The terrible Norwegian massacre, may appear as a terrible incident, isolated act of a mentally ill person, with no more importance than Unabomber, the American killer that inspired him. It can, however, be interpreted as the announcement of a vast geopolitical movement expected for a long time and anticipated by many theorists.
Some, in fact, logically (poorly understood) with the early work of Samuel Huntington, see there the sign of the beginning of a religious war, between Christianity and Islam. And it is true that very many other signs of religious fundamentalist violence exist around the world: in the USA, France, Brazil, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, and in many other places.
Others still, inspired by the next works of the same American professor, see in this tragedy one more sign of the return of nationalisms and of what follows: the refusal of foreigners and the so-called « internationalists » doctrines, which the European project and social democracy are a part of. And of this there are indeed now countless signs: in Scandinavia, «the party of true Finns»; in Belgium, «the Flemish party»; in France, «the Front National»; the Tea Party in the United States, and many other nationalist movements, on the whole planet.
In fact, none of this gives the true measure of what really happened in Norway: this tragedy is in fact a cruel metaphor of the dominant value of today’s world: the desire for everyone to keep for himself what defines him.
In the West, many people are worried indeed about the risk of seeing their identity and standard of living threatened, and they have no projects other than enjoying their comfort and retaining their habits; and in order to preserve them, not to share them with anyone. In the South, as in a mirror effect, many other people are also worried about seeing their identity dissolved in the Western project, and do everything to protect themselves by staying isolated.
However, in both North and South, few will be content on the short term with the preservation of their assets as project: they know they are threatened by the financial crisis, which has only just begun, by the resulting downgrading, by the flood of competitors and values coming from elsewhere, or by the destruction of nature. They will want a higher ideal.
Some will find this new ideal in the basic extension of their selfishness, which they push, and will push more and more, until excess, violence, and hatred of others. A new form of totalitarian ideology will then form, claiming autism as a policy. For others, this ideal will be on the contrary in the negation of selfishness, and in the development of altruism, which will allow them to seek their happiness in that of others. This new form of ideology will express itself in an internationalist optimism, eager to learn by sharing.
This is the lesson of the Norwegian tragedy: a country cannot last permanently without a political project, giving it some meaning exceeding its material reality, inscribing it in History. And if politicians are unable to propose one, one that is exalting, then madmen will.