Russophobia, the ’good’ racism in Norway. Part 2.

In NATO-Norway we are indoctrinated to be suspicious and think badly about Russia. It has been going on for generations.

I know, because I have felt it since I was a child, in the 60s, during the cold war. How did I feel it? Not because I was a communist or had communist, Russia-friendly parents. No, I basically had a pretty average upbringing. My parents were and are almost apolitical, even though they were strong, almost puritan, in terms of (christian) values. But the anti-Russian indoctrination was still unavoidable as it came from almost all other channels: the media, politicians, school, friends etc.

How and why did I so early on notice Russophobia? Probably because I from childhood had a tendency to question accepted ’truths’, about everything from Christianity, in which I was also indoctrinated, to political and cultural issues. So when I questioned whether our neighbour Russia, then the Soviet Union, really was as dangerous as we were told, I was met with aggression and suspicion.

It was surprising and frightening with such reactions to innocent questions from a child. I would even say that it was traumatic, as it created fear of saying what I meant and then fear of being left out (not anymore). And then one can only imagine how actual communists felt. Because we were told that Russia is dangerous, mean, insidious, that Russia is longing for an opportunity to take us. So we had to be on our toes all the time, also towards potential traitors among us.

That's how we were indoctrinated/brainwashed, despite the fact that this was a relatively short time after Russia had liberated the north-eastern part of Norway, which forced Hitlers army to flee Norway. Norway joined NATO, an organization hostile to Russia when it was created in 1949, only four years after the liberation. The Russians had good reason to view us as ungrateful even then.

Me as a boy, probably in the first grade, 7 years old.

Many of the ’truths’ that were agreed upon in the 1960s have long since been discarded, from the ban on homosexuality to the fact that women's place was in the home with the kids and in the kitchen. The communist Soviet Union has also long since become history. Today Russia is as capitalist as NATO countries. Yes, almost everything has changed, but Russophobia remains.

Now, communism is not the problem with Russia. The problem is that Russia is Russia and that Russians are Russians and still dangerous, regardless of the fact that NATO-countries, led by the United States, by far have been the worlds most belligerent since NATO was founded in 1949. https://williamblum.org/essays/read/overthrowing-other-peoples-governments-the-master-list

The aggressive and stigmatizing attitude towards those in Norway who think differently in the area of ​​foreign policy lives on in a similar way, 35 years after the Cold War. The ’hawks’ in Norwegian politics, of which there are many, are rarely challenged on TV regarding NATO and Norway's belligerent policy.

The stereotypes about Russia and Russians often remind me of the stigmatization of Jews in the 1930s, as mentioned in pt 1. Another constant factor is the ’dissing’ of everything Russian, from industrial products to russian athletes.

Norwegian paper Dagbladet’s Esten O. Sæther is one example. Admittedly, in 2021, a Russian skier had behaved unsportsmanlikely. But generalizing from that to a headline that says «Russia is rotten to the core» (pill råttent) can hardly be called anything but russophobia/racism. Or hate speech, which the Norwegian authorities have said they will crack down on, and have done, in certain cases. But not on russophobians like Esten O. Sæther. If he had said the same thing about Israel, there would have been completely different reactions.

The same year Trine Skei Grande, norwegian parlamentarian, rejoiced on Twitter that a mob of about 100 people threw snowballs at four Russian police officers. But she of course would never have accepted that snowballs were thrown at Norwegian police officers.

Also in 2021, Nina Witoszek, norwegian of polish origin, claimed in the paper Aftenposten that Russia/Russians are «dehumanized and barbaric. And indifferent to human suffering». She is a senior researcher at the Center for Development and Environment at the University of Oslo. No one contested her. Not even the state-funded Anti-Racist Center (see pt 1). Therefore it must be considered an almost official Norwegian opinion about Russia, even before Russias invasion of Ukraine. https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/i/dnGoRw/et-sivilisatorisk-sammenbrudd-i-hjertet-av-europa

Russian films/movies are seldom shown in Norway. But what does it take for a Russian film to get good coverage in the Norwegian media? It certainly helps that the film claims things like Russia is «being torn apart from within». This is according to reviewer Erlend Loe in Aftenposten the 24th of January 2018. A marriage that is falling apart is a metaphor for Russia being a divorced family, Loe believes. https://www.aftenposten.no/kultur/i/wE8qdG/savnet-er-en-drepende-fabel-om-dagens-russland

The notorious Norwegian Helsinki Committee pretends to be heroic defenders of human rights. In reality, they too are state-funded critics/bullies of Russia and other countries that do not accept USA/NATO/EU ambitions for world domination. They also bully norwegian dissidents like me and, of course, Glenn Diesen.

The massive and sympathetic portrayals that Norwegian Helsinki Committee and norwegian media give of russian opposition figures, is actually part of the hybrid warfare against Russia. The constantly flattering and smirking interviews with Jens Stoltenberg, while he was the ’chief’ of NATO, was another side of the same story.

The media's differential treatment between Assange, whom they silenced and even harassed, and russian separatist Alexej Navalny, whom they described as a hero for ten years until his death, is yet another side.

And when the American journalist Gonzalo Lira, also a critic of NATO, died in a Ukrainian prison in January 2024, it was barely mentioned in the Norwegian media. NO Western politicians demanded an independent investigation into his death, as they did after the just as tragic death of Alexei Navalny.

The media and politicians in Norway were in shock after the storming of the US Congress building on January 6 2021, while they encourage such things in Russia, as in Belarus and Georgia and previously in countries such as Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela. The only thing that prevented the ’Navalnyj-protesters’ from storming the Duma were Russian police officers, but they were criticized for being violent. If the same had happened in Norway, the Norwegian media and politicians would have called for more police and also given them broad powers.

Sure enough, some of the ’experts’ we keep seeing in Norwegian media say that they love Russia, the Russian people, Russian literature, etc. But they hardly have a good word to say about Russia today and the leader, Vladimir Putin, who has put Russia back on its feet and who is therefore very popular among Russians. The Russia they love seems to be an imagination of how they think Russia was back in ’the good old days’, in the 19th century.

Previously, until 1949, when Norway was neutral, before Norway joined NATO, the Norwegian authorities tried to have good relations with all countries. Since 1949 they have prioritized having good relations with Russia's enemies. So, what is typical of Norwegian Russophobia today is that it follows from Norway's alliance affiliation. And xenophobia/racism/russophobia becomes truly dangerous when society encourages it. Adolf Hitler is the prime example.

There are of course also rational reasons for ‘Russophobia’, or to fear Russia. Not least fearing what Russia might do after gradually, over many years, having been almost surrounded by military bases and soldiers from countries that have previously waged war against Russia, and lots of other countries. If western leaders had had more respect for Russia beforehand, the war in Ukraine probably wouldn’t have started in the first place.

Russophobia in the form of the West neglecting Russia's warnings contributed to the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2014 and to Russia's invasion in 2022. Many responsible people in the West also warned. But unfortunately, responsible people are not the ones making the big decisions in NATO countries.

The third and last part of this series will come in a few days. In it I will compare Russophobia and Germanophobia: “The Norwegians understandable fear and hatred of Germans passed away because it was necessary”.

Here’s part 1: https://substack.com/home/post/p-167429958