The international
fight against smoking bans is red hot in the small European country of Denmark.
A free choice coalition of bars and restaurants have organized a national
protest against the bans at
www.rygervalg.dk. To date
695 bars and restaurants have joined the protest, and 60.000 signatures have
been collected in a petition against the ban. Two nationally known performance
artists, Kim Larsen, singer and Erik Clausen, actor, have signed the petition.
On April 18, the
protesters organized a demonstration outside parliament, in Copenhagen, the
capital of Denmark. The protesters arrived in chartered busses from all over the
country. The demonstration rallied 500 citizens from all over the country. A
delegation entered Parliament, and delivered the protests and signatures to the
parliamentary health commitee. All the while, protesters waved banners, sipped
draught beer and smoked cigarettes!
The protest is a
remarkable piece of grass roots organizational work, coordinated by bar owners
Ms Dorthe Lehmann, Marys Pub and Mr Johnny Beck, Lumskebugten. Mr Beck has some
political experience, so the protesters know which buttons to push, to get
maximum effort.
Whether the action
will yield results remains an open question. Just like everywhere else the antis
are armed to the teeth with ‘science’ and choking in money that buys all the
media space required to freely spread propaganda. Considering the one sidedness
of the presentation, it is a wonder that anyone has the courage to stand up
against the anti smoking hailstorm.
The recipe for action
is very simple. Get organized, and get tough. Be prepared to cut the nonsense
about passive smoke and endless debates about property rights. The anti’s don’t
care about debate. They regard academic debates as a sign of weakness, just like
any common thug. The anti’s only understand one universal language, and that is
the language of the fist. Even if you abstain from using the fist, the anti’s
just pretend they are being assaulted. That is what the passive smoke hype is
all about.
By the way, the
protest is focused entirely on extempting bars of less than 100 square metres
from the smoking ban, instead of the proposed 40 square metre exemption.
Source: National newspapers JyllandsPosten and Berlingske
Tidende:
60.000 underskrifter mod rygeforbud
(Danish)
Thousands blow
smoke a parliament (English)
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