Fear and Courage in Oslo
My first visit to Norway gave me an opportunity to hear from the truly fearless among us today.
War and peace. Freedom and tyranny. Fear and courage.
These are topics that brought me to Norway and also topics I grappled with while there.
Norway. My 32nd country. It was so good to finally visit the land of the Vikings. A country full of so much folklore and legend. A place of spectacular beauty.
It’s also the land where there lives two young women, Camilla and Julia.
For me, and others who have frequented the Rock Boat cruises, Camilla and Julia have simply been known to us as “The Norwegians.”
Yes. THE Norwegians.
We would see them annually on the world’s largest floating music cruise that many who know me know how much I love. However, I have not been on The Rock Boat since January 2020 — which means I have not seen THE Norwegians since then.
During my first five nights in Oslo, starting on my arrival day of May 31, I stayed in the guest bedroom of Camilla. As she and I sat down for a home cooked meal at her dinner table, I looked up on the wall and saw the likes of John Mayer and Bob Dylan, among a few other musicians.
When I mentioned to Camilla that I just recently saw John Mayer live in concert for the first time in September, she told me that not only has she and Julia seen John Mayer in concert many times going back about two decades, but that in fact John Mayer is what brought them together.
Camilla and Julia first met each other while working together — at TGI Friday’s — in Oslo. One day, Camila put on some John Mayer over the speaker system and she and Julia bonded over the music. That led them to traveling for music festivals including The Rock Boat, where myself and many other Americans met them.
In 2016-2017, they also took time away from their full-time careers to travel across the United States and many places in Latin America — for nearly a year! In fact, they made it to Guatemala well before I ever did and we share a mutual love of that country.
During their time in the States, they spent a lot of time in Florida, where we hung out on a few occasions. While reminiscing about her travel experiences in the Americas, Camilla remarked to me that it was one of the most educational experiences of her lifetime and that she has even listed the travel experiences on her resume.
Like Camilla and those who might read her resume, I believe so much that travel is a key formative experience that indeed it should be listed on one’s resume!
So many of us Rock Boaters always told Camilla and Julia we would visit them one day. While they once hosted one of my favorite bands, Melodime, in Norway, there are probably only a handful of other Rock Boaters who have made it to Norway to visit Camilla and Julia. And now I join this elite club.
Over the past months and years, as my own travel experiences have picked up considerably —especially since launching Fearless Journeys — I have become more and more interested in visiting Norway.
Earlier this year, I made a commitment to finally do so. But before I settled on the dates I would visit this fabled land, I asked one question: “When does the next Oslo Freedom take place?” That’s when I learned it would be June 3-5, 2024.
I messaged my Norwegian friends Camilla and Julia and informed them of this idea to visit them in Oslo in conjunction with these dates. They told me these dates were perfect and that I should plan to arrive no later than May 31 so that I could also enjoy a full day of Norway’s National Day of Music, which takes place annually on June 1.
Before I dive deeper here, I should pause and tell you something about the Oslo Freedom Forum, especially if you are not familiar.
The Oslo Freedom Forum has become an annual event that gives voice to those who are not only discriminated against, but who are repressed, oppressed, and even killed for the very act of trying to live a free and humane life. It was founded 16 years ago by my friend Thor Halvorssen.
Thor and I first met about 20 years ago now, when he was leading the group FIRE to help protect freedom of speech on college campuses. Thor hails from Venezuela and has family with Norwegian heritage.
In my run up to visit Norway, I was also reminded that there is perhaps a good reason that Thor picked Oslo for the site of this international event.
Oslo has a history of being a place where peace and freedom are sought. It’s a place where leaders have come together. It’s also the location that Alfred Nobel, a Swede, decided to dedicate to forming a committee that would award the annual prizes in peace, literature, economics, and physics / medicine.
During my visit to Oslo, I thought it was important to visit the Nobel Peace Center, which is dedicated to telling that story and the story of the peace prize, its history, and impact.
At the Nobel Peace Center, there is also a section to learn about all the peace prize recipients as well as a special exhibit dedicated to the most recent (2023) peace prize recipient, Narges Mohammadi, of Iran. .
Woman. Life. Freedom. Those words are courageous to say in Iran. And they seemed to be even more important to me after hearing directly from some freedom activists from Iran who spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum and are living testimonials to the price of freedom
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Perhaps the most impactful thing I witnessed at the Oslo Freedom Forum were those three young Iranians — ages 26, 22, and 18 — two of them each lost an eye during a protest for basic women’s rights. Another lost her arm. Yet they are still here, standing, and chanting: “Women. Life. Freedom.” Those are the same words I would later read at the Nobel Peace Center.
Yet, it was here, at the Oslo Freedom Forum, where I was just blown away by the crazy amount of freedom fighters I had the privilege to hear from on stage — people representing Iran, Venezuela, Iraq, Nicaragua, Cambodia, Kashmir, Uganda, Ukraine, China, Lebanon, Russia, Gaza, and so many more places.
In the U.S., all the conferences I go to about freedom involve anything from tax policy, reckless government spending, foreign policy, and run-ins with free speech violations. But at the Oslo Freedom Forum, you meet and hear from people who are literally risking life and limb to stand up for freedom on a whole ‘nother level.
Talk about fearless!
While I believe myself to be a very well educated person, there were many things I learned that shocked me when I attended my first ever Oslo Freedom Forum earlier this month. And it’s why learning is a lifelong adventure.
A few examples:
Did you know women have not been allowed to sing in Iran since 1979? That’s one reason they invited an Iranian woman singer to the forum— she sang opera.
Did you know many European soccer clubs are ways for tyrants to buy their way into being accepted by and make money from Western society? Many have large ownership stakes in these football clubs.
Did you know a hip hop artist in Iran is imprisoned and has recently been sentenced to death for lyrics the regime feels threatened by? These lyrics wouldn’t even outrage American parents of the 1980s.
Did you know India is persecuting Muslims and that it is also a top 5 country where mass killings take place?
Did you know journalists have been expelled from Nicaragua? One came and spoke at the Oslo Freedom Forum.
Unfortunately, this list goes on and on and on…
The Oslo Freedom Forum gives voice to these brave individuals who come here and tell their story — the very existence of this event and the platform it represents is a threat to oppressors everywhere. But as one conference speaker said from the stage: “Until everyone on this planet is free, no one truly is.”
That seems to be what Thor and his team are fighting for and what they are making possible.
As someone who traverses the world regularly, I’m so glad I finally attended this event. Until everyone on this planet is free, no one truly is. That’s a high ideal. However, there may no better place on this planet to hold this forum than Norway, a country and culture that consistently promotes freedom and human rights. I’ll write about this aspect of Norway more in a future post.
But for now, I hope this little bit of information I brought you today reminds us to be grateful for what we have.
No matter what you are going through today, if you think you’ve got problems or challenges, forget about ‘em. Be grateful you don’t have to face anything like some of the people who told their story at the Oslo Freedom Forum have to face on a daily basis.
Are you tired? Of what? These people are truly exhausted. They wake up every day with different struggles than the average person wakes up in the world today. And, apparently, Norway does too. I hope that makes you realize tired is a choice and makes you feel more alive with the energy you have right now.
Stay tuned… there is more to bring you from my time in Oslo…