No person has the right to rain on your dreams.
Martin Luther King Jr.
As we distance ourselves from the horror of July 22, 2011, when a Anders Breivik killed 77 innocent lives, the more our collective memory begins to fail us. Islamophobia, xenophobia and anti-cultural diversity sentiment have strengthened their grip in the Nordic region after 22/7.
The political landscape is a rude reminder that we have started to forget: the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* of Finland are in government for the first time and the Islamophobic Danish People’s Party won the elections in June.
That´s not all. The Progress Party (FrP) of Norway, in which Breivik was a brief member, is today in government for the first time after its founding in 1973.
Sweden is still the only country that has not caved in to xenophobic and anti-cultural diversity rhetoric like its neighbors and not permitted the Sweden Democrats to grab power to in order to begin the process of becoming a “normal” party with the same message.
Why do many want to forget 22/7 and its sinister mastermind Breivik?
Is it because we disagree with Breivik’s actions but not with his message, which is Islamophobic and xenophobic?
Some may want to forget but we must not, and won’t, today or ever.
* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English-language names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.