NORWAY: The Religious and Political Narrative that feeds Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism

Just a couple of months ago the Norwegian Security Services concluded that there was little threat of terrorism from those associated with the far right. The British government in its revised Prevent Strategy also arrived at a similar conclusion. In the wake of the terror in Norway, we need to question whether Western Governments have taken the far right threat seriously enough or indeed understood it.

The UK Home Office seem to have overlooked the fact that it was violent provocation by extreme ring wing activists in 2001 that was the cause of the worst disturbances in this country since the early 1980’s, with appalling consequences for community relations. Somehow thanks to policy makers, the narrative became one of Muslim separate lives and segregation instead of right wing political provocation and violence. Muslim communities were too weak to challenge this narrative.