The cover photo of this article is Holocaust denier graffiti in the middle of Copenhagen, Denmark. Spotted and photographed by my friend Roxy on October 8, 2017.

Denmark is banning burkas. I came here for the first time in 2011 as a college student eager to learn about socialism in practice, see what was going so well here. Turns out it didn’t take long to find out that the asylum system was shit (only gotten monumentally worse) and racism rampant. But it was France we talked about when we wanted to point to real extreme islamophobia. That’s where they banned religious symbols, clearly targeting Muslims.

This is one of those moments where I feel very motivated to write about horrifying Danish politics in English.

It isn’t entirely accurate to say that Denmark is banning burkas. They’re banning ‘masks’/’facial covering’. Santa Claus beards are exempt. THIS IS NOT A DRILL - THAT IS AN ACTUAL POLITICAL DECISION. It is already illegal to [...]

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The local election season is upon us in Denmark and – here’s the wild thing – I CAN VOTE. Here’s the other wild thing - there’s a new ‘feminist initiative’ party and I probably won’t vote for it. Being a feminist has been a long standing obvious piece of my political views and personal identity and yet here I am!

I could talk on and on about whether or not it’s important to vote, anarchism, choosing to not engage in broken systems. I respect people who feel this way and don’t vote because of it. I’ve met a lot of them in Denmark and also met a lot of people who hate them / that position with a fiery passion. Simply having the right to vote now means that NOT voting would also be an act. Everything is so much more empowering.

While in Denmark I’ve still voted in the US but democracy in the US and Denmark feels very very different to me. I don’t even really count voting in the US as an act of democracy. [...]

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Nadia has been through 24 fucked up hours of racism and transmisogyny. She is pissed off and shaken and wants to channel this rage. I love her and I love to write. So here we go.

Nadia has been in Pakistan for the past 6 weeks. Her father was Pakistani and mother white Danish. Being in between societies, never fully seen as ‘real Danish’ has been her lifelong reality. However, the racism she has experienced in the past 48 hours since returning to Denmark make her question if there is a place for her in this society.

Yesterday we gave a presentation about doing journalism and documentary photography stories about people and communities who are often sensationalized by media. We have just been in Pakistan together where Nadia introduced me to the transgender women she has been friends with and worked with as a photojournalist for some years. I felt good about our talk! The audience seemed quite engaged and on board. There was one slightly uncomfortable question trying to pin [...]

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