Norway witnessed the greatest loss of life it has experienced since World War II last Friday.
How can a human being so calculatingly and single handily extinguish the life of so many innocent people?
The island of Utova near Oslo stands witness to the horror of unimaginable crime committed by Anders Behring Breivik for his alleged hatred of all things ‘multicultural’. After the massacre of defenceless mainly young people attending the Governing Party’s Youth summer camp on the island of Utova, he has been brought before a judge. Lawyers have said that he is mentally instable and has been linked to Far Right Groups who profess hatred of ‘foreigners, feminists, and left wing parties’.
The authorities in Oslo are busy piecing together what they know about Mr.Breivik and to establish the links. Early reports suggest that he acted alone and the way he went about the slaughter of innocent people remains a mystery. Questions about how he was able to plant a bomb that nearly claimed the life of the ruling party leader in Norway and then to make his way to Island to complete his horrific crime by killing 84 unarmed young people attending a political summer camp.
Questions on how he was able to acquire the lethal arsenal of weapons used and the links with Poland must be answered. How he was able to get detailed information of who was attending what particular gathering and remain a mystery too. Why did it take the Authorities almost 90 minutes before responding to the violence on the Utova Island?
The key question that remains is, how many other Anders Behring Breivik are out there, who also feel they are in a state of war, and it is normal for them to seek publicity to further their fascist right wing ideology?
Friday’s massacre prompted up to a quarter of a million people to take to the streets of Oslo on Monday in the memory of the victims and in support of their familes.
As the mother of one of the brave teenager who was hiding during his campaign of terror. Mrs Bremnes said Julie Bremnes and other Labour Party youth activists would not be deterred from their views by Anders Behring Breivik and his actions.
“She was quite committed, occupied with social and political interests, and her work in the Labour Party. She wants to continue that interest – especially now. This is not going to kill their interest – if that was his purpose – it’s the opposite, in fact.”
Harald Stanghelle, political editor of the daily Aftenbladet wrote “We should not let fear paralyse our ability to think clearly and wisely, “There is much that we should not allow to be sacrificed on the altar of fear.”
Whispers of support for the actions of Breivik and his postings on various right wing Blogs have been aired by MEPs in Italy and by the English Defence League in the UK. Is this the beginning of the something sinister that may have a Europe wide network of sympathisers of what Breivik has just started? Evil has no boundaries as we have sadly witnessed and we must remain vigilant against that which tries to destroy our hard fought freedom to live our lives to the full. This includes the right to freely engage in an open and democratic process of debate and politics of all colours but we must not provide any oxygen of publicity to the likes of Breivik.
Copyright Semra Eren Nijhar – All rights reserved
Semra Eren-Nijhar 