Norway, Islamophobia and Anders Behring Breivik

Farooq Tariq, a spokesperson for the Labour Party Pakistan, released this article on July 24. It is reprinted from Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières.

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Three-two-year-old Norwegian, Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 92 on July 22 in Oslo has used similar techniques in bomb blast and shooting of the children from his most hatred enemy, the Muslim fundamentalist.

He did not rest on one attack but planned two actions to maximise the damage. While the Norwegian police was busy in handling the aftermath of the bomb blast scenario in the afternoon, he was able to shoot the youth at a summer camp for over 90 minutes without any resistance.

The technique of two attacks, one to divert the attention and second to maximize the damage, has been successfully used by Muslim fundamentalists in Pakistan on several occasions.

In a similar action, two back-to-back suicide bombings and a cracker blast killed 40 people and injured over 175 inside the crowded shrine of Data Gunj Bukhsh a year before on July 2, 2010 in Lahore.

However, in Norway, the planning of Anders Behring Breivik was much better and more calculated than his counter parts in Pakistan.

There have been several similar actions carried out in Pakistan where not one, but two actions were planned.

Anders Behring Breivik, who had held several positions in one of Norway’s biggest political parties, the right-wing Progress Party, from 1999 to 2007 was described as a “right-wing fundamentalist Christian” by Norwegian police.

He had close links with the Pakistani community in Oslo at one time in his life, it is now revealed.

“A few years ago… I had different priorities in life,” he wrote in a series of messages obtained exclusively by The Washington Times.

He said that his “best friend for many years (in my childhood) was a Pakistani. He resented everything about Norway and Norwegians (me being the exception).

"I have known a lot of Muslims over the years which triggered my interest for Islam. Anders Behring Breivik was full of hate against Islam and Marxism."

He wanted to teach lesson to Labour Party, who he felt had a soft attitude towards Muslims.

The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway.

His office on the 20th floor was severely damaged in the Friday bomb blast in which over six tons of fertiliser was used.

After the 2009 general elections, seven parties were represented in parliament: the Labour Party (64 representatives), the Progress Party (41), the Conservative (30), the Socialist Left Party (11), the Centre Party (11), the Christian Democratic Party (10) and the Liberal Party (2).

The tragic action shows that “Islamophobia” is reaching an extreme and adopting similar actions of Muslim fundamentalists.

The indulgent attitude of the mainstream right wing conservative politicians and courts has not helped to cool down the emotion of the extreme sections of the Christian religious fundamentalists.

Earlier this year, the acquittal of right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders of charges of inciting hatred against Muslims by an Amsterdam court indicates that Islamophobia is on the rise in the West and is promoting extreme groups to go further.

Islamophobia refers to unfounded fear of and hostility towards Islam. Such fear and hostility leads to discriminations against Muslims, exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political or social process, stereotyping, the presumption of guilt by association, and finally hate crimes.

On July 23, a video emerged in which the killer, posing with weapons, appears to set out his motivation for the attacks, calling for the eradication of Islam and Marxism from Europe.

A keen bodybuilder and gun enthusiast, Breivik, writing on the internet, he cited his hatred for Muslims and enthusiasm for the English Defence League.

On the social networking site Twitter, Breivik posted a quote on July 17 by the English philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests.”

It emerged that Breivik had run a farming business and only 10 weeks ago had bought six tons of artificial fertilizer, which he is believed to have used to make the car bomb that was detonated in Oslo’s political district.

It is interesting to look into his mindset that was building gradually over the years. On “Fear of Islam Taking Over Oslo” he blogged: “There are political forces in Oslo who want mass-subsidised and low-cost ’Islam-blocks’ in Oslo West for ’better integration’... If this ever becomes the case, most of Oslo West will move to Bærum (and most will eventually follow)."

He believes that the number of Muslims in Western Europe is “reaching critical mass” and that “there is a core of Cultural Communist elites in Western Europe who really want to destroy Western civilization, European traditions, national solidarity and Christianity.”

But he believes an impending economic meltdown will generate armed grassroots resistance in Europe. He spelled out his beliefs in what he saw as the threats to the European identity posed by radical Muslims and multiculturalists.

He once again referred to Pakistan and particularly north-west Pakistan in one of message. “The Muslim ‘ghettofication process’ on the east side of my city is pretty radical. Most of these Muslims are religiously conservative non-educated individuals from NW Pakistan and Somalia which makes it even more challenging.

"The only positive aspect I guess is that they live in their own enclave (parallel society) with little to no interaction with Norwegian society.”

“The biggest challenge in all of this is that people don’t have a clue what Islam is,” he wrote. “The key is therefore to propagate the truth about Islam."

He is against multicultural society. His attack was mainly against the prime minister’s party.

One attack was in the city centre which damaged the Prime Minister’s office, Norway’s largest newspapers VG’s head office and some other buildings nearby were damaged as a result of the explosion.

The second attack was an island Utoya, which is just outside of Oslo. That island is a political icon of Norway. The Labour Party youth wing, AUF, were having their annual summer camp there and around 700 youths attended.

It is ironic that the media speculated, without any investigation, that it was an attack by Muslims.

Norwegian writer and actor Toni Usman wrote the following after the incident: “Fundamentalists do not have distinctive features such as facial appearance, skin colour or religion. It can be anyone person(s) and can choose to attack anywhere."

Norwegian democracy is unique in that the PM and other ministers have been able to go about their daily lives without security by their side. Even Norway’s king can travel by public transport without anyone batting an eyelid. It is this democracy that is under attack.

On July 23, maybe for first time in history of Norway, all cinemas, restaurants and clubs were closed in Oslo.

All public places such as clubs, restaurants etc are closed. Parliament House is surrounded by military soldiers. Oslo city centre looks like a war zone.

After these attacks, Norway will never be the same again. So much emotional trauma has been caused.

The Labour Party Pakistan expresses its solidarity with the families of the deceased in particular and with the people of Norway in general.

Now, the religious fundamentalists are learning from each other and it is making the lives of the people in the advance countries more miserable and leading to an uncertain future.

The progressive forces of the under develop countries and develop countries have to forge more close association than what it has been seen in the past. It has to take decisive political actions against the rise of the neo fascist and an alliance of all the progressive forces must be one of the main strategies. There has to be a concrete programme to fight religious fundamentalism. It has to combine an immediate dealing with the terrorist attacks and curbing the activities of the fascist forces from their strongholds along with an overall plan of action in economic, political and social fields.

The forces of religious fundamentalism organize on an international basis. A fight against them has to be organized at that same level. The Americans’ “war on terror” is fueling more religious fundamentalism. It is seen as a war on Muslims. The occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan by the imperialist forces is providing the religious fanatics a political justification for their terrorist activities. Clearly occupation must end. The campaign against religious fundamentalism must be part and parcel of an anti-globalization campaign by all progressive forces. We must oppose both occupation and religious fundamentalism.