Any visitor to the island of Utøya, some 38 kilometres from Oslo, is immediately struck by the smallness of it. It measures no more than 26 acres. It was here that, 10 years ago this month, Anders Behring Breivik massacred 69 people attending a Norwegian Labour party youth camp. As one walks along the island’s tiny, winding paths, it is not difficult to imagine the sheer horror of it all, as teenagers, full of life, joy and laughter, suddenly realised that the shots being fired in the distance were not firecrackers, that the visitor dressed in a fake police uniform was a murderer, and that the island had all too few places in which to hide.… Seguir leyendo »
On Friday, a Norwegian court ruled that Anders Behring Breivik, who mowed down 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in Oslo in July 2011, was sane. It was a verdict that many had waited for, one ensuring that the cold and loveless man who carried out the country's worst bloodbath since World War II would be held responsible for his actions and not dismissed as a helpless victim of his sick mind.
It was also the verdict that Breivik himself wanted. He loathed the idea of incarceration in a mental facility, a fate he called "worse than death," and insisted during the 10-week trial that his fertilizer bomb and machine gun were necessary instruments to stop what he viewed as a creeping Muslim takeover of Europe.… Seguir leyendo »
There are many reasons to welcome the verdict in the trial of Anders Behring Breivik: that he is sane and legally responsible for the murder of 77 people – mostly members of the Norwegian Labour party – on 22 July last year.
The guilty verdict recognises the monstrosity of Breivik's acts, carried out in pursuit of his political beliefs. It also delivers the outcome wanted by the majority of Norwegians, in particular because it means he will spend no fewer than 21 years – and most likely life – in jail. Justice has been done to the fullest extent possible under Norwegian law.… Seguir leyendo »
On Friday a Norwegian court will hand down its verdict on Anders Behring Breivik, who, on July 22, 2011, detonated a bomb in central Oslo, killing eight people and wounding hundreds more, then drove to Utoya Island, where he shot and killed 69 participants in the Norwegian Labor Party’s youth camp.
The world’s attention is focused on whether the court will find Mr. Breivik guilty or criminally insane, and there has already been much debate about how the court handled the question of his sanity. But there is far more to it. Because it gave space to the story of each individual victim, allowed their families to express their loss and listened to the voices of the wounded, the Breivik trial provides a new model for justice in cases of terrorism and civilian mass murder.… Seguir leyendo »
One year ago Sunday, Norway experienced one of the worst extremist attacks Western Europe has witnessed since World War II when Anders Behring Breivik systematically killed 77 people and injured hundreds of others.
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s reaction was unequivocal. He declared that Norway’s strongest weapon in responding to this was to employ more openness and more democracy.
Norwegians took up his call. Neither politicians nor the media turned it into a partisan political issue. The public reacted with grief but did not call for extraordinary measures. And the state chose to prosecute Brevik in an ordinary public court with full media coverage.… Seguir leyendo »
Hace casi un año Anders B. Breivik puso una bomba en la sede central del Partido Socialista en Oslo y transformó el centro de la ciudad en algo parecido a una escena de guerra. Una enorme columna de humo se elevaba sobre el horizonte y la calle quedó cubierta de hierros retorcidos, cristales hechos añicos y documentos que habían salido volando de los edificios. Dejó ocho muertos atrás. Breivik luego se disfrazó de policía y puso rumbo hacia Utoya, para llevar a cabo una siniestra caza de niños. Pretendiendo ser un amigo, mató a 69 personas más. Ahora el juicio ha concluido y toca dictar un veredicto.… Seguir leyendo »
Te aviso, Anders B. Breivik. Esta carta no te va a gustar. Porque lo que tú quieres es que te consideremos como un terrorista con una ideología e ideas muy fijas, con seguidores por todo el mundo. No es mi intención menospreciar el grave problema del incremento de la violencia de ultraderecha, pero en tu caso, mucho me temo que tu causa fue robada únicamente para servirte como pretexto para convertirte en alguien.
Tu padre fue diplomático y tu madre enfermera. Se separaron antes de que cumplieras tu primer año. Lucharon por tu custodia, tu madre la obtuvo. Creciste en uno de los barrios mas privilegiados de Oslo.… Seguir leyendo »
On Thursday evening, I went to a neighbor’s house to watch the news. It was Anders Behring Breivik I wanted to see. I had seen innumerable images of him already, of course, read innumerable articles — even what he himself had posted on the Internet before he detonated a bomb in Oslo and drove out to the island of Utoya, where he executed 69 defenseless people. In the nine months that have passed since then, his image has been a constant in my life — as it has for all Norwegians.
But to get an impression of the nature of a person, one has to see him in motion.… Seguir leyendo »
The terror of Oslo and Utøya has given us Norwegians a shared trauma that will stay with us for ever. We are also bonded by our sympathy for the survivors, and the family and friends of the 77 people killed last July. In the aftermath of the attack we gathered in marches and public displays of sorrow.
But I fear this response differs little from how we would have reacted to a natural disaster or a fatal accident of the same dimensions. As the trial against self-confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik starts, Norwegian politics seems to be back to normal. Though Behring Breivik's deeds, trial and psyche totally dominate the national media, we seem to be shying away from the political matters close to the terrorist's heart.… Seguir leyendo »
El imán de la Gran Mezquita de Djenné tiene un problema. En las alturas sombrías de la colosal construcción de tapial abundan los murciélagos, y la sangre menstrual de las hembras se vierte sobre los fieles, tornándolos impuros. Djenné es la más antigua ciudad del África subsahariana, y su mezquita el símbolo de Malí. Patrimonio Mundial de la Unesco como el resto del casco histórico, ha sido restaurada por el Aga Khan Trust for Culture, y ahora el imán expone sus tribulaciones al director del Trust, el español Luis Monreal, ante un grupo de notables locales que se agolpan en los angostos espacios en penumbra de su interior.… Seguir leyendo »
Un garçon de 11 ans se tourne vers l'assassin. L'arme est pointée sur lui, mais il le dévisage avec un courage enfantin. Il dit : " Ne tire pas. Tu as assez tiré, maintenant. Tu as tué mon papa. Je suis trop jeune pour mourir. Pourquoi ne nous laisses-tu pas en paix ? " L'assassin hésite, abaisse son arme. Puis il s'éloigne calmement, vers son prochain meurtre. Sans que personne sache pourquoi il épargne cet enfant, pourquoi il l'abandonne à sa perte et à son chagrin.
Depuis trois jours, les Norvégiens pleurent sur des histoires de ce genre. Il y en a malheureusement beaucoup trop, et nous ne les avons pas encore toutes entendues.… Seguir leyendo »
Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who is convinced that Europe is “in the final stages of Islamization,” is right: Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer, is mad. Wilders tweeted: “That a psychopath has abused the battle against Islamization is disgusting and a slap in the face of the worldwide anti-Islam movement.”
This assumption is not so far-fetched. Murdering more than 60 innocent young people at a summer camp with an assault rifle, after bombing a chunk of central Oslo, is, to put it mildly, morally eccentric – something most sane people would never dream of doing.… Seguir leyendo »
En los años noventa, los grupos de extrema derecha noruegos constituían una problemática lo suficientemente preocupante como para inspirar programas de desradicalización imitados en otros países escandinavos. El temor a que expresiones de violencia surgidas en aquellos años escalaran fue precisamente lo que motivó la salida de esos grupos de diversos activistas, como revelan los trabajos de Tore Bjorgo, académico noruego que entrevistó a algunos de ellos. Existía pues un germen para una violencia como la que ahora se ha materializado en una proporción muy superior a la contemplada previamente y que resultaba, por varios motivos, difícil de prever.
Por un lado el terrorismo yihadista ensombrece otras amenazas, de forma que el riesgo de atentados altamente letales e indiscriminados suele identificarse con esa tipología terrorista.… Seguir leyendo »
Europa sufrió una profunda consternación a finales de agosto de 1572 por la matanza de San Bartolomé de París. La demonización de las creencias entre católicos y protestantes hugonotes propició una escalada de violencia que culminó con esta masacre y profundizó en las guerras de religión. En aquel entonces, Enrique IV de Navarra supo entender el destino último de Francia y apostó por la reconciliación de su pueblo. Si París bien vale una misa y esta permitió el primer paso para alcanzar el entendimiento y la paz entre las comunidades religiosas enfrentadas, el Edicto de Nantes fue el que selló ese compromiso de paz en Francia y en toda Europa y muchos autores lo consideran inspirador de los derechos humanos.… Seguir leyendo »
"Podemos ignorar la yihad, pero no podemos evitar las consecuencias de ignorar la yihad". Esa fue la primera reacción de la bloguera antiislámica estadounidense Pamela Geller tras la noticia de los atentados terroristas en Noruega, y en su página web, Atlas Shrugs (Atlas se encoge de hombros), colocó el enlace a un vídeo anterior de una manifestación a favor de Hamás en Oslo. Cuando nos enteramos de que el asesino de masas no era un terrorista islámico sino un terrorista antiislámico, cuyo manifiesto de 1.500 páginas estaba lleno de citas de escritores como ella, Geller se encogió de hombros como Atlas: "Es un maldito asesino.… Seguir leyendo »
Japan in March 2011 and Norway in July 2011: any comparison between the madness of nature and the pure madness of man in Norway may sound artificial. Yet, confronted with their respective tragedies, Japan and Norway displayed a very similar combination of qualities and flaws.
In both countries, civil society reacted to the events in a remarkable manner, with a sense of unity, dignity, and reaffirmed national cohesiveness. But, while citizens in both countries have emerged more confident in themselves and in their core values, the security authorities’ performance clearly fell short. As a result, Japanese and Norwegians might emerge more critical – and justifiably so – of their respective official bureaucracies.… Seguir leyendo »
It is tempting to view Anders Behring Breivik, the self-described Christian crusader behind the July 22 massacre in Norway, as an isolated case of pure evil. Yet history has taught us that such acts of violence rarely occur independent of their social and cultural surroundings. The assassination of Sweden’s prime minister, Olof Palme, on a Stockholm street in 1986, like the January shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords outside a shopping mall in Arizona, took place at a time when caustic antigovernment rhetoric was widespread.
Mr. Breivik managed to commit two terrorist attacks in a single afternoon. But the hatred and contempt from which he drew his deranged determination were shared with many others throughout the international right-wing blogosphere.… Seguir leyendo »
Hace unos días, antes de la masacre de Noruega, hablaba con un amigo sobre cómo van de la mano la alegría de vivir y la tristeza de ver que las cosas cambian. Que incluso el futuro más luminoso jamás puede compensar del todo el hecho de que ningún camino lleva de regreso a lo que había antes. A la inocencia de la niñez. Al primer amor. A la fragancia del mes de julio; al picor de la hierba en la espalda sudorosa en el instante en que uno salta desde un acantilado y, en un segundo, se ve envuelto por las gélidas aguas de un fiordo noruego y la nariz y el paladar se llenan de sabor a sal y glaciar.… Seguir leyendo »
Norway, a nation far removed from the wickedness of the world, is now facing one of its greatest moral challenges: What to do with Anders Behring Breivik, the man who has confessed to massacring 76 people, many of them children. Norway does not allow for capital punishment, and the longest prison sentence a killer can usually receive there is 21 years. A country of such otherwise good fortune and peaceful intention is now unprepared — legally and morally —to deal with such a monstrous atrocity.
The United States, unfortunately, is much more familiar with this problem. Americans have spent several recent weeks in a vengeful fury over the acquittal of Casey Anthony, who partied for an entire month while her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, was supposedly missing but might have actually been murdered — by Ms.… Seguir leyendo »
America's violent far right would have no difficulty recognizing the tell-tale signatures of Friday's killing spree in Norway — and not just because they would see the confessed perpetrator, Anders Behring Breivik, as an ideological soul mate who, like their own heroes, thought he could trigger a white-supremacist revolution with bombs and bullets.
Breivik appears to have been more than simply inspired by American predecessors such as Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber: The materials he used, the way he planned and carried out his attacks, and his own writings all suggest he was deeply familiar with the actions of some notorious political killers on this side of the Atlantic.… Seguir leyendo »
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