Our Norwegian correspondent The Observer has translated an article from today’s VG, and includes this introductory note:
A word about the political future of Europe (and the USA as well):The article concerns a seminar on ‘political extremism’ which will be held in Brussels next week. Seen in isolation, this seminar doesn’t necessarily appear to be all that suspicious, but when we put all the pieces at our disposal together it starts to become very scary indeed, because now the politicians no longer care to hide the fact that their ultimate goal is to get rid of free speech and unwanted political activism. They are beginning to get very brazen about it all, and it’s frightening.
Most politically informed people are by now aware of the tremendous leaps forward that the OIC has made of late in its insidious attempts to outlaw criticism of Islam. Most politically informed people would also be aware of the close cooperation they have enjoyed from certain Western democracies in their struggle to implement this new blasphemy law.
It’s becoming very obvious that the radical left in Norway is a driving ‘force’ in clamping down on free speech in Europe and that they are shamelessly using Anders Behring Breivik politically in this process as an alibi and a means to achieve their undemocratic goals.
The Labour politician Torgeir Larsen wrote a scary op-ed in Dagbladet about a week ago — which was translated and posted on GoV — in which he admitted that the Norwegian Government will start to educate internet watchdogs to discourage the free and unrestricted dissemination of political ideas on the internet that the left find so unpalatable. And the peer pressure techniques that they employ are very effective.
It’s also worrisome that people such as Øyvind Strømmen has been invited to speak at this seminar, as he has previously classified the Counterjihad community as ‘fascists’ and ‘potential terrorists’. If people like Strømmen are able to dictate the future politics of Europe, then we’re really in deep trouble.
If people become aware of what is being done to them, they can decide to institute change and prevent their freedoms from being crushed. They can take matters into their own hands — which is their right, after all, and their duty.
It means leaving one’s comfort zone. It may require painful readjustments. Anyone who decides to oppose the dominant order risks public disapproval, unemployment, impoverishment, official harassment, bodily harm, arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment.
Those are the stakes. They’re part of the price of freedom. You may choose liberty, or security. But you can’t always choose both.
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And now the translated article from VG:
Heading for the EU to share lessons learnt after July 22
Next week representatives from the support group, members of the Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs, and one of the defense attorneys that represented Anders Behring Breivik are going to share the lessons they have learnt following the July 22 attacks in Norway with the European Parliament.
Several individuals that were directly affected by the terrorist attacks on July 22 and representatives that took part in the judicial and political process in the aftermath will attend a seminar next Thursday hosted by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament.
The title of the seminar, “More transparency, more democracy”, is taken from a quote made by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg shortly after the attacks. The subtitle of the seminar is “The response to the attacks in Oslo and Utøya.” Seven of the speakers that have been invited to speak in Brussels are from Norway; each one has a unique connection to the attacks.
“We are going to talk about how we cooperated with the support group. How we made our voices heard and the lessons we learned directly after the attacks and throughout the trial,” says Trond Henry Blattmann, president of the national support group to NTB (Norwegian Telegraph Bureau).
Warns about fanaticism
Blattmann will be accompanied by his colleague John Hestnes, who represents the next of kin and those affected by the bombing in Government Square in Oslo.
“I will probably stress that all types of fanaticism are dangerous, whether Christian, Muslim or Orthodox. The common denominator is systematized fanaticism,” says Blattmann.
Vibeke Hein Bæra, one of Anders Behring Breivik four defense attorneys, has also been invited to speak at the seminar. Bæra is going to talk about how she and the defense team planned and organized Breivik’s defense. She will also talk about how they eventually came to the conclusion that Breivik was radicalized by his extremist activity on the internet.
“Our experiences will be incorporated into the EU’s own efforts to create strategies to combat extremism and terrorism,” Bæra tells NTB.
Our responsibility
Brigitte Deladriere from The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), informs NTB that the way Norway has dealt with the various aspects of the terrorist attacks of July 22 are very interesting to the politicians in the EU.
The ideology discussed by Anders Behring Breivik in his manifesto could be closely linked with the ideology of various extremist groups in Europe, and hence the EU Parliament is keen to take a closer look at it.
In the invitation that has been sent out to the participants of the symposium she says that:
“It is our obligation to fight against rising intolerance and xenophobia, and we need to make people aware of this threat.”
Survived Utøya
Prableen Kaur (19), who represents the Labour Party in the city council in Oslo, and who is an Utøya survivor, will give an introductory speech. Kaur was one of the first survivors to write about her experiences on Utøya online.
“Summer’s most beautiful fairy tale has been transformed into Norway’s worst nightmare,” she wrote just days after 69 youths, many of them her own friends, had been shot and killed as per the perpetrator’s political plan.
The parliamentarian politician, Marit Nybakk (AP, Labour) who has been involved with the official July 22 hearings in Parliament this autumn will offer her own personal thoughts on the incidents, and in the second half of the seminar, journalist Øyvind Strømmen and author Erika Fatland will address the attendees.
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