Posted on 02/16/2006 9:05:41 PM PST by Koblenz
As Danish interests around the world suffered a backlash from outraged Muslims, a Ridgefield business flew Denmark’s flag to show support for the small Scandinavian nation.
“It’s principally out of solidarity with the Danes and the abuse they’ve taken from the Muslim world,” said Rob Ellis, managing partner of Ridgefield Capital Group, a commodities trading firm.
Ridgefield Capital raised the Danish flag — a white cross on a red field — to join the American flag on a pole outside its offices at 63 Copps Hill Road last Friday, Feb. 10. The flag flew until Monday, Feb. 13, when the landlord took it down to put the State of Connecticut flag back up.
The gesture came after a week that saw mounting reaction and protests against Denmark in many Islamic nations, since it was a Danish newspaper that first published cartoons that many Muslims found blasphemous — the most offensive to them being a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed with an atomic bomb in his turban.
While the firm has no particular connection to Denmark, as commodities traders the people at Ridgefield Capital have many international contacts — though totaling only 17 people, the firm has offices in London and Brazil as well as New York and Ridgefield. They wanted to express solidarity, locally, with the beleaguered Danes, who have seen repercussions around the world — angry mobs at embassies and consulates, Danish products boycotted.
“In the Town of Ridgefield it’s easy to forget there are some big-picture stories playing out on a geo-political stage,” Mr. Ellis said.
$68 on the Internet
Mr. Ellis and Tom Trillo, Ridgefield Capital’s chief operating officer, decided to make a public statement and bought a Danish flag.
“Freedom of speech is a valid right,” Mr. Trillo said. “...Twenty-four hours after calling a flag company on the Internet, we had it delivered here. It cost $68.” After one day of displaying it in the firm’s window, the Danish flag was raised on the pole outside the offices Friday. A colleague at the office brought in lapel pins showing the American and Danish flags, linked.
“We distributed the pins to everybody,” Mr. Trillo said. Ridgefield Capital Group has 12 staffers at the Ridgefield office. One is Cristiana Nicolaisen, an American of Danish and German heritage. She expressed sympathy for what she saw as Denmark’s principled stand, insisting that a newspaper’s political cartoons were beyond government control.
“I definitely sided with Denmark through the whole thing,” Ms. Nicolaisen said. “It was just a political cartoon. It’s free speech.”
State flag’s back
The Danish flag flew all weekend on Copps Hill Road and was taken down Monday by the landlord, Ridgefield Property Management.
Michael McNamara of Ridgefield Property Management said there was no political statement intended by the removal of the flag — just a return to the usual practice.
“I was on vacation and I came back this morning and I saw that a Danish flag was up,” Mr. McNamara said. “And I took it down and put it the way it always was, a Connecticut flag.”
Mr. McNamara said he’d gotten no complaints about the flag.
The people at Ridgefield Capital Group, however, offered a theory — admitting it was speculation — that the flag may have made one of the building’s other tenants nervous.
“I’m sure somebody said ‘Gee, I don’t want a rock thrown through my window,’ ” Mr. Ellis said. “We’ve been drawing straws for the offices near the windows.”
Thanks for posting the article - I'm a part-time Ridgefield resident, and had not seen this...
Looks like the Danish flag is transcending its meaning as a national symbol & becoming a political statement the way the Confederate Battle Flag / the British flag & even the United States flag (among others) have in the past.
Good for them! I hope others do the same. If I had $68 bucks, I'd fly one too.
Connecticut ping! (Thanks, Koblenz)
Please Freepmail me if you want on or off my infrequent Connecticut ping list.
It is a wonderful film!
I also like the idea of those American-Danish lapel pins...will go seeking one out.
What this business is doing is commendable. I hope more Americans will do likewise, although I know many who are already displaying the Danish flag on websites (I am).
My next vacation is to DENMARK......
Thanks..I just ordered a dozen..
So, I did and here is the (FR thread) link. I included a photo of the pin for the lazy-clickers among us...
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