1973: The voices of the reaction

ianLorenzo Ingrami (Italia)-freedom of expression




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

"We completely agree with the American president when he has now gone to an effective and efficient bombing of Hanoi and other hubs in North Vietnam.

President Nixon has shown himself to be a great politician, a statesman of stature. He does not resume bombing on a whim. He knows world opinion and knows that his course of action erodes the goodwill and prestige of the United States. When he has taken the step of resuming attacks on North Vietnam, it is because this is absolutely necessary.

In other words, President Nixon was not willing to sacrifice millions of South Vietnamese. For that, he should be honored – not praised and criticized.”

Morgenbladet (cons.) in a leading position after the USA launched the most extensive terrorist bombing in history against North Vietnam.

The gaping stick

Gapestokken has a long tradition in Orienterings columns. It was introduced at the suggestion of Helge Krog – for mental hygiene protection against the stupidest or most untruthful things we come across. And since then it has followed us faithfully through all the years. The gap stick hangs out political stupidity and reaction. It exposes the sham, the falsehood and the hypocrisy. It makes the hidden visible and is part of our mental preparedness. That such preparedness is still necessary is not least shown by this selection from Gapestokken in 1973.

"Pat Nixon is asked what quality best characterizes her husband, and she replies:

- Compassion! He cares for everyone. The family, the friends, the little man in the street, everyone. I have never met anyone who cared more about people. And no one has a better sense of humor than Dick. He is the warmest person I have ever met. No "hello-at-you" type, no brawling, but he's constantly concerned with other people's problems, says Pat.

If anyone wants to make a positive impression on Richard Nixon, it must be filled with honesty. It is the quality the president values ​​most in others."

The Libertas magazine NOW.

"The day Nixon signs the peace, he will be vigilantly watched by the humanists. Every time the red fascists from the North make another step forward, the humanists will remain silent and blind. Until Hanoi has reached its goal, taken the right to self-determination from 18 million human destinies. And now Hanoi can begin its purges and slaughters, in complete privacy – still without any protests from the Western humanists. Because then it will be said that they are only sorting out political details within their own area.

One wonders, how humane are the humanists of the West?'

The Libertas magazine NOW.

"I see the awarding of the peace prize as an expression of gratitude for the end of the war in Vietnam. Through their efforts, the two chief negotiators have shown themselves to be worthy winners of the Nobel Peace Prize".

Foreign Minister Knut Frydenlund to Arbeiderbladet.

"I would hardly have guessed this decision in advance. But when the Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to de Kissinger, it seems both logical and sympathetic".

The chairman of the Storting's foreign affairs committee, Tor Oftedal (A) to Arbeiderbladet.

"Never in the history of the world has any country had such a dominant position of power as the United States has had, and used it so little to promote its own interests."

Drammens Tidende (H) in leadership position.

"There is no doubt that the main cause of the unhappy development in Chile must be attributed to the socialist form of government which was gradually implemented by decree. It was this person who created poverty and chaotic conditions as well as corruption of unknown dimensions in this country".

Trygve de Lange i Aftenposten (H).

"The work to create a 'unity' on the far left wing of Norwegian politics has led to the Socialist Election Association... The name and the manifesto are meaningless, but serve two important purposes. It represents a minimum common multiple that can be accepted as an external facade by the groups and people who are involved in this. It serves as camouflage for the fact that the political "merger" between SF, AIK and NKP in a Socialist Electoral Alliance is a communist alliance. Neither Finn Gustavsen, Berit Ås nor Reidar Larsen can explain that away. […]

SF's subsidy to the alliance is a form of broad voter support (5-6 per cent), AIK's contribution is an attempt to create an alibi for the Labor Party voters – but the Communist Party's contribution will be the dominant one, both politically and organisationally.

[...] AKP (ml) – the newly started communist party which has said a little too openly that they want to overturn social conditions in Norway through armed revolution – has not been allowed to participate (it is not "politically possible at the present time"). Apparently. But the AKP does not allow itself to be played over the sidelines, in their writing and speech it is clear that they will not let Gustavsen and Larsen decide their participation in a broad communist united front. If the AKP is not allowed to participate in press conferences and with signatures on manifestos and petitions, they will still participate in the Socialist Election Association... SUF's role in the People's Movement became central, AKP's role in the Socialist Election Association will also be central. […]

The far left in Norwegian politics is now united in a communist alliance under the name Socialist Electoral Alliance".

The Norwegian Labor Party's general secretary Ronald Bye i Arbeiderbladet.

"This year marks five years since Soviet and People's Democratic tanks rolled across Czechoslovakia's borders to crush the attempts made to gain freedom of expression and more democratic forms of society. It could not be tolerated within the framework of the communist system. One should remember that.

At this election we have a new party which has taken the name Democratic Socialists. It is a group that has not found its way into the Labor Party and has found itself having to part ways with its old party. What surprises us is that a party that has chosen such a name has as its first task to participate in an organized electoral collaboration with the Norwegian Communist Party and the Socialist People's Party".

Olav Brunvand in a circular article reproduced on the leader's place in Telemark Arbeiderblad and a number of other Labor Party newspapers.

"Former Church and Education Minister Kjell Olsson Bondevik has strongly distanced himself from the socialists' proposal to introduce free abortion in a lecture. – The view advocated by the socialists – which is that the woman should be able to decide for herself and in our public hospitals demand the removal of the fetus – represents an accident for our country. It brings us closer to the animal stage, said the Kristelig Folkeparti's former chairman and parliamentary leader".

Aftenposten (H).

"I will keep a close eye on Finn Gustavsen, he wants to abolish the defense because the Russians want it, and he wants us out of NATO because the Russians want it."

Pronounced in The television by Anders Lange.

"The parties behind the Socialist Electoral Association are not democratic parties in the usual sense. The parties are ideologically completely supportive of the freedoms that are central to the Western world.

The parties all have their connection to the communist world, and from this they derive the image of the world they want to achieve. Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro and East Germany's late despot, Mr. Ulbricht, are the ideals of the Norwegian disciples. And the disciples are i.a. Finn Gustavsen, Reidar Larsen and Trygve Bull. They all call themselves socialists. Incidentally, so did Hitler. He considered himself a National Socialist. The socialists Hitler and Stalin also divided Poland between them – in case anyone had forgotten that. Something that tells us that Nazism and communism are not really that far apart.

The reality behind the two "isms" is that they stand for dictatorship, for violence, for terror, for concentration camps, for brainwashing, for closed borders, for lack of the most necessary things in daily life, for censorship, for firing squads – and for a total devaluation and degradation of man.

Here in Norway, the election figures show that 238 Norwegians are willing to link their destinies to the Socialist Electoral Association, and all that this group stands for in relation to systems that should be foreign to those who live and work in Norway.

In addition to this, there are 8835 Norwegian men and women who find the Red Electoral Alliance interesting. The total number of those who want a dictatorship in this country should be close to 247 people".

Managing Director of Norwegian Conservative Press, J. Fr. Loenecken i Morgenbladet (art.)

"Bratteli speaks of democratic socialism. Gustavsen on socialist democracy. Apparently they are one and the same, but in reality these are two concepts that are miles apart.

The Labor Party also wants to transform the society we live in. But the party's democratic socialism means that this transformation must, in any case, take place with the support of the majority of the people. The party will therefore follow the rules of the game that apply to the state government in Norway, and no one can demand more.

The electoral association's socialist democracy offers no guarantee in this regard. What kind of democracy this will turn out to be, one can only guess. But it is close to thinking about the so-called people's democracy in eastern countries, which has nothing to do with our democracy".

Verdens Gang (bourgeois), political editor Vegard Sletten in leadership position.

"In particular, I think it is a task for KrF and the other left-wing parties to ensure that the Norwegian Labor Party is not pressured into a more east-oriented policy. We have to assume that SF and NKP will try to exert pressure here".

Kristelig Folkeparti's acting chairman, Kåre Kristiansen, in an interview with The People's Future (KrF).

"A short time ago, 100 Gospels of John in waterproof plastic bags were thrown into the sea from a ship off the coast of South Korea. Wind and current conditions were favorable, and there is reason to expect that a large part of the bags would reach their destination – namely the coast of the Chinese mainland.

The bags are quite small, and besides the Gospel of John, they contain straws and a plate of chewing gum. It is expected that in many cases it will be children who find the bags, and both straws and chewing gum are extremely scarce for Chinese children. Mission behind the Iron Curtain has paid for this entire project, and of course hopes that most of the bags end up in the right hands."

Press release from Mission behind the Iron Curtain, Vidars gate 20, Oslo.



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