10 YEARS SINCE JULY 22nd - THE WOLF AND HIS PACK

Translation of a piece by John Olav Egeland

Published in Dagbladet .no 19th of July 2021

Anders Behring Breivik was a lone-wolf , but he came from a pack.  Now he's just alone, but the pack is still a threat.  

The purpose of terror is to create fear and instability that can shape the foundations of revolutionary changes in society.  Using that as a yardstick, the terrorist Breivik is an absolute looser.  The savagery shook Norway, but never off-kilter.  The whole nation gathered in broad unity in defence of democratic values and diversity of its people. The terrorist himself sits in a place where Bear Island must look like Manhatten. 

That doesn't mean that the attack of July 22nd is without longterm consequences, or that the terrorist Breivikis dead matter.  Both in Norway, and internationally, there are clear effects after the Utøya massacre and the bomb at the governmental buildings.   All terrorist attacks has short term and long term consequences.  This includes the victims, their next of kin, public health, economy, public administration, security meassures, new terror legislations, political processes, the culture of debates.  The damage to the governmental building which will need rebuilding is estimated to a cost of 36 billion NKR.  

Has Anders Behring Breivik also had an influence on the development of farright-extremist-terror ehen it comes to ideology, methods and as an icon?    These are themes debated by researchers in the latest number of the journal "Perspectives on terrorism" published by the University of Leiden, Netherlands. Among the writers are the researchers Tore Bjørgo, Anders Ravik Jupskås, Graham Macklin, Lars Erik Berntzen and Jacob Aasland Ravndal. 

On several important issues Breivik is different from the lone-wolves that followed him.  Todays lone-wolves must choose simpler methods and means:  Murder by car, physical violence, stab/cut weapons.  New security meassures has made it difficult to get firearms and bomb components.  Breivik procured both systematically and under cover.  As a lone-terrorist he managed to carry out two leathal attacks with substantial geographical distances and a huge loss of lives.  His manifest - a cut and paste compendium- was also a sort of innovation.  

As a political operator and ideologist Breivik's legacy is often blurred, but nevertheless dangerous.  Researchers say the most important link is to the Christchurch terror attacks in NewZealand 2019, when Brenton Tarrant livestreamed the massacre of 51 people in two Mosques. The commission that investigated the attacks concluded that Breiviks methods and manifest had a profound influence on Tarrants ideas and operative choices. 

The political support of Breivik and his choice of using massmurder as political method is now documented.   In Western-Europe populist and rightwing radical parties took a clear stance against the terror.  Especially FRP (Norwegian farright party) .    But there is a political sliding scale:   there is little support for the murders of children and youths, but a moresympathetic understanding of Breivik's motives in regards to Islam and immigration. 

As a terror attack Breivik's actions were more radical than the norm for rightwing terrorists.  The target was the next generation of "racial traitors" , most of them ordinary and white Norwegian youths.   Tarrants murder of Muslims was easier to apploud by those who swear to targetted ethnic violence and hate. 

But research shows that Breivik doesn't only have followers in Norway, but also in several different milieus abroad and online.  Especially Russian neo-nazi groups, white power milieus in the US and Western-Europe, digital extremist milieus (chan/siege) and websites dedicated to Breivik.   The notoriety has faded, but Breivik is still an "idol" for people planning school-massacres and racist attacks.

Breivik himself described the Utøya massacre as a fireworks show, pure marketing,  that was to draw attention to his most important contribution: the manifest.  Those are notes and quotes without a single original idea, but with pompus descriptions of  knight orders that never existed.  Most boys around 12 are capable of having fantasies like that without hurting anyone.

In Norway the debates are trying to get rid of the Ghost of Breivik by labelling him insane.  It's meant to differentiate the horrors from the ideas that created them.  The whole trial against the terrorist , that I followed as a commentator, proved otherwise.   Breivik was not insane, he was a calculated far-right extremist.

It's important to hold on to that understanding.  In "Perspectives on terrorism" 20-25 different cases of planned, revealed or executed  terror attacks the name Anders Behring Breivik comes up in the investigations.

He's dead, but he won't lie down.