Norwegians to protest Breivik, singing song he hates
PETE SEEGER’S MUSIC TO BE FEATURED AT OSLO HATE TRIAL
Thousands of Norwegians will take to the streets of Oslo on Thursday to sing a children’s song calling for peace and fraternity, in a protest against mass killer Anders Behring Breivik who has called it Marxist brainwashing. They plan to sing arm-in-arm a few blocks from the courthouse where Breivik is on trial for the killings of 77 people in a gun and bomb rampage last year. “I grew up with this song and have sung it to my child,” said Lill Hjoennevaag, one of the organizers of the demonstration. “Everybody I know feels strongly about this song and we need to take it back,” she told public broadcaster NRK. Lillebjoern Nilsen’s “Children of the Rainbow”, a Norwegian rendition of American folk singer Pete Seeger’s 1971 “My Rainbow Race”, is a popular song in Norway. “Breivik has used it as an example of brainwashing, but it is rather an example of the opposite,” said Christine Bar, another organizer, who launched the event on Facebook. (Junge, Heiko/NTB scanpix)