Norway

Bano Rashid, 18, was a Kurdish immigrant from Iraq
murdered
22nd July 2011 Norway
a life full of promise stolen

I have watched with great sorrow the people of Norway grieving for the 8 people killed in the car bombings and the massacre of 69 young people at a youth camp. The country showed restraint and compassion. The people of Norway came together determined to show unity  love and peace.  It  was not the time for answers or blame.


Now as the raw shock and grief passes the questions that the police, the people of Norway, world media, and individuals need to ask about what motivated a young man massacre so many people.  These questions  have also been puzzling me.  How do you begin to travel on such a journey of hate? To try to understand I will start by looking at the influences of my chosen beliefs and how I live my life and then looked at the path the murderer took.


I have chosen to walk a spiritual path that encompasses Reiki, Meditation and Druidry.   This path has change me  in subtle and profound ways.  I am striving to lessen my tendency towards selfishness and work towards developing good qualities.  I feel that as I have journeyed forward on my path I have become more open to people, to my  community and the world we live in   My choice is made with careful thought and deliberation.   

People who go down the path of the politics of hate must  also make the choice to enter a dark and closed world where people become dehumanised, collateral and expendable.  The man who committed the terrible atrocity in Norway made a deliberate choice to follow the reasoning and beliefs of the right extremists.  His planning and execution of the bombing and killing of the young people on Utoeya Island was meticulous and detailed.  His actions were carried out with cold, calm brutality.

Eight years  ago, apparently, the man grew increasingly angered by the way Norway was becoming a multicultural society. He felt his national identity was being eroded by immigrants and Muslims.  He began connecting with groups who where on the far right.  He gradually grew more and more alienated from his society.  He dropped out of right of centre political groups and becoming isolated except for the doctrines of the far right extremist groups.  These Neo-nazi groups have exchange the  hatred of the Jews for Islam.  They blame and targeted Islam and immigrants as the cause of a breakdown of society’s mores and national identity.  Islam is seen as the enemy to be eradicated.  This has been a common theme among the growing nationalist parties  in Europe and the  right wing press. This man learnt to believed that;

“What most people still do not understand is that the ongoing Islamicisation of Europe cannot be stopped before one gets to grip with the political doctrine which makes it possible,"  

BBC News.

So his target became set not on migrants, or Islam but the “real” enemy the government itself  - the left of centre Labour Party and young people who were activist in, or members of the party.  After placing a bomb by the Government building he travelled to a second target on Utoeya Island were the young people who were mostly labour party supporters were  holidaying at a summer camp.  He saw the killings as:

"atrocious but necessary"

He believed "The 22^nd of July 2011 would  kick start the revolution" against soft" government, immigration and Islam.

This man walked a long lonely path He must have passed down a tunnel of darkness and hatred to emerge that day to set about the deliberately killing of so many people.  The car bomb by a Government building distracted the police and security forces, while he reached his second target where he murdered, wounded and terrified young teenagers and staff trying to protect them.  Seventy Seven People's  lives were stolen, who knows what gifts and benefits each had to bring to Norway's Society and to our World.  Who knows what their death means to their family and friends.  

What of the killer?  Is he insane?   His lawyer does not think so, nor do I feel he is mad.  There maybe factors that influenced his choice, and no doubt they will emerge in time.  However, what he did was evil. It was his choice, he walked down his path into the bowels of darkness, hatred and murder.


 I won’t write this man’s name, as a name is something that society gives us  through our parents.  He has stepped outside Society and therefore, he  has lost his name. He is not a victim nor a hero of the Far Right, he is a mass murderer, a lost soul.   We can hope that one day he will find again his humanity and be helped to retrieve his soul. 

May Reiki bring healing and peace 

With Reiki blessing
Mary B