Arne Tumyr (6 March 1933 – 17 February 2023) was a Norwegian journalist, newspaper editor, politician and leader of Stop Islamisation of Norway.

Career and activism

Tumyr grew up in

Ask Ask is the active verb for a direct question. Ask may also refer to: Places * Ask, Akershus, a village in Gjerdrum municipality, Viken county, Norway * Ask, Buskerud, a village in Ringerike municipality, Viken county, Norway * Ask, Vestland, a ...

Askøy Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen. The administrative centre of the ...

, from where he moved in 1950. He was educated as a

baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

in 1952, and he started working as a journalist apprentice for the newspaper ''Nordlands Framtid'' in

Bodø Bodø (; smj, Bådåddjo, sv, Bodö) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Bodø (which is also the capital of Nordland count ...

in 1956. In 1960 he was hired as subeditor in ''

Sunnmøre Arbeideravis ''Sunnmøre Arbeideravis'' (The Sunnmøre Workers Gazette) was a newspaper published by A-pressen in Ålesund, Norway from 1931 to 1985. It became a daily paper in 1934.Østbye, Helge. 1984. ''Massemediene''. Oslo: Tiden, p. 75. The newspaper was ...

'', and from 1961 to 1970 he was a journalist in ''

Bergens Arbeiderblad ''Bergensavisen'' (lit. "the Bergen newspaper"), usually shortened to ''BA'', is the second largest newspaper in Bergen, Norway. The paper is published in tabloid format. The newspaper's webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest local newspaper webpage ...

''. In 1970 he was hired as editor-in-chief of the

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

-based newspaper '' Nybrott''. From 1984 to 1986 he edited the newspaper ''

Sørlandet Southern Norway ( no, Sørlandet; lit. "The Southland") is the geographical List of regions of Norway, region (''landsdel'') along the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. The region is an informal description since it does not have any govern ...

''. He published a newspaper called ''Ukeavisen Aktuelt'' from 1986 to 1988, a weekly and

free newspaper Free newspapers are distributed free of charge, often in central places in cities and towns, on public transport, with other newspapers, or separately door-to-door. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising. They are published at d ...

, unusual in Norway at the time. Tumyr founded the

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

chapter of the

Norwegian Humanist Association The Norwegian Humanist Association ( no, Human-Etisk Forbund; HEF) is one of the largest secular humanist associations in the world, with over 130,000 members. Those members constitute 2.3% of the national population of 5.47 million, making HEF b ...

in 1967, and was a self-declared

Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He later became leader of the

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

chapter of the same organisation. He was in 1999, however, forced to withdraw from his position after his immigration-critical comment, titled "Stopp islamiseringen av Norge" ("Stop the Islamisation of Norway"), in the newspaper ''

Fædrelandsvennen ''Fædrelandsvennen'' is a regional newspaper based in Kristiansand, Norway. It covers the southernmost part of the country, ( Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder), focusing especially on the area between Mandal and Lillesand (west and east of Kristians ...

''. The Norwegian Humanist Association was in 2005 convicted by

Oslo District Court Oslo District Court ( no, Oslo tingrett) is a district court located in Oslo, Norway. This court is based at the Oslo Courthouse in the city of Oslo. The court serves the entire city of Oslo and the court is subordinate to the Borgarting Court of ...

defamatory Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

comments against Tumyr, written in a letter to the editor of ''Fædrelandsvennen'' by a board member of the Vest-Agder chapter. Tumyr was for a long time a member of the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centr ...

, but later changed to the Progress Party, of which he for a period was leader of the party's local

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporation ...

group. Later in life he was no longer a member of any political party. From 2007 until 2014, Tumyr was the leader of the organisation Stop Islamisation of Norway (originally Forum Against Islamisation). He described "Islamic ideology" as "diabolical". Among others, Stop the Islamisation of Norway and Tumyr were involved in demonstrations that needed police protection as they were attacked by counter-protestors.

Books and personal life

Tumyr was the author of the books ''Knut Hamsun og hans kors'' (1996, Norgesforlaget) and ''Vardene brenner!'' (2008, Kolofon forlag). His son Erik Tumyr was an award-winning journalist, who started his career in ''Nybrott'' in 1983. Tumyr died on 17 February 2023, at the age of 89.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tumyr, Arne 1933 births 2023 deaths Norwegian newspaper editors Norwegian humanists Progress Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Kristiansand Stop Islamisation of Norway People from Askøy Counter-jihad activists Norwegian critics of Islam