On Jul 24, 10:41Â*am, ∅baMa∅ Tse Dung wrote:


violent conservatism on the march world wide:destroying civil society,
murder, the destruction of democracy:Norway is exactly the kind of
country that would offend conservatives/Norway is tolerant/peaceful/
promotes progressive-liberal values/provides strong welfare support/
while maintaining a high level of quality of life must be a thorn in
the flesh of right-wing extremists

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jalees...-attacked-in-n...

Jalees Rehman, M.D.
Scientist and Physician

Why We Were Attacked in Norway
Posted: 7/23/11 09:10 AM ET

The news about the terrorist attacks that took place yesterday in
Norway kept on getting worse and worse. First, we heard that a massive
bomb blast took place in the heart of Oslo, causing major destruction
and chaos. Then came the news about a subsequent related attack on the
island of Utøya, where a gunman had killed at least 10 people
attending a youth camp of the Workers' Youth League (Arbeidernes
Ungdomsfylking), which is affiliated with the governing social
democratic Labor Party of Norway (Arbeiderpartiet). As if this was not
horrifying enough, we later found out that at least 80 people had been
murdered in the youth camp and that many of the shooting victims were
children. The gunman was apprehended and the suspect has been
identified as Anders Behring Breivik, who has a purported Facebook
account and he has left a number of comments on political websites,
which are currently being analyzed by the police. It is not clear what
his motives were, whether he acted alone or as part of a group and
whether he suffers from a mental illness. During the next days, we are
bound to find out more, as Norway recovers from this shock and its
police force conducts all the necessary investigations.
One of the key questions that arose initially was whether the
terrorist attacks had been conducted by religious extremists or by
domestic political extremists. The initial preliminary clues do not
suggest any obvious link between the suspect Anders Behring Breivik
and religious extremism. However, the comments that he allegedly made
on the political website www.document.no suggest that Breivik strongly
disliked multiculturalism, immigrant culture, left-wing or "Marxist"
ideas, and felt that traditional Norwegian values were being
threatened by multiculturalists, Muslims and left-wing politics.
Breivik's comments are quite characteristic of the growing far-right
political movements in Europe, therefore it is quite possible that the
motives for his terrorist acts may have been in part influenced by
this right-wing extremist ideology. Breivik's dislike for left-wing
politicians may also explain why he chose a youth camp of the social
democratic Labor Party as a target for his attack. The tragic irony is
that in many ways, right-wing extremists in Europe who promote a
culture of hatred against mostly Muslim immigrants are not too
dissimilar from Muslim right wing extremists, who in turn try to
promote a culture of hatred against "unbelievers." Both groups
strongly resist the progressive-liberal values that are represented by
the center-left political parties, both groups want to replace
multiculturalism and tolerance of the "other" with a more homogeneous
and traditional society, and members of both groups have shown that
they are willing to use violent means to achieve their goals.
One of the biggest shocks to all of us was that these attacks occurred
in Norway, which is characterized by an open and peaceful society.
However, if one looks at it from the perspective of religious or
political right-wing extremists, Norway is exactly the kind of country
that would offend such extremists. The fact that the society in Norway
is tolerant, peaceful, promotes progressive-liberal values, provides
strong welfare support, while maintaining a high level of quality of
life must be a thorn in the flesh of right-wing extremists. This is
why the response to these horrifying events has to be cautious. When I
heard the Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg respond to the attacks
by saying "You will not destroy us, you will not destroy our democracy
and our idea for a better world," I felt a great sense of relief and
some pride in being a progressive-liberal European. If the ultimate
goal of right-wing extremists is to undermine our core values and try
to force our hand by giving up the tolerant and open societies we have
built in Europe, we cannot let them win.
One of the most painful aspects of the massacre yesterday is the
murder of the children. These teenagers were attending the political
youth camp to promote values such as tolerance, social justice and
peace. Their participation was a sign of their commitment to further
improve our society, and in this sense, they are heroes similar to the
firefighters and policeman who died during the September 11, 2001
attacks in the line of duty. We will mourn the victims of all these
terror attacks and we can hope and pray that their families will
recover from their grief. At the same time, we also need to look
towards the future and work together so that we can try to prevent
such attacks from happening again. Recognizing the right-wing
extremist threat is just the first step. We then have to develop
short-
term and long-term strategies to counter this threat without
sacrificing our core liberal progressive values. We owe this to the
victims.


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