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Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn on NPO Radio 1 about the attacks in Norway ten years ago

Jeanine de Roy van Zuijdewijn, researcher and lecturer at ISGA, was a guest on NPO Radio 1 where she discussed the attacks carried out in 2011 by Anders Breivik.

Breivik commits two attacks, after his attack in Oslo he travels to the island of Utoya, where many young people lose their lives due to his second attack. This national tragedy that will permanently change Norway has now been ten years. De Roy van Zuijdewijn remembers well when it happened and she read the news online. There was a lot of confusion at the time about where the attack came from and why it happened in Norway.

For Norway it was unexpected, says Jeanine. It has shocked people that one person can do so much damage. It showed that 'lone actors' are also capable of doing great damage and are therefore a real threat. Breivik himself was not in a far-right network, he set it up and planned it on his own. Drastic lone-actor attacks people already watched happen in the United States and the United Kingdom. Yet the idea prevailed that `we won't experience it this way here,' says de Roy van Zuijdewijn.

Monument

Something that comes with the aftermath of attacks are commemorations and monuments. Here there are several interests to consider, de Roy van Zuijdewijn explains. The question then arises as to who the monument is actually for. Utoya's residents and those living nearby do not want a permanent reminder of the national tragedy that they have to see every day. In contrast, the broader population of Norway thinks it is a nice symbol. In this case, the interest of the broader population is considered more important.

Listen to the full clip of NPO Radio 1 here (in Dutch)

Jeanine is a Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs of Leiden University and a Research Fellow of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism. She has a background in Liberal Arts & Sciences (BA) and International Relations (MA – cum laude).

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