Norway massacre's links to right-wing extremism

This image shows Anders Behring Breivik from a manifesto attributed to him that was discovered Saturday, July 23, 2011.

/ AP Photo/via Scanpix

Anders Behring Breivik has apparently confessed to being the perpetrator of the twin attacks in Norway this weekend that killed at least 92 people.

The 32-year-old Norwegian reportedly gave up as soon as he was approached by police on Utoya Island near Oslo, but that was only after he had spent 90 minutes shooting at everything he could there.

About two hours before the massive bomb he built went off in Oslo, killing at least 7, Breivik apparently put the finishing touches on his 1,500-page manifesto, which was an accompaniment to his 12-minute long video.

Both are more or less long rants against Marxism, Islam, multiculturalism and liberal immigration policies.

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On page 403 of what appears to be his manifesto, he writes: "Multiculturalism is a tool of Islam; it is a disastrous ideology of false "nice" that is used to stifle critical thought and open debate. Multiculturalism is a complete failure as it is used by our enemies to destroy us. Multiculturalism must be destroyed."

The manifesto has the byline "Andrew Berwick," which Norwegian media have confirmed is just the Anglicization of Breivick's name. Both the video and the manifesto reference the Knights Templar, a famed group of Catholic Crusaders. "Berwick" declares himself a "Justiciar Knight Commander" of a newly-formed group of Templars, which he says met in London in 2007 to "prepare" for their unnamed mission.

Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell claims to have read the entire manifesto, and in an article writes that the manifesto is "Filled with hateful rantings against Muslims -- whom the author claims are on a trajectory to take over Europe and erase its culture patrimony."

Hounshell goes on to write about the many contradictions in Breivik's ideas:

Oddly, despite his evident hatred of Muslims and Arabs, "Berwick" professes admiration for al Qaeda, which he lists as one of only two "successful militant organisations" due to its "superior structural adaptation." "If Muhammad was alive today," he writes, "Usama Bin Laden would have been his second in command." Elsewhere, he cites al Qaeda's training manual as a reference, and declares, "Just like Jihadi warriors are the plum tree of the Ummah, we will be the plum tree for Europe and for Christianity." In another eerie parallel, he also calls for suicidal operations in service of the larger cause: "Let us be perfectly clear; if you are unwilling to martyr yourself for the cause, then the PCCTS, Knights Templar is not for you."

In all, the various online traces of thought left behind by Breivick before his alleged slaughter paint the portrait of a deeply paranoid man driven by conspiracy theories about the downfall of Western civilization.

As far out from mainstream as those conspiracy theories may seem, they are far from unique to Breivick, or even Norway for that matter. Parties that appeal to populism, nationalism (a particular favorite of Breivick) and extreme right-wing views have made headway throughout the governments of Europe.

The New York Times' Nicholas Kulish writes:

"The success of populist parties appealing to a sense of lost national identity has brought criticism of minorities, immigrants and in particular Muslims out of the beer halls and Internet chat rooms and into mainstream politics. In recent years far-right statements have appeared to lose much of their post-World War II taboo even among some prominent political parties. A combination of increased migration from abroad and largely unrestricted movement of people within an enlarged European Union, such as the persecuted Roma minority, helped lay the groundwork for a nationalist, at times starkly chauvinist, revival."

[mandibles]

Democracy Now! did an interview this morning with Jeff Sharlet who has written about right wing extremism in the US. He talked about Breivik's political ideology and extremism in both the US and Europe.
Here's the link:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/7/27/norwegian_shooting_suspects_views_echo_xenophobia

[talis4]

The lunatic fringe on the right
Is to reason a serious blight.
They rant and they rave.
About who god should save,
Then kill women and children on sight.

[AdrianXXX777]

I read a reported tag the gunman as a 'Christian" which is about as irresponsible as journalism gets. A 'Christian' is a person who follows the teachings of the Christ (Jesus). Since Jesus taught 'Love your Enemies' - which is the exact opposite of what occurred in Norway - he obviously is not a Christian. Irresponsible because the Muslim world reads this and believes that Christians teach murdering their own people to motivate them to murder others. Why spark a lie to get them to hate Christians? Western children also read this & develop a twisted understanding of Christianity. What the gunman did is more akin to the Nazi technique of bullying and terrifying a people into murdering others. THINK before you publish nonsense!

[talis4]

Actually, I do blame 9/11 on islam. The problem is that the radical right in this country consists of people who are too clueless to see how closely they are related to the fascist hordes of islam.
The christian right in this country, along with the tea-b*ggers and gop in general pursue a similar agenda to the mohammadans.
*religious intolerance
*visceral responses to beliefs other than their own
*violence against non-believers
*conspiracy theories
*abject stupidity
*clear and unabiding ignorance (just check out agnus dei)
All religions, by their nature, are bad. They promote a belief in superstition that can serve to stunt the advancement of any society. We can only hope that the right wing morons (rwm's) in this country do not resort to the kind of action the nordic loon engaged in.

[HolyVoice]

Is this kind of violence and evil an omen of what's to come within America . . .
by Former_Marine_Sgt July 24, 2011 12:50 PM EDT


If so, I think I'd like to take 2012 off, for holiday. Do omen's take holidays off?

[agnesdeo]

Wasn't in the midst of a depression, when Hilter and Nazism came into their power????? What if Prez. Obama and the Democrats are attempting to create a depression in the USA? What will happen?

[dagrandma]

There's no sense in accusing all right-wing individuals of being like this man. He's the criminal. You can no more blame this on all right-wingers than you can blame 9-11 on all Muslims. I don't think there are many of that political persuasion who are happy with what this man did.

[bradkt1]

While I never expect the perpetrators of such heinous acts to ever make sense, this is so irrational that it lacks any inernal consistency. For example:

(1) He hates Muslims so he murders non-Muslims;
(2) He hates the government's policy so he attacks a non-government target (the youth camp);
(3) He hates immigrants so he murders Norwegians;
(4) He attacks Norwegians so (which will cause them to rally around each other) so they will foment a revolution; and
(5) He expects to draw Norwegian sympathizers for murdering a bunch of Norwegian kids?

No one will ever be able to make any sense of this demented mind. He's just evil.

[bradkt1]

His actions make no sense at all...even from the perspective of him wanting to generate some kind of sympathy for his cause.

[mochatheunblended]

The Roman Republic (really an oligarchy) fell because violence became an increasiingly frequent method of political action. That is not a good place to go. Has Ceaser crossed the Rubicon yet?

[jayrh]

Actually, the main reason that the Roman Empire fell was because of immigration. Eventually the Roman army consisted of mostly non-Romans. As the situation grew worse, they ceded more and more land to non-Romans in exchange for fighting for the Roman Empire. By historical standards political violence was the norm.

[agnesdeo]

Why the Roman Empire fall??? "In ancient Rome they felt so free, doing what comes naturally, they were so busy being merry ones that they didn't notice the barabarians..." Freedom isn't free, you have to pay the price, you got to sacrifice for your liberty!

[jayrh]

A senseless, horrible act! One would wonder though, why we don't see comments like this when the hard left in this country supports CAIR and ISNA, who are unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism financing? It has come out that the only reason that they aren't indicted is because Eric Holder thwarted their prosecution...

There is no doubt that the hard left has courted these groups for years and there is proof of terrorism involvement... Yet, the left would tell you don't be ridiculous&

There is no involvement of conservatives in this country, yet the left would try to associate them with a heinous act... They did the same thing when the congressman from Arizona was shot... They constantly try to paint conservatives as racists, even going so far as having congressmen in Washington accuse the TEA party of racial slurs at a rally... Of course it wasn't captured on camera, even though they were surrounded by them... How many times have we heard that people oppose Obama just because he's a black man???

I have no respect left for the hard left in this country&

[worldcitizen1]

Extremists are the same, left or right. Christian or Muslim. I have no respect for extremists, of either political party. Polarization has crippled out government. Compromise is viewed as weakness. SAD!