Jan Simonsen
Encyclopedia
Jan Simonsen is a Norwegian writer
, freelance
journalist
and politician
. He was a Member of Parliament
from 1989 until 2005. He was elected with the Progress Party, until being excluded in 2001. From 2003 to 2004 he was vice chairman of the newly founded Democrats.
Since then he has largely withdrawn from party politics to focus on his writing and journalism. He is also active on his blog, which is one of the most popular blogs in Norway
. Frequent issues in the blog revolve around immigration
, multiculturalism
, Israel
, Islam
, politics
and foreign affairs
.
to businesspersons Viktor Holck Simonsen (1913–1990) and Martha Espevoll (1917–1991). He was born and raised in the city district Våland, and later lived a few years in Eiganes. He studied social science at Rogaland University College
and has a minor in history. He has been editor for the publications Strandbuen
, Video- og TV-guiden and the official Progress Party publication Fremskritt. He is not married.
While he was christened
in the Church of Norway
, and as an adult remained a strong supporter of the church, he left it during the term of Gunnar Stålsett
as bishop
of Oslo
. This was as Stålsett had been the chairman of the Centre Party
in the 1970s, and got his bid for bishop supported by Centre Party MPs in 1998, with Simonsen thinking the choice to have been too politicized
. When Stålsett stepped down in 2005, and was succeeded by Ole Christian Kvarme
, Simonsen however rejoined the church.
In 2005 Simonsen was a competitor on the television show Robinson VIP, a Scandinavia
n adaptation and celebrity
edition of Survivor
, achieving the position as runner-up
. His favourite record
is Satisfaction
by The Rolling Stones
, and his favourite writer
is Leon Uris
.
active in the nonpartisan
youth organisation Moderate Youth (Moderat Ungdom), and was the chairman of its Rogaland
chapter from 1975 to 1977. He joined Anders Lange's Party
in 1975, which was renamed the Progress Party
in 1977, citing a great admiration of the party founder Anders Lange
(who though had died in 1974). Simonsen held numerous positions within the party, including chairman of the Rogaland chapter of the Youth of the Progress Party
from 1978 to 1981 and vice chairman of the Progress Party from 1991 to 1993. From 1989 to 2005 he was also an MP
.
On 19 October 2001, the Progress Party expelled Simonsen from the party after 25 years as a member. The same day, the party's secretary general Geir Mo
made the statement to the Norwegian news broadcast NTB
that "the Progress Party has, after a complete evaluation, decided that it is best for both parties to leave each other". Prior to the exclusion, Simonsen had faced scrutiny due to a Rikets Tilstand documentary on TV2, alleging that he had used his position as representative to help a friend obtain a liquor license. Simonsen however hold that party chairman Carl I. Hagen
misused his position to exclude him together with other high-ranking members in 2001 for rather non-existent reasons. He has since had a poor relationship with both Carl I. Hagen and his wife Eli Hagen
, though he remains largely on good terms with Progress Party politicians in general, including Siv Jensen
.
Since then, Simonsen sat as an independent MP until 2005. From 2003 to 2004, he was vice chairman of the Democrats, a party founded in 2002 largely by other Progress Party members who had been excluded around the same time as Simonsen. He withdrew from the Democrats as a member in 2007. While he was not a member of the Democrats, he however ran as the top candidate for the party in Akershus
for the 2009 parliamentary election
.
and its right to defend itself against terrorism
, citing that he as a teen read much about the Second World War
and Holocaust, which coincidented with the breakout of the Six-Day War
. He however assert that he has friends both on the Israeli and Palestinian side of the conflict
. In 2003, he congratulated Israel for the assassination of Ahmed Yassin
and Russia
for the liquidation of Aslan Maskhadov
. Before the 2009 election, he said that his most important issues was to "fight for our basic democratic, liberal and human society values against external pressure, mainly from Islamic societies".
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, freelance
Freelancer
A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
from 1989 until 2005. He was elected with the Progress Party, until being excluded in 2001. From 2003 to 2004 he was vice chairman of the newly founded Democrats.
Since then he has largely withdrawn from party politics to focus on his writing and journalism. He is also active on his blog, which is one of the most popular blogs in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. Frequent issues in the blog revolve around immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
and foreign affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
.
Early and personal life
Simonsen was born in StavangerStavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
to businesspersons Viktor Holck Simonsen (1913–1990) and Martha Espevoll (1917–1991). He was born and raised in the city district Våland, and later lived a few years in Eiganes. He studied social science at Rogaland University College
University of Stavanger
The University of Stavanger is located in Stavanger, Norway and has about 8,500 students and 1200 administration, faculty and service staff. It is organised in three faculties, including two national centres of expertise. It includes 107 professors, and more than 150 of the academic staff hold...
and has a minor in history. He has been editor for the publications Strandbuen
Strandbuen
Strandbuen is a local newspaper published in Strand, Norway. It was established in 1964.It has a circulation of 4,354, of whom 3,895 are subscribers....
, Video- og TV-guiden and the official Progress Party publication Fremskritt. He is not married.
While he was christened
Infant baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. In theological discussions, the practice is sometimes referred to as paedobaptism or pedobaptism from the Greek pais meaning "child." The practice is sometimes contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism", or...
in the Church of Norway
Church of Norway
The Church of Norway is the state church of Norway, established after the Lutheran reformation in Denmark-Norway in 1536-1537 broke the ties to the Holy See. The church confesses the Lutheran Christian faith...
, and as an adult remained a strong supporter of the church, he left it during the term of Gunnar Stålsett
Gunnar Stålsett
Gunnar Stålsett is the former bishop of Oslo, in the Church of Norway, from 1998 to 2005.Stålsett is a graduate from MF Norwegian School of Theology in Oslo, and was awarded the qualification cand.theol. in 1961. He has worked as a minister and taught at the University of Oslo...
as bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
of Oslo
Diocese of Oslo
Oslo bishopric is The Church of Norway's bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070.-History:...
. This was as Stålsett had been the chairman of the Centre Party
Centre Party (Norway)
The Centre Party is a centrist and agrarian political party in Norway, founded in 1920. The Centre Party's policy is not based on any of the major ideologies of the 19th and 20th century, but has a focus on maintaining decentralised economic development and political decision-making.From its...
in the 1970s, and got his bid for bishop supported by Centre Party MPs in 1998, with Simonsen thinking the choice to have been too politicized
Politicized issue
A politicized issue or hot-button issue is a social, economic, theological, spiritual, scientific or legal issue which has become a political issue, as a result of deliberate action or otherwise, whereby people become politically active over that issue....
. When Stålsett stepped down in 2005, and was succeeded by Ole Christian Kvarme
Ole Christian Kvarme
Ole Christian Mælen Kvarme is the Bishop of Oslo in the Lutheran Church of Norway since 2005. As Bishop of Oslo, Kvarme is the personal prelate of the Norwegian Royal Family....
, Simonsen however rejoined the church.
In 2005 Simonsen was a competitor on the television show Robinson VIP, a Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n adaptation and celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
edition of Survivor
Survivor (TV series)
Survivor is a reality television game show format produced in many countries throughout the world. In the show, contestants are isolated in the wilderness and compete for cash and other prizes. The show uses a system of progressive elimination, allowing the contestants to vote off other tribe...
, achieving the position as runner-up
Runner-up
Runner-up is a term used to denote a participant which finishes in second place in any of a variety of competitive endeavors, most notably sporting events and beauty pageants; in the latter instance, the term is applied to more than one of the highest-ranked non-winning contestants, the...
. His favourite record
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
is Satisfaction
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...
by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, and his favourite writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
is Leon Uris
Leon Uris
Leon Marcus Uris was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.-Life:...
.
Political career
Simonsen was during the 1970s1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
active in the nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
youth organisation Moderate Youth (Moderat Ungdom), and was the chairman of its Rogaland
Rogaland
is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%...
chapter from 1975 to 1977. He joined Anders Lange's Party
Progress Party (Norway)
The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
in 1975, which was renamed the Progress Party
Progress Party (Norway)
The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
in 1977, citing a great admiration of the party founder Anders Lange
Anders Lange
Anders Sigurd Lange was a Norwegian politician and the eponymous founder of the political party Anders Lange's Party . He was a charismatic right-wing public speaker who objected to high taxes, state-regulations and public bureaucracy.Lange has been described as a man who went his own ways...
(who though had died in 1974). Simonsen held numerous positions within the party, including chairman of the Rogaland chapter of the Youth of the Progress Party
Youth of the Progress Party (Norway)
The Progress Party’s Youth , is the youth wing of the Norwegian political party the Progress Party. It is generally more libertarian than the Progress Party itself, both with regards to economics and politics in general...
from 1978 to 1981 and vice chairman of the Progress Party from 1991 to 1993. From 1989 to 2005 he was also an MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
.
On 19 October 2001, the Progress Party expelled Simonsen from the party after 25 years as a member. The same day, the party's secretary general Geir Mo
Geir Mo
Geir Almåsvold Mo is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. He is their current Secretary General, having been appointed in 1994....
made the statement to the Norwegian news broadcast NTB
NTB
NTB may refer to:* Non-tariff barriers to trade* Norsk Telegrambyrå, the leading news agency in Norway* The IATA code for Notodden Airport, Tuven, in Norway* National Tire and Battery* Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesian province of West Nusa Tenggara...
that "the Progress Party has, after a complete evaluation, decided that it is best for both parties to leave each other". Prior to the exclusion, Simonsen had faced scrutiny due to a Rikets Tilstand documentary on TV2, alleging that he had used his position as representative to help a friend obtain a liquor license. Simonsen however hold that party chairman Carl I. Hagen
Carl I. Hagen
Carl Ivar Hagen is a Norwegian politician and former Vice President of the Norwegian Parliament. He was the chairman of the Progress Party from 1978 until 2006, when Siv Jensen replaced him as chairman of the party...
misused his position to exclude him together with other high-ranking members in 2001 for rather non-existent reasons. He has since had a poor relationship with both Carl I. Hagen and his wife Eli Hagen
Eli Hagen
Eli Hagen is the wife and secretary of the Norwegian politician Carl I. Hagen, former leader of the Progress Party. In recent years she has also made a name for herself as a television personality...
, though he remains largely on good terms with Progress Party politicians in general, including Siv Jensen
Siv Jensen
Siv Jensen is a Norwegian conservative-liberal politician, and the current leader of the Progress Party. She was the Progress Party's candidate for Prime Minister in the 2009 parliamentary election.-Early and personal life:...
.
Since then, Simonsen sat as an independent MP until 2005. From 2003 to 2004, he was vice chairman of the Democrats, a party founded in 2002 largely by other Progress Party members who had been excluded around the same time as Simonsen. He withdrew from the Democrats as a member in 2007. While he was not a member of the Democrats, he however ran as the top candidate for the party in Akershus
Akershus
- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...
for the 2009 parliamentary election
Norwegian parliamentary election, 2009
The 2009 parliamentary election was held in Norway on 14 September 2009. Elections in Norway are held on a Monday in September, usually the second or third Monday, as determined by the king. Early voting was possible between 10 August and 11 September 2009, while some municipalities held open...
.
Political views
Simonsen is a staunch supporter of IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and its right to defend itself against terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, citing that he as a teen read much about the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and Holocaust, which coincidented with the breakout of the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
. He however assert that he has friends both on the Israeli and Palestinian side of the conflict
Arab–Israeli conflict
The Arab–Israeli conflict refers to political tensions and open hostilities between the Arab peoples and the Jewish community of the Middle East. The modern Arab-Israeli conflict began with the rise of Zionism and Arab Nationalism towards the end of the nineteenth century, and intensified with the...
. In 2003, he congratulated Israel for the assassination of Ahmed Yassin
Ahmed Yassin
Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
for the liquidation of Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Maskhadov
Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the Chechen separatist movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the...
. Before the 2009 election, he said that his most important issues was to "fight for our basic democratic, liberal and human society values against external pressure, mainly from Islamic societies".
External links
- Frie Ytringer, Jan Simonsens blogg (In Norwegian)