Cindy Sheehan receives prize, Norw. official in fear of holding speech

[mogster]

Source: VG (NO)

Congratulation speech to peace activist stopped


The Norw. foreign department did not appreciate that the Minister for Regional affairs, Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa (Sp), should praise an American peace activist, who today receives the Erik Bye Commemorate prize. Now Kleppa has given in to the pressure.

The foreign department feared that such a speech from a member of the Norw. government could be taken ill up in Washington, and sour the replationship with the US. This was the reason that Kleppa before the weekend decided to drop the planned speech.

According to information the VG has, the advise from the FD was not to be misunderstood: It would be best for the minister to not make the speech.

The award winner Cindy Sheehan was known around the world when she established a tent camp outside the farm of the US president George W. Bush to protest the Iraqi war, after her son Casey was killed in Baghdad in 2004.

Before Erik Bye's widow, Tove Bye, died in May, she expressed a strong personal hope that Sheehan would receive the prize. So today Sheehan comes to the opening of the Protest festival in Kristiansand to receive the Erik Bye's Commemorable prize.

(Sorry the article only exists in Norw. language. I'll post updates if I find a translated version.)

Read more: http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/krigen-mot-terror/artikkel.php?artid=525783

---

About Erik Bye:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Bye
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article890961.ece



He was totally against the war in Iraq, and before he died in 2004 he compared the current doctrine to nazism, which he fought during the WWII.

The prize is awarded Sheehan at the Norwegian Protest festival, an alternative festival for activism and counterculture:
http://www.protest.no/articlelist.aspx?m=5&amid=43

[grannie4peace]

1. is there a way to translate it into english?

i'm of norwegian descent and would like to translate some of this site :):):)

[mogster]

2. You mean, the Protest festival site?

It has English as a language choice, just me that didn't find it in the rush to post this news piece, sorry ;-)

http://www.protest.no/articlelist.aspx?m=94&amid=1145

[grannie4peace]

5. thank you so much!!!!!

[trthnd4jstc]

3. Liberty and Justice for All: Eric Bye Award for Cindy Sheehan. YAY! n/t

[mogster]

4. The statutes for Erik Bye’s Memorial Prize are:

http://www.protest.no/190_LRGWdvYbUKo.img

Erik Bye’s Memorial Prize shall be awarded annually during the opening programme of the Protest Festival. As an exception the award may be made in another connection.

Erik Bye’s Memorial Prize shall be awarded to a person who for some time has shown a fearless, enthusiastic commitment to influencing the development of society in a positive direction on the local, national or international level.

The person nominated shall have shown the courage to go against the current and the fashionable viewpoints, and to fight unwaveringly for justice, peace and human decency.

Erik Bye’s Memorial Prize is a statue in bronze, sculpted by Arne Vinje Gunnerud.

Those who receive the award will be included in the Protest Festival’s future centre for commitment, The Hall of Vision, where the deeds of committed individuals are presented through multimedia, in sound, pictures, film and texts.

http://www.protest.no/articlelist.aspx?m=53&amid=132

[lynnertic]

6. Norwegians kicked Nazi butt!!

I'm not as up on my Norwegian resistance stories as I should be. But they're exciting because they were guerrilla efforts vs an invasion. Very Red Dawn.

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

7. Seeing peace as

a topic that would anger us, our country, in the name of Bush is just an indication to us that peace is not the victory we hear about coming in Iraq.

Not only has the administration defiled our Constitution and our rights, they have successfully intimidated Europe and the world.

Unless this is just about the relationship the administration has with a citizen of the US, whose own son lost his life in the war they created. Which is it?



The foreign department feared that such a speech from a member of the Norw. government could be taken ill up in Washington, and sour the relationship with the US.

[gratuitous]

8. Letting a peace activist speak risks violence

Is there anything violence can't accomplish? I'm so glad I live in a country where the national religion is the High Church of Redemptive Violence.

[JEB]

10. Isn't that the Church of

Preemptive Violence?

[midnight]

9. Did not know that there was such a dynamic award out there for

such a dynamic women.

[mogster]

15. It's been awarded only since 2005

Among the previous winners are the Norw. independent journo Erling Borgen, Cindy Sheehan is the first awardee that is not Norwegian.

[Hydra]

11. Everyone is afraid to speak

What a glorious, freedom loving world we live in.

I think I'll just shut up, now. Too few care and too much risk.

[marzipanni]

12. Thanks for this news from Norway, Mogster

Cindy used to live near my town in California. We salute her, and hope that she was honored at the festival today even if Minister Kleppa didn't speak.
Eric and Tove Bye sound like wonderful people, Norway must miss them.

[mogster]

13. Thank you, marzipanni

I didn't know it before that I was gonna, but now I do miss them ;-)

[mogster]

14. About Erik Bye:

You already know Cindy Sheehan, but here's some more about the man behind the prize:

The later years, Erik Bye was mostly known for his songwriting, but earlier, he was known for his friendship with Americans, and especially native Americans. He didn't like the Bushies much.



From an interview in 2002:

"-I'm struggling to keep my belief in humanity", says Erik Bye and lights a Prince Mild. "-How long is it before this interview is printed, by the way?"

DB: In some weeks.

BYE: "-Is that true? Some weeks? Then there may have broken out a war with Iraq in the meantime. You know that, don't you?"

DB: Yes, I do.

BYE: "-Maybe our species will have disappeared before this interview is printed. Today we have idiots all over the place. «We must fight terror», says Bondevik." (Norw. PM) "He talks about terrorism as if it was a geographical place. But this is a network of humans! The fight against terrorism is shadow boxing. The more action we take, the larger the recruitment."
(...)

DB: Do you think about how it is to die?

BYE: "-I know I'm gonna die and that it's getting close. And I'm selfish enough to wish it to happen in the most painless way possible. But when I think about the word «death», I mostly think about all the innocent lives being lost in the world. In these days, one is launching rockets from 30.000 feet over Afghanistan because one believes bin Laden is in a village, but it's not certain that he's in that specific village. It can be a wedding going on instead. And then the rockets kills all the wedding guests, while bin Laden walks free. And what do we do? Well, we say «I'm sorry, we missed, better luck next time». This is what I think about when I hear the word «death»."

DB: Are you a religious man?

BYE: "-Yes, but it depends entirely on how you interpret the word «religious». I have a Christian upbringing, but I don't know if I'll call myself a Christian. What's Christianity today anyway? We even have Christian political parties. I can hardly believe it. Politics and religion does not mix well."

DB: Do you believe in a God?

BYE "-Now stop it, this sounds like one of those religious programs on NRK. If I have a God? It's almost too big to talk about. God or no God, I can see the blessings in the things around me. And I appreciate Jesus. He was a revolutionary. Despite his mildness, he was a dangerous man. What I don't like is that we are throwing bombs in his name. I can't tolerate that."
(...)
BYE: "-But now we must stop talking about me and my life. We must talk about what's important. Politics. We're at war, dammit!"

DB: You've already mentioned that.

Bye: "-Yes, and I can't get rid of the thoughs. Too seldom journalism are mentioning the important things. Often just small notes, small columns or just small talk where you mix the important things with entertainment. That's the bad omen of our times. Mixing entertainment and news. It's a danger to democracy."

DB: Now you're exaggregating.

BYE: "-No, I'm not. The people are put on the sideline because the media doesn't inform them well enough about important things. People doesn't know what goes on in politics, they can't understand the consequences of an eventual war in Iraq, they don't discuss the new NATO strategies, there is just no debate created. News and entertainment are mixed. It's dangerous."

Translated by me from this 2002 DB interview

One of his song lyrics.

Our Lord's Marble

I dreamt that our Lord was a little boy,
With his shirt torn, and bruises on both legs.
I saw him play marbles with our planet,
Jollily bouncing off the walls of the universe.

He played marbles, He was happy, and it was summer,
And the sun lit lightning in coloured glass.
And a thousand planets rustled in His pockets,
For in our Lord's pockets there is room.

And the planets would dance, hover, roll,
For the joy of His heart and His eyes,
But then He was distracted and forgot the game:
A butterfly touched its wing against His brow.

Oh, what a day to catch butterflies:
The most beautiful of all He ever created.
On the field lay the marbles of our Lord,
And felt alone and lost.

It was our own Earth that had gone missing,
And the field was there, damp and cold as night,
And God went home and shuddered in His shirt,
But I don't remember if He cried.

And we who are born of the little Earth,
Who believe that nothing counts without it,
We must dream that He will keep looking tomorrow,
And hope that He will find us again.

Translated to English from this Norw. song contest prog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TigyI_7VEmw

His most famous tune, it's not him singing here, tough.

[az chela]

16. Cindy just sent this to me.I am so proud of my

adopted daughter.She stands for everything good and right on this planet.
To you my beloved Cindy all the love in the world
Mama
Judy

[fascisthunter]

17. One Person.... she Amazes Me and Gives Me Hope and Strength

[MadMaddie]

18. Sounds like there was pressure from the WH to not allow her

to speak.

This is pretty obvious!

[Hekate]

19. Thank you for this news, Mogster. I met Cindy at the Arlington West memorial in Santa Barbara...

... where she has visited several times since Casey died. She is remarkable.
http://www.vfpsb.org/cms/

Hekate