(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Since Thor Halvorssen has been criticized in Norwegian media for staying in the realms of the rich and thus having an addiction to certain sponsors, I ask him where the money for his business comes from: “It's okay that you ask for that. My grandfather made a big difference in Venezuela by importing such as Siemens, Ericsson, washing machines and phones to millions of people in this oil state. He died when my father was young, leaving a large fortune, of which my divorced mother and I received a large share. I have built up funds from technological investments, as well as from films I have made from making. I have no 'strange' money and nothing to hide. ”
The class struggle criticized Halvorssen in 2010 for dealing with "secret funding," and suspected him of being "associated with the right wing in the United States."
We therefore confront Halvorssen with several of the allegations and cover-ups he joined. Especially the Class Fight and Manifesto, as well as Electronic Intifada (Max Blumenthal, award-winning journalist), took on how Halvorssen has funded the Oslo Freedom Forum. Why did they choose this focus rather than look at what the conferences contained? "Because they can't criticize our work. All they needed to do was create doubt, without proving anything. To destroy a person's credibility, you just have to ask the same question so many times that people think something is wrong. "
1. In Electronic Intifada's 35-character long article about 'suspicious' Halvorssen, he is attacked for leading the organization FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) based on Christian circles. According to Blumenthal, Christians were against homosexuality when it was termed a sin: “When it comes to the evangelical student organization at the University of Massachusetts where I was elected leader, it was about freedom. But when the head of a study group that was concerned with the issue of homosexuality was elected, a candidate was gay and was rejected. He took it as a racist argument! For example, would a black rights group that did not want a white leader be called racist? "
Halvorssen is thus attacked for being gay: "The interesting thing about people who attack me is that they do it without actually knowing that I am 'gay'".
2. His friend and former Paypal entrepreneur Peter Thiel, who supported Halvorssen with about half a million dollars between 2007-11, has been criticized by Blumenthal for saying that freedom and democracy cannot coexist, and blaming homophobia on homosexuals. I ask him to associate with such a friend: “Thiel's point was that gays could become unpopular if they became too noisy, such as throwing paint and stones when irritated. Thiel is a homosexual himself, but here he just got a racist tag. "
3. John Templeton Foundation was financially important for the creation of OFF. According to Blumenthal, John Templeton Jr., its current head, made sure to counter the issue of same-sex marriage in California in 2009. I ask Hal-
caution about why he surrounds himself with such sponsors. "This is not the same person who supported me, but his father. In fact, he was dead when his son did this in 2009, but he lost that fight. ”
The rumor surrounding Thor Halvorssen is that he had close ties with the attempted coup against President Chávez in 2002.
4. Halvorssen's use of Donors Capital Fund to the OFF and the Human Rights Foundation are criticized by Blumenthal, because between 2009 and 2011, they passed on nearly $ 80 million to conservatives and groups that promoted Islamophobic attitudes. Halvorssen again rejects this as associative guilt: "When it comes to the Donor Capital Fund, it is no different than that if I used DNB and Anders Behring Breivik did the same, then I would be guilty. If DNB gave Breivik a credit card, should they be accused of financing terror? It's ridiculous." He explains that the Donor Capital Fund is used to make his own and his mother Hilda Mendoza Denham's money tied to a cause. Should anything happen to them, this purpose will be assured.
5. Another example from Blumenthal in Electronic Intifada, referenced in Norwegian media, is that Thor Halvorssen sr., whom his son admired and was inspired to begin human rights work, should be on the CIA's payroll when he worked in Nicaragua: “The media did the same here. My father documented human rights violations against Miskito Indians on the west coast of Nicaragua, people who were mercilessly murdered – but no one cared, because they loved the Sandinists and held them to be better than Somoza. My dad couldn't defend himself, he didn't have social media like we have today. No one asked him. "
But the CIA? "My father was the government representative in charge of drug policy, so he talked naturally enough with both the FBI and the CIA and a number of country's police officers and secret services."
6. Norwegian media has criticized Halvorssen's alleged criticism connections to the coup attempt against Chátime in 2002. Again, I ask what he had to do with this: “Oh, I'm from Venezuela! I have been criticized for that for years, yes. Because I am critical of the notion that Chávez should have created a paradise, that everything is fine in the country; that Chávez should have removed poverty and liberated the oppressed, as Norwegian media such as Klassekampen seem to believe. This is a facade that journalists have maintained for years. But gradually the criminal side of Chávez, his family and helpers has emerged. So where do Manifest and Magnus Marsdal stand now? » Halvorssen is also not gracious towards author and Klassekampen writer Eirik Vold, who he believes "must carry his support for murderous regimes around the neck for the rest of his career". Halvorssen accuses Vold of having traveled around first class with the president. He also accuses Wenche Hauge (Prio) and Benedicte Bull (Center for Development and the Environment) of the same lefling. "We came to Norway in both 2010 and 2011 with testimonies that really criticized the Venezuelan government, shouted warnings about what crisis was on the way, and said it was still time to stop it. Now we are in the middle of it. And what do the Latin America group and their academics say now? Where do they stand regarding Venezuela? They have zero credibility. "
7. We finally confront Halvorssen with Blumenthal's claim that the OFF leader is associated with Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik: “Blumenthal wrote that I belong to the same group that inspired Breivik. Ironically, one of Utuja's survivors, Bjørn Ihler, is a frequent guest on OFF. The point was that Breivik in his manifesto mentions a man who has worked in a foundation that has received money from another foundation that I have also received support from. It's like saying that Breivik and I are the same if we have eaten hamburger at the same restaurant. It's ridiculous. This type guilty by association is no other than McCarthyism. ”
“I am critical that Chavez has created a paradise, that everything is good in the country; that Chavez should have removed poverty and freed the oppressed. "
About Blumenthals long report in Electronic Intifada is the comment: "He has never interviewed me for his research in that article. Pretty extraordinary when you write 6000 words, huh? He based himself on articles that appeared in the Norwegian press in connection with Ny Tid and OFF in the period 2010–12. I answered these articles – yet Blumenthal used their claims as facts. Then Electronic Intifada was again copied in the Norwegian press as facts – what can be called 'really bad faith journalism'. "
Blumenthal is today known for criticizing the aid workers White Helmets in Syria and giving his support to Assad.
"When more people call me homophobic, coup-maker, racist, and CIA agent, the intention is to stop the discussion, not to open it. Such a thing can be achieved by calling some fascist or communist. If anyone calls me a racist, I ask them to come up with evidence and justify the charges – and reveal pretty quickly if they hold the allegation. "
In our times with fake news is what Halvorssen points out in an attempt to make him guilty by association.
also read When the state becomes too powerful.
