Fifteen Years Later

In 2026, it will be 15 years since the terrorist attacks on the government quarter and at Utøya that killed 77 people and marked hundreds of lives forever. How do we – as a society, as the public, as individuals – relate to an event that is simultaneously history and deeply alive in Norwegian lives and institutions?

Gaute Børstad Skjervø, who survived the attack on Utøya and is now leader of the AUF, the Workers’ Youth League, has spent the years since working with political engagement, generational experience and memory culture. Journalist and author Marte Michelet, who was directly affected by the terrorists’ plans and was on Utøya in the days leading up to the attack, has explored extremism, racism, and society’s vulnerability in her work.

In this conversation, they meet to discuss where we stand 15 years after 22 July 2011: What have we understood – and what remains? How does terrorism continue to influence political work, public debate and young people’s political engagement? And what kind of language do we need in order to talk about a national trauma that continues to shape our present?

The conversation will be held in Norwegian.