Terrorism in Norway
From bad to worse
Jul 23rd 2011, 13:57 by C.M. | COPENHAGEN
THE bomb that killed seven people near the central government complex in downtown Oslo on July 22nd was already a huge shock to normally tranquil Norway. But even that horror pales in comparison to what the country suffered just a few hours later, when a gunman shot at least 87 people dead on the tiny nearby island of Utøya (pictured), most of them teenagers at a political summer camp. He entered disguised as a policeman and opened fire on the camp’s 600 youngsters, who were attending a week-long programme of anti-racism workshops, seminars and sports. Those who survived either swam to the mainland, hid in bushes or played dead beneath their friends’ bodies. Relative to Norway’s population, the two attacks taken together are of a similar magnitude to the September 11th hijackings in the United States.
Immediately following the attacks, most commentators focused their suspicions on Islamic terrorism. However, on the morning of July 23rd, the police announced that Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian right-wing extremist, had been arrested and charged with both crimes. The two attacks were directed with a laser-like focus at both the leadership and grass-roots of the country’s Labour Party, which currently holds power and which ran the Utøya camp for its youth wing. “The paradise of my youth has been turned into a nightmare,” said Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, who attended Utøya gatherings as a teenager and was scheduled to address the campers on July 23rd.
The news was particularly surprising because unlike many of its neighbours in northern Europe, Norway’s far right is fragmented and weak, and has no history of radical agitation. Mr Breivik is a former member and youth official of the Progress Party, the most conservative grouping in Norway’s parliament. Siv Jensen, its leader, said she was horrified at having any connection to the alleged gunman. The police are currently investigating reports that there may have been a second gunman at Utøya.
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/07/terrorism-norway
I hope that this event serves as a reality check that there are, in fact, murderers and terrorists who are /not/ Muslim. The news outlets should be ashamed of how sure they were, and how boldly they told their viewers, that it was a response to the killing of bin Laden.
Be strong Norway!! you'll be fine!
@ T.R. Brown
which militant atheist did a lone wolf attack? Isn't it mostly religious zealots or nationalists who are responsible of those kind of attacks?
@ Limaili: Why, Jared Lee Loughner, of course. While that particular detail was ignored in the attempts to pin his crime on the Tea Party in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, it has since been confirmed by several of his acquaintances.
Again, the purpose of mentioning such a detail is not to pin the blame on all those who are like-minded, but rather to point out that the only trait all of these terrorists have in common is their membership in the human species. It's much like genocide: I am hard pressed to think of a single major ideological, religious (or anti-religious), or ethnic group that has not engaged in the horrific slaughter of its peers at some point. Attempts to attribute a proclivity towards such behavior to one's opponents are shamefully simplistic always incorrect.
@ T.R. Brown
I agree with most of what you said, I would add that another feature of the people who commit those atrocities is that most of them are clinically insane (thus maybe linking them to ideologies is futile since they are insane and do not really need a motive)
I would have played dead. I often wonder why they don't do that in movies :).
But that's besides the point.
One thing I've noticed is, blaming Muslims has pretty much become a social norm.
If someone farts in the classroom, fingers are generally pointed at the fattest and most non-hygienic kid, similarly, in the global context, Muslims have become the "fattest" and most "non-hygienic", figuratively.
Though I'm still highly skeptical about the event being a one-man show.
Good synchronization is often a group activity.
Let's wait till more's uncovered.
And come on, the Nordics are a strong people.
Just found out about this right-wing website (www.document.no). Apparently, Anders Breivik made a lot of posts in it, the list can be found here.
http://www.document.no/anders-behring-breivik/
(I used google translate to read it in English)
The scale of this attack is nothing short of terrible, especially for a country like Norway which had never had such an incident before. My best wishes to all those affected.
Also, my apologies for a previous post on a related article on the Norway attack. I had made it after initial reports said that certain groups had claimed responsibility for it.
The choice of an island was (deviously) brilliant, since it gave the gunman (or men) a captive crowd who could only scatter a few yards in any direction. They could chase down their targets almost at leisure.
This will change the way people look at islands, or ships or any other confined spaces for that matter. Aircraft are secure and no one would think of shooting their way on board them anymore, but these other confined areas could attract copycat shooters for future attacks.
And hopefully - though I'm not too optimistic - some Scandinavians may realize that too much gun control can actually make society less secure. If that island had been in the US, I am certain at least a few men would have had guns on them and tried to take down the terrorist. A lot fewer people would have died. It is too much to expect a SWAT team to show up on demand to protect everyone, and one must remember that when a SWAT team shows up they know almost nothing about the situation; it takes time for them to ask questions and ascertain just what they are up against.
Gun control makes society safe for criminals, rather less safe for the rest of us.
ICENEWS - JAN 2011 - NWY to recognize Palestine if peace talks fail
REUTERS - MAR 2011 - NWY opposed to arming Libyan rebels
FREEREP - MAR 2011 - NWY Socialists vote on bombing Israel
REUTERS - MAY 2011 - NWY suspends $42 mil payment to Greece
YAHOO - JUN 2011 - NWY to withdraw fighter jets from Libya by August
YAHOO - 10 hrs. ago - Oslo bombing: Is al Qaeda to blame?
Truth? Sending love to Oslo & Norwegians ---
This is very sad. I wish the people of Norway well.
Ultranationalism, nativism, and fanaticism are very bad. I pray that right wing fanatics stoked by the Tea Party or white exclusive groups don't get any ideas. I already anticipate finger wagging by conservative blowhards to the progressive peoples. This event, with time, will also be politicized.
This tragic incident in Norway serves as another reminder for us not to jump to the conclusion before the facts are known.
However, suspecting this incident to be another handiwork of Islamic radicals, while is now apparently wrong, could be excused as an educated guess. Go easy on lecturing the world about the perils of prejudice when the past 10 to 15 years of evil deeds committed have given overwhelming probability to the possible identity of the perpetrators.
My deep condolences to the people of Norway.
@christopher haslett
The argument for gun control has never been that it's a great way to stop one murdering psychotic.
For you to suggest that if one other person had been armed, they could have stopped them is just... deluded and inappropriate. Even this island had been in the US, no one would have been armed either, or do you think camp counselors and their charges go to Camp Wasketoon packing heat?
I'm kind of offended that you think gun owners in the United States would carry concealed weapons into a small island where their only possible company is the kids and fellow staff. (and the .0000000000001% chance of crazy guy)
This isn't Die Hard and this is not the place for a debate on gun control.
This guy was going to get a gun, or a knife, or some other means of killing people. A summer camp on a small island, in any country, was going to be unarmed.
@ christopher haslett:
sorry I had to laugh at this
"Aircraft are secure and no one would think of shooting their way on board them anymore,"
I refuse to fly in the United States because security is a joke, both what is in place and especially enforcement.
The only reason nobody will shoot a gun on a plane, is that 9-11 destroyed possibility of a plane being hi-jacked again. Now everyone assumes they are dead anyway and will rush and fight the perpetrators.
@ New Conservative:
"Even this island had been in the US, no one would have been armed either, or do you think camp counselors and their charges go to Camp Wasketoon packing heat? "
Many camps in the US have gun safety and hunting courses, thus the availability of Firearms is not remote in the US.
And I carry my gun almost everywhere I am legally able to, the more remote the place (i do hikes every now and then up mountains and such) the more likely I will be armed, because the more remote means less police enforcement.
It's amazing how unlikely it is to see agnostics and atheists commit such horrendous massacres and how often they are found to have been committed by people with "strong religious beliefs".
I think it's only a question of time before we see something similar happen here in the US such is the polarization and the hatred being sown by people with instincts and beliefs similar to Mr Breivik's, given the present radicalization of politics being fostered mainly by neo-nazi likes recently elected to the US Congress.
A horrible, horrible tragedy. But I don't understand why no one fought back. Maybe its just because I was a teenager for Columbine and a grad student for Virginia Tech, but I have seriously thought about what I would do in the case of an active shooter. I understand running at first, but after 10, 20, 30 minutes of shooting, if I can't escape I am fighting back.
Economist, there is the original write up implicating Muslims which was published earlier today under the same heading? I should have copied and pasted it into the forum so that audience can see your methods. Alas I didn't know some particulars of your modus operandi. Naive.
If you have to use violence to make a political point, you've lost before you've even started. My heart goes out to the families of the victims. Take this Breivik character, if found guilty, out the back and put a bullet in him.
Actually, guns are quite common and loosely regulated in Norway, due to widespread hunting and a relatively large national guard reserve force ("Heimvernet") whose members are expected to keep a weapon.
There probably are summer camps that offer shooting at special ranges, but I can't imagine kids would be allowed to bring their own guns. And at a political camp it'd be completely out of place.
Blaming this tragedy on gun control is ignorant, delusional and frankly offensive.
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In the last two years the West has seen horrific lone wolf attacks by a radical Muslim, a militant atheist, and now a fundamentalist Christian. Those who would use incidents such as this to paint their ideological and religious opposites with a very broad brush would do well to remember that attacks such as these are an unfortunate result of the human condition, nothing more.
Best wishes to all of those affected.