Massacre of Children – How to cope?

Torill TjelflaatHead of ResearchNTNU Social Research ASThe Regional Child Protection Research UnitTrondheim, Norway

NORWAY

Rated by UN as the best country for children to grow up

Peaceful and peaceloving country

Children’s interests and rights are taken seriously

Children are the future

Emphasis on equality and social security – ”the welfare state”

Democracy

Open society

Closeness between the official Norway and its population

More and more a multi-cultural society

On Friday, July 22, 2011, the unthinkable happened in Norway as the country suffered its deadliest attack since the Second World War. First, a car bomb was set off outside a government building in the capital of Oslo that housed the prime minister's office, killing eight people. Soon afterwards a group of young people who were attending a youth camp sponsored by the ruling Labour Party was attacked by a lone gun man.

The massacre at the camp left 69 dead and nearly 100 wounded. Many of them children under the age of 18.The youngest one was 14.

The PresentationIn this presentation, I will reflect upon howNorway managed to cope with this tragedy, both on the societal and personal levels.

Which “survival strategies” were used? How can we understand the apparently unifying effect the tragedy had on the people of Norway?

I will focus on:

CARE OPENNESSCOURAGE

SADNESS

THE MESSAGE Om én mann kanvise så mye hat tenk

hvor mye kjærlighet

vi alle kan visesammen»Helle Gannestad

"If one man can create that

much hate, you can only imagine how much love we as a togetherness

can create”

Stine Renate Håheims iconic commentary to CNN (July 24th. 2011)

CARE

OPENNESS

Giving the victims ”a face”

Individual StoriesFamilies FriendsFuture plansFunerals

COURAGEI

My Scares is a symbol thatDemocracy is not for free (the youngest survivor – shot fourtimes)

Ylva was only 14 years old when she was on the island, and she is the youngest witness in court. She called the gunman a coward and looked him into his eyes. At the island, she was first shot in her stomach and shoulder, and then a shot in each leg. She was certain she would die: ”I waited for the dark or the light – in movies people die after one shot – why should I survive with four?”

However she survived, but very badly wounded. The family was not certain she would manage. They desperately search for her, and she was the last one to be found.In court, Ylva told about all the muscles in her legs damaged by gun shots. She showed her scars from the shots.

”I have no problems showing my scars. I look at them as a victory, and I expose them with dignity.”

ONE STORY

Going beyond anybody’s imagination, death came brutally upon us without a warning. It changed society and it changed our people, but in all its ugliness, it paradoxically also brought life and hope for the future.  The citizens of Oslo and elsewhere in Norway gathered in our capital. The streets filled with 200 000 children, parents, and grandparents who had turned up to listen to our Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg. He declared that “we do not let fear break us. Evil may kill a human being, but will never defeat a people.”  He went on “Norway will pass the test, applying the strongest of all weapons; with the free word and democracy, we will chart the course after 22nd July 2011.” He concluded “More openness, more democracy, firmness and strength. That is us. That is Norway.” (Roger Ingebrigtsen, State Secretary - speech in UN).

THANK YOU