Oklahoma City travels to Scandinavia: The Oslo Massacre

 

All around the world, people express their disbelief over the recent events in Norway. Here are David Cameron, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard expressing their shock and outrage at the attacks that have killed at least 92 people.

On Friday, 22 July, the first part of the two-pronged attack shook the global television audience: ‘a huge bomb has exploded in the very centre of Norway’s capital, Oslo, damaging parliamentary buildings including the Prime Minister’s office. Two deaths have been reported, and at least 15 are injured, but police say more people are still trapped in the shattered buildings. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is said to be safe. Preliminary reports suggest it was a car bomb, but some sources say the explosion took place inside the building of Norway’s biggest tabloid newspaper VG. The blast was so powerful that it smashed all the windows in the 17-storey building. Witnesses say the nearby oil ministry building nearby has caught fire, with thick smoke seen coming from the block. Some reports suggest the blast was followed by a second. Police are evacuating surrounding buildings, and searching the area for more explosives‘.

Following the attack, voices decrying Muslim extremists were heard and fingers quickly pointed at Islamist organisations. But then, the second stage took place removing all doubt: ‘Norwegian police say at least 84 people have been killed in a shooting spree at a youth camp on the island of Utoya, near the capital Oslo. The attack came shortly after a powerful blast shook the government centre in downtown Oslo, claiming at least seven lives. A 32-year-old Norwegian man has been arrested in Norway, in connection with the dual attacks’.

 

This 32-year old turned out to have a name as well: Anders Behring Breivik. CNN’s Jim Boulden reports on a 1,500 page manifesto possibly linked to Oslo bombing and youth camp rampage suspect.

 

 

On Sunday, 24 July, The Economist then posted the following analysis online: ‘EVER since Anders Behring Breivik fired the opening volley of the shooting spree that took the lives of at least 85 youngsters on the small Norwegian island of Utøya on Friday, every few hours has brought some new shock. The latest revelation is that the 32-year-old Norwegian appears to have spent nine years planning the massacre. This, at least, is the claim in an extraordinary 1,500-page document Mr Breivik published on the internet a few hours before the first part of his two-pronged attack–the bombing of a government complex in Oslo. Mr Breivik’s manifesto exposes his preparations as meticulous and obsessive. According to his own testimony he spent several years earning money to finance the attacks. He moved into his mother’s apartment to save money on rent and gradually distanced himself from friends and relatives in order to avoid suspicion. During this time he read and contributed to far-right and Islamophobic websites, and spent many hours learning how to build a bomb. He stage-managed his own image, taking dozens of self-portraits in which he appears in a variety of uniforms–police, paramilitary and traditional Norwegian costume–and publishing them online. His preparations for these photos included visits to tanning salons and beauty parlours. The final phase involved leasing an isolated farmhouse. This gave him solitude, an excuse for buying the huge amount of fertiliser he needed for the bomb, and a barn big enough to store it. Mr Breivik went to elaborate lengths to conceal his purpose. People who wanted to visit were told he was busy with the summer harvest, though he knew nothing of farming. He was apparently content to let a rumour circulate that he had dropped out of circulation in shame over a homosexual affair. Mr Breivik’s manifesto– “2083. A European Declaration of Independence”–also provides some insight into his motivations. His ideology appears to be a form of reactionary Christian fundamentalism, fuelled by hatred of Islam, Marxism and non-whites. Page after page detail his thoughts on politics and society. He rails against the European Union, the United Nations and other transnational organisations. Norwegian politicians are castigated: the right-wing Progress Party (to which he once belonged) is condemned as too tame and the ruling Labour Party comes in for particularly vicious attack’.

A man motivated by “reactionary Christian fundamentalism, [and] fuelled by hatred of Islam, Marxism and non-whites” . . .

 

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 “Manifesto of a murderer” The Economist (24 July 2011). http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2011/07/norway-attacks