(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Jan Borgen writes frantic posts to panic around the US embassy on Drammensveien. His reasoning can be summed up as follows: "If the House forest is not immediately re-regulated, many people will die." He asks for terrorist terror to control Oslo's urban development. In the state of emergency, public information is needed: There have never been attacks on US embassies in Europe. By contrast, public transport in London and Madrid has been bombed. Will Borgen also require the subway closed? Borgen misinforms when he says that the Police Security Service recommends Huseby. PST does not say a single word about Huseby.
Requires civilization. We do not know if or where terror will strike. Unpredictability is the nature of terror. Panic is the instrument of terrorism. Dialogue, legality and predictability are the way of civilization. The City Council's handling of the embassy case is civilized. It is characterized by dictation, illegality, haste and secrecy. We require a civilized assessment of the application to develop 40 acres of free space in Oslo.
Not legal process. The process surrounding the sale of the site has been civilized and illegal. We agree with the Urban Development Committee's Akhtar Chaudrhy (SV), who said to Ullern Avis on October 19: "The process has major shortcomings and has not followed the democratic rules of the game that we otherwise set so high." gave the city council green light to build in Husebyskogen after three weeks. They promised the US re-regulation before the sale. The guarantor should know that this process has been anything but transparent.
No political predictability. The process has also not been predictable. Had it, the City Council would have taken into account Norwegian laws, political decisions, own municipal unions and own people. The City Council has ignored close to 30 consultation bodies who say no to the development. They have ignored Oslo's municipal plan, green plan and about a dozen municipal and national decisions on the environment, sport, nature and outdoor life. They have mistakenly hidden behind the Vienna Convention. The Convention does not give the embassies of superpowers the right to control urban development in the host country, or to choose their own land at their discretion. It also does not say that a regulation case for an embassy should be treated privately.
No dialogue. A civilized process had based the choice of plot on dialogue, not dictation. The city council has only listened to the harsh demands of the United States. The United States has reserved the right to reject all good proposals. In this way, they have strengthened their negotiating position. The tactic works when the other party accepts it. The city council has done that. In other European cities, local authorities have set requirements – and found balanced solutions. In Bern and Frankfurt, the embassy and consulate are now moving into existing buildings. There was no requirement for open spaces.
Civilized life. The citizenry calls the embassy case a value choice. He is right. In the era of terror, too, we must live civilized lives, as Tony Blair called for after the bombings in London. The alternative is that terror controls our democracy. And since we are civilized here at Huseby, we warmly welcome the United States to the other side of the Huseby forest, to the huge empty building where it was safe enough for the Armed Forces Command. Welcome to Huseby USA, but not in the free area.
Margrethe Geelmuyden, Action Vern Husebyskogen
