For the world - always!

Anti -war slogans are central on the May Day processions - the most massive of the Bergen left -random protests. The banner “For freedom, well -being and democracy, against imperialism, racism, war and terrorism” always carry the first.

Norwegian pacifists offer society not only abstract slogans, but also quite interesting practical ideas, for example, a peaceful tax. Participants in the Norwegian peaceful tax alliance (quakers, “International Women's League for Peace and Freedom”, “Grandmothers for Peace” and other organizations) have been conducting information campaigns for seven years. The purpose of the international movement for peaceful tax is the adoption of laws that a citizen can choose, his money will go to improve society or for war.

Fifty years ago, pacifists simulated diseases, went to prisons for refusing military service. After the Law on Alternative Civil Service was adopted, the Norwegians received the legal right to abandon the service in the Armed Forces. Often, communes could not find jobs for the "alternatives", while ordinary conscripts were in abundance. In 2012, the alternative service in Norway was canceled as an ineffective institution (they are still not called by refuseniks), and now they have introduced a call for women, justifying this with gender equality. However, gender equality is not improvement, but the destruction of the Patriarchal Institute. The story of modern Norwegian pacifists will not be a list of victories, but will show that people do not leave attempts to achieve positive changes and remind the society of important problems.

Activists from the International Women's League for Peace and Freedom collaborate with the international coalition to ban uranium weapons and arrange information actions in the city center. They write in leaflets: “Uranium shells were developed during the Cold War. The shells kill people, destroy military equipment, destroy buildings, pollute the nature of radioactive dust. The lounged uranium is used just because such materials are cheaper. Now such shells are produced in Russia, Great Britain, France, Pakistanes, China. reserves of shells. "

After the earthquake in Japan and the accident at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, supporters of global equality, chainjmakers , went to Torgallmenningen Square to remove the video “Prohibit nuclear weapons now” and collect signatures for the international campaign for the ban on nuclear weapons. A young man speaking an atomic bomb was depicted on the leaflet of Chainzhmakers: “ Here are 10 things that I hate in you. You are unstable. You are an intriguing. The costs of you are great. You are sick. You have bad energy. You love to be explosive. You have an explosive character. You are afraid of my friends. You do not let me develop .” It was also reported that for more than 60 years the atomic bomb threatens humanity, more than $ 90 billion is spent on nuclear weapons every year. “The atomic bomb did not protect anyone. On the contrary, it destabilizes, provokes discrimination and struggle for power. There is no reason to have nuclear weapons ,” Chemisters believe.

Children occupy an important place in the hierarchy of the values of Norwegian society, pacifists often raise a children's topic. In 2011, shares of the Youth Red Cross were held in the center of Bergen against the participation of children in military conflicts. During one of the shares called the “Red Hand Day”, photos of teenagers with weapons in their hands were placed on the central square of the city and leaflets with the following text were heard: “ Do you know that today in the world there are 300 thousand children-soldiers, that not all soldiers-children wear weapons, some of them work as chefs, spies, sex workers, that they were drafting in the army younger than children younger Is it a war crime?

These days, in the center of Bergen, the UN anti -war stickers in the form of a grenade are placed: " Violence in hot spots is very often committed against children. In the past 20 years, Norway has participated in wars as many times as the United States. Any war is a war against children ." Thus - with the help of education - a public opinion is formed, which in Norway determines the result of the election and policy of the country.

Minority communities and radical organizations arrange protests against wars in other countries. On the Day of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2012, a rally “War in Syria was a war against children” in Bergen, organized by a group of support for Syrian refugees . Activists said that Syrian children are trying, killing that children are forced to leave at home with their families or alone. The Kurdish political movement appeared in Bergen just a few years ago, on the initiative of a young refugee from Syria Ali Watti . At first, the protests were few, several dozen people gathered. At the very first Syrian campaign, December 28, 2011, people sang: “ Kurds and Arabs are one people. In the north and south, the Syrians will walk with a proudly raised head. We will achieve freedom, even if Assad does not want this. All the same, your regime will fall. Who will be overthrown? Bashar Assad! ”

When in March 2013, the Norwegian Cossack coordinator of the Syrian Revolution conducted a world march for Syria, only 30 people gathered for the action. But what was happening on the air broadcast television, and the Bergens Tidende newspaper published a report the next day. The musicians, representatives of the parties, a representative of the UN, Syrians performed. On November 2, 2014, more than 200 people gathered in the World Court of Islamic State and in support of the Kurdish terror, and many representatives of the Kurdish diaspora also gathered. Students made an impressive production in which they showed the Islamist market slaves.

The rally lasted three hours, well -known activists performed speeches, representatives of six parliamentary parties, Kurdish musicians sang and played, people danced.

Kurdish protest became the citywide, because Ali Watti met with activists of other initiatives, began to work in charitable organizations, talked with journalists. And also because the Kurdish student community made a lot of efforts to tell the Norwegians about the problems and culture of their people. The Bergen pacifists protest against Norway's direct participation in wars. In 2011, people from the Women's League , the Red Party and the Communist Platform of the Marxists-Lenins held rallies, demanding to stop Libya's bombing and bring the Norwegian military from the conflict zone: “ Never democracy and freedom were introduced through bombs and foreign intervention. Gaddafi is known as a dictator with bloodied hands. But the US Those who killed many civilians in the Iraqi war remained unpunished, now they again - with the approval of UN - act as innocent fighters for democracy and defenders of the civilian population , ”the activists said. The leaflet was equipped with an image of a map of glowing Libya, near which two stamps were sitting by US names. and eu. On one of the posters it was written: "American bombs never helped the peoples."

December 10, 2011, on the day of the Nobel Prize of the World, the pacifists protested against the ten -year presence of the Norwegian military in Afghanistan. The protesters said: “ Help, not bombs! Negotiations, not war! Let the Afghans decide for themselves! Norwegians - a peaceful nation? Do this true !”, “During the Soviet occupation, Norway opposed the war, and now he uses the rhetoric of Soviet propagandists .” On January 31, 2013, an action was held against Norwegian involvement in the conflict in Mali.

I tell mainly about street activism, since it is the street protest that is the subject of my study, but in Bergen dozens, or even hundreds of lectures, seminars and discussions are also held - in the premises of the City Council, parties, university, charitable organizations, articles in the press and social networks are published.

Public discussion highlights the contradictions, inevitable ideological conflicts. However, in civil society, the conflict is not a catastrophic, on the contrary, the idea is developing, internationalized, unified, checked for compatibility with the basic human rights, the norms of different countries and communities, and over time-all together-the dispute participants find the correct formulation. Now, at the time of network international activism, the contradictions are erased very quickly, but it is still very difficult to deal with militaristic propaganda.

In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, almost all radical and most of the Moderate Bergenians support Palestine. They conduct rallies, seminars, promotions, collect money to send a vessel to the gas sector, put stickers with the image of bloody oranges, boycott shops in which goods from Israel are sold, visit Palestine to observe the development of the situation. At the May Day demonstrations - many posters “Boycot Israel, Freedom Palestine! ”. At the 2013 Professor Mayor 2013, the missing activists tried to shout out of the priestly and tore the flag of Israel - this level of aggression is extremely rare in political proceedings in Bergen. In 2014, during the May Day shares, no one encroached on the flag of Israel, but it cannot be said that the situation was calm. The community united by the support of Palestine in November 2014 was finally split due to various opinions in relation to Israel. Some of the activists spoke out for cooperation with Jewish organizations during the memorial action of the memory of the victims of the "crystal night", the part was against it.

The Russian-Ukrainian war is another stumbling block for Norwegian activism. In the early days and weeks of the conflict, Norwegian radical left believed Russian propaganda. Of course, they continued to consider Putin’s regime to be undemocratic, but they thought that Russia really protects the Jews and Russians, who were "killing Ukrainian fascists." Therefore, none of the Norwegians were on an action against the Russian invasion of Ukraine on March 2, 2014. We brought the Ukrainian flag, the banner “Russia without Putin”, the posters “Sudeters 1938”, “Georgia 2008”, “Czechoslovakia 1968”, “Ukraine 2014 ″,“ Zhadan ”,“ Stop War! ”,“ Stop Putin! ”.

It is curious that the position of the Norwegian authorities regarding the situation in Ukraine from the very beginning was adequate, which further convinced the radicals of their own rightness. The protest against the occupation of Ukraine is still considered in the radical environment the right -wing protest in its political essence. For a long time, nothing could change the point of view of the majority - neither the translated news nor the commentary of Alexander Volodarsky about Ukrainian right, nor the texts about the situation of Ukrainian Jews , translated by Lena Grontovova, nor a wonderful article by Catherine of the Mola for the Norwegian radical portal. Gradually, thanks to the work of the group “ Ukraine-Information in Norwegian” activists began to see sintering, and now some are already asking about Russian fascists in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian Bergen community held information meetings and organized protests that I did not attend.

I will complete the story about the Bergen pacifists with a story about another ambiguous, at first glance, promotions. In 2011, the government decided that the day of liberation on May 8 (end of World War II) would become the day of celebration of veterans of all military conflicts, and in 2012, veterans of foreign wars were added to the list. Thus, according to the pacifists, the date turned into a militaristic holiday, and the events of the new day of veterans began to justify the participation of Norway in the wars. On May 8, 2014, young bergen residents, veterans from the Oswald group, historians held a rally “We are returning the Liberation Day”, laid flowers to the monument to Nurdal Grieg, the Norwegian writer-Antifashist, who died during the Second World War, and walked in the city center with Norwegian flags.

You can find films and photos from anti -war protests in the Russian -speaking network newspaper Bergen hare . See the book “The city says: activism in Bergen ”.

And remember: freedom disappears immediately as soon as they cease to protect it.

Lyubava Malysheva-a civil activist, a photographer-documentary, lives in the Norwegian city of Bergen

Read other texts from the cycle about civil activism in Bergen: “activism in Bergen ” (feminist organizations), “ Rainbow Days ” (LGBT movement), “ against garbage ” (environmental movement) , “nowhere to run ” (movement in defense of migrant rights)