An Enemy of the People in Oslo

I work as a self-employed consultant and   part-time lumberjack.

I belong to the union men, the lumberjacks, the ones that still have their physical form but also wish to work with their head, the ice skaters that skate over the frozen waters at winter time, the ones that can work them selves half to death and the ascetics but I do not belong to the capitalist.

The fact that I grew up in Hvaler, with a father that was a fisherman,  meant that one either had to join working on sea, or leave the town. And I was not much of a fisherman, so the choice was pretty obvious. I came here to Oslo because this is where you have the opportunities and that’s why I still live here. I remember as I was collecting signatures for petitions, it was very rare to hear the Oslo dialect: You would  hear farmers dialect more often, and maybe this also made me feel at home quite quick.  One of the causes I got involved in was to save the Hammersborg school and the old parts of the city like Fredensborg. During this I got arrested because I helped a girl that was being chased by a policeman on a horse,  with a whip in his  hand. I snatched the whip from him to save the girl and for this they arrested me. It was quite different back in those days with commissioner Willy Haugli and those cowboys in charge of the police force. I don’t know if I am living in Oslo in ten or twenty years, but I know that I will work until the day I cave in. But that might happen at Hvaler.

The quote "the strongest man in the world is the on standing the most alone" - could also be the ideology of an anarchist or an extreme egoist. Political and social decision-making mostly is about seeking solutions by  dialog and compromises . When you deny such considerations, and you disregard other peoples values, you will be dangerous, like for example a suicide-bomber or a terrorist taking hostages is dangerous.  All the others then have to take measures to avoid conflict or damages. However, it could be necessary to break a passive and dirty consensus like the one existing in the compact majority of An Enemy of the People.

A big turningpoint for me has been from growing up in a rather charismatic Christian community, and then turn my back on it and enroll in the communist party AKP-ml. At the time this was a party focusing on the people. But then the left wing of the party took over, and so I was in opposition to the party the whole time I was a part of it. In the end of the 80’s I left it. It was never like I left these things with a lot of drama, but I didn’t go quietly either. I have never been afraid of stating my case. I think it is healthy to have changed environment and opinions.

I bike wherever I go, so naturally I am taking the bike also to the theatre. Down the Ekeberg hills and through the city center towars the Nationaltheatre is an easy trip. But on my way back home uphill I always get very sweaty. The only thing that can keep me from biking to and fro is heavy rain or snowfall.