“We are so few here in this country...”

Bombs and gunfire have accomplished what mere good intentions could not – they have pushed me to blog again.

I am away from Oslo this weekend, and so I found out about the attacks in Oslo and Utøya via a series of unexpected phone calls from my family. I first heard about explosions and gunfire, and as the evening unfolded, we tried to gleam what information we could from Norwegian news.

This morning, we awoke to news which the Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, has described as Dette er et mareritt og ikke til å forstå [This is a nightmare, impossible to understand] As of this morning, 84 people are dead at Utøya, an island about 45 minutes from Oslo and home to a summer camp for AUF, the youth party for the Norwegian Labour party. Contrary to some reports which I saw in American media, this is not just a camp for the children of politicians, but rather, a camp for politically active teens who identify as members of the Labour party, which happens to be the biggest party in Norway's current coalition government. The bombings in Oslo's government quarters resulted in at least 7 deaths, and police have warned that death tolls at both locations will rise.

Early reports indicated that one of several Islamic terrorist organizations had claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, soon reports began surfacing that a man described as “etnisk norsk” a phrase which literally means ethnically Norwegian, or essentially the sort of blond-haired, blue-eyed Viking type most people still immediately associate with Norway, had opened fire at Utøya. It became clear as the events unfolded that the two attacks were connected, and that the gunman, who had claimed that he was a policeman at the island to perform a routine debriefing in the aftermath of the bombing, was linked to both attacks. As of late yesterday evening, 32 year old Anders Behring Breivik had been arrested, charged with carrying out both attacks. Behring Breivik, a self professed nationalist, belongs to a Christian fundamentalist group active in Eastern Norway. In the past,he has been active in FrP [the Progress Party] the rightmost leaning major political party in Norway and one of Norway's largest political parties, known best for it's right wing economic policy and strong anti-immigration stance. When younger, he was active in FrPU, the youth party for FrP, and held several several "verv" - positions of responsibility - within the youth organization. However, this association ended several years ago. The only warning the shooter provided came via the lone posting he has made on his twitter account, dated the 17th of July: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests.”

Oslo awoke today to the sight of military patrolling the streets downtown. It's a grey day in Oslo, a dreary, lost, depressing sort of day, the sort of day which mirrors the mood of a nation in shock. I am sitting half a continent away, where the blue sky and sun seem just as surreal. I know that all life is sacred, that such attacks are a tragedy, whether they strike in Oklahoma city, New York, DC, London, Mumbai, Delhi, Gaza, or Oslo. But this is knowledge best retained by a rational mind, not a emotional heart. When I see the pictures from Oslo, I feel tears lurking at the corners of my eyes. I know these buildings. I have walked past them on my way home, I have listened to open air concerts at Youngstorget, I have stopped to consider the flowers sold at the kiosk there. This is the city where I currently make my home. It's more than pictures on the news – this is a part of my day to day life that has been irrevocably changed.

This is the biggest attack on Norwegian soil since WWII, and so it is perhaps not surprising that I have seen several Norwegians turn to the words of that era to express their feelings today. In 1940, the Norwegian poet Nordahl Grieg said “Vi er så få her i landet, hver fallen er bror og venn.” [We are so few here in this country, that every fallen (person) is a brother and a friend] Norway is a country of less than 5 million people. Or, to put it succinctly for my American friends, Norway: Population = Alabama. For a similar percentage of the American population to be affected, gunmen would have to take out 5,000 people. In terms of percentage, Norway has lost more people than the US did on 9/11, almost 10 years ago.

On the surface, the motivations behind the two attacks are different. Dig beneath the paper-thin mask of blonds and beards, crazed nationalism and delusions of holy war, and you find the true culprits: fundamentalism, extremism, hatred and fear. This is not an issue of east and west, this is an issue of intolerance taken to the extreme. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, there was a lot of hatred being spewed online, aimed at religion in general and Islam in particular. But scapegoating, while comforting, does not actually change reality. This is not a question of us vs them, this is a case of moderation and tolerance against fundamentalists of all stripes, and the real issue will not be solved without introspection.

And in conclusion, for those who feel touched by the events inn Norway, I encourage you to show your support in the way many of those I know in Oslo have: by donating blood. Words are not half as powerful as actions, and the best way to fight back against fear is to give.

Peace