Now, Europe has its own 9/11. But distinct from the U.S. tragedy, 7/22 was staged by Christian radicalism rather than Islamic fundamentalism.
Unprecedented massacre in Europe
The Old World now fears a replica of the Norwegian tragedy. On July 25, British Prime Minister David Cameron even convened a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss measures to counter White ultra-nationalism. Newspapers write that 32 year-old Anders Behring Breivik was impressed by the English Defense League (the anti-Islamic group in Britain) and even thought of establishing its counterpart in Norway. But then he decided to make himself public by staging an explosion in Oslo and a massacre in a summer camp. So far, there are 96 dead, but the figures are only now being readjusted.
These mass killings are horrible. What is even scarier, though, is that they took place in Norway, one of the world's most prosperous and calmest countries. The July 22 double tragedy is an unprecedented upheaval since World War II. This is a double shock for Oslo, which considers itself the capital of the Nobel Peace Prize.
The last time an act similar to political terrorism took place was in Lillehammer when Israeli Mossad agents killed a waiter in 1973, having mistaken him for an Arab terrorist. Many local papers are writing that "Norway has lost its innocence."
There are right-wing forces in Norway, but right-wing extremism has never been as evil and extreme as in other parts Europe, such as, for instance, Britain or Germany.
Breivik's action should give food for thought because it means that something has changed for the worse — such actions only grow on fertile soil.
Many cultures — an ideology of hatred?
Breivik's act was not intended as simply an act of terror, but a loud statement against his own government — not against Muslims, Islam, Sharia, mosques, immigrants, or non-Whites, but against a government perceived as doing nothing with all that. To be more precise, it looks like a protest against the government which lets waves of immigrants descend on this small Nordic country and "spoil its blood."
Breivik believes that his government's enthusiasm over multiculturalism is the greatest evil of our time.
This is a quotation from a video featuring his 1,500-page manifesto, which he posted on the Internet under the name Andrew Berwick: "Multiculturalism is an anti-European, hate-ideology designed to deconstruct European cultures and traditions, European identities, European Christendom and even European nation-states. And, as such, it is an evil genocidal ideology created for the sole purpose of annihilating everything European."
Now, investigators and psychiatrists must find out what was happening in Breivik's mind and this will be a challenge for them. On par with writing about the new Islamic threat to Europe and the need for another war to defend European values, he lashed out at neo-Nazis for glorifying Adolf Hitler. Breivik thinks Hitler's policy of genocide against the Jews opened Europe's door to Muslims.
Not just a loner
The easiest thing would be to declare the new "Christian knight" a maniac, psychopath and pure Nazi and isolate him in a mental clinic. He certainly has symptoms of a mental disorder.
However, such simplified explanations mean driving a disease inward. This is exactly what leads to the development of invisible boils that can suddenly burst like in Breivik's case.
In terms of its absolute number of foreigners, the 4.9-million-strong Norwegian population is far behind France, Italy and Britain. In terms of percentage, just under 10 percent of the population in these three countries are immigrants. And even though the absolute number for any of them is greater than Norway's entire population, Norway ranks among Europe's leaders for the ratio of immigrants to the general population at 11.4 percent. Incidentally, the number of Russian immigrants has grown by about five times in Norway in the last 10 years. Norway is willingly accepting refugees from Chechnya. Oslo is even considered the fastest-growing European city because of the influx of immigrants.
Breivik's act is very similar to what Timothy McVeigh did in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. He detonated a bomb in front of a federal center with numerous officers of the local and federal authorities, killing 168 people. This was also an act of protest against the policies of the federal government, which he saw as an "unfair encroachment on the expression of the will of America's genuine patriots, the defenders of Christian faith."
At that time, people in the United States believed this to be a unique case, an act by a psychopath and a maniac. However, the real explanation turned out not to be so simplistic. As it gradually transpired, the United States had started tilting to the right. Since then, the Tea Party has developed in the country. Now, Republican Congressmen look toward the party as an example, as no right-of-the-center politician can receive electoral votes without its approval.
Are we okay?
The picture in Europe is pretty much the same. Invisible trends of Islamophobia have readied the ground for a serious shift to the right in Europe. Either "they (Muslims) defeat us or "we (Christians) defeat them." These are two components of a dangerous binary weapon. Upon mixing, a wild explosion occurs as in Oslo.
Alas, the soil is fertile. In Norway, the right-wing Progress Party, which wants the doors shut to immigrants, is the second force in the country. Incidentally, Breivik was a member in 1999-2004, but quit as it was not sufficiently radical. Last year, the Swedish Democrats made it to the Riksdag for the first time in history, winning 20 of 349 seats.
In the Netherlands, the radical Freedom Party received 24 of 150 seats during last year's elections. Its leader Geert Wilders calls Islam fascism. In Finland, the True Finns, a right-wing radical party viewed as a mere curiosity a year ago, received 19.1 percent of the votes and became the country's third parliamentary force in terms of the number of mandates with 39 seats. In France, the National Front is getting ready for the presidential elections in 2012 and expecting very good results.
A day before the massacre in Oslo, the Germans razed to the ground the grave of Rudolf Hess, the fuehrer's ex-first deputy, in the Bavarian town of Wunsiedel after it became the focus of a pilgrimage for neo-Nazis. According to German statistics, there are more than 25,000 right-wing radicals in Germany, including about 6,000 neo-Nazis.
The views expressed in this article are the author's and may not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
