Palestine Nation
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ANALYSIS: NORWAY
By: Adrian Boutureira Sansberro
Created 1 month, 3 weeks ago by @eel_deal
Description
Those signing here are asking President Obama to vote in favor of a Palestine Nation this September, and stop the US policy of using its UN veto power to keep Israel from having to act in accordance with just UN resolutions. US taxpayer money supporting illegal Israeli settlements is not only wrong, but perpetuates terrorism. It's time to stop postponing justice for Palestine.
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ANALYSIS: NORWAY
Western Apoligism, Racism and the Playing Down of Right Wing Political Terrorism
Wake up Europe!
Anders Behring Breivik, the author of the massacre and bomb attacks in Norway, is a political terrorist. Not just a "crazy person", not just an "Al-Qaeda like terroristic extremist", but a home-grown European political terrorist.
The heinous act committed was politically motivated and driven, not by madness or respect for the strategies of Al Qaeda, but by Europe-born extreme right wing beliefs. Beliefs grounded on a neo-fascist political philosophy which is nationalist and racist, and not unique to this one terrorist but part of a significant and growing movement across a collapsing continent. A continent again playing a very dangerous game of see no evil, hear no evil. A continent, which seems to systemically and historically prefer to ignore the true entrenchment in their societies of right wing fascist extremism until it’s too late.
A monstrous crime has been committed, and I repeat, a far right political crime. Committed by a racist, neo-fascist, ultranationalist, Christian fundamentalist. But we will never read that in a news headline. No matter how many doctors are killed, or women clinics burned down, refugee centers bombed, or idealist youth gunned down at a summer camp, there will never be a Christian extremist violent attack on society framed as equally systemic, intentional and reflective of the sentiments of a mass movement as are other acts of terrorism from non-western or leftist ideology sources. We will have to be satisfied with Insane Person, or worse, A Random Killer’s Act of Islamic-like Terrorism! Yes, a random killer, which, as we come to find out on paragraph two, is also a member of a Christian fundamentalist, ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist movement. Not that any of that makes any difference, mind you. He is just a crazy, white, blond, blue eyed fluke, that’s all we really need to know. So shed your tears and move on, there is nothing further to make of this, except maybe figure out how to limit the flow of brown people immigration so our white natives wont get this restless…
This speaks volumes to the inherent racism with which the western media and dominant political establishment chooses to treat how terror is used by different actors as a political weapon for threatening a given society’s security and stability; People of Arab or middle eastern decent or with Islamic beliefs, and also those with far left convictions, are the ones that commit systemic and mass movement driven acts of terrorism. White, Christian, ultra-capitalist, right wing actors, even when targeting the state and not just minority groups, are doing insane “terroristic”, “horrific” things, i.e., being crazy white people and not practicing systemic terrorism as a political tool in response to the true sentiments of countless others just like them!
Therefore, the recent attack in Norway is not just a heinous act of political terrorism, but also, as anyone with their eyes open and who has spent any decent amount of time in Europe over the last couple of decades knows, this is not an “out of the blue” incident without a social reference or link to a wide movement supporting racist and xenophobic positions and political ideologies. Racially motivated crimes driven by fascist political principles, are not new to Europe. The scale of this particular barbarity is indeed unprecedented in northern Europe, but right wing violence, including deadly violence against immigrants (mainly those immigrant who are non white and of non-European origins), has increasingly become common place in all European social landscapes, including Norway’s.
I had conversations about this with truly dear friends on my last visit to Norway. Even as I myself one night became a target of obvious racist violence, my white Norwegian friends, all of honest progressive labour and socialist party stock, refused to accept that what had just occurred to me was part of a growing social trend in the country towards racially motivated violence. Instead, I was told how sorry everyone was than an intoxicated, violent person had attacked me for no reason…I suppose that the fact that this guy has swastikas tattooed on his arms and chose to target me as the only dark-skinned, non Norwegian person in a group of about 100 other people, spoke little to my friends as to the possible racial motives for this attack.
Interestingly enough, when I shared the same experience with other folks of color living in Norway, the story resonated as very familiar to them. I heard of similar attacks committed against them, ranging from insults from strangers driving by, racial profiling by authorities, to actual brutal acts of random assault and battery. I also heard about the perplexing denial by their white sisters and brothers about the race driven and socially consistent nature of such attacks.
There is no denying average white native Norwegians, regardless of their personal political orientation or personal non-racist stances, have one set of lived and perceived realities as members of the dominant group in what, even today, is still a largely racially homogeneous society by European standards. While those of other races or religious beliefs, including those with Norwegian citizenship, have a completely different set of everyday realities and experiences.
Stated this way, the experiential differences expressed above seem almost harmless. Yet, when the dominant culture refuses to take a real honest look at what these differences actually entail in terms of societal power dynamics, then they clearly become a very dangerous racist elephant in the room...The dominant group can afford to play this hide and seek game, rarely can the minority group being affected afford such luxuries of privilege…
The refugee/immigration policies of the Norwegian state are not the issue here. A real analysis of the racial aspect of how Norwegian immigration policy is administered would require a whole different piece. It is indeed true that there are plenty of good government funded programs aimed at facilitating the integration into greater society of newly arrived refugees from all countries. Yet according to most public opinion polls and reflected in recent election results, too much money and too many programs for most Norwegians. Racist resentment among the dominant group has an unchecked origin here. While the policies are good, little work has gone into truly deconstructing the racism that is fueling resentment against these initiatives and policies and the people benefitting from them.
At the individual level, significant numbers of interracial social relationships could indicate a disposition by a large number of individuals from the white dominant culture towards antiracist positions. Yet, these choices are mostly personal and always within the context of their own cultural dominant environment, i.e, from a position of power of the member of the dominant group in the choice and in the relationship. Individuals, as a whole, even when expressing their discontent with particular immigrant friendly policies, also do not see themselves as harboring any racist feelings. This does not mean that the various manifestations of racism have been fully understood and thus are being actively deconstructed by these individuals. Racism then, simply becomes a question of how one chooses to present itself to the rest of society on the race issue and not so much how much one has managed to comprehend and respond to the issue of racial supremacy in society. Therefore, part of their everyday reality remains untouched by a dialogue on the deeper racist constructs in society that involve complex and often very subtle racial power dynamics that can prove devastating to the psyche of the member of the minority, but inconsequential to that of the member of the dominant group,
Individual declarations of lack of racism in a mostly homogeneous culture, merely means that member of the dominant group is not him/herself being affected by racism, and thus he declaration suffices to let the issue of racism become inconsequential…That is, until something like this happens, but even now, the fact that the killer targeted whites –as traitors to their race-, lends itself for many to have already begun to play down the true racist and nationalistic motivation of this attack and begin to treat it as a tragedy perpetrated by one mentally ill Norwegian on all healthy Norwegians. It remains to be seen if the Norwegian people will rise to the occasion and come to understand this horrible tragedy as a manifestation (while indeed extreme still a real manifestation), of deep rooted latent racist sentiments in their society that have for too long been ignored.
The failure of all Europeans to look at this incident for what it really is, an act of violence committed by a member of a well established and growing neo-fascist movement, and to understand that fear of violence is a daily reality for many people of color living in their countries, would only fuel the escalation of such violent racism. It is also not something which states alone can fix through just laws and legislation, even if it was trying to. Generous governmental policies alone cannot change how racism plays itself out in their streets, in popular culture, in how society is affected when the dominant group chooses to manifest their privilege and turn a blind eye to what lies in front of them and pretend that nothing at all is happening.
Real comprehensive antiracism and multicultural education and self-education at all levels of society is urgently needed. Norway and other European countries have, in recent decades, grown more and more diverse, yet generally speaking, most of what we see in terms of educational policies focus on the immigrants or refugees themselves. To be fair, In Norway for instance, there are also some education programs for children about the cultures of the main immigrant communities present in their communities, but this is not comprehensive antiracism education. This does not deconstruct racism as a relationship of power or privilege of which everyone is part including those in the dominant group who feel they are not racist. This type of feel-good, we are all the same type of approach, does not necessarily result in the dominant culture individual looking at how they, as a member of the dominant culture, practices and benefits from cultural and racial privilege every day; how this privilege shields them and protects them from countless social and economic affronts, humiliations and discrimination; how it impacts the social and power relationships of their communities as a whole, and in particular, the lives and social psychology of its minorities.
I recognize that I am not an academic authority in European racism or racial relations. Yet it is my experience, personal and political, that there has been very little momentum for the development of a social or institutional movement around deep deconstruction of racism in European culture. Quite the opposite, it would seem like, even now, after this horrible experience, most people don’t feel this is a really necessary exercise for their societies to have to go through. The popular notion is that immigrants are still being treated well and benefiting from the generosity and kindness of their governments and communities and that generally speaking “real”” racism remains an underground and random far right phenomenon, not a problem in their communities. Therefore, a problem needing to be dealt by law enforcement and not by in- depth collective introspection and a real understanding of the constant manifestation of racism in one’s own everyday life, at one’s dinner table…
Until the inherent danger in this type of entrenched denial becomes clear to liberal Europeans and they begin to move beyond paternalism and towards real comprehensive society-wide racism education and deconstruction, Europeans will continue to experience both, the rise of racist sentiment in their societies- already way beyond just the far right element-, and the multiplicity of barbarities that often accompany it. Particularly in periods of economic instability and social transformation such as the ones we are presently living, when the confusion and fears of the general population and the complacency of its supposedly progressive sectors, can both become easy targets and dangerous weapons at the hands of unrepentant fascist demagogues and racist political opportunists.
A. Boutureira Sansberro
Poisoned War video games twisted, fantasy killing sickness turned deadly reality, a body full of steroids, a mind filled with poison. Ultra-nationalist, neo-fascist, fundamentalist Christian convictions being played down...nothing to do with that. Anisolated, disconnected incident, a fluke, not here, not us, just one sick madman. Maybe. Not sure. No. I don’t believe it. Extreme, calculated madness, a politically delirious product all too common, all too possible. Not just one and only now, but too many and for too long. I've seen those eyes and know those words.... Not new, this murderous supremacist madness. From fears imagined or fabricated, to all too real mass murder. Never accidental, always politically intentional. Always deeply intellectualized. Painful, and sadly, not surprising...A guided missile destroys a whole Afghan village from a thousand miles away; A Palestinian child is run over by a tank, and then, one day, it's the guy next door that is lining up teenagers to shoot them with a semi-automatic gun. The words of the madman, frightening historic echo we can't afford to ridicule…" Aryan utopia lost to refugees and immigrant mongrel races and their multiculturalist Marxist state enablers at the service of Islamic imperialism. We must defend the father land, its heritage, its traditions, its culture… How much more can we and other Europeans afford to lose and surrender before all is lost? The spirit of the crusades must rise again…A real blow must be dealt to all the enemies of Christian White Europe, foreign and native alike. We shall show no mercy…” Almost ridiculously dismissible, if it wasn’t so frightening real, if it wasn’t so much more than just the twisted thoughts of one singular deranged man. If it was a book of fiction instead of a true manifestation of the violent hate and ignorance of thousands; a frightening true reflection of something that for too long has been there brewing, festering across a whole continent…not even all that well disguised, it lives next door, sometimes in our own homes, yet denied and all too dangerously ignored by millions… Fascism.
Adrian Boutureira, July 23, 2011
