July 22, Ten Years On

Ten years ago today Anders Behring Breivik murdered 77 people in Oslo and on the island of Utøya. Of all the Counterjihad activists who were impacted by the political blowback from the attacks, none was more affected than Fjordman. Below are his remarks on the occasion of the anniversary.

July 22, Ten Years On

by Fjordman

Sometimes life can be very strange. When I was eating lunch in my small basement flat in Oslo on July 22, 2011, I did not anticipate that in a few hours my country would be rocked by a brutal mass murder. And I certainly did not expect that these events would also turn every aspect of my own life upside down.

Suddenly and without warning, I was thrown into the epicenter of an international media storm. Less than two weeks later, I had evacuated my home and fled from Norway out of serious concerns for my safety. At this point, I was publicly accused of being a possible accomplice to mass murder, and the suggested brains behind an international terrorist network. If my life in the summer of 2011 had been the script for a film, it would have been rejected as being too improbable to happen in real life. Yet all of this did happen to me, plus a lot more. All because of the actions of a man I have never once met in my entire life, not even for a cup of coffee.

Ten years later, things have calmed down somewhat. I have managed to reestablish a reasonably stable personal life. However, this is a new life in a new country.

I quietly moved back to Norway in 2017, to see whether it was possible for me to have a normal life there again. The answer was no. Three and a half years of applying for jobs turned out to be futile. I got no job whatsoever, not even as an unskilled laborer in factories, butcheries or the fishing industry. I applied for such jobs, too, not just for work in offices or shops.

In early 2021, I therefore decided to leave Norway again, for the second time in less than ten years. It is unlikely that I will return in the foreseeable future for anything other than short visits.

A decade of smears following the July 22 attacks by Anders Behring Breivik has left its mark. Norwegian media still publish new articles suggesting that I inspired mass murder. New comments are still being published on social media claiming that I have the blood of children on my hands. Not every month, fortunately, but from time to time.

Being quoted in Breivik’s confused compendium/manifesto is by far the greatest curse of my life. Nothing else even comes close. But perhaps it is possible to be cursed and blessed at the same time. I was also blessed with being surrounded by kind people. Both old friends and new friends alike.

I was homeless for some time. Friends in Denmark referred to me, only half-jokingly, as a political refugee from Norway. My first temporary home was with my friend Steen Raaschou in Copenhagen. He was exceptionally patient, and allowed me to occupy his sofa for months at a time. I also stayed for a while with professor emeritus Bent Jensen and his lovely Russian wife Tatjana. In the spring of 2012 I spent several months in the USA, and never lacked a bed to sleep in. My friend Ned May from Gates of Vienna helped me with this arrangement*. Not all of those who helped me probably want to be named. But they know who they are, and they have my gratitude.

In 2011, I had a part-time job in Oslo, working with young people suffering from autism. After the massive and extremely negative media focus on me in July and August of 2011, it was impossible for me to keep doing this job. Frankly, it was probably dangerous for me to even stay in my old flat. So I suddenly no longer had a job or steady income at the same time as I had to spend money on lawyers.

Yet the Middle East Forum (MEF) contacted me on their own accord and offered to pay my legal bills. I am eternally grateful for this, and thanked Dr. Daniel Pipes and others from the MEF properly later.

Not everything is bad. Far from it. Even some people who disagree with my views have shown me kindness. I have had many positive and joyful experiences since July 2011, and my life is improving in many ways.

Unfortunately, the negative experiences are also real. I really was homeless initially, and I did spend years without a job and in involuntary exile.

It continues to puzzle me how many people want to blame me for crimes which I played no part in. The justice system in Western countries is supposed to be based on individual responsibility. I have never stabbed anybody. But if I had done so, it would be entirely just to hold me responsible for my own actions.

However, a surprising number of people want to hold me responsible for actions which even the police say that I did not do. All because I wrote texts that were totally legal about real problems. Some of which were quoted without my knowledge or consent by a mentally disturbed man I have never met.

Ten years later, this still does not feel entirely just.

*   Note from the Baron: This is the first time Fjordman’s stay in the USA in the spring of 2012 has been made public. Details of the arrangements for his “safe houses” will remain confidential.
 

For a complete archive of Fjordman’s writings, see the multi-index listing in the Fjordman Files.

25 thoughts on “July 22, Ten Years On

  1. Hallo friend.
    I/m offering you free ,very comfortable accommodation in my apt. in Poland ( nice city in Silesia)..
    Also i can get a nice job for you..
    Life is nice, safe and vibrant in Poland..in positive Old Way..
    Ned know my email..Just let me know..
    ps.There is constantly growing numbers people coming from West Europe to live in Poland..

    • Let me clarify: Silesia, this is the territory that the dirty Russians took away from no less vile Germans and settled proud and independent Poles on it?
      I remember that even in the last century, sad Germans came there and looked at their ancestral nests. Sometimes they gave Poles money to fix their roofs.

    • And what German city in Silesia are you living in Maria? So that would make you(GASP) GERMAN!!! OMG! 😉

      • Ask Ned..Hi is a censor and Neo-Nazis having a free ride here [personal insults redacted] on this site….
        There is number of Poles from Poland watching this side..
        There is common consensus that after Dymphna die ,Ned lost control,objectivity over his site .
        Dymphna wouldn’t allow Neo-nazis ,Hitler and his polices laudtions here..She was for balance in opinions..
        Unfortunately GOV become ideological platform promoting one-sided Anglo-saxon and Geraman-Dutch twisted view of History and reality of today..
        Biggest irony on this site are opinions and commentaries from former Communist [epithet] from Soviet Russia..
        This is common opinion among Poles and CEE people about GOV..
        So Ned and others like you ..have it your way..Cook yourself in your own sous if that make you happy in your perfect Anglo-saxon Teutonic Neo-nazis world..

        • Ned ” whack” in not epithet and you allowing others to use here this expression ..Regards….at least you have decency to not censor this my opinion..

        • This is chantage.
          And why do you consider me a communist? I have not identified myself as such anywhere. Even if it were so, why not? As the actors used to say in the old American films “We are in a free country!”

          • Poor Maria seems to think of herself as a victim and wants to fight the last couple of wars not realizing we are in a very different time and place than what we were in 1940.

        • There hasn’t been a naxi since 1945, communism won. The fact that you think every German is a naxi and all westerners in general are the bad guys really does tax ones patience with your one dimensional thinking dear Maria. Really girl, do try think outside that box you have painted yourself into. You as a Pole are not a victim, no matter how much you want to caterwaul about the past, we are dealing with today, so I would suggest you catch up on current events. We ain’t your enemy so quit trying to make us one.
          On a side note, I want my family estates and lands back in East Prussia!

  2. This is quite reminiscent of the Dreyfus debacle over 100 years ago. Scapegoats are always needed.

  3. Dear Baron,

    What a story! I feel very sorry for Fjordman and I hope he finds a good place to call home, where he could take up his career again. I enjoyed his column (if that’s an okay word to use).

    • I have no idea who Fjordman is and what he has done or not done. I wish this introductory column would have been more complete. I guess I will have to try and find out more on my own.

      I am of Norwegian descent, although I have never visited Norway. I think its terrible the mass murderer wasn’t given separate sentences (consecutive, not concurrent) for each of the children he murdered, sure can’t why not.

      Best of luck to Fjordman. I hope he finds peace after what he’s been through. Was he defending the indefensible, maybe?

      • As a follow-on of my previous comment, I see after doing some reading of your columns, Fjordman, that you were only trying to defend the girls of Norway from the ‘culture enrichers’.

        That has made you person-non-grata in NORWAY? Wow. I am shocked. People around the world are accepting evil more every day.

        I find this pathetic as a real Christian follower of Christ. I live in America. We are being overtaken by evil, as well, communism, actually, and it remains to be seen if our men will ever say, ‘we’ve had enough’ and stop the coup.

        I’m not young, and am glad to have lived all my life in freedom, but Satan’s plans are being implemented out of the big plan of Covid, which I fear will never be let go of, and may morph into the ‘Mark’ the Bible tells us about in the Last Days. God bless you, Fjordman. I hope you are a Christian, because you sound like someone who IS on His side!

  4. `Number of Days Without an Attach Carried out by Islamic Terrorists: 0´. Casualties minimal 1 per day. *10 years *365 days

    A.B. 77 casualties

  5. Thanks for this post. GoV keeping freedom alive.
    Godspeed Fjordman and Baron.
    from the land of o

  6. I don’t even know if Fjordman was lucky or not. At home, his compatriots turned away from him. But if Fjordman had been Russian, he would have become the master of thought here. But not for long. Then he would either have been poisoned by Novichok or killed in prison. As recently it was done with the right-wing activist with the nickname “Cleaver” ( Тесак )

    • O dear..God thanks hi is not Russian !!
      But on other hand feel sorry for him hi is not..” become the master of thought in Russia ” is so tempting ..Do i have chance for this title and position in contemporary Soviet Russia today ?

      • I have no idea. But I have an anti-Islamic blog on social media and over 5,000 subscribers. I don’t know how it will end for me. Maybe I will be held accountable for Islamophobia and hate speech. Maybe someone will leak my data to the Islamists and they will cut off my head, like my great-grandfather 100 years ago near Bukhara during the war with the Basmachis.
        There is such a phrase: Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat.

        • I have not or need to have a blog or followers..
          I/m Catholic and i/m followers of Jesus Christ , Son Almighty God…
          I don’t have any fobia..
          I recognize danger coming from Islam..We Poles know empirically 600 years what Islam is and successfully keep it at the bay..
          For now Greater Evil and danger than Islam for us in Poland and neighbours countries last 100 years is Germany and Russia with their obsessions to be Empires, ruling at least Europe..
          This obsession was a reason for 2 World Wars and hundred of mililons murdered people not to mention destructions..
          Potential ” cutting your head by Islamists ” is gross exaggeration and overstatement..If happen you will become 1-st Martyr for Soviet ideology..Putin may erect Mausoleum on the Red Square for you next to Lenin and Stalin..
          Potentially great privilege ahead for you..

  7. Silesia has been both Polish and German. All depends on the date. It was Polish under the Polish Commonwealth. Territory in Europe changed hands many times in the last 2000 years and best to move on from it. Maria is right that Poland is more conservative/traditional and people are going there. Warsaw is a bit left wing though. I do think that Poland will be where we make our last stand.

    Sorry to hear about Fjordman ‘s problems. I only came to GOV a few years ago and missed all that history.
    We all need to be careful as we can all be attacked and vilified in the “real world”.

    Need to focus on the big problem that it is about control and creating a communist totalitarian Eurasia. Muslims are a tool to destroy culture, institutions and values. Multiculturalism is the vehicle for this. Muslims also create fear and instability. They are also a way for business to milk taxpayer funds through the welfare system, that’s why business and NGOs advocate for more of them.
    Maybe when France or Sweden falls the others may do something.
    We need to stick together.

    • There is nowhere to run too, your home and your street is where you start to defend them and work outwards from there. Great things come from small beginnings.

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