The Copenhagen Report

It has been another ugly few days in Danish politics. Two members of Ny Alliance, the flailing political project which has essentially now done precisely the opposite of what it set out to do, left the party over the past days. That's 2 out of 5 of the party's elected members - or 40% if you are one for numbers. Ouch! This is a party that is flushing itself down the toilet, albeit taking a few flushes to get the job done. The leftover skid marks will likely be all but forgotten as they are worn away - perhaps rather quickly at the rate things are going.

Somehow, something went wrong for Ny Alliance when it came to agreeing upon on a strategy, back when the election was called back in the fall (and since), regarding exactly how to stand up to the Dansk Folkeparti's usual mild-to-extremely racist tactics, views and demands (not to mention the government's own particular - and often rather peculiar - manner of handling or 'appeasing' these). You see, this was what Ny Alliance detested above all else.

It seems that Gitte Seeberg, one of the founding members of the party (who left the party last week) was in favour of taking a strong stand and not being part of the governing 'block' (yes, the one that included the not so sweet-smelling, highly xenophobic Dansk Folkeparti). On the other hand, Malou Aamund, who left Ny Alliance earlier today, wasted no time in immediately joining Venstre, the Prime Minister's party in the governing coalition, suggesting that she essentially agreed with the government on mnay things, including the line that the new Immigration Minister has been taking regarding the asylum seekers in Denmark - who are stuck without being able to work in Denmark's happy immigration camps (which has been perhaps Ny Alliance's biggest issue from the start).

And then there is poor hapless Naser Khadar, the party leader, fumbling to hold it all together, whatever is left. He just has never really managed to get past repeating that Ny Alliance stands for an alternative to 'Block' politics in Denmark (which is to say either supporting the governing 'block' consisting of Venstre and Konservative as a coalition supported by Dansk Folkeparti, or joining the essentially toothless minority opposition 'block' of the Social Democrats, Socialist Folkeparti and Radikale Venstre), as opposed to actually finding a productive way to overcome this 'block' mentality. The formula he came up with was to join the governing block. So much for originality.

So now the government coalition in Denmark with the help of the supporting Dansk Folkeparti has a clear majority once again, thanks to Malou Aamund (and without even needing Ny Alliance for support, as they briefly did when one of their coalition MP's deflected her party to become an independent a few weeks back). Meaning it's back to the same old, same old.

It all looked like it might turn out so different back when it all began for Ny Alliance, which was not all that long ago...