Anders Behring Breivik’s extensive document “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” has a subsection entitled, “The great Satan, his cult and the Jews,” contained within a broader section headlined, “The Conservative Revolution – the only Solution for free Europeans.”
Breivik’s manifesto is described by Chip Berlet, an expert on right-wing extremism, as stating “that ‘Political Correctness’ should be called ‘Cultural Marxism’ and is the reason for political leaders allowing mass Muslim migration into Europe. Breivik’s core thesis is borrowed from William S. Lind’s antisemitic conspiracy theory about ‘Cultural Marxism.'” It’s 1,500 pages long, and is already being scrutinized by scholars and journalists; a complete picture of its entirety will take some time to come into focus, as will the extent of his relationships with other individuals and groups.*
Breivik claims to protect a “pure” Nordic race, and apparently sees himself as launching a modern-day crusade modeled on the Knights Templar. In the “Conservative Revolution” section of the manifesto he lays out his views on “Solutions to prevent the extinction of the Nordic tribes and for implementation of conservative principles,” and opposition to “race-mixing” (in which he also decries what he calls “race-mixing,” either through marriage or adoption, by Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, to name a few).
He also reveals why he thinks that Hitler was wrong. Not because he was wrong, but because he botched an opportunity to protect a “pure” Nordic race.
Hitler, says Breivik, makes the work of true cultural conservatives like himself more difficult, because the Holocaust unleashed “the greatest anti-nationalist and anti-European propaganda campaign the world has ever seen.” As a result, “people like myself, and other cultural conservative leaders of today, are still suffering under this propaganda campaign because of that one man.” Breivik further blames Hitler for failing to “liberate Jerusalem” from “Islamic occupation” and deporting European Jews to Israel. Instead, he maintains, Hitler, knowing “perfectly well what the consequences would be for their tribes if they lost,” nonetheless “went ahead and completed the job” (note that Breivik at no point employs the word Holocaust).
Breivik then turns his anti-multiculturalism screed against Jews, disparaging Jews who “support multiculturalism” and lauding those who do not. He describes the latter as “Israeli nationalists (who want to deport the Muslims from Israel)” (apparently something he approves of). Here, Breivik laments that he can’t discuss this issue with neo-Nazis, and how such a discussion got him banned from the American white supremacist site Stormfront and another “national socialist forum.” He goes on to maintain that because America has “nation-wrecking multiculturalist Jews,” rather than “conservative Jews” it has a “Jewish problem:”
In any case; educate yourself and learn the difference. Today’s conservatives and want to-be Nazis are ignorant when they obsess so much over the Jews. There is no Jewish problem in Western Europe (with the exception of the UK and France) as we only have 1 million in Western Europe, whereas 800,000 out of these 1 million live in France and the UK. The US on the other hand, with more than 6 million Jews (600% more than Europe) actually has a considerable Jewish problem. But please learn the difference between a nation-wrecking multiculturalist Jew and a conservative Jew.
He then offers clues as to why he targeted fellow Norwegians, even though he claims to love his “Nordic tribe,” and in particular government buildings and the young people he massacred at the youth camp:
Don’t make the same mistake that NSDAP did. Never target a Jew because he is a Jew, but rather because he is a category A or B traitor. And don’t forget that the bulk of the category A and B traitors are Christian Europeans. 90% of the category A and B traitors in my own country, Norway, are Nordic, Christian category A and B traitors.
Chillingly, the Jerusalem Post today editorialized that despite the horrific violence perpetrated by Breivik, the cultural conservative campaign against “multiculturalism” actually has legitimacy:
It would be wrongheaded, however, to allow the fact that this terrible tragedy was perpetrated by a right-wing extremist to detract attention from the underlying problems faced not only by Norway, but by many Western European nations.
Undoubtedly, there will be those – particularly on the Left – who will extrapolate out from Breivik’s horrific act that the real danger facing contemporary Europe is rightwing extremism and that criticism of multiculturalism is nothing more than so much Islamophobia.
While it is still too early to determine definitively Breivik’s precise motives, it could very well be that the attack was more pernicious – and more widespread – than the isolated act of a lunatic. Perhaps Brievik’s inexcusable act of vicious terror should serve not only as a warning that there may be more elements on the extreme Right willing to use violence to further their goals, but also as an opportunity to seriously reevaluate policies for immigrant integration in Norway and elsewhere. While there is absolutely no justification for the sort of heinous act perpetrated this weekend in Norway, discontent with multiculturalism’s failure must not be delegitimatized or mistakenly portrayed as an opinion held by only the most extremist elements of the Right.
*Large chunks of the manifesto are wholesale copied from the books, articles, or websites or other writings of conservative writers, including, apparently a large section which is copied from Lind’s book On Political Correctness but not attributed by Breveik.
