The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Norway's deadliest tragedy

Death toll rises to 91 as police discover more victims of Norwegian gunman.

By George Eaton Published 23 July 2011 10:58

The horrific attacks in Norway were initially thought to have claimed around 20 lives. But it's now clear that that figure was a dramatic underestimate. The latest reports put the death toll at 91, with seven killed in the car bomb attack in Oslo and 84 killed on the island of Utoya, where a man dressed as a police officer opened fire on a youth meeting of the country's Labour Party.

Many rushed to the assumption that the attacks were the work of an Islamist terrorist group. The New York Times reported that a group called Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami (the Helpers of the Global Jihad) had claimed responsibility, allegedly describing the attack as "a response to Norwegian forces' presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad". However, the paper later reported American officials as saying that "the group was previously unknown and might not even exist".

It now appears that the atrocities were committed by a lone right-wing extremist, leading Norwegian officials to conclude that the attack is "probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Center." Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old Norwegian arrested in connection with both attacks, described himself on his Facebook page (now unavailable) as a conservative and a Christian. A Twitter account apparently belonging to him, featured this post from last Sunday: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests." The decision to target the centre of Oslo, which houses the offices of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, as well as a Labour meeting, suggests that the motive was political.

Significantly, Stoltenberg, who was due to address the youth meeting today, has responded by calling for "more democracy, more openness to show that we will not be stopped by this kind of violence". No calls for revenge, no overblown rhetoric, just a quiet determination that this proud, egalitarian nation will go on as before.

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18 comments

Tue, 2011-07-26 18:50 — Chilean (not verified)

@ jayantha
get your facts straight. Allende wasn['t assacinated, the coward shose to kill himself

Sat, 2011-07-23 12:51 — jayantha (not verified)

Nearly all heads of state assassinated in office without there being a mass uprising, were those not preferred by the 'elite' or more right wing - Sukarno, Lincoln, Salvador Allende in Chile, Bandaranayake in Sri Lanka, Olaf Palme, John Kennedy and a few dozen in the last century in Africa and South America.

No surprise it is a labor PM targeted in Norway.

And beyond politicians in power, add Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin L King ...

Only three right wingers of equivalent stature assassinated throughout human history.

It all fits.

Sun, 2011-07-24 17:43 — Revolutionwillbetelevised

How can the NY times just make up an Islamic terrorist group and hold them accountable without any evidence at all. I find it quite sad, that the American left wing media, can do something like this.

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Sun, 2011-07-31 01:45 — Cempreepsyfet

PMSL @ all those who reckon Breivik was Christian.

Sat, 2011-07-23 17:32 — Lady J (not verified)

I am concerned by the defening silence of the usual commentators on similar articles to this piece.

Just as we quite rightly condem Muslim Fundamentalist's acts of terror, so must we IMMEDIATELY condem this Christian Conservative's act of terror.He like the Muslim Terrorist, does not act on behalf of law abiding and moderate christians the world over.

There has been an overwhelmming rise of verbal and actionable violence by the Right Wing Christian Conservative against progressives, Muslins and Migrants. Some examples include Gillian Gifford, US Senator, Abortionist, Dr Tiller, numerous threats against President Obama and the continous intolerance of migrants we hear almost every day from programmes like Nick Farrari on LBC.

The media has made it acceptable for all manner of people to vent their resentment of Migrants and Muslims. Migrants and Muslims are immediately silenced if they dare to indicate that objections.

Most migrants are now leading parrell lives in this country because they feel so besiged by the constant negativity in the media.

And Eaton, I do not think this lunatic acted alone.

Sun, 2011-07-24 20:22 — Anna-Marina (not verified)

The ideological influences that shaped the killer. Hint – look at the rabid pro-Zionists.
http://maxblumenthal.com/2011/07/anders-behring-breivik-a-perfect-produc...

Sat, 2011-07-23 17:49 — gdygydusg (not verified)

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Fri, 2011-07-29 23:33 — Maria111

SR819:
“...the influx of immigrants to a country that used to be relatively homogenous”

Do you mean Lord Maurice Glasman, the progeny of Jewish émigrés to the UK? - You mean his parents should have stayed in their shtettl and dare not to disturb the “relatively homogeneity” of the UK?
Or perhaps you want to discuss the purity of English blood after the imperial conquests in India and Middle East, to where they were not invited?
Please check your DNA before preaching on ethnic purity

Sat, 2011-07-23 19:08 — SR819

This guy is a monster, and I agree that Christian fundamentalists should face as strong a rebuke as Islamic fundamentalists.

However, this actions cannot be seen in an isolated way. European political elites have created the conditions for these sorts of individuals to develop their ideologies and become convinced that taking such obscene actions is justifiable. The EU has effectively been a neoliberal machine, forcing countries to adopt internationalist/globalist policies to suit the metropolitan liberal elites who benefit from such policies. However, neoliberalism is extremely destructive to the social order and cohesiveness of society, but leading to deindustrialisation and the influx of immigrants to a country that used to be relatively homogenous. Of course that is NO EXCUSE whatsoever for this man's actions, but perhaps this is a wake up call to the European politicans (including our PM Cameron) that simply allowing market forces to dictate ordinary people's lives will lead to a backlash, and sometimes you'll get nutters like this guy take things to a serious level.

We need to stop the free movement of labour within EU, put a stop to immigration outside of the EU until we can sort out our societies that have been devastated by immigration, and ensure that the immigrant communities who are as much a victim of globalisation as the developed countries' citizens can get some control over their lives as well.

Sat, 2011-07-23 23:16 — Anna (not verified)

Having lived in Norway for some years, and having many friends there, I am deeply distressed about this horrific catastrophe - as almost everyone is. I say 'almost everyone' - I was sickened to read the comment on a right-wing website that 'this Norwegian should be invited to the Labour Party Conference.'

Sun, 2011-07-24 00:05 — p j wall (not verified)

The tragedy of this event apart from the loss to all those poor families is the almost dissapointment by all of the so called experts who assured people it was islamist terrorists, they confidently told viewers and listeners it was more then likely everyones usual bogeyman Al Qaeda?...the fact is it was`nt, it had nothing to do with Islam, it was a Right Wing, white, christian, Islam hating Norwegian man!!, the BBC, ITV, and SKY are all guilty of all this rent an expert profiling!!, you can almost see and feel that they are all gutted they cant use the words "Islamic" or "Al Qaeda" in relation to this tragedy.

Sun, 2011-07-24 00:24 — Lou (not verified)

Agree p j wall and one only has to look beneath the other post on this tragedy as the news broke to see that it wasn't just the experts.

Terror = Islam has been inculcated to perfection by the Western media and governments.

Sun, 2011-07-24 01:09 — SamB (not verified)

@p j wall

"they are all gutted they cant use the words "Islamic" or "Al Qaeda" in relation to this tragedy."

What utter rubbish. I regularly watch BBC News and, quite often, they never used the word 'Islamic', 'Muslim' or anything like that even when the issue they are covering is about Islamic terrorism, just to avoid offending Muslims.

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Sun, 2011-07-24 06:03 — Alex Baldwin (not verified)

Anders Behring Breivik seems to have written a book, in order to start some sort of movement. This firmly puts it into the "terrorism" category for how I define the word.

It looks like the book might be a collage of other peoples' writings, rather than some great original work of his own.

See:
http://neuromarxism.blogspot.com/