Pål Steigan
{{Short description|Norwegian writer and politician}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
|image = Pål Steigan at Parkteateret.jpg
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Pål Steigan
| honorific-suffix =
| caption = Pål Steigan lecturing at Parkteateret at a seminar about author Tron Øgrim in 2007
| order =
| office = Leader of the Workers' Communist Party
| term_start = 1975
| term_end = 1984
| predecessor = Sigurd Allern
| successor = Kjersti Ericsson
| office1 = Leader of the Red Electoral Alliance
| term_start1 = 1975
| term_end1 = 1979
| predecessor1 = Sigurd Allern
| successor1 = Hilde Haugsgjerd
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|5|31|df=y}}
| nationality = Norwegian
| party =
| otherparty = Workers' Communist Party
Red Electoral Alliance
| residence = Oslo, Norway
| alma_mater =
| profession =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
{{Nordic ML}}
Pål Steigan (born 31 May 1949) is a Norwegian writer and politician, best known as founder of the newspaper Klassekampen and the website Steigan.no. He was leader of the Maoist Workers' Communist Party, AKP (m-l) from 1975 to 1984, and co-leader of the Red Electoral Alliance (RV) until 1979.[https://snl.no/P%C3%A5l_Steigan "Pål Steigan"], Store norske leksikon, 29.12.2012[http://snl.no/Arbeidernes_Kommunistparti Arbeidernes Kommunistparti] in Store norske leksikon {{in lang|no}} Both parties were small fringe parties that were never represented in parliament during his tenure. He co-founded Klassekampen as a monthly periodical in 1969, and during his leadership AKP developed the periodical into a newspaper in 1977. He later founded the alternative news website Steigan.no that is described by mainstream Norwegian media as a platform of Russian propaganda, conspiracy theories, racism and transphobia.
Workers Communist Party, AKP (m-l)
He co-founded Klassekampen as a monthly periodical in 1969, and during his leadership AKP (m-l) developed the periodical into a newspaper in 1977.
During his leadership of AKP (m-l), Steigan traveled to countries under communist regimes, such as China, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Cambodia (Democratic Kampuchea). He met Mao Zedong, Enver Hoxha and Pol Pot.[http://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/Pal-Steigan---Vi-dro-det-for-langt-7312358.html "Pål Steigan: - Vi dro det for langt"], Aftenposten, 17.09.2003
After meeting the Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 1978, he began to support the regime,[http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2003/07/17/373822.html "Det unnvikende oppgjøret"], Dagbladet, 17 July 2003 later admitting his support for the genocidal Khmer Rouge was a mistake explaining that he now believed it was not Marxist.[http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2003/07/17/373829.html "Pål Steigan slår tilbake mot folkemord-anklager"], Dagbladet, 17 July 2003 He has continued to be criticised for bearing a personal responsibility for his political support to the regime.
In 1978, he told an interviewer from The Call, the newspaper of the American Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist), that since the foundation of the party five years earlier "we have been waging a struggle against two brands of revisionism" in Norway, "the Brezhnevist, Moscow revisionist type party, which is the old so-called Norwegian Communist Party, and a newer Eurorevisionist party."{{cite news|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/norway/steigan.htm|title=Interview with Norway's Pal Steigan|work=The Call|publisher=marxists.org|date=26 June 1978|access-date=16 February 2020}} According to Steigan in the same interview: "[I]t’s obvious that the Soviet social-imperialists are planning to take Norway in the initial stages of a war over Europe."The Call (marxists.org), 3 July 1978
He is a critic of capitalism, writing that it "has inflicted so many defeats upon the working class and people all over the world that it’s hard to give an account of them."{{cite web|url=https://steigan.no/2017/02/lessons-from-an-oblivious-enemy/|title=Lessons from an oblivious enemy|date=February 27, 2017|accessdate=January 3, 2021|author=Steigan, Pål|work=Steigan.no}}
Steigan.no
Steigan founded the self-proclaimed "anti-globalist" alternative news site Steigan.no that has been widely criticized for promoting Russian propaganda, conspiracy theories, racism and transphobia.{{cite news |title=Propaganda-påstander: Tok ikke kontakt |url=https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/propaganda-pastander-tok-ikke-kontakt/75893251 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=Dagbladet}} The website has been described by extremism researcher John Færseth as a platform of conspiracy theories and pro-Kremlin disinformation and propaganda,{{cite book |last1=Færseth |first1=John |title=Fyrtårnet i øst: Putins Russland og vestlige ekstremister |date=2021 |publisher=Humanist forlag|isbn= 9788282821704}}{{cite news |title=Flere norske alternativmedier fungerer som «kanaler» for russisk desinformasjon og propaganda |url=https://journalisten.no/john-faerseth-konspirasjonsteorier-propaganda/flere-norske-alternativmedier-fungerer-som-kanaler-for-russisk-desinformasjon-og-propaganda/473264 |access-date=19 March 2022 |work=Journalisten}} and as an example of "red–brown convergence" with links to the alt-right.{{cite news |title=Bonzo goes to Oslo: Christian fundamentalists and the far-right strike a new pose |url=https://libcom.org/article/bonzo-goes-oslo-christian-fundamentalists-and-far-right-strike-new-pose |access-date=19 March 2022 |work=}}
According to the fact checking website Faktisk.no, Steigan is part of an alternative and far-right echo chamber that also includes Document.no, Rights.no, Resett and Lykten.no, and where individuals linked to Stop Islamisation of Norway play a prominent role.{{cite news |title=SIAN sentrale i spredningen av innhold fra alternative medier |url=https://www.faktisk.no/artikler/j7v3g/sian-sentrale-i-spredningen-av-innhold-fra-alternative-medier |access-date=19 April 2022 |work=Faktisk}} In 2022 Faktisk.no wrote that Steigan is the main promoter of Russian propaganda among alternative media in Norway.{{cite news |title=Slik spres russisk propaganda i norske alternative medier |trans-title=How Russian propaganda is promoted in Norwegian alternative media|url=https://www.faktisk.no/artikler/06epg/slik-spres-russisk-propaganda-i-norske-alternative-medier |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=Faktisk.no}}{{cite news |title=Hevdes å spre russisk propaganda: Kari Jaquesson medeier|trans-title=Accused of spreading Russian propaganda, Kari Jaquesson a co-owner|url=https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/hevdes-a-spre-russisk-propaganda-kari-jaquesson-medeier/75772256 |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=Dagbladet}}{{cite news |title=Ap-Raymond om Rødt-bråket: Kast ut Steigan-tilhengerne! |url=https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/z7Jyz4/ap-raymond-om-roedt-braaket-kast-ut-steigan-tilhengerne |access-date=30 April 2022 |work=Verdens Gang|quote=Faktisk.no skrev i mars i år at steigan.no skiller seg ut som den aktøren som sprer klart mest russisk propaganda blant norske alternative medier.|trans-quote=Faktisk.no wrote in March this year that steigan.no stands out as the outlet that is by far the largest promoter of Russian propaganda among Norwegian alternative media.}}
The secretary-general of the left-wing Red party Benedikte Pryneid Hansen said the leadership of the party shares the view that Steigan is a platform of "onesided Russian war propaganda, conspiracy theories, racism and transphobia",{{cite news |title=Ikke alle liker at Moxnes tar oppgjør med Steigan.no |url=https://www.aftenposten.no/norge/politikk/i/nWx6an/ikke-alle-liker-at-moxnes-tar-oppgjoer-med-steiganno |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=Aftenposten}} and that the blog is increasingly characterized by "extreme conspiracy theories."{{cite news |title=Full splid i Raudt om Steigan.no |url=https://www.nrk.no/mr/raud-ungdom-meiner-ein-ikkje-kan-ha-tillitsverv-i-raudt-om-ein-er-medeigar-i-steigan.no-1.15930789 |access-date=23 April 2022 |work=NRK}} Anne-Marith Rasmussen, the president of Red in Troms and chair of the party’s LGBT committee, said Steigan is a "blog that promotes racism, homophobia and transphobia" as well as Russian propaganda, and that is a threat to democracy.{{cite news |title=Innkaller til møte om Harstad-politiker: – Ødeleggende for demokratiet og klassekampen |url=https://www.iharstad.no/innkaller-til-mote-om-harstad-politiker-odeleggende-for-demokratiet-og-klassekampen/s/5-126-146918 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=iHarstad}}
Steigan was denied membership in the Norwegian Association of Newspaper Editors (Norsk Redaktørforening), with the rationale that Steigan.no is not a journalistic medium, but rather an activist website that disregards accepted journalistic principles.[https://m24.no/eirik-hoff-lysholm-norsk-redaktorforening-pal-steigan/steiganno-fikk-avslag-pa-soknad-om-medlemskap-i-norsk-redaktorforening--patetisk/395935 Steigan.no fikk avslag på søknad om medlemskap i Norsk Redaktørforening: – Patetisk]
Some of the blog's writers include prominent Norwegian anti-semite{{cite news |title=– Gruppering samles i hemmelighet rundt antisemittisk budskap i Oslo neste uke. Jeg håper flest mulig protesterer |url=https://vartoslo.no/anna-aronsen-oftedall-antisemittisme-hans-olav-brendberg/gruppering-samles-i-hemmelighet-rundt-antisemittisk-budskap-i-oslo-neste-uke-jeg-haper-flest-mulig-protesterer/337753 |access-date=3 May 2022 |work=Vårt Oslo}} Hans Olav Brendberg and Swedish anti-transgender activist Kajsa Ekis Ekman.{{cite news |title=Kan diskuteres om boken i det hele tatt fortjener omtale|trans-title=It is debatable whether this book deserves any discussion at all |url=https://www.morgenbladet.no/boker/anmeldelser/2021/07/16/enoyd-redningsridder/ |date=16 July 2021 |work=Morgenbladet}}
Books
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Red (Norway)}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steigan, Paal}}
Category:Leaders of political parties in Norway
Category:Norwegian anti-capitalists
Category:Norwegian conspiracy theorists
Category:Politicians from Oslo
Category:Red Party (Norway) politicians
Category:Workers' Communist Party (Norway) politicians
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