Blitz (movement)
Encyclopedia
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
, communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
youth community in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, founded in 1982. The group has often been criticized for their use of violent methods of political protest.
The house
The Blitz House is an autonomousAutonomism
Autonomism refers to a set of left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. As an identifiable theoretical system it first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerist communism...
house in the centre of Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. It started out as a squatted
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
building in Skippergata 6 in downtown Oslo in the 1981 and has since been a centre of socialist, communist and anarchist activism.
In 1982 the movement were kicked out of Skippergata and moved in to Pilestredet 30c
Pilestredet
Pilestredet is a street in Oslo, Norway which begins in the city center and runs through the boroughs of St. Hanshaugen and Frogner.The street was originally called Rakkerstrædet in reference to the city dump being located along the road at today's Pilestredet Park. It was renamed in 1820 to...
, where an agreement was made between the city and the squatters. They were allowed to rent the house for a symbolic rent, and in return they would maintain the building. In 2002 the city council, then led by the Conservative Party
Conservative Party of Norway
The Conservative Party is a Norwegian political party. The current leader is Erna Solberg. The party was since the 1920s consistently the second largest party in Norway, but has been surpassed by the growth of the Progress Party in the late 1990s and 2000s...
, put the Blitz house on sale. The activists responded with a massive action and, among other things, battered the entrance part of the Oslo City Hall
Oslo City Hall
Oslo City Hall houses the city council, city administration, and art studios and galleries. The construction started in 1931, but was paused by the outbreak of World War II, before the official inauguration in 1950. Its characteristic architecture, artworks and the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, held...
, and the sale was stopped.
Among the activities of the house are a bookshop with political literature, the Anti Fascist Action (AFA) network, a group supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
, a feminist group, a children's power group, a non-profit printing office, a photo group and a feminist radio station, radiOrakel
RadiOrakel
RadiOrakel is widely believed to be the world's first woman run radio station. radiOrakel in Oslo, Norway, was started in 1982, when Norwegian authorities decided to allow local radio stations to operate. Money was then collected at a women’s cultural festival to start up the world’s first...
. Blitz also has a café specialising in vegan food
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
. The practice rooms, sound studio and concert facilities are a centre for ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
. Concerts are held within the house from time to time.
During the 1980s the people around Blitz were involved in many violent demonstrations, e.g. during the visits of the British prime minister Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in 1986 and US Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Weinberger
Caspar Willard "Cap" Weinberger , was an American politician, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Corporation, and Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan from January 21, 1981, until November 23, 1987, making him the third longest-serving defense secretary to date, after...
in 1987. The demonstrations turned into street battles between Blitz sympathisers and the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
. From the 1990s Blitz has often obstructed legal meetings of right-wing political parties such as the Progress Party
Progress Party (Norway)
The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as conservative liberal and libertarian. The media has described it as conservative and right-wing populist...
, the minor Fatherland Party
Fatherland Party (Norway)
The Fatherland Party was a political party in Norway, which was founded by former local Progress Party politician Harald Trefall in 1990. Primarily based in Western Norway, the party supported nationalist positions such as opposition to immigration and the European Union...
and the Democrats
Demokratene
The Democrats in Norway , formerly and commonly known as the Democrats, is a Norwegian political party. The party was formed in 2002, chiefly by former Progress Party members. It is led by Vidar Kleppe, a former Deputy Leader and Member of Parliament for the Progress Party...
.