Efforts. – What? Norwegian of the year, me? Well, now I was happy. But this is not about me.

Bean wolf Evenrud is not only unusually modest. He also has an unusual first name. He got the name from his father, grassroots activist Kjell Blegen. "Bean wolf", a peculiar mixture of bears and wolves, was supposed to be a political expression.

And in 2012, Bjønnulv Evenrud has fully proved to live up to the supposedly symbolic and Old Norse name. Bjønnulv turned the whole of Tigerstaden on its head this summer, when he openly and alone went out and spoke on behalf of the space people. Not only did he create a newspaper, "People Are People," on which they could sell and make money. He also almost started a job placement service, where he gave women and men from the Roma people the opportunity to work for most Norwegians – with everything from gardening to painting, sewing and washing.

Facsimile: New Time December 14th.

On Lucia Day, Thursday 13. December at 13, he got off Ny Tid awarded the prize «Norwegian of the Year 2012» in the basement of the House of Literature in Oslo (see below for «The jury's justification»). He is the eighth person to receive the Ny Tid award, but he is the first male award winner to be born in Norway.

- The situation of the Roma people is a delicate and difficult topic to address in Norway and Europe. But Bjønnulv Evenrud has at least dared to take up the debate, and had the storm off in 2012. He put the issue on the agenda by providing the people with employment opportunities, and by giving them legal assistance in contentious meetings with the police and the Norwegian authorities. Evenrud thus stands in a long tradition of good Norwegians who have stood for the generous, global and inclusive values ​​that have made Norway one of the better countries to live in for most people, said editor Dag Herbjørnsrud when he justified the award during the open meeting at Literature House on December 13. (PICTURE: Evenrud th, Herbjørnsrud tv PHOTO: Ny Tid)

Evenrud received a portrait specially drawn by Ny Tid's regular artist Firuz Kutal (ill .: below right), in addition to flowers and the first printed copy of Ny Tids 14 December issue. The distribution was covered live on TV 2 Nyhetskanalen, as well as by others central Media.

Evenrud caused uproar among neighbors, media and politicians when he in July fronted the case so that the Roma people could live in a quarry at Årvoll in Groruddalen. He received both police reports and death threats. Recently, Oslo's city council leader refused to meet Evenrud for a debate when the media invited them. But Evenrud, born in Bærum and raised on Toten, does not intend to give up.

- Once you have gained insight into what the situation is like, how these people are daily exposed to harassment and stigma, it is impossible not to care. There are so many notions about space people that do not correspond to reality. I see it as a duty to help people who are abused in this way, Evenrud says to Ny Tid.

We have sought shelter from the December cold at a café in Torggata. Evenrud, spokesperson for the association Folk er Folk, has just finished a chat with the staff and sits down on the other side of the table. Last weekend he spent in Norway's first villa collective rented by and for Romanian working immigrants in Norway. Next to him sits Håkon Marcello, founder of the local newspaper "Østkantavisa", and now editor of the street magazine Folk er folk. Both the organization's and the magazine's future must be planned and new work measures discussed.

Famous man

Some cast a long glance at us as they pass the table. Over the past year, Evenrud has become increasingly known through both television and newspapers, as the weak's champion. In just a few months, life as a freelance salesman has been replaced by a full-time effort as leader of the non-profit organization Folk er Folk, which mainly fights for the rights of the Roma people in Norway and Europe.

- Good feedback from others and good results on our work means that there will be many partial victories along the way. We do a very varied and complex job, and we also see that the work we do is important. It is rewarding to build an organization from scratch, Evenrud says.

Following suggestions from Ny Tid's readers, Evenrud stood out as the clear winner of the "Norwegian of the Year 2012" prize, which has been awarded every year since 2007 after a "Norwegian debate" The Language Council started. "Where the Roma people felt chased from bulwark to bulwark in Norway's capital, he dared to ask the most important question. At the same time, he came up with concrete answers, opportunities and solutions, "it is stated in the jury's justification.

But Evenrud is more interested in talking about space people than about his own background.

- The focus should be on the case, not on me. That is what is important to bring out, Evenrud says modestly.

He was admitted as a student at the Oslo Academy of the Arts in 1989. In 1996 he received the Oslo City Cultural Scholarship.

- I simply got so tired of the navel-gazing snobbery in the art world. I also did so-called political art, but I consider the art scene uninteresting, both in an artistic and political sense. But I have taken up drawing again as a hobby, says Evenrud.

Inclusive is in many ways a key word for the work of the committed 42-year-old, who now lives in Nesodden. He has put his own career on hold. Evenrud has extensive experience in fighting for society's weakest. In 2005, he was involved in starting the "Joint Action against Poverty" and food distribution at the Poor House in Oslo.

- I was poor myself and lived on a cat. I was already bitten by the bacillus after being part of a fairly hard union formation in a marketing company, and I started to get involved in people's rights, Evenrud says.

Garbage Plan

A lot has happened since the organization "People are people" was started up at the end of February. A group of around ten young, committed people had grown tired of the way Roma people in Oslo were treated. A few hundred posters with the caption "Are you tired of chasing Romanians?" was pasted up in the streets. The posters resulted in demands for a public apology and review of the organization by the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombudsman from the Romanian Embassy. But Evenrud did not let himself be stopped, and eventually the leaflets also came with information about Roma people in Norway and their background.

- We wanted to confront the prejudices that exist about space people. These are Romanian working immigrants who come to Norway to work. They do not beg for culture, but often come from agriculture or industry in Romania. Because of unemployment, they are forced into a challenging everyday life begging on the streets in western European countries to support the family in their home country, Evenrud says.

In mid-March, the organization began raising money for tents. They arranged courses for Roma people in setting up tents in Oslomarka, where tenting is legal. Not long after, came the newspaper ads and thus also the attention. Today, the organization has two positions. In August came the first issue of the street magazine "People are people". For 20 kroner, the magazine is sold by Romanian working immigrants on the streets of Oslo.

- It balled on very fast, and we decided to take the ball and run with it. We had no funds, but it was resolved with the magazine, which has been a success since day one, Evenrud says.

The organization is now planning several measures to employ working immigrants.

- Think what these people could have done for the European garbage problem and thus for the climate. If you had taken care of usable things that are thrown away, this could be sold and used again, either here or in Romania. But so far has Romanians who have tried this have been stopped. Now one goes in rather to destroy usable things, which could well have been recycled and reused. This says something about how interested one is in putting sticks in the wheels for these people, Evenrud says

The latest shot of "People are the people tribe", is a villa on Ullevål, rented to house Romanian workers who come to Norway on a tourist visa. For 50 kroner a night, Romanian working immigrants get a roof over their heads and access to facilities such as water and toilets. They pay the rent themselves. People are people who provide a deposit and ensure order and maintenance. The aim is to offer all Romanian working immigrants shelter. The church's city mission estimates that there are currently 600 people with a Roma background living in Oslo. People are people estimate the number at 700.

- The first 12 people moved in on Sunday. But this is just the beginning. Our goal is to offer housing to all those between 600 and 800 people with a space background who work in Oslo. Then we will concentrate on Romanian migrant workers in the rest of the country. By providing housing, we solve the real problem for both those who live outside, and the experienced problem for the people of Oslo by these people living outside, Evenrud says.

Builds platform

In July, the mention of Roma people in Oslo exploded. Around 200 people with a Roma background sought Sofienberg church in Oslo protection against harassment and persecution. A tent camp was set up in the park around the church and the incident immediately resulted in repeated death threats and rockets were fired at the camp. Following pressure from the authorities, the camp had to be demolished shortly afterwards.

Vanessa Quintavalle, part owner of the company Årvoll Eiendom, then invited the inhabitants of the tent camp to settle on an uninhabited plot. The incident was slaughtered by the renowned PR agency Geelmuyden-Kiese, who believed the action would create more hatred and skepticism towards the space people. But Evenrud believes that the incident had other consequences:

- What happened was good, because we got to focus on the situation of the Roma people in Norway. It was a necessity. Now we experience that more and more people get involved. This is about realityorientering also. These are people who are not going to disappear. It is important that it dawns on most Norwegians that these are not people who disappear from Norway, Evenrud says.

Prejudice, hatred and threats against Roma people are not a particularly Norwegian phenomenon. Persecution, harassment and killings of Romanian migrant workers are reported across large parts of Europe. Amnesty International estimates that between 10 and 12 million people with Roma backgrounds live in Europe. About one in five is exposed to violence, harassment or other abuse.

- The space people are in fact the first non-white people in European culture, and around them there is a completely rooted and unreflected racism of the worst kind. It is a story of slavery, murder, persecution, suspicion and exclusion. Now is the time for Norway and the whole of Europe to deal with this, exclaims the Norwegian of the Year 2012.

- Beg one day!

In Norway, opinions about Roma have also been divided among the political parties. Last week, the organization received a call from a Norwegian political party that said it was willing to front the space issue. Evenrud does not want to reveal which party he called from, but is satisfied with the attention to the organization.

- All over the country, in small and large cities, there are Roma people trying to make ends meet. Everywhere people live outside, in gutters or in the car. These are people who travel away to feed the family. Nothing weak about this. We are happy to invite any Storting politician to beg or collect bottles on the streets of Oslo for a day, and feel what this requires. What you rarely think about is that you have to be very resourceful to be resource-poor, Evenrud says.

Well over two hours, four coffee cups and many pages of notes have passed since we met. For the leader of Folk er folk, the trip continues to the next café, for planning the next Folk er folk magazine.

- It is important to think of solutions rather than obstacles. These are skilled, able-bodied people who want to benefit. You just have to dare to let them show what they are good at.

This is how he concludes, Norwegian of the Year 2012. ■

The jury's reasoning

"He is wise and respectful of us. Everyone has pushed us away, but he has taken us in and helped us. "

This was stated by the space woman Diana Sardaru to NRK on 16 July. She talked about the person who stood up for them this summer when things went awry at Årvoll. About a person who continues to work for the rights of the Roma people even when the flashlights are off and the cold everyday life returns to Europe's outcast people.

Every day, tens of thousands of Norwegian citizens walk past Roma people on the streets without doing anything. This is also what "Norwegian of the Year 2012" must have done, until the son of fifteen asked why he just walked by without giving them money. The son's question led to a historical commitment to the very weakest in Norwegian and European society – our "casteless".

Public myth-breaking, newspaper production and poster hanging have since been some of the ingredients in this art-educated man's efforts for the space people in Norway. In the middle of a heated debate, this Norwegian-born man has stood up for the integrity and human dignity of the Roma people. He has spent his time being a counterforce in the public debate.

Through the establishment of the organization and the street newspaper "People are People", he has also shown that the commitment is not just about superficial or passive financial support. The goal has been to create a sustainable institution for lasting self-help for Roma people. One of the goals is for Roma people to be allowed to participate in Norwegian working life.

"Is it not a human obligation to help those in need?"

That was his question in the middle of this summer's most heated space debate. Where the Roma people felt chased from bulwark to bulwark in Norway's capital, he dared to ask the important questions. At the same time, he came up with concrete answers, opportunities and solutions. For the common good of us all.

Like most Norwegian Roma people, Ny Tid's jury believes that this man has stood up for humanistic, inclusive and extroverted values, which for generations has characterized the best Norwegians among us. That is why Bjønnulv Evenrud is «Norwegian of the Year 2012». ■

«This year's Nordmann Prize»:

* This year's Nordmann award was established after the Language Council, in a email to New Time in October 2006, claimed that only "ethnic Norwegians" could be Norwegian: "A Pakistani who settles in Norway does not become a Norwegian, not even if he becomes a Norwegian citizen." It created a great deal of debate.

* Ny Tid created the Norwegian of the Year award to honor individuals who fight for global values ​​and who expand the definition of what it means to be a good Norwegian. The award has previously gone to:

2007: Activist Mari Kohinoor Nordberg: "Someone has the courage to answer the same questions in all channels, withstand the counter-attacks that always come and have the patience to understand that little is changed at first."

2008: filmmaker Margreth olin: "She has managed to gather an important part of the committed Norway to keep central, global values ​​equal… Olin's radical initiative has created a solidarity commitment that Norway needs more of."

2009: Lawyer Randi Hagen Spydevold: "By being willing to break Norwegian law, and by risking their own lawyer's license, to safeguard the human rights of other citizens, Spydevold has shown a cross-border commitment worthy of every good citizen.

2010: Forfatter Maria Amelie: "By telling her story, she has forced us," the great Norwegian we, "to take a stand on the restless existence of the paperless refugees."

2011: Labor politician Prableen Kaur, Utøya rescuer Marcel Gleffe and civil disobedience activist Synnøve Kvamme... ■