TRONDHEIM (Dagbladet): «It was a tough break. If there was anyone the Maoists were very hard on, they were breakaways. Old friends I myself had recruited into the movement, saw a different path when I met them on the street ».
This is how Jan Bøhler describes the break with the Socialist Youth Association, the forerunner of the AKP-ml, in his book Østkantfolk som he presented to the audience in Trondheim on Monday night, with former AP colleague Giske as chairman.
Bøhler has been a Storting representative for the Oslo Labor Party for 15 years, and politically active in the party for 35 years, but started his political career in SUF.
Now, as is well known, he has moved on again. Barely two weeks ago, it became known that he has joined the Center Party.
– Something completely different
– It was something completely different, he says when asked what it was like to break out of the Labor Party compared to breaking out of SU.
– Now we are talking about people I have been friends with for a long time. Many have been understanding, but some have resorted to insults. It will be different when good friends put the party with a big “P” in front of friendship. We must relate to each other as fellow human beings, says Bøhler.
– Then it gets heavier or tougher when someone comes up with insults, says Bøhler but adds:
– At the same time, I have received a lot of support and sympathy from those who were close to me.
– Not a loss
– Not good for Labor
Trond Giske is also critical of how Bøhler was met.
– The criticism he has received does not belong anywhere. It’s almost as if he had left a sect. I think there is little doubt about who gets the sympathy, the sect or breakaways. It was not good for the Labor Party. Jonas was also clear on that, says Giske to Dagbladet.
However, he admits that he also got upset when Bøhler changed sides.
– I was very sorry. I had hoped that he was with the team until 2021. He represents a district that is larger than most cities and has enormous confidence in Groruddalen and results that Gerhardsen could envy him, says the Labor politician, who himself has warned that he will not stand for election to the Storting next autumn.
– Have you considered an SP exchange yourself?
– No I have not. I have an incredible number of good friends in Trøndelag Labor Party, and will be fighting for us to win the election in 2021.
– This is the longest period for the Labor Party in opposition since we came into government for the first time with Hornsrud in the 20s. We have no need to pull that record out any longer, says Giske.
Breakthrough at the first meeting
Bøhler himself, on the other hand, is very pleased with the change of party and could happily say that he got the go-ahead at his first group meeting with the Center Party in the Storting.
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His new party then advocated a clarification in the law that psychological social pressure can also be forced marriage.
Bøhler is critical of the efforts made against criminal gangs, critical of the reluctance to talk about problems related to immigrant communities and districts in Oslo. He also wants what he calls kindness to life.
– What sets you apart from Carl in Hagen? He was asked by a listener.
– For me, it’s my neighbors, my friends. I have never said that the key to doing something about this is to stop immigration. That is always Frp’s conclusion. There we have a different approach. I want to say what I feel is important and necessary to talk about, without taking into account what other parties say, Bøhler said.
Borten Moe audience
In Trondheim, he also had a deputy leader in his new party, Ola Borten Moe who belongs. He says he has a sense of what he hears, and thought it might be SP politics.
– He adds to the party some dimensions that I think we have very good at and which are undoubtedly extremely important. Not only for those who live in Grorudalen but for the whole country and the whole community. If we are to build a society that embraces everyone, then everyone must be involved, says Moe.
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