More than 100,000 People Join Rally for Anti-Violence, Solidarity in Oslo

[Octafish]

Here's how a well-adjusted society reacts to evil...



Over 100,000 Join Rally for Anti-Violence, Solidarity in Oslo

Published on Tuesday, July 26, 2011 by Agence France Presse

As many as 150,000 Norwegians poured onto Oslo's streets on Monday, raising a sea of flower-bearing hands into the air in memory of the 76 victims of last week's twin bombing and shooting attacks.

"We're here to show that we're an open-spirited and respectful society," said Roy Kvatningen, 37, who came with his six-year-old daughter. (photo: Reuters) Norwegian television showed images of similar gatherings taking place in other cities across the country after a call for people to show solidarity with those killed in Friday's bombing and mass shooting.

SNIP...

The mayor of Oslo, Fabian Stang, said: "We will punish the guilty. The punishment will be more generosity, more tolerance, more democracy."

SNIP...

The largely youthful crowd repeatedly raised their flower-bearing hands in the air, while a singer sang the Norwegian anti-Nazi hymn "For Youth" at the end of a short commemorative concert.

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/07/26-1

Love is the cure for hate.

[gratuitous]

1. "The punishment will be more generosity, more tolerance, more democracy"

Compare and contrast Stang's statement with practically anything said, written or expressed in the United States immediately after September 11, 2001, from the left, the right or the center. Norway gets it. We don't.

[Octafish]

5. ''We meet terror and violence with more democracy and will continue to fight against intolerance.''

From The Guardian:

Youth camp leader Eskil Pedersen said there was "no doubt" in his mind that the Labour party was the political target of the attack on Utøya. He said there would be no surrender of ideals and vowed the summer camp would return to Utøya in the future.

"We meet terror and violence with more democracy and will continue to fight against intolerance," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/23/utoya-mass-murder-anders-behring-breivik

The Norwegian people do get it. For America's leaders of the last 48 years, the answer seems to come down to violence and more violence.

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. I'm speechless.

[Octafish]

6. There is something to be said for well-adjusted people...

...For most to get that way requires they were raised in a loving environment.

Contrast that with the vile that spews from Glenn Beck and the rest of the stone-hearted "conservatives."

[barbtries]

10. i'm in tears.

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. ...

:hug:

[bullwinkle428]

3. Wow. Lessons can certainly be learned from this.

K&R.

[Fire1]

4. I doubt it. I just read a post indicating that rallies and protests

of the past wouldn't work in today's climate.

[Octafish]

13. One lesson is how the NAZIs continue their evil to the present day.

Knowing the evil it represents, for that ideology to remain "acceptable" to a human being may require a "damaged" mind. That's where the hate comes in.

[riverwalker]

7. amazing Norway

The reaction of Norway to this tragedy continues to move the world, but I should not be surprised. My mother grew up in occupied Norway, and I have always heard the stories of strength and survival. Their family home was razed by the Nazis and the family scattered. Did you know the "paper clip" movement started at that time? Norwegians wore paper clips on their lapels to show "unity" in resisting occupation, meaning "we are linked together". The Nazis found out what it meant, and it was banned. Then there was the "H7" graffiti that would get you thrown in prison, the symbol of an "H" with a superimposed "7" stood for Haaken VII the King who led the resistance while in exile. You could be killed or imprisoned for owning a drawing or symbol of H7. Some of the wartime graffiti still exists on walls. There was the "Red Hats", to show a big "F**k you" to the Nazis, wearing a red stocking hat was common. Until the Nazis figured that out, then wearing a red hat was banned. Even Xmas decorations could not use a red hat, and Santa Clause had to wear green or blue. Years ago I took a tour in Northern Norway, on the island of Arnøya, there is a little stone monument. My relatives told me the story of the Jorgenson's and that this was a monument to them. There was a member of the resistance who had a radio, and he hid in the woods to help the allies with his radio. The Nazis were looking for him, but the people claimed to know nothing. So the Nazis said "well we know his name is Jorgenson, so we will kill everyone with that name, and will hopefully get the right one". So they killed 8 or 9 people with that name. Most people don't know that without the Norwegian resistance sabotaging the heavy water facilities in the north, Hitler would have had the bomb.
I've learned that a nation once occupied, sees the world differently than one who has never known occupation. A perspective that we can all learn from. (I have given all my grandchildren a red hat.) ;)

[Octafish]

14. ...in every way that is good.

Thank you, riverwalker, for relating your mother's recollections of occupied Norway. The people possessed a bravery that I believe comes only from hearts filled with faith and minds certain of the importance of each human soul.



Times when evil strikes, as on Friday, are when I have found myself most doubting my own faith. How can there possibly be a God -- or a higher power or a higher purpose for existence than what I can see or feel -- when innocent children lose their lives?

From what I understand, the program on Utøya was an opportunity for future leaders in the Labor Party to learn about politics and meet others with whom they'll work later in life as civic leaders.

As members of the Labor Party, their allegiance was and is with the working people. They understood the real value of work is as a force needed to make things. Labor is what's needed to make this a better world for everyone. Going from their comments since the tragedy, it's clear they understand that the answer to violence isn't more violence.

Thus, it is incomprehensible how anyone could oppose such noble ideals, goals and works. Yet some, including presidents of the United States, do. Some even go so far as to say out loud, "Money trumps peace."

Also heartbreaking is the knowledge that the evil that haunted the world during the time of Fascist Europe and Imperial Japan still walks among us in the present day. And that evil works to stop progress and works that make life better for all -- goals of the Labor Party and the young people gathered to enjoy a special summer holiday camp.

To oppose today's fascists, a group in many ways richer and more powerful than those in the mid-20th century, requires the bravest of hearts.

I hope I can be one of them, in the same spirit of the Norwegian people. It is my honor to be a Democrat dedicating my life to also oppose such evil.

[arundhatiroyfan]

8. The people who participated in this rally are awesome.

k&r

[Octafish]

16. They truly are.

Thank you, arundhatiroyfan.

[barbtries]

9. how many people would that make

in the US? i read the other day that per capita, Norway lost more of their citizens in the massacre than we did on 911.

i love peace. peace. :cry:

[Octafish]

18. Norway has a population of about 4.7 million.

...about 1/64 that of the United States. It seems to be a place where everyone knows everyone else -- or is connected to someone who knows that person. That close community would certainly feel the tragedy most directly and dearly.

Norway shooting: the opening of a wound that may never heal

I know you feel it, too, barbtries. Like yours, my Friend, my heart has broken.

[barbtries]

20. yes.

it's so so sad.

[Forkboy]

11. The contrast between their reaction and what ours would be is vivid.

Our country is spiritually crippled.

[Octafish]

19. We can still hope to change the future...

...and do all we can -- through our ideals, words, actions and deeds -- to make ours return to the path of peace. That's why so many of the people in Norway immediately stated the solution for hatred and terror is more freedom and more democracy.

Odd, how anyone could think of the opposite. Crazy, certainly. Fascist, actually.

[hifiguy]

15. One more huge reason to admire the people of Norway.

This is how people who are both sane and emotionally adult respond to a horrible tragedy. I take my hat off to them all.

[Scurrilous]

17. K & R

:thumbsup: