“Norwegians are still in a state of shock,” says professor Odd Einar Olsen. “These incidents were so extensive and gruesome that people need time to come to terms with them.”
He is very interested to see what content Norway will give to promises made about more openness and democracy after the car-bombing in Oslo and the massacre at Utøya north of the capital.
“While people have united in sorrow, a crippling consensus has emerged that certain subjects can’t be discussed. That’s a sinister development which could undermine necessary criticism.”
To illustrate his case, Prof Olsen points to the debate on the data storage directive, a security measure adopted earlier in Norway this year. Read more >
