I watched an interviewer in traditional costume ask an Iraqi woman what she thought it meant to be Norwegian: “To be democratic, a socialist, pluralist. Maybe not so outgoing,” she said. Other commentators were keen to stress that anyone, immigrant or otherwise, could become a Norwegian, and that one of the nation’s key values was “not to feel threatened.” Another said that the Belorussian background of the previous evening’s Eurovision winner set a good example for the “New Norway”: “We should feel so proud to have so many accents,” he added.
