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The Why Norway (Too) Breivik Challenge: Should Not Be Surprised

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The Why Norway (Too) Breivik Challenge: Should Not Be Surprised JULy ID ECEMBER 2011 5 The Breivik Challenge: Why Norway Should Not Be (Too) Surprised Vedran Obucina* Scientific review UDC 329.4:327.88(481) Received in December 2011 Abstract The attacks in Norway showed the horrifying strength of radical right thought in contemporary Europe. Breivik s ideology as well as his actions are rooted in the radical way of thinking that is embracing Europe today. Radicals are gaining more votes than ever, and by challenging the globalised world, they are putting forward the idea of "re-inventing" European national states in terms of anti-immigration, nationalism, patriarchal values and ethnic purity. Key words: Breivik, radical right, Norway, Scandinavia, Progress party, Islamophobia 1. Introduction unprecedented actrvities of radical right parties show the weakness of European judicial systems. The terrorist act on July 22, 2011 in Norway Namely, hate speech is omnipresent in public dis- stunned the world. The deadly march of Anders course and despite the charges, radical parties get Behring Breivik was a shock not only for Scan- away with it unharmed. dinavian societies but also for the world at large. The image of Norway as a peaceful, socially based Scandinavia is not immune to it. Quite the and progressive country was turned into a place contrary, electoral success of the radical right is thriving with right-wing extremism. Breivik's rising in every electoral cycle. Until recently, Fin- case is certainly a special one, but conceives with- land was the only country in Scandinavia (exclud- in it the imminent threat of radical right extrem- ing far-away and very specific Iceland) without ism. Roger Griffin's fascist minimum, the revolu- the presence of a strong radical right party. Now tionary national reawakening, finds its place even this has also changed. A Neo-Nazi and Neo-Pagan within radical right populists who are not consid- underground is also very vivid and successful in ered as neo- fascists. Europe needs to re-define its these countries. Maybe the Breivik case is unex- democratic minimum, because the existence and pected, but his theories and his ideas are not un- common in Scandinavian societies. This article provides a short introduction * Vedran Obucina is university specialist in Comparative Politics, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, and to Breivik's ideas connecting them to contem- editor of biweekly review Vijenac porary radical right thought in Western Europe. 6 CROATIAN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS REVIEW In addition, it brings the history of radical right Blok). Under this thinking, the great influx of movements and parties in Scandinavia, and espe- Muslims is part of the jihadist idea of conquer- cially Norway. ing Europe, while European agenda here stems from the French idea of the 1950s where a Euro- 2. Breivik's manifesto Islamic axis should have made a counterbalance to the USA and the Soviet Union. However, Islamo- Breivik makes an interesting insight in radical right phobic personalities like Breivik and Bat Ye'or do thought. His vast compendium "2083: A European not recognise the possibility of coexistence; there Declaration of Independence" shows remarkable is only victory or total decay of Western civilisa- knowledge of different political worldviews and tion. It is the time, as Breivik points, of "European boasts with classic radical right wing thinking on Slaves, Arab Masters". Breivik is also making world, religion, society and politics. It is written his own image as a fierce Zionist. Israelis are, ac- in English, rather than in Norwegian, because cording to his viewpoint,"brothers in arms", the his message is essentially worldwide, or at least blocking tower against Islamic invasion. It is the Europe-wide. His viewpoint is inherently anti- myth gone wild. postmodern but conceives classic liberal modem thought as the basic value of every Western Eu- Renowned twentieth-century philosopher ropean society. Specifically, he opposes ideas and Ernst Cassirer explains that in man's practical and movements labelled as postmodern, from feminist social life there is a defeat of rational thought, much ideas to the loss of significance of the nation-state. different from scientific researches, which forms a The compendium is, in fact, a showcase for radi- basis of our every-day life influenced by modem cal right movements and political parties in Scan- technology and scientific breakthroughs. He per- dinavia (see below). His favourite literature, as he ceives myth not only as a product of intellectual wrote in his compendium (p. 1407), contains lib- processes; it sprouts from deep human emotions eral classics such as Thomas Hobbes, John Stuart (Cassirer, 43). However, Cassirer stresses that myth Mill, John Locke, Adam Smith, but also George cannot be described as a bare emotion because it Orwell, Ayn Rand, William James and Carl von is the expression of emotion: "The expression of a Clausewitz. His manifesto is a vast and gener- feeling is not the feeling itself-it is emotion turned ally resourceful collection of thoughts, comments into an image" (ibid). Indeed, this image, in the cre- and ideas about the Western European society in ation of myth of the state, or identity, is intertwined general. He begins with the discussion about po- with culture, music, poetry, arts. Cassirer says, "To litical correctness, labelling it as a cultural Marx- the true romanticist there could be no sharp differ- ist term and the source of "all the mistakes and ence between myth and reality; just as little as there wrongdoings of contemporary European govern- was any separation between poetry and truth. Po- ments", especially in introducing multiculturalist etry and truth, myth and reality interpenetrate each policies. In this sense, he is very critical of Theo- other and coincide with each other" (ibid, 5). The dore Adorno, George Lukacs, Herbert Marcuse more poetic it is, the truer it becomes. Myth is filled and Antonio Gramsci, as forerunners in Frankfurt with the most violent emotions and the most fright- School. Nevertheless, his critique misses the very ful visions, says Cassirer. Nevertheless, in myth foundation of this movement and at one point, he man begins to learn a new and strange art: the art of misunderstands the very basics of the Frankfurt expressing, and that means of organizing, his most School. Partial reading and misconclusions are rooted instincts, his hopes and fears. The fears ex- also present elsewhere in Breivik's manifesto. plained here, however, are becoming an enchanted circle of hatred and disapproving identities. This Ardent Islamophobia and xenophobia are characteristic of human beings is certainly used present throughout Breivik's work. He is con- by radical right groups, spreading fear in order to stantly under the influence of Gisele Littman alias spread their own ideology. Bat Ye'or, a British scholar of Jewish background, who is arguing that Europe is under sway of will- Breivik finds the answer to all these threats ing surrender to Islam. Europe is becoming "Eura- in coming back to traditional nationalism. The na- bia", a thesis that is present in many other radical- tion is a big solidarity, says Ernst Renan, and it is right groups, such as in Philip Dewinter's Vlaams based on sacrifices, which are understood as nec- Belang in Belgium (previously known as Vlaams essary in past, present and in future (Renan, 1995: JULYIDECEMBER 2011 7 56). Political myth transcends logic, it is elusive, Givens, who made research on the radical right but because of this elusiveness, it has a coherent gender gap, women are less likely to vote for the and complete belief system. There is neither le- radical right because there are fewer women who gitimacy nor logic other than its own. Vladimir are employed and work in the sectors (manufac- Tismaneanu mentions major themes revolving turinglblue-collar) that are attracted to the radical around such political mythologies: Golden Age right (Givens, 2004: 39). Although she finds that (innocence lost, glorious patriarchal beginnings, Scandinavian societies have comparatively less the fall into modernity); victimhood, martyrdom, differences between men and women, neverthe- treason and conspiracy; salvation and the advent less, when immigration is used as a dependent of the millennium; charismatic saviours (who can variable, this difference persists (ibid, 50). Also, be heroic individuals, allegedly predestined class- Givens finds that men are more likely to vote for es, or biologically defined races); and ultimate the radical right than women because they have bliss in the form of revolutionary chiliasm, when stronger anti-immigrant attitudes than women leader, movement, nation, and mankind become (ibid, 41), and that the occupations most affected one, whether in life or death (Tismaneanu, 9). Its by globalisation and immigration (i.e. blue-collar principal function is to imagine a reality in accord- industrial workers) will be more anti-immigrant ance with certain political interests. than those in other sectors (ibid, 42). Thus, we can conclude, that radical right parties are essen- His manifesto attacks the governments tially traditional patriarchal "men" parties. But, in of Europe, especially those of social-democratic the same Scandinavian environment, there is one background. Breivik perceives them as being the successful radical right party, the Danish People's same as "all the other socialists", naming explic- Party, led by a woman, Pia Kjrersgaard. itly Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Marx and, interestingly, Hitler. In his view, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi move- Breivik disclosed the manifest to his like- ment were, in its very core, socialist. In this way, minded fellows and friends a few hours before Breivik cannot be called a Nazi, as National So- the attacks. Later on, he went to the governmental cialism is to him a mere variation of the ideology quarter of Oslo and activated a car bomb outside he strives against. His opposition to neo-Nazism the office of Norwegian Prime Minister and other is certain if we consider him as "Zionist-friendly".
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