The war in Ukraine is the first woke war, our editor Hans Rustad likes to say. The boycott of Freia proves him right. This is perhaps the stupidest thing we have seen since young children were refused to participate in the Norway Cup, as if 13-14 year old football boys had any responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine.
In the past, many Norwegians have been annoyed that our politicians obediently bow to the EU and let their laws take over the role that Norway’s constitution once had. It has been several years since Norway, despite twice being voted no in referendums, became the smartest boy in the EU class. Even EU members have restrictions against the EU’s unfathomable amount of idiotic laws and regulations, but not the Norwegian authorities.
But what happens in connection with Freia is special. The Mondelēz company, which has three factories active in Russia, has not broken the EU’s sanctions laws, which do not include chocolate and biscuits. Mondelēz has been put up on a list drawn up by Kyiv which is in a state of war. Now it is clearly the authorities in Kyiv that Norwegian business will kneel to.
No Freia products are manufactured in Russia and no Freia products are sold in Russia. No goods produced by Mondelēz in Russia are sold in Norway. Nevertheless, Freia must be sacrificed.
One person told me that you have to suffer to show support for Ukraine. Well, neither I nor this person is suffering. It is no problem for me to manage without chocolate from Freia. But neither he nor I are at risk of losing our jobs.
SAS was among the first, my father’s old workplace, to deny that there is anything Scandinavian. The new Scandinavia is becoming Europe’s new sick man, as Turkey was called when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated.
We in Norway have students who demand decolonization, even though Norway has never really been a colonial power, but actually experienced being colonised several times, by the Danes, the Swedes and (to a certain extent) the Germans. Now we are being colonised by mass migration from the Third World, who despise everything we stand for.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is calling a meeting about the Freia boycott on Wednesday at 09.00, writes E24.
In light of the discussion surrounding Freia and their owner Mondelez, several business actors have requested a meeting to discuss how the parties in working life should deal with this and similar situations, says communications advisor Guri Solberg.
Why is this becoming a topic for Foreign Affairs?
The labour organisations YS and Virke will participate in the meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On Monday, the two sent a letter to the government where they asked to meet Minister of Business Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Anniken Huitfeldt (Ap).
We expect the government to now step in and give Norwegian business and Norwegian workers predictability about how to deal with the list in question, but also similar issues in the future. We look forward to the meeting and are happy that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the parties in at short notice, says Skjæggerud to NTB.
Do Norwegian companies no longer have any form of freedom? Should they be dictated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
SAS, Norwegian, Hurtigruten, Elkjøp, SJ and Petter Stordalen’s hotel chain Strawberry are among the companies that have stopped selling Freia products. Some companies are holding on, including Reitan Retail, which, among other things, owns Rema 1000, Narvesen and YX. The argument of the Reitan group is simple: Mondelēz is not on the EU’s sanctions list.
By the way, when did Zelenskyj become president of Norway?
Of course, there are many Norwegians who support Ukraine as a country that has been invaded. But Kyiv and Zelenskyi are exaggerating, they are never satisfied, they seem to want our citizens to also suffer as a result of this war in a distant country.
Europeans are suffering, as a result of an energy policy that is about to destroy the economy. – Germany and the entire eurozone are in a recession that could be prolonged. There is no money for anything, except support for Ukraine and insane climate measures. Now Zelenskyj & co want to take away our comfort chocolate from us, just to rub it in.
I do not blame Zelenskyj, who is in the middle of a desperate struggle and thus comes up with desperate solutions. I blame Norwegian virtue-posturing companies that stoop to this nonsense.
The fact that the Oil Fund owns shares in Mondelēz worth NOK 9 billion should be a puzzle. The two largest owners of Mondelēz are the world’s two largest hedge funds, Vanguard and BlackRock. If we are now to follow logic, then we should boycott everything in which these companies have a stake.
Then there is little left on the shop shelves, to put it very carefully.
What about China? Neither Norway nor Europe can manage without importing quantities of goods from a country that actually has concentration camps. In a way, the whole country is one big concentration camp straight out of Orwell’s “1984”, med’s investment in the social credit system. It’s sad to say, but the process is underway here as well, and the promotion of this very real film is already underway. Coming soon to a theatre near you.
Freia is what in America is called low-hanging fruit. It takes no effort to boycott Freia. The companies that choose this path take no risks, they sacrifice absolutely nothing. Few are really bothered, except the workers who risk losing their jobs. But who cares about the working class today? They are not among the “vulnerable”.
This is about pure virtue posing without personal cost. At least that’s what the companies think. My boycott list is growing by the day and that way I’ll show at least a modicum of resistance to the madness.
Sweden has followed suit, there is a boycott of Marabou chocolates, which is also owned by Mondelēz. On the shop shelves there are signs explaining why Maribou should be nailed to the cross.
Photo: Helena Edlund
It is not about morality, but about a nauseating moralism, a mass psychosis that infects weak people who lack backbone. Both the Ukraine war and the Pride ideology have become like Islam: Everyone must submit to the new religions. Well, I refuse, although of course I support the Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. But I don’t support Zelensky and I don’t hate ordinary Russians.
At the same time, we know that some countries in Europe import oil and gas from Russia, and even more via third countries. Without these imports, the EU countries would have to share the gas stocks between them, in that case parts of German industry risk having to shut down. This is what German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who represents the Greens, says.
An agreement has been concluded between Russia and Ukraine on the transit of Russian gas. This agreement expires next year. If the agreement is not extended, the consequences could be great, Habeck believes.
Ukraine clearly has no problem with being an arena for the delivery of Russian gas according to a contract entered into before the invasion. But a chocolate manufacturer is to be boycotted. The double standards are blatant.
As Christian Skaug wrote earlier:
The import of energy from Russia to the EU is thus still ongoing, and according to the German minister, it still plays a significant economic role in Europe today.
At the same time, several companies in Norway are advocating a boycott of a Norwegian chocolate factory with foreign owners who have not severed all financial ties to Russia.
Welcome to the madhouse.
Germany warns of shutdown of industry without gas from Russia
The same applies the other way round: Goods that are prohibited from being sold to Russia go via third countries. After the sanctions were introduced, western trade with Russia’s neighbouring countries has grown sharply. As shown by figures from the analysis company Corisk, wrote E24 at the end of May.
Companies run a high risk when they trade with Russia’s neighbouring countries. There is a great danger that the trade in reality takes place with Russia, without it being visible, said country risk expert Erlend Bollman Bjørtvedt in Corisk.
But he is wrong: the companies are taking no risks, they know very well what is going on and don’t seem to care much. It is impossible to prevent goods from being exported further. The companies can raise a Pride flag and boycott Freia, then they appear to be politically correct and adapted to ESG.
Of course, the various sanctions are a certain nuisance for the Kremlin, although they obviously do not care that a Norwegian-produced chocolate is boycotted in Norway. Most of all, the sanctions appear as pure self-harm. We Europeans are forced to suffer to show that we are on the right side in the woke war. Since the vast majority support the country defending itself against an invasion, there are no protests. We are morbidly concerned with Ukraine’s borders and defences, while ignoring our own borders and our own defences.
But this Freia scheme clearly annoys many people, you can see this in the articles comments and engagement. Maybe Kyiv has spoken too loudly, maybe our woke companies have knelt too much? We’ll see. But SAS and Stordalen will have to manage without my kroner for a few years to come.
It certainly doesn’t bother such companies that bet on the World Economic Forum and their thoughts on stakeholder capitalism.