By a commentator for Tjen Folket Media.
Tjen Folket Media has received a tip about a new Maoist website:
A trusted source has confirmed that the website will publish authentic statements from Norwegian communists and revolutionaries, but that it will not be a news site. Tjen Folket Media can vouch for the trustworthiness of the site, based on our sources.
The following excerpt is from «About us»:
We will serve the people and the struggle for the reconstruction and reconstitution of the Communist Party of Norway as a militarized Maoist Party with our whole hearts. […] A communist must dedicate themselves to serving the people and the proletarian revolution, foster love for and respect for the people, have trust in the people, support the people, and learn from the people.
As of writing, the site has published a long statement – About an identity opportunist attack – signed by ‘Tjen Folket – Communist League, Norway, May 2019‘, and a collective statement on the EU election boycott that TFM has also published earlier.
About an identity opportunist attack
In the statement about an identity opportunist attack, the league writes about a harassment campaign on the internet against the league, after a report about sexual assault was investigated and rejected in 2017. They write:
The communist league Tjen Folket did thorough investigations and a wide consideration of the case. The leadership concluded that there is an overweighing probability that the accusation was wrong and that the accused activist was and is innocent, and that the accuser is the abuser.
It has also come to our attention that this campaign continues today in some fora on social media. And that it is a campaign that includes threats of violence and death, as well as violent fantasies. They write further:
…the consequences of the attack could in a short term have become fatal, and still can. It is something that must be taken seriously in the consideration of the case and the need for publicizing an answer to the attack.
The statement also addresses the problem of identity opportunism:
We can define identity opportunism as use and making a weapon out of an identity in an opportunist way. To get through demands that are not based on being correct, but based on who demands it – or who they are demanded on behalf of.
Furthermore, the statement also addresses the problem of many radical people using social media in a reckless and potentially dangerous manner, and in a way that enables both surveillance and sabotage. It points out the connection between postmodern ideology and infiltration and gossip in social media.
The league writes:
All of this springs out of a marginal identity opportunist tendency, with a certain footing in social media in the west. This is a tendency that also gets fuel from forces that work in disguise to hurt radical groups. For example countless anonymous Internet trolls, that could just as well be nazis or pure saboteurs as anything else. Social media is full of anonymous profiles that stretch far to create confusion among revolutionaries.Which are honest revolutionary youth, and which are something completely different, is hard to know for sure. But we know more and more serious revolutionary groups and activists, use less and less time and effort on social media, and that a lot deactivate accounts and abstain from the poisonous “debate climate” in such forums. We see this as a positive and necessary development. Facebook, Tumbler, Reddit, Twitter and a long row of other forums have many very unlucky and directly harmful characteristics. All revolutionaries should treat these with great carefulness. And one of the dangerous sides is how this is playground and hatchery for intrigues and Internet-based harassment campaigns.
The statement concludes with the following:
In conclusion, we wish to underline to comrades and the masses that our league struggles for all victims of assault. In particular, women, who are oppressed today by patriarchal structures that are woven together with capitalism. We will fiercely combat sexual harassment and sexual assault everywhere we can.
Otherwise, we see the statement on the EU election and the slogan «Elections, no! Revolution, yes!» in the context of this autumn’s municipal and county elections in Norway and an upcoming revolutionary boycott campaign.
Tjen Folket Media strongly urges people not to discuss personal details on social media. In general, we strongly encourage people to be very cautious when one is on the internet, and to not be tricked into engaging in debates around how communists organize themselves. If one has questions or other inquiries, they are encouraged to contact us.
Kjære leser!
Tjen Folket Media trenger din støtte. Vi får selvsagt ingen pressestøtte eller noen hjelp fra rike kapitalister slik som rasistiske “alternative medier”. All vår støtte kommer fra våre lesere og fra den revolusjonære bevegelsen. Vi er dypt takknemlige for dette. Vi overlever ikke uten, og du kan gjøre ditt bidrag ved å støtte oss med det du kan avse.