The Blitz (movement)

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The Blitz (Norwegian: Blitzen) is an anarchist, communist and socialist youth movement in Oslo, Norway. Other Norwegian cities such as Stavanger, Trondheim and Bergen are said to have similar movements, though they are not classified as united groups in the same way as in Oslo. The Blitz have been criticized for their political opinions [1], though they do not pose a threat to law and order due to poor public support.^{[citation needed]}

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 in 1986 and the US foreign minister Caspar Weinberger in 1987.^{[citation needed]} The demonstrations turned into street battles between Blitz sympathisers and the police,^{[citation needed]} often with much injury on both sides and many arrested activists.^{[citation needed]} Another episode occurred in 1986 when Blitz activists stormed the city hall of Oslo during a city council dinner and ate up the politicians' food.^{[citation needed]}

During the 1990s Blitz often obstructed legal meetings of right-wing polical parties such as the Progress Party, the minor Patriotic Party and Demokratene.^{[citation needed]}

There are similar youth movements elsewhere in Scandinavia as well, and to some extent in other European countries.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The house

Blitz is an autonomous house in the centre of Oslo, Norway. It started out as a squatted building in the beginning of the 1980s and has since been a centre of socialist, communist and anarchist activism.

In 1982 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, put the Blitz house on sale. The activists responded with a massive action and, among other things, battered the entrance part of the city hall, and the sale was stopped.

Among the activities of the house are a bookshop with political litterature, the Anti Fascist Action (AFA) network, a group supporting Mumia Abu-Jamal, a feminist group, a Children's Power group, a non-profit printing office, a photo group and a feminist radio sender. Blitz also has a café specialised in vegan food. The practice rooms, sound studio and concert facilities are a centre for ska, hardcore and hip hop music.

[edit] See also

• Ungdomshuset
• Autonomism