30]

Israel

Jensen is a staunch supporter of Israel, and claim to "not [be] afraid to defend Israel's right to defend itself." She visited the Israeli city of Sderot in the summer of 2008, and experienced Hamas bombing first hand, and said that she and others had to "run for the air-raid shelter". She strongly opposed the Norwegian government's decision to recognise Hamas as she holds that "you don't negotiate with terrorists, you just don't."[31]

In January 2009, in light of the Gaza War, she also held an appeal at a demonstration called "Let Israel live" in support of Israel in Oslo. The Progress Party's general Israel-policy, supported by the appearance at the demonstration by Jensen and the fact that Christian Democratic Party leader Dagfinn Høybråten had not joined the demonstration, resulted in many Christian Democratic voters fleeing to the Progress Party.[32] Soon after, the Norwegian Police Security Service went public, fearing that Jensen might be the target of an attack by "some". Jensen herself did however not fear any trouble.[33] While political scientists had speculated that the Progress Party would lose more voters than they would gain by this strong support for Israel,[34][35] polls rather seemed to show a slight increase in support for the party.[36]

Global warming

About global warming, Jensen said in December 2008 that "we can see that climate changes are happening, but they have been happening for as long as the world has existed. The question is whether they are man-made or not, or whether they are dangerous or not. Just some 30 years ago, all these scientists said that the world was getting colder, and now they have changed their mind and say that the world is getting warmer. So is that what's happening, or isn't it?" Regardless, she is largely supportive of expanding and researching into renewable energy production.[31] In January 2010 she attacked the IPCC, accusing the report from the panel of being based on fraudulent data. She referred to the erroneous statement of Himalayan glaciers melting by 2035, ice melting predictions by Al Gore and Jonas Gahr Støre, questions of statistical sampling, and emails from climate scientists at the Climatic Research Unit.[37]

Economy

A big political role model for Jensen is former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and she has in Britain been nicknamed a "Norwegian Margaret Thatcher". She therefore holds many Thatcherite policies, such as "there is no alternative to market economy".[38]

Populism

During a May Day speech in Drammen in 2009, Jensen stated, after a traditional recurring claim by political opponents that she and the Progress Party is populist, that "if populism is to try to solve the everyday problems of people, then I'm proud to lead a populist party".[39]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Sæle, Finn Jarle (15 May 2009). "Ensom - dødshjelp?". Norge idag. http://www.idag.no/ledere-oppslag.php3?ID=16265. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Jensen, Siv ( 1969- )". Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=SIVJ. 
  3. ↑ Tennfjord, Ingvild Wedaa (2 May 2005). "Under panseret". Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2005/05/02/430472.html. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ergo, Thomas (1 December 2001). "På mors parti". Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/tekstarkiv/artikkel.php?id=5001010065841&tag=item&words=vidar%3Bkleppe. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Olaussen, Lise Merete. "Siv Jensen". Norsk biografisk leksikon. http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Siv_Jensen/utdypning. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Hele Historien: Siv Jensen (9 November 2006). TV2
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Portrettet: Siv Jensen". P4. 1 March 2009. http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/p4-portrettet/id303308158. 
  8. ↑ Torvik, Line (27 January 2007). "Frp-Siv får miljøkjeft fra lillesøster". VG Nett. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=165531. 
  9. ↑ Johansen, Per Kristian (22 September 2008). "Siv Jensen". Stjerneklart. http://www.nrk.no/programmer/radio/stjerneklart/1.6230383. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Haugstad, Tormod. "FrP-Siv vil lykkes innen 2013". Teknisk Ukeblad. http://www.tu.no/politikk/article187822.ece. 
  11. ↑ Larsen, Christiane Jordheim (4 October 2006). "Avviser drahjelp til Frp". Klassekampen. http://www.klassekampen.no/39923/article/item/null. 
  12. ↑ "Siv Jensen danker ut Hagen". Dagens Næringsliv. 21 December 2004. http://www.dn.no/forsiden/politikkSamfunn/article399445.ece. 
  13. ↑ "FrP og Høyre går kraftig fram". TNS Gallup. http://www.tns-gallup.no/default.aspx?did=9078387. 
  14. ↑ Magerøy, Lars Halvor; Haugan, Bjørn (31 May 2008). "Fosser frem på diesel-opprør: Siv nær statsministerstolen". VG. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/norsk-politikk/artikkel.php?artid=195848. 
  15. ↑ "Frp størst på ny måling". VG. 4 June 2008. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/norsk-politikk/artikkel.php?artid=528033. 
  16. ↑ "Frp over 30 prosent på ny måling". VG. 26 June 2008. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/norsk-politikk/artikkel.php?artid=501050. 
  17. ↑ Mollatt, Camilla (8 May 2009). "Siv Jensen holder foredrag for ledere i britisk politikk og næringsliv". FrP.no. http://www.frp.no/Siv+Jensen+holder+foredrag+for+ledere+i+britisk+politikk+og+n%C3%A6ringsliv.d25-TgZbK3j.ips. 
  18. ↑ "Siv Jensen advarer mot snikislamisering". Dagbladet. 21 February 2009. http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/02/21/nyheter/politikk/innenriks/frp/siv_jensen/4966977/. 
  19. ↑ Hammerstad, Kathrine (23 February 2009). "Vil stenge Siv ute fra innvandringsdebatten". VG. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/norsk-politikk/artikkel.php?artid=547178. 
  20. ↑ Myklebust, Bjørn; Langset, Kristine Grue (23 February 2009). "- Sivs beskrivelse er langt fra sann". NRK. http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/1.6493505. 
  21. ↑ "Siv Jensen opprørt over Hitler-sammenligning". ABC Nyheter. 23 February 2009. http://www.abcnyheter.no/node/84139. 
  22. ↑ "- Siv Jensen overdriver". ABC Nyheter. 23 February 2009. http://www.abcnyheter.no/node/84171. 
  23. ↑ Tommelstad, Bjørnar (23 February 2009). "Politisjefen i Rosengård «arresterer» Siv Jensen - Svensk lov gjelder i Rosengård". VG. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=547220. 
  24. ↑ "Ønsker Frp velkommen til Rosengård". Dagsavisen. 24 February 2009. http://www.dagsavisen.no/innenriks/article400282.ece. 
  25. ↑ Lepperød, Trond (10 March 2009). "Dette får Frp se i Rosengård". Nettavisen. http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/politikk/article2570463.ece. 
  26. ↑ Lepperød, Trond; Lilleås, Heidi Schei (9 March 2009). "Jensen står over Sverige-tur". Nettavisen. http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/politikk/article2569815.ece. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Kristiansen, Arnhild Aass (2 March 2009). "- Kampen mot radikal islam er vår tids viktigste". Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/03/02/nyheter/innenriks/politikk/siv_jensen/islam/5100011/. 
  28. ↑ Magnus, Gunnar (13 February 2010). "Frykter åpen islamisering". Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article3515805.ece. 
  29. ↑ "Siv Jensens tordentale". NRK. http://www.nrk.no/nett-tv/nyheter/spill/verdi/123458/.  (Video clip)
  30. ↑ "Advarte mot 11. september i Norge". Dagbladet. 12 February 2010. http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/02/12/nyheter/karikatur/utenriks/politikk/innenriks/10369255/. 
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Bawer, Bruce (December 2008). "A Norwegian Thatcher?". Standpoint. http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/692/full. 
  32. ↑ Fondenes, Eivind (1 September 2009). "- Israels krigføring var også terror". TV2. http://www.tv2nyhetene.no/innenriks/politikk/valg09/-israels-krigfoering-var-ogsaa-terror-2884507.html. 
  33. ↑ "Politiet frykter angrep på Siv Jensen". VG. 8 January 2009. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/norsk-politikk/artikkel.php?artid=539656. 
  34. ↑ "- Frps Israel-støtte gir velgertap". Dagbladet. 8 January 2009. http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/01/08/nyheter/innenriks/politikk/valg/frp/4289846/. 
  35. ↑ Lilleås, Heidi Schei (9 January 2009). "- Siv spiller høyt". Nettavisen. http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article2496700.ece. 
  36. ↑ Skarvøy, Lars Joakim (13 January 2009). "Dette kan Siv ha tjent på". Nettavisen. http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/politikk/article2502767.ece. 
  37. ↑ Audestad, Gunnar Magnus Paul (31 January 2010). "- Ikke mer snakk om global oppvarming". Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/article3493769.ece. 
  38. ↑ Thorenfeldt, Gunnar (7 May 2009). "Norges nye jernlady". Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/05/07/nyheter/inneriks/politikk/regjeringen/siv_jensen/6110686/. 
  39. ↑ Hegtun, Halvor (6 September 2009). "Hedersordet som ble skjellsord". Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/article3253315.ece.