I have not yet commented on the recent events in Oslo, where I usually live. I have been away for the summer, so weren’t there when it happened, but have followed the events on TV the last days.
I know a lot of politically active young people in Oslo through my involvement in student welfare. At least one of these people were at Utøya, and at the moment I don’t know whether he is OK or not.
According to the most recent press conference a few minutes ago, the police received reports of the shooting at 17:26 (5:26 PM) on Friday, and the first of the police special forces arrived at Utøya at 18:25 and Breivik was apprehended 2 minutes later. The police forces were already mobilised in Oslo after the explosion at 15:22, and drove up to Utøya immediately as getting helicopter transport would take longer. Breivik still had large amounts of ammunition on him when he was taken and was armed with a handgun and an automatic rifle of unspecified type. The police action and his surrender did without doubt save a lot of lives, still the lunatic managed to slaughter at least 86 people.
We know from the eyewitness accounts from the survivors that he was patrolling the island, actively and calmly hunting down people for the hour to hour-and-a-half he was there. A hellish nightmare for the people there whose only escape was swimming to the mainland. It is inconceivable what can make a man go to such steps. You only hear of such monsters during wartimes. But these monsters are usually produced by the war. This madman is produced by ideology and probably a large dose of mental issues. I don’t know. He surrendered and is still alive and will explain himself tomorrow.
He is kept under armed guard, naturally. But there is no justice to be had that can make up for anything that has happened. We cannot fight barbarism with barbarism. Norway does not have a death penalty, not since after WW2. Neither, as a humanist, do I believe in the death penalty. Nothing can be done to the man that brings back the dead. We can only make sure the world is protected from him, and the things he has written and expressed remain a warning against his ideas for the years to come. We should be thankful that he at least has not become a martyr for his cause.
