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Socialist Party USA: Recent Statements
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Statement on Norway
Socialist Party USA, International
Commission August 18, 2011
 The
International Commission of the Socialist Party USA stands in sorrow and
solidarity with the families of those killed in Oslo and Utøya
on July 22nd. It is
always unfortunate when families and friends must bury their loved
ones, be them
children or adults, as a result of heinous attacks such as this.
Details of the incident and the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, are
still being
discovered and pieced together, but a disturbing picture is beginning
to unfold.
Breivik describes himself as a conservative Christian and a nationalist
by his Facebook profile. Information from the Guardian newspaper fills
in some additional information from him about "Hate Ideologies", in
which he lumps Islam, Communism, and Nazism together, as well as
admonishments of the right-wing Progress Party for not being
"idealistic" enough, admiration for the far right-wing English Defence
League, and a general fear of "extreme Marxists" and Muslims taking
over Norway. From this information, it would be wrong to simply call
Breivik a neo-Nazi. However, it does put him well within the wave of
"right wing" populism and nationalism that has been growing in strength
in the United States and Europe over the last few years.
In America and abroad, many on the "right-wing" have worked to link
Islam as a whole with terrorism, using this artificially-created fear
as the fuel to drive their imperialist machine in the Middle East and
Africa. From these acts of domestic terrorism in Norway, we must
understand and realize that terrorism is not exclusive to any religion
or ideology, and that the Islamaphobia must be fought against.
Breivik's hatred of Muslims overlaps with a deep hatred of immigrants
and a desire to make Norway racially and culturally "pure." This
"right-wing" world view is gaining support among the ruling classes of
Europe and the United States as an alternative explanation for working
people who may blame corporations, banks, and corrupt government for
the current economic crisis.
While it is not truly a socialist party, it is important to consider
that both attacks targeted the social-democratic Norwegian Labour
Party, which signifies a growing threat to the Norwegian Left. The bomb
detonated in Oslo was in
Regjeringskvartalet, or the executive government quarter, houses the
office of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who is also the leader of
the Norwegian Labour Party. The youth camp attacked at Utøya,
where scores of innocent youths were gunned down, was organized by the
Workers' Youth League (AUF), which is the youth affiliate of the
Norwegian Labour Party.
This attack on the Norwegian Labour Party is a threat the left across
the world. Breivik has proven that the murderous impulses of the far
right are not choosy about their targets. We must combat their
ideology with solidarity for immigrants and Muslims, and a
revolutionary vision for a new society where the economic basis for
far right politics no longer exists.
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