Wake up people...

...and not only because of the chocolate :)

Mother thou who art on Earth

With the cooperation of politicians and grassroots organizations, Bolivia is set to pass the Law of Mother Earth which will grant nature the same rights and protections as humans. 

Being one of South America's poorest countries, Bolivia has long had to contend with the consequences of destructive industrial practices and climate change, but despite the best efforts of president  Evo Morales and members of his administration, their concerns have largely been ignored at the UN.

The law redefines natural resources as blessings and confers the same rights to nature as to human beings, including:

• the right to life and to exist;
• the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration;
• the right to pure water and clean air;
• the right to balance;
• the right not to be polluted;
• the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered;
• the right to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities.

This is what we all should do.

Land of Giants

Creds på DeviantArt.

...until lambs become lions

Mange butikker i Tromsø stengte dørene sine klokka 1700 i dag slik at de som ville det kunne delta på minnemarkeringa etter massakren i Oslo og på Utøya. Jeg var veldig glad for å få delta i fakkeltoget, det var terapautisk på en måte. Jeg tror nok at mellom 4 og 5 tusen mennesker hadde møtt opp på Stortorget.

Noen av ungdommene fra Troms AUF som deltok på sommerleiren er kommet hjem, noen mangler enda.

Jeg vet ikke hva mer jeg skal si...støtten som kommer mot det lille landet vårt fra alle hold, både innenfra og utenfra, er helt overveldende. 

I am humbled.

Rise and rise again...

Bush, 9/11: “We’re gonna hunt you down”

Stoltenberg, 7/22: “We will retaliate with more democracy­”

(Quote Living Doll,  Big Red Heart Paul Tokarski)

Wrong Way

Our government building was bombed yesterday as something which could be perceived as a distraction from the massacre put into action on Utøya a little later the same day, where the mass of the Norwegian labor party's up and coming youth was gathered for their annual summer camp. Up until now 7 people are dead in the blast in the capital, and 84 kids are reported dead on Utøya, either shot or drowned as they tried to escape the mad man who, dressed as a police officer, went amok with firearms among them.

This person, an ethnic Norwegian man of 32, seem to have taken it upon himself to make a statement about what one man can do, and done it he has. From what one can understand he's a nationalist fundamentalist with the belief that Norway is for Norwegians only, and the desire that all others should be banished from our shores. To make this happen he has hit the labour party, who works for ALL citizens, at it's softest core, and thus hit home with most counties in the country.

What he, in his small mind, cannot understand is that his perception of his countrymen is fundamentally wrong. He does not see that we're not of the same mind. He does not understand what this cowardly pointless act does to us as a nation. And he does not perceive that changing a society does not start with mass murder.

So many right wing extremist groups believe that our viking inheritance is the origins of their opinions, and have wrongly claimed the symbols of that inheritance as theirs.  

They have no right to any of it!

 We were warriors and merchants. We accepted other peoples beliefs and faith alongside our own. We may have been feared and loathed for our plunderings, but we discriminated no one in neither war nor trade. Likewise we will not discriminate any attacker, whether he comes from without or within our borders. In our time we don't go to war, but our diplomatic skills are legend. We are peaceful people. But we are still Vikings.

We will not be silenced.

We will not be bullied.

We will not run and hide.

 Lock shields!