Breivik: Massacre that tore Norway’s serene environment

PAUL ARHEWE WITH AGENCY REPORTS 29/07/2011

The ambience in Norway; a tranquil and peaceful European country, was turned into a lugubrious one since last week Friday when Anders Behring Brevik ran amok.

The good looking murderer, first, explode a car bomb into a government building in Oslo killing eight people and injuring 26 others near the Prime Minister’s offices and other several government buildings. That bomb attack was a divertion for security forces to the real mayhem that was to come. Brevik, 23-year-old man, subsequently travelled to the island of Utoya where Norwegian Labour Party youth camp was been hosted and attacked participants using different weapons for 47 minutes to kill 68 people and injuring 66, mostly teenagers.

Two minutes after police landed, Breivik surrendered without resistance. Even more serious was the realization that despite his’s active political extremism, none of Norway’s intelligence services had taken notice of him. He was arrested on Utoya and is currently in police custody. Following his apprehension, Breivik was characterised by officials as being a right-wing extremist. The acting police chief, Sveinung Sponheim, said the suspect’s Internet postings “suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but if that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen.”

Six hours before the attacks, Breivik posted a YouTube video urging conservatives to “embrace martyrdom” and showing himself wearing a compression garment and pointing a rifle. He launched a Facebook account just days before the attacks. It has since been taken down, but it listed him as a conservative Christian. He also launched a Twitter account at the same time. It featured just one tweet, a quote from philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests”.

Motives behind his act

Breivik has disclosed his anti-Islamic stance. His motive behind the killings is based he said is based on the increasing numbers of Muslim migrant allowed into Norway by the Labour government. Two huge conspiracy theories form the gearboxes of his writing. The first is that Islam threatens the survival of Europe through what he calls “demographic Jihad”. Through a combination of uncontrolled immigration and uncontrolled breeding, the Muslims, who cannot live at peace with their neighbours, are conquering Europe.

Who is Anders Behring Brevik?

Breivik was born 13 February 1979 in London. His father, Jens David Breivik is a Norwegian civil economist, who worked as a diplomat for the Royal Norwegian embassy in London. He later served in Paris. Breivik parents divorced when he was one year old, and his father got married to another diplomat, Tove Overmo. They also divorced when he was 12 years old. His mother remarried a Norwegian army officer. Breivik spent the first year of his life in London, and grew up in the affluent west-end of Oslo. He attended Smestad Grammar School, Ris Junior High, Hartvig Nissen High School and Oslo Commerce School. When he reached adolescence his behaviour became more rebellious and wayward. A fan of hip-hop music, he and his gang of friends would reportedly spend their evenings hanging around Oslo, spraying tags and graffiti on buildings.

In his manifesto, he claimed that after he was caught spraying graffiti on walls, his natural father stopped contact with him. A former classmate has recalled that he was an intelligent student who often took care of people who were bullied. Breivik parents both hold left of centre political views. He disclosed that his parents are supporters of Norwegian Labour Party policies and that his mother was a moderate feminist. He wrote: “I do not approve of the super-liberal, matriarchal upbringing as it completely lacked discipline and has contributed to feminising me to a certain degree.”

He also worked in the customer service of a company. His former co-worker has described him as an “exceptional colleague”, while a close friend of his stated that he usually had a big ego and would be easily irritated by people with Middle East or South Asian origin. Breivik was exempt from conscription in the Norwegian Army and has no other military training. In his manifesto he bragged how he dodged his mandatory military service in the Norwegian Army three times by claiming he would not put his life on the line for Norway’s political parties. He was described by friends as a ‘mummy’s boy’ who did not leave home until the age of 30, had few friends and no serious girlfriends. Many people who came into contact with him through the years describe him as quiet and withdrawn.

He listed Freemasonry as one of his interests on his Facebook page and was himself a Freemason. He had displayed photographs of himself in Masonic regalia on his Facebook profile and was a member of St. Olaus T.D. Tre Soiler No. 8 in Oslo. In interviews after the attacks, his lodge stated they had only minimal contact with him, and Grand Master of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons Ivar A. Skaar issued an edict immediately expelling him from the fraternity based upon the acts he carried out and the values that appear to have motivated them. His manifesto called for a revolution to be led by Knights Templar.

Christianity claim

During interrogation, Breivik claimed membership in an “international Christian military order” that “fights” against “Islamic suppression”. This order allegedly is called the “Knights Templar” and, according to his manifesto, has between fifteen and eighty “ordinated knights” besides an unknown number of “civilian members”. The order, whose full name is the “Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici” or PCCTS, is said to have been established in London in April, 2002. It was established to take political and military control of Western Europe, with its members being armed as an “anti-Jihad crusader-organisation”.

It reportedly was established by nine men: two Englishmen, a Frenchman, a German, a Dutchman, a Greek, a Russian, a Norwegian, and a Serb. The main initiator apparently was the Serb, whom Breivik claims to have visited in Liberia and whom he referred to as a “war hero”. Breivik said that his own code name was “Sigurd Jorsalfar” and that his “mentor” was “Richard Lionheart” (recalling the twelfth-century Crusaders King Sigurd I of Norway and Richard the Lionheart). Breivik asserted that Norway had “4,848 traitors” who had to die.