Was this tragedy waiting to happen? Are Anders Behring Breivik’s murders another brutal manifestation of the hysteria that started building up post 9/11? George W. Bush and his team in the White House began an era of hatred and revenge, and have added enough fuel to create confusion and fire to last a few decades. We can still see widespread smoke, if not flames, in the West and elsewhere. Was the fire of rage that came from the gun of Anders Behring Breivik a result of dangerous propaganda – both state and institutional?
In their greed and myopia, George W. Bush and his team managed to spawn a generation of world leaders who, in turn (with honourable exceptions), are busy weaving their own dangerous agendas that work best by creating confusion and conflict within their societies. The leaders, although democratically elected, seem no better than the dictators when it comes to riding roughshod over the people’s wishes.
Some may argue that Norway is different. This nation of five million people has topped the Human Development Index, that seeks to measure national wellbeing, for most of the last 10 years. Norwegians are among the richest people in the world. The people are also rational, forsaking political extremes to build a society that is both free and open – tax returns can be viewed by everyone online – and a stranger to political violence…” (See here…)
Breivik did not hide his feelings or intentions. Do others secretly share his concerns, if not his approach, in finding a solution to the issues that bother them? In this age of Internet we have seen numerous manifestations of people expressing serious concern about the rapid changes taking place within their societies. Surprisingly, one of the best analysis on this subject comes from a Pakistani. Writes Imtiaz Gul: “Anders Behring Breivik was driven by a paranoia of Muslims, and of Pakistanis in particular. Of all the nations, he singled out Pakistan as responsible for the future problems of Europe…
“Of all Muslim societies, Pakistan seized Breivik’s imagination as a country typical for ‘denial of justice, intrusive religiousity and denial of rights to non-Muslims.’ This must be a matter of introspection…Breivik’s knowledge of Pakistan and Pakistan-origin Norwegians is based on his personal experiences, and extensive study of writings of people like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, as well as prominent human rights activist Hina Jilani and Dawn columnist Irfan Hussain.
“…The image that Pakistani, Turk or Algerian Muslims have created for themselves is nothing new but people in Europe have started viewing them as inflexible members of the societies which are feeding them. For these Muslims, European values don’t matter.
“Breivik’s childhood best friend, a Pakistani Muslim immigrant to Norway, comes across as someone who despite having lived several years in Europe still resented Norwegian society because it ‘represented the exact opposite of Islamic ways.’ Through close ties with Muslim families, Breivik must have also observed the paradoxes that most Pakistanis, Arabs and Turks live in: treating sons different from the way they treat their daughters. The refusal of Muslim immigrants to assimilate into European society also seems to drive Breivik’s fears…” More here…
Interestingly, Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik hailed India’s Hindu nationalist movement as a key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world. The present ruling United Progressive Alliance government, he goes on, “relies on appeasing Muslims and, very sadly, proselytising Christian missionaries who illegally convert low caste Hindus with lies and fear, alongside Communists who want total destruction of the Hindu faith and culture.” (See here…)
The BBC also raises some pertinent points. “Mass killers often turn the gun on themselves, but Anders Behring Breivik, the gunman in Norway who killed 93 people on Friday, has said he wants to explain his motives in the courtroom. But should his motives be classified as the symptom of a deranged mind, or do they indicate something more widespread in the European psyche?
“Norwegian philosopher Lars Gule believes he argued with Anders Breivik on an online forum, and he ‘did not stand out with a particularly aggressive or violent rhetoric… he was quite mainstream. When it comes to opinions and statements, he was not alone… it shows some of the warped sense of reality that is operating in certain Norwegian communities’.” (More here…)
We also need to keep these realities in mind: Rapid cultural, communications, demographic and economic changes in the world. And then there is a general lack of toleration to other person’s point of view or lifestyle. If the leaders in different countries had a little foresight they would have been working in a positive manner to create informed opinions, and the radicals could then have been marginalized. But is this only an idealistic talk, especially when the Internet has such a terrific reach and influence?
Writes William Saletan in The Slate: “On Friday, anti-Islamist blogger Pamela Geller pounced on news of a massacre in Oslo. ‘Jihad in Norway?’ she asked. She posted a second item—’You cannot avoid the consequences of ignoring jihad’—and linked to a previous one: ‘Norway: ALL Rapes in Past 5 Years Committed by Muslims.’ As the Oslo body count grew, she piled on: ‘If I hear another television or radio reporter refer to muhammad as ‘the Prophet Muhammad,’ I think I am going to puke. He’s not your prophet, assclowns.’
“Then things went horribly wrong. It turned out that the suspected terrorist in Norway wasn’t a Muslim. He hated Muslims. And he admired Geller. In a manifesto posted online, the admitted killer, Anders Behring Breivik, praised Geller. He cited her blog, Atlas Shrugs, and the writings of her friends, allies, and collaborators—Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, Islam Watch, and Front Page magazine—more than 250 times. And he echoed their tactics, tarring peaceful Muslims with the crimes of violent Muslims…” More here…
Are we reading too much in this recent Norwegian tragedy to dub it as Christian terrorism? The WSJ states: “The more telling side of Breivik’s manifesto is his self-description as ‘Justiciar Knight Commander for the Knights Templar of Europe,’ a group he claims has some 80 members and held a secret meeting in London in 2002. The fetishistic medievalism—Breivik seems to have designed a military dress uniform, and wants to wear it to his trial—is significant: Like Osama bin Laden and his epigones, his worldview seems mainly defined by the politics of the 13th century. And that worldview is fundamentally geared toward hastening an apocalypse.
“In a superb new book, “Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of Millennial Experience,’ Boston University’s Richard Landes notes just how pervasive this kind of impulse has been throughout history and across cultures, and how much its many strains—Christian, Marxist, Islamist, Nazi, environmentalist and so on—have in common. More here…
And here’s a quote from The New Yorker: “Breivik’s manifesto is merely a compilation of moments like this one: instances of tidy-minded tedium that seems to speak not to insanity but to an obsessiveness that is both banal and boring. It’s as if he has no idea what people care about…” See here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.