Senior LO (editor: Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions) officials in Fellesforbundet (United Federation of Trade Unions) asked Quality Hotel Edvard Grieg to stop an event organised by Bevar Norge, and threatened large-scale cancellations. But the hotel said no.

The letter was sent earlier this week. The senders were the leaders of five Fellesforbundet branches in Bergen, which together organise around 20,000 members. The recipient was the hotel director at Sandsli in Bergen.

The background was a meeting entitled “Iran Yesterday – Norway Tomorrow?”, organised by Bevar Norge together with the party Norgesdemokratene, on Friday, 28 August. Among the speakers was Document editor Hans Rustad. Document is therefore itself a party to the matter.

Bergensavisen (BA) was the first to report on the letter. In it, the senior trade union officials characterise the organisers as representatives of “Nazi rhetoric and ethnic cleansing”, and write that those behind the meeting have “shown their true colours, beyond the far right”.

“At first glance, this thematic meeting appears innocuous, but these organisers are not just anybody,” the letter states.

“Do they want us as customers?”

Djevat Hisenaj heads Fellesforbundet’s hotel and restaurant branch in Bergen. He describes the choice presented to the hotel as follows:

– We are asking them to consider whether they want to host such events, or whether they want us as customers, Hisenaj tells BA.

He does not want to call it a boycott. But he says that the union has spent “an insane amount of money” at the hotel, and that bookings are now being considered for cancellation.

Eirik Svensson, branch leader of Fellesforbundet branch 11, puts a figure on what the flow of money is worth: two to four million kroner in conferences a year.

– We will consider it, and will probably quickly conclude that we do not want to be there, he tells the newspaper.

Jorge Dahl of Unionen Fagforening stresses that the trade union movement is not calling for a boycott, but believes that Bevar Norge “stands for a destructive social order” and is “dangerous to democracy”.

The hotel put its foot down

Hotel director Kjetil Røed responded on Thursday. He referred to the hotel’s principle of neutrality.

– As long as an event and those behind it operate within the bounds of the law, our position is that we do not deny access on the basis of political views or whom one is affiliated with, Røed wrote in his response, reproduced by BA.

Should it turn out that an event violates Norwegian law, the hotel will respond, the director stressed. The trade union movement remains welcome as a customer.

The response did not go down well.

– So-called neutrality is also a position, Svensson tells BA.

– Then you have crossed over into tyranny

Rune Samnøy is the local branch leader of Bevar Norge. He rejects the descriptions in the letter and believes that the senior trade union officials have put themselves in an embarrassing position.

– The background to the meeting is that we wanted to hear about Iran from an Iranian exile. So it creates a very stark contrast when LO, with its close ties to the Labour Party, comes out against this meeting. Particularly considering all those who have been killed by the clerical regime in Iran, Samnøy tells Document.

He believes the line is the same as that of the government.

– It is the same line as the Labour government, which curries favour with Iran, Hamas and the Taliban, he says.

Samnøy flatly rejects the accusation of standing for a “destructive social order”.

– We stand on the thousand-year-old Christian heritage of our country, he says.

The Nazi label makes Samnøy bristle. The word has a concrete historical meaning, and it does not apply to Bevar Norge, is his point. To BA, he put it more briefly: – We are absolutely not Nazis.

Samnøy believes the pressure on the hotel is about something bigger than a single meeting in Bergen.

– Then they do not respect that someone can hold opinions different from their own. Then they are also opposed to freedom of assembly, and nor do they have a democratic outlook. Then you have crossed over into tyranny, he told BA.

The meeting went ahead

The seminar went ahead as planned on Friday. Samnøy had expected 50–60 participants. Around 70 attended. Bevar Norge had booked a meeting room, dinner and accommodation.

Document has put questions to Eirik Svensson about how the letter can be reconciled with the trade union movement’s own values regarding freedom of expression, and what specifically underlies the accusations of Nazi rhetoric and ethnic cleansing. He has not responded to the enquiries.