A-Infos (en) Sweden, The death of Harald Beyer-Arnesen

It is with great sadness that we learnt of the death last week of Harald Beyer-Arnesen.
News of his death was circulated by Jonas Bals, who sent the following report.
“Last night we were told that Harald has passed away, probably
due to a heart condition. Needless to say, we are all saddened by
this sudden loss of a good friend and comrade. For many years
now, Harald has contributed in significant ways to a variety of
anarchist activities in Oslo, and been a torn in the eye of quite a few
bosses. Largely due to blacklisting in the health sector where
Harald worked the last years as a waged wage slave, he had some
time left over for discussions and debates, in cyberspace and
elsewhere. Most of you will probably only know him from this
forum, where he surely has had his rows – just like we had ours
with him in flesh and blood. Most of those discussions would have
been drabber, duller and less educative had he not taken part. From
now on we will have to do without him. He will be missed.”

Harold described himself as an 'anarco-syndicalist and anarchist
communist ...inspired by social revolutionaries from Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan and India, and the reading of too many books during
the last decades about the past and contemporary history of this
troubled part of the world.”

He edited the Norwegian journal Lonnslaven which means wage
slave. Here you can find an interview with him published by the
Anarcho Syndicalist Review, in which he speaks of labour
struggles, syndicalism and anarchism
[http://www.syndicalist.org/archives/llr14-24/14e.shtml]

In Capitalist Terror and Madness; George bin Laden & Osama son
of Bush incorporated
[http://struggle.ws/issues/war/afghan/pamwt/terror.html]
he wrote;

“A last word about terror. In a play of words: Out of the ruins of
anarchy, anarchy cannot arise, only the rule of the Market and the
State in their most brutalised, authoritarian manifestations. In its
proper sense, anarchy of course does not signify disorder and the
struggle of each against all, however common such a belief may be,
but the overcoming of the Rule of the Siamese Twins of Market and
State through the human creation of a global classless society,
where people in cooperation rule over their own lives and destinies,
and the freedom of all becomes the condition of the freedom of
each, as the freedom of each is the condition for the freedom of
all.”

His article 'Direct Action: Towards the understanding of an
concept' [www.zabalaza.net/pdfs/varpams/direct_action_hba.pdf ]
is a valuable contribution to the debate on what strategies and
tactics we should use in our quest for an anarchist society.

Many in the anarchist movement knew him only through the
Internet, and in the noisy cacophony of Internet chatter, his mails
were always the ones that you stopped to read. They were notable
for their courtesy, clarity and depth of thought. I only met Harold
once in the 'real world' (and it is always interesting putting a face to
an Internet persona) when he stayed with us while visiting Ireland. I
remember his superbly dry sense of humour and that after visiting a
local bookshop, he left with a stack of books on the war in
Yugoslavia. I joked that it was pretty serious summer reading but
they no doubt explained the breadth of knowledge which was
obvious from his email contributions.

Below are some of the comments of those who knew him, in
person or through the Internet debates he contributed to.

John Holloway:
I too am extremely sorry to hear of Harald's death. His
contributions were always among the brightest lights of the
aut-op-sy list. I have been missing him since he withdrew from the
list a few months ago.

Jon Beasley-Murray:
Harald was a long-time, prolific, and thoughtful contributor to these
discussions.

Lars Akerhaug, Oslo:
Harald Beyer-Arnesen was one of the prominent members of the
now defunct, or at least invisible, "Folkemakt" (people's power) that
still is mentioned in Nico's Norway page. I think the group grew out
of the late 80s politicizing of the Norwegian squatters' (danish
comrades will know the term bz'ere) movement. At that time the
movement shifted into a sharp antifascist platform, with mobilizing
against neo-nazis, apartheid and police brutality.

Some of those aligned with Folkemakt was and are still among the
sharpest intellectuals of this movement, and at the same time street
militants. Although I mostly saw Beyer-Arntsen as a theorist more
than activist, I know that for many of these young activists he was
very important.

Maybe needless to say, I have many disagreements towards the
tendency that Beyer-Arntsen represented. However, I believe the
descriptions given above gives him justice.

Nate Holdren:
I was saddened to hear the news of Harald's passing. I knew him
only via email, but I found him to be always a comradely
discussant, willing to both be patient with confused conversation
partners and to be honest with those he felt to be wrong-headed.
Harald had intelligent, well-informed ideas grounded in concrete
realities and I know I am not alone in saying that I benefited greatly
from our
conversations, intellectually and politically, as well as having a
strong sense of comraderie. I particularly appreciated his views on
workplace activity, which impacted my own (anarcho)syndicalism.
Harald will be missed.

Dave Graham:
I only knew Harald in cyber space . . . he made me really think -
hopefully his contributions to this list will be in the archive. ... - we
might do well to revisit some of Harald's contributions if only for
his unfailing courtesy and obvious honesty.

I will definitely miss him.

Tahir Woods:
I remember Harald with great fondness; he was a person who had
obvious integrity and intellectual depth. I'm very sorry to hear this.
ge, the Howard government convinced the Somare government
that it would be in their best interests to allow Australian Federal
police to work side by side with PNG police. They also convinced the
PNG government that it would be in their best interests to let senior Australian
bureaucrats take control of PNG's public service. The Australian
government mistakenly believed that the $1.1 billion aid package would smooth
over any concerns PNG's had about their autonomy.

Australia underestimated the degree of local resentment at the bullying
tactics used by the Howard government to strike a deal. Concerned about
the erosion of local sovereignty and concerned about Australia's
attempts to manipulate what was happening in PNG to suit Australia's
interests and protect the significant Australian investments in the region,
locals were incensed that their government agreed to provide criminal and
civil immunity to those Australians that were sent to PNG to satisfy the
Howard government's neo-colonial ambitions in the South Pacific.
<p>More radical elements within PNG refused to accept the presence of Australian
Federal police and bureaucrats, and took the matter to the PNG Supreme
Court. The Court has just ruled that the immunities granted to Australian
personnel in PNG that protected them from civic and criminal prosecution
while working in PNG was unconstitutional, they also ruled that measures
that allowed Australian police in PNG to be armed was illegal. The Howard
government's cynically named 'Enhanced Co-operation
Program' lies in tatters. The withdrawal of Australian Federal
police and Australian bureaucrats who have been placed in pivotal
administrative positions is welcomed by most people living in PNG. Rascals,
police, the military, bureaucrats and those businesses that cater for local
people are very happy to see the end of Australia's ham-fisted unwelcome
intervention in their affairs.

ANARCHIST QUESTION AND ANSWER

Q. WHAT ROLE DOES GOODWILL PLAY IN AN
ANARCHIST SOCIETY?
A. Goodwill plays an important role in any society. Its role in
an anarchist community is linked was one of the prominent members
of the now defunct, or at least invisible, "Folkemakt" (people's
power) that still is mentioned in Nico's Norway page. I think the
group grew out of the late 80s politicizing of the Norwegian
squatters' (danish
comrades will know the term bz'ere) movement. At that time the
movement shifted into a sharp antifascist platform, with mobilizing
against neo-nazis, apartheid and police brutality.

Some of those aligned with Folkemakt was and are still among the
sharpest intellectuals of this movement, and at the same time street
militants. Although I mostly saw Beyer-Arntsen as a theorist more
than activist, I know that for many of these young activists he was
very important.

Maybe needless to say, I have many disagreements towards the
tendency that Beyer-Arntsen represented. However, I believe the
descriptions given above gives him justice.

Nate Holdren:
I was saddened to hear the news of Harald's passing. I knew him
only via email, but I found him to be always a comradely
discussant, willing to both be patient with confused conversation
partners and to be honest with those he felt to be wrong-headed.
Harald had intelligent, well-informed ideas grounded in concrete
realities and I know I am not alone in saying that I benefited greatly
from our conversations, intellectually and politically, as well as having a
strong sense of comraderie. I particularly appreciated his views on
workplace activity, which impacted my own (anarcho)syndicalism.
Harald will be missed.

Dave Graham:
I only knew Harald in cyber space . . . he made me really think -
hopefully his contributions to this list will be in the archive. ... - we
might do well to revisit some of Harald's contributions if only for
his unfailing courtesy and obvious honesty.

I will definitely miss him.

Tahir Woods:
I remember Harald with great fondness; he was a person who had
obvious integrity and intellectual depth. I'm very sorry to hear this.
----------------
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