The radical-right Progress Party (FRP) withdrew from Norway’s coalition government on January 20. This is a big defeat for FRP leader Siv Jensen, whose big ambition was to prove his party was koalitionsfähig, or “coalition capable.” After six years in government, the conflict between the populist radicals and the more moderate wing of the party… Continue reading “With the Collapse of a Right-Wing Coalition, Has Norway Turned Its Populist Tide?”
The Nordic Resistance Movement is a Nazi foundation that aims to dismantle the Nordic countries and form a new unity for its members of the ‘Nordic race’. It is a racist neo-Nazi organisation founded in 2016 and has links to mainstream political parties and organisations. The young man who attacked the mosque in Bærum seems… Continue reading “The Nordic Resistance Movement”
In 2019, the harassment, attacks and conspiracy theories targeted at the Sámi population in Norway are on the increase. The abuse is particularly ugly on social media and – for the first time in Norwegian history – a man was charged with hate speech on Facebook against a Sámi person and sentenced to 18 days… Continue reading “Harassment and attacks on the indigenous Sámi and industrial colonialism in Norway”
It is more than 8 years since the massacre at Utøya and this year many local authorities ‘forgot’ to mark the 8th anniversary of the Utøya and Olso terror attacks, maybe because they were busy with the local elections. In the meantime, survivors continued to receive death threats and the political assault has still not… Continue reading “Frp in Norway – the end of the party?”
Has the Norwegian police learned anything from its failure in the 2011 Breivik attacks? A recent terror attack at a mosque near Oslo raises important questions about the extent and range of radical right extremism and the Norwegian state response to it. On the 10th of August 2019, the young radical right extremist Philip… Continue reading “Behind Norway’s terrorist attack that was luckily thwarted”
In late June, as part of the Society for Terrorism Research annual conference held in Oslo, Norway, myself and other attendees were given the opportunity to visit the island of Utøya: the site of the 22 July 2011 mass shooting committed by Anders Behring Breivik, which left 69 people dead; 33 of whom were under… Continue reading “A Visit to Utøya”
For the time being, populist red-green forces seem to have robbed the radical right of its language as well as its voters. On March 1, Norway’s far-left Red (Rødt) party polled at 7.6% — its highest ever result. If an election was called today, this could translate to 14 members in the 169-seat parliament, Stortinget, where the party… Continue reading “The Far Left is on the Rise in Norway”
The radical right tide might be turning in Norway. Last week thousands turned out on the streets in sub-zero temperatures in 33 Norwegian towns from Mandal in the South to Tromsø in the North to demonstrate against half-a-century of attacks on the right to free abortion in Norway. The new radical right government – formed… Continue reading “Norwegian electorate reacts against radical right evangelists’ attack on women’s rights”
It is now clear that the Norwegian minority government, mainstream conservatives and the radical right will be joined by the tiny Christian people’s (Kristelig Folkeparti-Krf) party in a new, strengthened coalition. After a nail biting internal vote where the Krf Knut Arild Hareide asked the party to support his Christian social values and topple the… Continue reading “Asylum Policy in Norway: How a Norwegian government crisis perpetuates the brutal treatment of refugees”
Norway’s politicians have not dealt with, or intervened, to undermine the racist ideology that made Anders Behring Breivik’s 2011 attacks possible. In July, Norway remembered the victims of the Utøya and Oslo attacks of 2011. A temporary memorial was unveiled with the names of those killed. The attacks have had an enormous impact on a… Continue reading “Norway Has Failed to Combat a Climate of Hate”