Norway's Prime Minister Discusses the Utøya Massacre

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,790875,00.html

SPIEGEL: Mr. Prime Minister, what were you doing right when the bomb exploded in Oslo's government district on July 22?

Stoltenberg: I was writing the speech that I intended to deliver the next day to the young socialists on Utøya. I heard an explosion and was completely unaware that something serious had happened. Seconds later, I was called by some colleagues who were in the government offices where the bomb had exploded. They asked me: "Are you wounded?" I still didn't understand what they wanted. I just sat here in my office calmly and peacefully.

SPIEGEL: Your colleagues didn't know you weren't in your government office?

Stoltenberg: Yes, I actually should have been there. But since I wanted to write the speech, I decided to stay home, where I can concentrate better.

SPIEGEL: At what point did you realize the full scale of the attack?

Stoltenberg: My colleagues told me, as they were running down the government building's 15 flights of stairs, how powerful the explosion had been. But I only really understood the totality of it when they came to me later with blood on their clothes and bandages on their faces. They were on the 15th floor when it happened. It could only have been a massive explosion, and it was clear to me that people on the lower floors must have been killed.

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1. "Norway will respond to this attack with more democracy, more openness …

SPIEGEL: You constantly repeated one phrase in particular: "Norway will respond to this attack with more democracy, more openness …

Stoltenberg: … but not with naiveté!"

SPIEGEL: How could you be sure your fellow Norwegians would back these sentiments?

Stoltenberg: I couldn't. But I was very impressed to see that, already in the days after the attack, Norwegians behaved in exactly that way: They didn't allow themselves to be cowed by the violence; they didn't clam up. Of course, the aim of such an attack is to create a society that shuts itself off out of fear and is paralyzed. But that didn't happen.

(snip)

SPIEGEL: But didn't you underestimate the danger emanating from the anti-Islamic scene in your country?

Stoltenberg: We were aware of the fact that we have a potential for violence from the anti-Islamic just as much as from the Islamist camp. ... Christian and Muslim terror groups have much more in common than they do with the democratic part of society. In these cases, the political motive is only secondary. We knew that these circles existed. Incidentally, we in Norway have already experienced politically motivated crimes, such as those committed by neo-Nazis. We've had racially motivated murders and an attack on a May 1 demonstration. So, if anything, we're familiar with right-wing terrorism.

(snip)

SPIEGEL: Wasn't it also consistent with Norwegian political correctness to remain silent about the problems of a multicultural society?

Stoltenberg: No. That is a myth that some here want to create: that it's supposedly illegal or unacceptable in Norway to have different opinions on immigration. I completely accept that there are parties with less liberal views on immigration than others.

SPIEGEL: So, in a debate of this kind, just how far can people go in terms of freely expressing their views?

Stoltenberg: I wouldn't impose any limits. But everyone has to be aware of their responsibility should they use words that trigger more conflicts, more prejudice against foreigners.