Norwegian massacre: “This is an attack on the Labour Movement” – Labour must respond!

The AUF summer camp only a few days ago. Photo: ArbeiderpartietThe
massacre began with a bomb blast in Oslo that killed seven people. But
the real bloodbath took place a little later on the island of Utøya,
where hundreds of young people had gathered for a summer school of the
Labour Youth (AUF). The island was given to them by the trade unions of
Oslo and is a place of great symbolic importance for the whole labour
movement.

“He travelled on the ferry boat from the mainland over
to that little inland island posing as a police officer, saying he was
there to do research in connection with the bomb blasts,” NRK journalist
Ole Torp told the BBC. Another eyewitness explains that he arrived
claiming he was a police officer and was there to talk about the bombing
in Oslo and when he had gathered enough people he started shooting.

In
a horrific moment, young people in bathing costumes were mown down. In
scenes of indescribable panic, they jumped into the sea to save
themselves and were shot at as they tried to swim away from the scene of
carnage. Others cowered behind rocks or hid in caves, terrified, as the
gunman proceeded to shoot one defenceless person after another.

The
gunman wandered around the island posing as a police officer, calling
people forward and then shot them as they emerged from their hiding
places. 15-year old Elise saw a police officer and thought she was safe,
but then he started shooting. “He first shot people on the island.
Afterward he started shooting people in the water,” she said.

Several
victims pretended as if they were dead to survive. But after shooting
the victims with one gun, the gunman shot them again in the head with a
shotgun. The Norwegian press this morning showed pictures of beaches
covered with bodies. These were the actions of a cold and calculating
killer.

Who is Anders Behring Breivik?

Utoeya. Photo: whoelse_northThe
finger of blame was immediately pointed at al-Qaeda. Who else could it
be? The possibility of such attacks by Islamic extremists was always a
there, given that Norway has sent troops to Afghanistan, and this is
backed by the Norwegian Labour Party and not opposed by its youth
organisation. President Obama lost no time in conveying his most sincere
sympathy, and making good use of the opportunity to drum up support for
continuing the “war on terror”.

Such has been the effect of the
propaganda campaign since 9/11 on the public psyche that terrorism is
immediately associated with men with a dark complexion dressed like
Arabs or Afghans. However, the information subsequently released
immediately exploded this theory. It was revealed that the Labour Party
Youth (AUF) camp was attacked by someone described as a man with blond
hair and of Nordic appearance, dressed in a police uniform. The murderer
is neither a Muslim nor a member of al-Qaeda but a member of the
Norwegian middle class.

Anders Behring Breivik is a Norwegian
petty bourgeois. He went to business school in Norway and runs a small
business. He was evidently not short of money, as he bought a farm, on
which his small business was run, which had previously been used by
elements in the criminal underwold as a marijuana plantation. The
plantation was also connected to a famous bank robbery (NOKAS robbery).
Probably in preparation for yesterday’s events Breivik bought six tonnes
of artificial fertiliser, which is commonly used for home-made bombs,
on May 4th, using his farming business as cover.

He is also a right-wing extremist. He was an active member of the racist Fremskrittspartiet,
which is currently running at 20% or so in the polls, and their youth
organisation, supposedly for 10 years, until 2007. He’s an opponent of
multi-culturalism and viciously anti-Muslim. He has apparently suggested
recreating the US Tea Party in Europe and expressed support for the
English Defence League. He wrote things like:

“All hate ideologies ought to be treated the same:
“Islamism has killed 300 million
“Communism has killed 100 million
“Nazism has killed 6-20 million”

He
calls former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundlant a "fatherland killer”,
for having put forward the idea that anyone who lives in Norway is a
Norwegian. He also constantly refers to how “Marxists” supposedly have
infiltrated everywhere, including culture, schools and the media.

There
can be no doubt that this was a political act. The targets were not
haphazard, as is usually the case in attacks by mad people. They were
carefully selected for political reasons. It seems likely that the main
target was The Labour Norwegian Prime Minister Jan Stoltenberg. Hundreds
of young people were awaiting a speech the prime minister was to give
there today.

The international media is unanimous in regarding
these atrocities as the act of a “mad gunman”. In this way they try to
draw attention away from the political content of these events. A madman
is not responsible for his actions, which are of a purely random and
accidental character. But there was nothing either random or accidental
about this.

Norwegian terror “experts” are perplexed at the fact
that it was a Norwegian right-wing terrorist that committed the crime
and not a Muslim. Some have commented that the Norwegian intelligence
services have not given enough attention to the threat of right-wing
extremism in the last few years. Did they not know of Breivik’s extreme
right wing views?

There are many aspects of this case that are
unclear. Did Breivik act alone or was there more than one gunman? The
impression was initially given that he acted alone. But there are
witnesses saying there was also at least one person without uniform on
the island participating in the slaughter. Time will tell.
Interestingly, Labour leader Stoltenberg stressed that the police were
investigating the possibility of international links.

Labour must act!

The
leader of AUF, Eskil Pedersen, held a press conference this morning
calling the attack an attack on democracy and said that AUF would
continue to stand by its values of anti-racism and for democracy and
equality.

Soliders patrolling the streets of Oslo. Photo: H. K. NilsenStoltenberg,
the Prime Minister, obviously shaken by this atrocity, told the
television cameras: “This is an attack against the Norwegian labour
movement, against the Norwegian Labour Party and its youth
organisation.” That is absolutely correct. However, this message was
immediately diluted by the BBC News, which said it was an attack
“against Norway’s political system and Norway’s values.”

Right
wing politicians like Sarkozi and Angela Merkel pander to anti-Muslim
sentiments to curry favour with the right wing, as do the press, with
people like Rupert Murdoch. They encourage extremist and anti-immigrant
elements. In the case of Norway, the Conservative Party is preparing to
form a coalition government with Fremskrittspartiet, if the
present left-wing coalition is defeated at the next election. It is
therefore wrong to suggest any kind of agreement with the right wing
bourgeois parties to “defend democracy” against the far right.

The
Labour leader, having correctly emphasised that this was an attack
against the Labour Movement, then went on to say that the matter should
be left in the hands of the police. This is a mistake. The state cannot
be relied upon to provide effective defence against the fascists. The
state intelligence services have ignored the activities of fascist
groups, and a section of the state always has fascist sympathies. Blind
belief in the efficacy of the state to protest us can lull us into a
false sense of security with fatal results.  Let us remember that this
assassin was able to commit mass murder because he was dressed as a
policeman.

The attack has unleashed an atmosphere of fear that
needs to be fought. The Socialist Youth (SU) were forced to cancel their
summer camp which was due to take place next week, on the very same
island. They have released a statement of solidarity with the AUF, in
which their leader, Olav Magnus Linge, put it very well: “for all dead
comrades, not a minute’s silence, but a life of struggle”.

The
attack poses the question of how to defend the Labour Movement and its
youth organisations from fascists. The Labour Youth, the Youth Wing of
the trade unions, and the Youth of the Socialist Left party should
immediately link up to form self-defence committees, linked to the trade
unions and the shop stewards committees. Every public activity should
be patrolled and defended, and every act of aggression responded to
energetically.

The organised working class must learn to depend
only on itself. Only the Labour Movement can combat the menace of
fascist and right wing groups. But to do so effectively, it must respond
to every fascist provocation by mobilising the full might of the
organised working class. The Norwegian Labour Movement is very powerful.
It must use its power to teach the fascists a lesson. The Norwegian
trade unions should call a 24-hour general strike to protest this
attack.

The labour organisations of the world must show solidity
by mass action. Commemoration events are now being organised in Sweden.
But what is needed is not just an outpouring of mourning but
international solidarity action. The unions in other countries should
organise protest meetings and demonstrations – starting with Sweden. Let
the world see that the international Labour Movement will not be cowed
by any fascist aggression, and that we will come out onto the streets to
meet any threat to our rights! Let our slogan be: an injury to one is
an injury to all.

It is time to wake up! For many years Norway
seemed to be an island of peace and tranquility in a turbulent world.
Now this comforting illusion has been brutally shattered. The military
are now on the streets of the Norwegian capital guarding public
buildings, while many families mourn their dead children. The world
crisis of capitalism spares no country and no individual. It is, to use
the phrase of Lenin, horror without end.