The news from Denmark made me think back on the shit that went down in Norway 11 years ago, and holy fuck-

You had a roided up thumb failson calling himself a Knight Templar and fancying himself as a protector of white Christendom blowing up bombs near a government building in the capital to distract from his intended target, a summer camp for the youth wing of the local soc dem party held on a nearby island where he went around shooting and killing 70+ children like fish in a barrel dressed as a policeman.

Like no, he didn't attack government officials or politicians only targeting government buildings as a feint* he specifically wanted to kill children who he thought were communists

*His primary target was apparently the former leader of the dem soc party who had left the island by the time he arrived

:desolate:

I seem to remember that Breivik claimed he was part of some larger "Templar" organisation, whatever happened to that thread 👁️

Also, the whole incident was a bit awkward for every anti-Muslim cryptofash "immigration critical" politician and """"intellectual"""" in Europe as he had basically quoted every single one of them in his manifesto

  • grisbajskulor [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    No doubt there are scarily strong fashy elements over there and in Europe in general. But from my experience with Norway, among many non-fashy people, the solidarity for immigrants is quite strong. There's a good amount of organizations and non profits who do a lot of outreach and integration work. I'm definitely biased since my high school classmate runs one and does genuinely good work for them, teaches people to forage mushrooms and not die of poisoning, bussing people around to beautiful natural spots, etc. It sounds like you're not coming straight from Iran so you don't exactly need these services lol, but that's my general image of Norwegians. (Also good English will obviously take you from 'immigrant' to 'expat' status, so you'll face a different thing entirely)

    I feel like integration is probably a dirty word on here, certainly used to be for me given its prominence as a right wing talking point. But there's actually so much immigrants & refugees need to learn about surviving & staying happy & healthy in the physical hellhole that is the north.

    Honestly it's kind of in poor taste to be defensive of a country at a time like this but whatever. Just saying I really hope you find the good less-racist Norwegians! It's a fucking beautiful country I swear!

    • thekid [none/use name]
      ·
      2 years ago

      that's cool to hear. and yeah I was born in Iran but have lived in the US practically all my life, so I'll probably just be seen as an American. it's not like I ever really 'fit in' in this country either, being in grade school after the 9/11 years was absolutely miserable. even these days, I get weird comments and stuff.

      are you from there yourself? I'm desperately trying to do well enough in school so I can get into a master's program there, seems like a nice place to live.

      • grisbajskulor [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Fuck these people dude, goddamn. The irony of being Amerikkkan and associating war and destruction with an Iranian person is thick.

        And yeah I'm from there. Once you get residency it's a fucking lifechanger. Watched it happen to an American friend. People like to shit on socdems, but damn if they didn't build a nice little welfare state for themselves over here. Turns you right into a socdem apologist (tankies will say that's the point!!)

        • thekid [none/use name]
          ·
          2 years ago

          I cannot wait to get out of this shit hole, that might end up being the happiest day of my life lol. the plan right now is to finish my bachelor's, apply for master's programs there, and try to stay afterwards. I'm doing a CS degree, so that gives me a pretty good shot I think.

          People like to shit on socdems, but damn if they didn’t build a nice little welfare state for themselves over here. Turns you right into a socdem apologist (tankies will say that’s the point!!)

          I've never thought about that, but it must be difficult to radicalize people to our side when everyone's mostly comfortable. is there much of a left movement there? I know Rødt did pretty well in the last elections

          • grisbajskulor [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            Actually this is kind of my primary intellectual dilemma recently. I've kinda strayed from the anti-socdem sentiment you see online a lot, especially on here.

            I no longer fully buy that social democracy is as simple as a pro-capitalist concession to socialists. It IS a concession, but it was still won from militant socialist worker organizing. That's how anyone gets anything. Vietnam got national liberation and an experiment in communism, Norway and almost every European country got some form of welfare state.

            As for the comfort thing you mention - the slow privatization of the welfare state has definitely been met with some radicalization. I wouldn't be super optimistic or anything, I think it's a similar situation as the US, just that these countries started the situation with a welfare state that the population is fiercely defensive of compared to anything you can be defensive of in the US. Honestly you can take the US or UK political situation and with some minor alterations more or less understand every western country's political situation:

            Left lost power continuously since the 70s/80s,

            Capitalist end of history sets in,

            2008-and onwards shows some ugly side of capitalism and radicalizes people,

            2020 and COVID happens and radicalization goes up even more.

            ...all meanwhile racial fascist elements have grown twice as fast.