Ulf Erik Knudsen (born 20 December 1964) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

politician representing the Progress Party. He has been a Member of Parliament from

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Ha ...

since 1997.

Political views

In 2006, Knudsen proposed a full stop of immigration to Drammen for fifteen years, being worried about the city getting divided into

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

s. He then also wished to take a settlement against "extreme

Islamists Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...

", who he claimed was infiltrating the Norwegian society. He has also been critical of "elitist culture", and has proposed to withdraw the public economical support for artists who do not have a broad popular market of demand for their work. He has also been worried about the public economical support for "immigrant culture", of which he also want to withdraw completely.

Facebook

In January 2010, Knudsen was reported to use the Muhammad cartoon drawn by

Kurt Westergaard Kurt Westergaard (born Kurt Vestergaard; 13 July 1935 – 14 July 2021) was a Danish cartoonist. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, wearing a bomb in his turban as a part of the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons, w ...

as his profile picture on ''

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

''. He said that this was "done in sympathy with one who is threatened by forces who want to limit freedom of speech". In February 2010, Knudsen was reported to have joined a ''Facebook'' group called "We who demand a non-Muslim

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

driver". This incident was a response to a demonstration by Muslim taxi drivers, who on 6 February had laid down their work, again in response to the publication of a Muhammad cartoon by the newspaper ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...

''. Knudsen said that this demonstration was an expression of not respecting freedom of speech.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knudsen, Ulf Erik 1964 births Living people Progress Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian Christians Members of the Storting 21st-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians