How timely Anders Behring Breivik was! You’d think massacres happen randomly, the product of disturbed minds without any political context, but this man left us a gem of historical timing.
By Alberto García Watson
On July 22, 2011, while the Norwegian government was preparing to take a step that, in theory, many brave people in the “free world” should applaud: recognizing the Palestinian state, this blond gentleman, neo-Nazi in ideology but with a Zionist heart, appeared, dispensing bullets to teenagers as if he were saving the Western world from an Islamic invasion that only exists in his head… and in certain “think tanks” in Washington or Tel Aviv.
Breivik, the self-proclaimed savior of Europe, killed 77 people, mostly young members of the Norwegian Labour Party, to “defend” Western values. What a brave modern crusader! But not just any crusader: one who, in addition to abhorring Islam, finds an ideological ally in Zionism. Because of course, when your greatest fear is cultural mixing and multiculturalism, who better than the state that has made segregation a political art?
Yes, because Breivik, besides being a neo-Nazi, is openly a Zionist. A contradiction, some might say. But not for the twisted logic of modern Islamophobia. In his “manifesto,” Breivik praises Israel as a bulwark of resistance against Islam, while simultaneously lamenting European cultural purity. Racism allied with more racism? Who would have imagined it!
And while Norway buried its children, then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, a direct victim of that fascist terrorism, spoke of more democracy, more openness, more tolerance. Fine words.
But then, what did this champion of humanism do when he became Secretary General of NATO? Why, of course, he enthusiastically supported neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine, and spent millions of euros. Because it seems the problem with Breivik wasn’t his ideology, but his punctuality. If he had waited a few years and changed his uniform, he’d have an office in Kiev today.
Irony of fate! The man who suffered neo-Nazi terrorism at home ended up arming and supporting swastika-bearing battalions in Eastern Europe. Because, of course, if today’s Nazis shoot at Moscow and not Oslo, then they are “freedom fighters” (despite carrying Mein Kampf in their backpacks).
And Palestine? Ah, yes. That state that Norway was going to recognize in 2011… and finally recognized in May 2023. It only took 12 years, tens of thousands of deaths, total destruction in Gaza, countless illegal settlements in the West Bank, and a genocide broadcast live. Because Norway, ever so prudent, needed its time. You know, lest another domestic massacre interrupt the diplomatic calendar.
But hey, they finally did it, didn’t they? Congratulations! A round of applause for Nordic diplomacy, so elegant, so Aryan, so correct. They recognized Palestine when it was almost archaeology, when dead children numbered in the thousands and the international community looked on with an indifferent yawn. But it doesn’t matter: the symbolic is what counts, even if it comes late, even if it arrives stained with blood.
And meanwhile, Breivik remains in his luxury cell, writing letters and filing lawsuits because his PlayStation has no new games. The Nazi-Zionist murderer who tried to twist history with bullets didn’t quite succeed. But his ideas, those are still alive and well, disguised as “concern for security,” “defense of European values,” or “fighting extremism,” although curiously, always in one direction.
The official story will say that Breivik was convicted and that his massacre stopped nothing. But the real story is murkier: his message was absorbed, reinterpreted, and, in part, institutionalized by those who call themselves defenders of democratic values.
Because in this Western circus, sometimes the clowns wear uniforms, sometimes ties, and sometimes, like Breivik, they simply carry a rifle and a strong desire to “save the world.”