Kurdish victim of Norway massacre championed tolerance

Bano Rashid, the first of 77 massacre victims to be buried in Norway, was a Kurd whose family left Iraq in 1996. While her killer immersed himself in prejudice, hatred and xenophobic nightmares, 18 year old Bano – a dynamic member of the ruling Nowegian Labour Party’s youth wing – cherished a positive vision.

‘In articles and speeches at political events she denounced racism and discrimination against immigrants in Norway, whose integration into society she contended was both possible and vital’, reports the New York Times. She was planning to run for a seat on the Nesodden City Council.

‘There is no doubt that Oslo would grind to a halt if it went one day without the work of immigrants’,  she wrote in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten. ‘Let Norway use the resources of its immigrants. Give us time to integrate, preferably without discrimination’.

Yesterday, following a service presided over by a Muslim imman and a Christian minister, she was buried in a coffin draped in the flags of Norway and Kurdistan. Kurdish people everywhere will feel sorrow for her and for all the victims and their loved ones. We should also take pride in the tragically short but exemplary life of Bano Rashid.

One Response to Kurdish victim of Norway massacre championed tolerance
  1. kurdi
    December 26, 2012 | 18:42

    Rest in Peace Bano!

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