Norway: Trondheim Labour Party demands economic boycott against Israel

This weekend, at a meeting of the Trondheim branch of the Norwegian Labour Party (the main governing party in the country), a motion calling for economic boycott against Israel was passed by 30 votes in favour, 9 against. The motion will be presented at the annual party district conference of Sør-Trøndelag in mid-March. If approved at the party district conference, the motion will be presented at the national party assembly in April.

The Trondheim party branch has also demanded that a public pensions fund (Statens Pensjonsfond Utland) gets rid of its investments in the Israel Electric Company, in line with the Ethical Guidelines of the fund.

The Labour Party has a separate Gaza theme page at its website.

Israel and the Norwegian left

Dagbladet has an interesting article today (in Norwegian), on how the Norwegian leftwing initially held high hopes for Israel, both within the Labour Party and Socialist People's Party (fore-runner of today's SV), based upon an idealistic view on the kibbutzim and pioneer spirit of the young state. When the third-worldist tendencies began to emerge among young radicals, the Socialist People's Party sharply criticized those inside the party who voiced criticism of Israel. Their youth wing (who broke with the party, and became revolutionary Marxists) were rather isolated in the late 1960s/early 1970s in defending the rights of the Palestinians.

The first Palestine solidarity protest took place in 1968, as 12 youths disrupted a meeting with Abba Eban in the parliament. The protestors had trained themselves in shouting their slogans in Hebrew. But support for the legitimate rights for the Palestinians remained a fringe viewpoint in the Norwegian left for another ten years.

But the illusions about Israel crumbled for most leftists in the 1980s, with the images of the Sabra & Shatila massacre and the racist brutalities of the occupying forces during the Intifadah, opening up for a broader solidarity movement.