Sunday 24 July 2011

NORWAY TRAGEDY AND THE RISE OF EXTREMISM IN EUROPE

In a previous posting about possibility of Fascism/Nazism making a comeback, I argued that socioeconomic, cultural and political conditions converging to account for the appropriate climate for a populist right-wing movement, which could evolve into regime, is possible at some point. The tragedy in Norway that took place on Friday, 22 July 2011 and left 77 people dead and 97 wounded, most of them young, and the unfolding facts so far behind the massacre reveal a disturbing trend across Europe that could be a sign of rising ultra-right-wing activity according to authorities.

Anders Behring Breivik, responsible for the mass murders according to police, was targeting the Labor Party government. However, there are reports that as early as 2002, Anders and other far-right individuals attended a London meeting where they discussed a xenophobic agenda, especially targeting Muslims. Behring was apparently one of the founding members of the Knights Templar, a group named after a Medieval Christian crusading order that set out to conquer the Holy Land. The alleged mass assassin mentioned the English Defense League, which opposes what it calls the spread of Islam, but there are conflicting reports on whether Islam per se was the ultimate goal of his action or Labor government 'secularist multicultural policies', the ubiquitous power of the EU, globalization and the perception of loss of 'Nordic power waning'. 

I have been writing for many months that there is a rising threat by ultra-right wing elements, some of which have transformed their agenda from anti-Semitic rhetoric to anti-Muslim one, thus playing into the hands of legitimacy of US/NATO government policy that is responsible for starting the global anti-Muslim campaign. European intelligence services have been reporting high internet activity of ultra-right wing elements across Europe. This does not mean that they are all like Anders Behring who are prepared to engage in mass murder. However, it is a bad omen and it illustrates that the socioeconomic problems and the perception that the political establishment  Behring operated on a manifesto that vowed revenge, a manifesto that stated in part: "We, the free indigenous peoples of Europe, hereby declare a pre-emptive war on all cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites of Western Europe. ... We know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you. We are in the process of flagging every single multculturalist traitor in Western Europe. You will be punished for your treasonous acts against Europe and Europeans."

What took place in Norway could be dismissed as similar to such tragedies in the US where a lone mass murders acts, or it could be compared with the Oklahoma City bombing, or it could be under the category of a terrorist act like those carried out by separatists in different areas around the world. However, the Norway case was clearly political and it does not bode well for the future. Like all mass killers, Behring is clearly mentally unbalanced who will most likely spend the rest of his days in a mental institution.

The issue is not about this 32-year old man who went out of control and sunk the otherwise peaceful Norway into a major national tragedy. The issue is much larger and it has to do with the subtle or direct Western policies against Islam that has been converted into the new anti-Semitic crusade of the West and it has replaced the Cold War. Who exactly provides the ammunition to ultra-right wing groups, if not the mainstream political parties that pursue policies against minorities, that exacerbate socioeconomic polarization because they are determined to strengthen welfare capitalism, because they deprive weaker nations of their sovereignty because they are interested in the gradual re-introduction of nee-imperialism, because they default all evils to leftists and Muslims? There is a new emerging enemy from the far right, but it is the child of mainstream Western society.

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