Category Archives: Norway

EDL supporter: Breivik’s a ‘hero in the war on Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL supporters on Facebook were confused over how to respond to the Norway atrocity.

“How sick are these animals to randomly shoot kids at a summer camp for christ sake,” said the EDL’s Facebook account. But this was before the real killer was known. Before long, there was a reappraisal of the slaughter.

The EDL Jewish Division, on learning that the summer camp had discussed Palestine before the attack, posted “Ah, that explains the man’s actions.” It added, “This exposes the scum for what they are!”

Another supporter, “Michelle Miley”, wrote: “gimme a break. anders is a hero in the war against islam”.

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Advice to the Norwegian government following the Oslo terrorist attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Richard Jackson, professor of International Politics at Aberystwyth University and an expert on terrorism and political violence, offers some advice to the prime minister of Norway.

Your security forces should start by immediately profiling young, white Christian men, especially if they have blonde hair (the Oslo bomber, Anders Behring Breivik, was blond; it could be a factor). Call them in to their local police stations for in-depth questioning, and stop them randomly at airports and train stations. They should be quizzed on how often they go to church, what websites they visit, what books they read, whether they are members of nationalist groups, and what beliefs they hold. They should be carefully monitored for signs of increasing religiosity and any and all political involvement in demonstrations, protests or letter writing. They should also be made to state their religion before boarding an international flight.

In some cases, where there is insufficient evidence to prosecute, it may be necessary to indefinitely detain individual Christians who are deemed to pose a threat to national security, until such a time as they can be safely released back into the community. Control orders may then be necessary to keep tabs on their activities.

You should also put churches under surveillance and monitor the sermons preached and the views expressed by parishioners, as well as any nationalist political parties or groups like the so-called Viking swimmers (they clearly have nationalist tendencies and the ice-swimming may be a kind of paramilitary training). Universities should be encouraged to report the expression of any extreme nationalist or Christian viewpoints, and should discourage Christian fundamentalist speakers from visiting their campuses. Right-wing and Christian fundamentalist websites should be blocked, and new laws should be passed which ban glorifying or promoting extreme nationalism and Christian fundamentalism.

It is also clear that you will need to set up a government-funded counter-radicalisation programme with moderate nationalists and liberal Christian leaders to try and deflect young white men in the Christian and nationalist communities from turning to extremism. Preachers should be encouraged to speak out against fundamentalism and nationalism, and to demonstrate their loyalty to Western values. It is clear that nationalism and Christianity are the conveyor belts of violent extremism; non-violent Christian fundamentalism leads directly to violent fundamentalism and terrorism.

richardjacksononterrorismblog, 23 July 2011

Norway gunman Anders Breivik’s chilling message to Britain’s far-right

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL anti-Islam placards

Mass killer Anders Breivik told Right-wing extremists in Britain to “keep up the good work” as he plotted his double atrocity in Norway. He was in contact with supporters of the English Defence League days before Friday’s bombing and shooting spree in which 76 people, most of them teenagers, were killed.

Breivik was told he would be welcome at their UK demonstrations, to which he replied: “I hoped so: it’s our common struggle against the islamofascists.” Breivik used an internet pseudonym to communicate with supporters of the EDL and told them: “You’re a blessing to all in Europe.”

His contacts with the EDL, in which he spoke of going to football matches in Bradford, were revealed today by anti-fascist organisation Searchlight. Pressure grew on David Cameron to announce a clampdown on far-Right groups.

Today Searchlight told how Breivik, who posted his messages as “Sigurd Jorsalfare”, a 12th century King of Norway who led one of the Crusades, wrote a series of chilling posts. Only a few days before Friday’s attacks the messages to EDL supporters stopped as he began the final countdown to his massacre.

Searchlight’s editor Nick Lowles: “This proves conclusively Breivik was in contact with the EDL, shared their aims and objectives and expressed a desire to join them on their demonstration. It is quite clear that the Home Office now need to classify the EDL as an extremist Right-wing organisation and to devote similar resources to monitoring their activities as they would other extremist groups.” The EDL has previously said that it has no official contact with Breivik.

In the online messages Breivik wrote: “To you all good English men and women, just wanted to say that you’re a blessing to all in Europe, in these dark times all of Europe are looking to you in search of inspiration, courage and even hope that we might turn this evil trend with Islamisation all across our continent. Well, just wanted to say keep up the good work it’s good to see others that care about their country and heritage.”

In another posting Breivik claims he visited Bradford with a friend “some years ago”. He wrote: “I’ve seen with my own eyes what has happened to england, i was in bradford some years ago, me and a friend walked down to the football stadium of bradford, real ‘nice’ neighborhood, same thing in the suburbs of London.”

One EDL supporter then wrote to Breivik: “Bravo, admire your views and courage. no surrender and welcome.”

Searchlight also said that a millionaire computer engineer living in north London is a backer of the EDL. Alan Lake, 45, has admitted providing funds to the organisation and is alleged to have referred to the Norwegian massacre on a far-Right forum earlier this week saying: “The chickens have actually come home to roost.” Mr Lake could not be reached for comment today.

MPs today called on the Government to investigate Breivik’s links to the EDL. Breivik is reported to have met leaders of the EDL in March last year when he apparently came to London for the visit of Geert Wilders, the Dutch Right-wing politician.

Daryl Hobson, who organises EDL demonstrations, said Breivik had met members of the group. There are also reports that he attended two EDL marches in the UK last year, one in Newcastle and one in London.

Evening Standard, 26 July 2011

Paul Ray, meanwhile, has been suggesting that the Englishman who Breivik described as his “mentor” is none other than the EDL’s Alan Lake. It is true that Lake does have a penchant for calling for his political opponents to be killed (see here and here), though he appears to be advocating state executions rather than acts of individual terrorism. Whether that subtle distinction is clear to the people he inspires, however, is another question.

Update:  See also “Anders Behring Breivik had links to far-right EDL, says anti-racism group”, Guardian, 26 July 2011

Update 2:  And “EDL supporter: Breivik’s a ‘hero in the war on Islam'”, Socialist Worker, 26 July 2011

Berlusconi ally praises Norway killer’s ideas

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mario Borghezio
Mario Borghezio at a rally organised by the German far-right organisation Pro-Köln

An ally of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has triggered a storm of protest after he described as “excellent” some of Norwegian terrorism suspect Anders Behring Breivik’s ideas.

Mario Borghezio, a European Parliament member for the anti-immigration Northern League, said he agreed with Breivik’s “opposition to Islam and his explicit accusation that Europe has surrendered before putting up a fight against its Islamisation.”

Borghezio told the host of talk radio programme La Zanzara that he did not agree with Breivik’s use of violence, nor with the “Protestant” Norwegian’s “anti-Papist” stance. But he said that “some of the ideas (of Breivik’s) are good, in certain cases even excellent.”

The Northern League is the junior partner in Berlusconi’s conservative government.

The centre-left opposition called for Borghezio to resign from the European Parliament. “It is a matter of shame for all of us that a representative of the ruling coalition made apologetic remarks about one of the cruelest acts of terrorism,” said the Democratic Party’s David Sassoli and the Italy of Values party’s Niccolo Rinaldi, both European parliamentarians.

Times Live, 26 July 2011

Update:  See also “Ex-Berlusconi minister defends Anders Behring Breivik”, Guardian, 28 July 2011

Northern League MP and former minister Francesco Speroni is quoted as saying: “I’m with Borghezio. I don’t think he should resign. If [Breivik’s] ideas are that we are going towards Eurabia and those sorts of things, that western Christian civilisation needs to be defended, yes, I’m in agreement.”

UN human rights expert criticises media for linking Norway attacks to Islamist terrrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Media reports that initially linked the killing spree in Norway to possible Islamist terrorism were “revealing” and “embarrassing” examples of prejudice, a UN human rights expert said Tuesday.

“The way in which some public commentators immediately associated the horrifying mass murder in Norway last Friday with Islamist terrorism is revealing and indeed an embarrassing example of the powerful impact of prejudices and their capacity to enshrine stereotypes,” said Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

“Proper respect for the victims and their families should have precluded the drawing of conclusions based on pure conjecture,” said Bielefeldt, who is an independent and non-paid rapporteur based in Geneva.

dpa, 26 July 2011

Mad Mel and the Norway terrorist attacks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Melanie Phillips Jihad in BritainThe Guardian reports that Melanie Phillips is outraged at the post by Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy which noted that her writings were cited by the Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik in his now notorious 2083 manifesto. “There are only two references to me or my work in its 1500 pages”, an indignant Phillips complains.

In reality, an entire article by Phillips is reproduced by Breivik. It takes up nearly three pages of his document. Now, bearing in mind that Breivik justified his massacre of young Labour Party members on the grounds that their party’s immigration policies and support for multiculturalism had opened the door to the “Islamisation” of Norway, what do you suppose was the subject of the article by Phillips that so impressed Breivik?

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More on Breivik’s links with the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anders Behring Breivik had extensive links to the far-Right English Defence League, senior members of the group have admitted.

Breivik was understood to have met leaders of the EDL in March last year when he came to London for the visit of Geert Wilders, the Dutch Right-wing politician. Daryl Hobson, who organises EDL demonstrations, said Breivik had met members of the group. Another senior member of the EDL said Breivik had been in regular contact with its members via Facebook, and had a “hypnotic” effect on them.

Breivik wrote of having strong links with the EDL, saying he had met its leaders and had 600 EDL members as Facebook friends.

Mr Hobson said in an online posting that: “He had about 150 EDL on his list … bar one or two doubt the rest of us ever met him, altho [sic] he did come over for one of our demo [sic] in 2010 … but what he did was wrong. RIP to all who died as a result of his actions.”

Another senior member of the EDL, who spoke to The Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity, said he understood Breivik had met EDL leaders when he came to Britain to hear Wilders speak in London last year.

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Killings in Norway spotlight anti-Muslim thought in U.S.

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The man accused of the killing spree in Norway was deeply influenced by a small group of American bloggers and writers who have warned for years about the threat from Islam, lacing his 1,500-page manifesto with quotations from them….

In the document he posted online, Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused of bombing government buildings and killing scores of young people at a Labor Party camp, showed that he had closely followed the acrimonious American debate over Islam.

His manifesto, which denounced Norwegian politicians as failing to defend the country from Islamic influence, quoted Robert Spencer, who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times, and cited other Western writers who shared his view that Muslim immigrants pose a grave danger to Western culture.

More broadly, the mass killings in Norway, with their echo of the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City by an antigovernment militant, have focused new attention around the world on the subculture of anti-Muslim bloggers and right-wing activists and renewed a debate over the focus of counterterrorism efforts.

Scott Shane, in the New York Times, 24 July 2011

The quotes from Spencer in Breivik’s manifesto 2083: A European Declaration of Independence are taken from the transcript of a 2006 film, Islam: What the West Needs to Know, which so impressed Breivik that he reproduces it in its entirety.

Another prominent Islamophobe who featured in that film, and is therefore also cited numerous times in Breivik’s document, is Walid Shoebat. Recently exposed by CNN as a fraud, Shoebat has been making a good living advising police and security services in the US on counterterrorism.

The message that Shoebat has been delivering to his audiences has been the same message that so appealed to Breivik – that Islam is an inherently violent faith that provides justification for the actions of Al-Qaeda. (See here, here, here and here.)

Spencer himself has been invited to address the FBI. So we’re not talking here about some fringe subculture restricted to right-wing cranks in the blogosphere. The anti-Muslim propagandists who provided Breivik with the ideology that led him to carry out his atrocities receive official recognition in the US and are regarded as legitimate figures who can provide important insights into Islam.

Hopefully the terrible events in Norway have revealed Spencer, Shoebat and their co-thinkers as the malevolent violence-inspiring hatemongers that they really are, and in future they will be treated accordingly.

Update:  Spencer has posted a statement by SIOA and SIOE on Jihad Watch denouncing Breivik as a “disgusting neo-Nazi”. But this completely misrepresents the ideology that inspired Breivik’s terrorist acts. He quite clearly dissociates himself from neo-Nazism in his manifesto and declares himself to be a “cultural conservative” – a category in which he includes the Islamophobic bloggers and websites of the counter-jihad movement. Indeed, for Breivik, political violence is only one element in the cultural conservative strategy – he sees non-violent anti-Muslim propaganda as playing a no less vital role.

Norway: how the ‘experts’ at Quilliam helped to stoke fears of Islamist terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Sun wasn’t alone in jumping to the immediate conclusion that “Islamist fanatics” were behind the terror attacks in Norway.

A piece by Jerome Taylor in the Independent, headed “Analysis: Jihadist networks have long singled out Norway”, stated:

Jihadist networks have long singled out Norway as a legitimate – if low priority – target. As early as 2003 al-Qa’ida’s then number two and now leader Ayman al-Zawahiri specifically called on militants to attack the country in an audiotape condemning the invasion of Iraq. Norway also continues to have a small contingent of troops in northern Afghanistan.

The source given to back up this speculation, which had no basis in any actual evidence that had emerged regarding the events in Norway, was Quilliam’s James Brandon, who was quoted as saying:

Norway is part of Nato’s mission in Afghanistan and as far as jihadists are concerned, any country involved in what they see as an illegal occupation of Muslim territory is a legitimate target.

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It was the Muslims wot done it – Sun’s knee-jerk response to terrorist atrocities in Norway

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sun Norway's 9-11 headline“NORWAY’s 9/11” – that was the headline in the first edition of today’s Sun, with the strap “‘AL-QAEDA’ MASSACRE”.

As we now know, far from being a member of Al-Qaeda, the individual charged with carrying out the terrorist attacks is an extreme right-wing Islamophobe, and his hatred of the governments and political parties whose immigration policies he holds responsible for allowing the “Islamisation” of Europe was evidently inspired by the “counter-jihad” movement promoted by Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller and their European counterparts.

However, even a physical description of Anders Behring Breivik could not shake the Sun‘s initial conviction that Muslims were behind the atrocities. The paper reported: “Cops fear Islamist fanatics were out to kill PM Jens Stoltenberg, who was due to visit his political party’s youth camp on Utoeya Island – where a man was arrested. Witnesses claimed the gun maniac was blond with blue eyes and spoke Norwegian – raising fears that he was a homegrown Al-Qaeda convert.”