A year ago we asked you to never be silent again. Ten years after 22 July, it was high time to start a debate about the politics of terror. We needed a settlement with the attitudes that led to the actions.
That settlement will never be final. It’s a daily battle.
After one year, we see that we are a few steps further.
For eleven years since then Eskil Pedersen tried at LO’s cartel conference to start a political settlement. He said that the right wing also had a responsibility to speak.
The debate afterwards was fierce. With many accusations that AUF would both limit freedom of expression and that we pulled the 22 July card.
Every single time we tried in the time afterwards, it was beaten down hard. It went so far that Eskil and AUF were called enemies of democracy, only a few months after we had been shot at for participating in democracy.
Last year I stood on the same podium at the cartel conference. The message was recognizable from ten years ago. We need the right-wing to take special responsibility for the debate around right-wing extremism, because there are others who listen to them than to us. This time there were no reactions.
After a summer of debate about the political settlement, this moved me deeply. We could speak freely – without reactions so harsh that it is not in line with what has been said.
It took ten years before we could talk politically about 22 July. Now that we’ve started, we’re not going to stop. We need you to join the conversation. We do not sit with the conclusion, we do not have all the answers. But we will get nowhere if we do not debate the demanding topics.
The connection between attitudes and actions is demanding, but important. All hateful words do not lead to terror, but terror starts with hateful words. Throughout our history, we have seen repeatedly how important the words we use are. It starts with us using our words to divide into us and them, so that we are no longer a we.
When the words undermine the human dignity of those who believe differently, look differently or think differently – the steps are short to not seeing the human in each other. It makes it easier to hate each other.
We have seen this happen many times throughout our history. World War II did not start with the concentration camps. It started when conspiracy theories against Jews gained a foothold among ordinary people.
The genocide in Rwanda did not start when neighbors killed neighbors with machetes. It started with people calling their neighbors cockroaches.
Many of the worst moments in our stories are man-made. It hasn’t happened overnight. It has been happening for a long time. The extreme has been normalized. Human dignity has been built down.
On July 22, 2011 we again saw the consequences of hatred and conspiracy theories. July 22 was no accident. There was no natural disaster. It was a targeted political terrorist attack fueled by conspiracy theories and hatred. Hatred against the AUF and the Labor Party. Hatred against diversity, against equality and against our values. A hatred that did not arise in a vacuum.
Only one man is behind the actions, but the attitudes are shared by several. We all have a responsibility to speak up when hate shows itself.
The attack in Oslo on 25 June hit queer people who were celebrating love. There is much we still do not know. But it seems that the man behind the attack has a background in the extreme Islamist milieu.
Last year we asked the right to take special responsibility for the debate after 22 July. Now we also need Muslim leaders to take special responsibility for the debate after 25 June. Several have already done so, but we need many to vote in.
The big difference between the two calls is that last year we were not afraid that the right would be met with incitement, violence or threats.
I am afraid that may happen in the debates we are about to enter into now. That the racists can use it as an excuse for their hatred. We must avoid another ditching of the debate.
There is a common thread between the attacks on 22 July, 10 August and 25 June. Although the goals have been different, the goal has been the same. Attacking us where we feel safest: Those who were going to work for our democracy in the government quarter, those of us who were at summer camp to change the world, those who went to pray in their mosque and those who wanted to dance and celebrate love.
Extremist groups say they stand for the opposite of each other, but their hatred is recognisable. They put themselves above the law. They use violence and kill innocents. They believe in hate and conspiracy theories.
The most important thing we do is before the violence happens. That we manage to stop the hatred from growing and taking hold. As a survivor of terror, I would say: What I fear most is that the extreme will be normalized. That it should become everyday.
Many of the haters use freedom of speech as a shield against having to take responsibility for their words. Freedom of speech exempts no one from being responsible for what they say. Freedom of speech gives them the right to say what they want, but it gives the rest of us the right to speak against them. And we need even more people to join and speak out.
We need you to join us.
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