Norway’s right-wing shun Breivik views
The leader of Norway’s right-wing Progress Party today said former party member Anders Behring Breivik’s anti-Muslim views are “perversely unique” and not in any way linked to her party.
Siv Jensen said that Breivik – who has confessed to the July 22 bombing and youth camp shooting spree that killed 77 people in Norway – had kept a low profile and never revealed his murderous plans while he was a member of the party until 2006
“It was impossible for us to foresee at the time. He obviously changed in recent years without anyone knowing,” she said.
Jensen, 42, said she resents being linked to Breivik’s views, noting he condemns “all political parties in Norway – mine included – because he feels that we are all responsible for what he feels is the wrong development of Norway and Europe”.
The Progress Party – one of Europe’s most successful anti-immigration parties - has confirmed that Breivik was a member from 1999 to 2006. In a 1,500-page manifesto released before the attacks, Breivik says he grew disillusioned with the party and concluded that the only way to stop what he called the “Islamisation” of Europe was through armed struggle.
“He has obviously developed some very, very strange, sick ideas over the years,” Jensen said.
Critics have urged Progress Party officials to reflect on why someone like Breivik would be attracted to the party, which calls for sharp cuts in immigration and whose rhetoric has offended many Muslims in Norway.
“I actually think all politicians over the years might have said things that they in retrospect could regret,” Jensen said. But revisiting old statements won’t do any good, she said.
“I think the only good for us all to do now is to think about how we act on the political scene in the weeks and months and years to come,” Jensen said.
Norway’s political parties have postponed campaigning for local elections in September until mid-August because of the bombing in Oslo and massacre at a Labour Party youth camp on Utoya island. The next national election is expected in 2013.
