avatarØivind H. Solheim

Summary

An individual reflects on a transformative mountain hike to the Folgefonna glacier, juxtaposing the experience with insights from Madeleine Albright's book "Fascism: A Warning," and contemplates the parallels between personal growth and societal challenges.

Abstract

The narrative recounts a personal journey of Øivind H. Solheim, who embarks on a challenging mountain hike from Odda to the Folgefonna glacier in Norway. Along the way, he listens to Madeleine Albright's audiobook "Fascism: A Warning," which prompts him to ponder the resilience of nature and the fragility of democracy. The hike serves as a metaphor for the struggle against gravity and the forces of fascism, emphasizing the importance of strength, endurance, and clear thinking in both physical and political landscapes. The author draws parallels between his physical ascent and the societal climb required to combat authoritarianism, highlighting the need for awareness and action to preserve both natural beauty and democratic freedoms.

Opinions

  • The author, Øivind H. Solheim, views the act of hiking as a means to strengthen oneself physically and mentally, drawing a parallel between the resistance encountered in the mountains and that faced in societal and political contexts.
  • Solheim reflects on the importance of historical knowledge, as provided by Madeleine Albright's book, to understand and confront the rise of fascist tendencies in contemporary politics.
  • The author expresses a sense of urgency regarding climate change, noting the melting glaciers and the impact of human activity on the environment.
  • Solheim emphasizes the value of solitude and introspection in natural settings for personal reflection and the development of insights into broader societal issues.
  • The narrative suggests that individual actions, such as the author's hike and engagement with political thought, can contribute to collective efforts to address global challenges like fascism and environmental degradation.

FUTURE

This Is How We Can Save the World

A powerful warning to the global community, a book: Fascism, by Madeleine Albright

Tokheimsnuten. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

On the second Saturday of August 2020, I started a great mountain hike from Odda, the town where I was born, at the end of a long fjord in the western part of Norway. The goal was to go up to the Folgefonn glacier. It was a mountain hike that I had planned for a long time and I had followed the weather forecast closely to make sure I had good weather so that I would get a good view when I got to the top.

© Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

Folgefonna glacier has existed on the mountain range between Odda / Ullensvang and Kvinnherad for at least a couple of thousand years, and the ground under my feet — the mountain under and around the glacier — is around 400 million years old. This — the dizzyingly high age of the mountains and the ice — is one of the reasons why I find it so fascinating to walk in nature. It gives me many kinds of thoughts, in addition to being good for health!

The Folgefonna (often just called “Fonna”) has always attracted me because the white hood that covers large parts of the Folgefonn Peninsula is incredibly beautiful, a stable landmark and a symbol of the lasting, strong and healthy properties in nature around us.

Especially in the last years, when climate change has caused the glaciers in our country to start melting, I have thought a lot about walking up one last time and look at Folgefonna before it is too late for me. So I set off this Saturday with blue skies over me and sun in my back and a packed backpack with some extra clothes and some food and drink. In front of me was a huge physical challenge; I had to walk 7 kilometers and 1600 altitude meters in five to six hours.

“The sounds of all the flowing water in the thousand small streams…” © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

The path from Odda up to Folgefonna is a historic tourist path that was built at the end of the 19th century. At that time, tourists were transported on horseback up to Folgefonna from Odda or from Sundal (on the other side of the mountain), on a sleigh over the glacier and on horseback down again on the opposite side. Today the tourists walk, and the last part of the trip up from Odda leads the hiker through beautiful, untouched nature.

I began my trip down by the fjord, at Egne Hjem in Odda, where the path starts. From there I walked up through a forest with deciduous trees, then through a dark forest with tall spruce trees, and then on a path that crosses up through the scrub forest before finally reaching the first milestone. After about two hours of walking, I had now reached the entrance to Støladalen, where there is a resting hut where hikers can seek shelter and rest. From this place, the hiker can enjoy the view of the fjord 800 meters below.

Støladalen. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

It was a strenuous trip up, but the trip was still easier today than earlier trips I had gone because I had with me Madeleine Albright in the form of her audiobook from 2018, Fascism: A Warning. This is a thought-provoking and very informative book that provides a good background for thinking something well-founded about the current political situation and development, not least in world politics and perhaps especially in the United States and some other countries that have shown developments that in the last decades are similar to developments in the United States.

Madeleine Albright is a former UN Ambassador and Secretary of State, with a long and honorable career serving the United States. Her personal history is compelling: born in Czechoslovakia shortly before World War II, she and her parents fled first Hitler and then, during the beginning of the Cold War, from Stalin. She did not learn until she was an adult that several family members, including grandparents, died in the Holocaust. This tragic history, combined with her astute intelligence and common sense, sharpens her pen and her powers of observation. Fascism: A Warning is her sixth book and is perhaps her most important work to date, as the world seems to face what many fear could be a long period of darkness.(John D. Cofield, Amazon review)

“…a path partly covered with snow”. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

On the way up I walk on a path partly covered with snow, in unbelievably beautiful nature. From the start of Støladalen, the path on the north side of the slope goes high above the valley floor. Here the tourist trail goes through nature which is almost untouched further up towards the second milestone, the upper resting hut, in a zigzag through steep rock piles and under mighty mountainsides.

© Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

As I go up and get hot and sweaty, I listen to this eighty-year-old former US Secretary of State and UN Ambassador who, based on a long life at the top level in society, conveys important knowledge and insight from the world politics.

In her book, she addresses fascism and gives a thorough review of various authoritarian fascist leaders throughout history, all the way from the roots around the First World War and further through the interwar period and World War II and onwards to our own time. Strangely enough, almost all of them are men, individuals who, through and sometimes even in spite of their special and to some extent mediocre personality traits, are still able to acquire and retain power. They do this through the systematic use of lies, violence, authoritarian appearances, raw power, and violent repression. These men (yes, there are so to say all male dictators!) often smile as they tell their distorted lies and untrue stories, commit their atrocities, oppress the people of their country and gain totalitarian power.

The calm, balanced human voice I hear through the headset is by no means, anyone:

At 80 years old, Madeleine Albright has written one of the best and most important books of the decade. Fleeing from Hitler with her family as a child, she saw and learned firsthand what the evils of Fascism meant. She was born in Czechoslovakia and was Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton. I’ve read a few shorter books on the subject of Fascism and they are in agreement with Secretary Albright that the term can be hard to define, and it has a broad scope of meanings. In the last part of the book, she discusses what is obvious to anyone who follows what is happening in the world and the U.S. now, and that is that we are more divided, and we are losing our place in the world. She discusses at length the problems in Turkey, the Philippines, the DPRK, Russia, and other countries that have suffered under authoritarian governments. (S. Warfield, Amazon book review)

© Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

What is fascism?

According to accepted definitions and descriptions, fascism is a form of right-wing extremism and authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, coercive repression of opposition, and a strong regulation of society and the economy. The first fascist movements appeared in Italy during World War I, before spreading to other European countries. Fascism is placed on the far right within the traditional left-right spectrum.

Fascists saw World War I as a revolution that led to massive changes in society, the state and technology. The total war and the total mass mobilization of society had removed the distinction between civilians and combatants.

Fascists believe that liberal democracy is obsolete and see the complete mobilization of society under a totalitarian one-party state as necessary to prepare a nation for armed conflict and to respond effectively to economic difficulties. Such a state is led by a strong leader — for example, a dictator and a war government put together by the members of the ruling fascist party — to create national unity and maintain a stable and orderly society. Fascism rejects claims that violence is automatically negative and views political violence, war and imperialism as means that can be used to achieve national renewal. (Sources: Madeleine Albright and Wikipedia)

© Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

As I walked further up the hillside above Støladalen I thought about this, and I heard the rustle of the great waterfall far away and the sounds of all the flowing water in the thousand small streams that came down from the melting glacier.

In the headset I heard the voice of Madeleine Albright talking about the various historical figures who have gained power through lies, manipulation, abuse of physical power and abuse of police and military forces.

And I thought that this is how life is, yes, we all live in a world that is in eternal and constant motion, and we are all trapped, pulled down by gravity and by manipulative lies, we are all dragged down to the ground. And yes, we shall all die one day, I thought.

But these are far too depressing thoughts, so I thought:

What can we do to counteract this negative?

And this is exactly what the positive effect of going uphill is. Through the resistance that the uphill and the mountains give, I can strengthen myself, I can feel that I become stronger by going uphill, by thinking new thoughts, or the same old thoughts in a new suit. By fighting my way up in the mountain landscape, through the use of my own muscle power and by developing my own power of thought, I build myself an aid that helps me to feel like getting up to the top of the mountain.

Hardangervidda and Hårteigen, Trolltunga in the middle. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

And that was what I did this second Saturday in August 2020, when I walked up from my hometown, which is located between high mountains at the end of a long fjord. I walked painstakingly and slowly upwards, towards the glacier that has always existed up there on the mountain plateau between two fjords and for many years has been an attractive destination for many tourists and some from the locals down in the valley.

Going uphill helps to clarify and refine the thoughts.

Going uphill helps to clear away simplifications and naive illusions.

Going uphill helps to create clarity in the basic questions:

- Where am I going, and why am I going there? - Who am I to take on this challenge? - What will I see when I reach the top? - What is the new insight I am going to gain?

I walked at a leisurely pace upwards while taking in the impressions of the nature around me; the mountains, the running water, the white snow and the boulders around the snow surfaces, the flora and the radiant sun.

Madeleine Albright’s voice in my ears made me feel part of an invisible tour company, a walking team where we discussed important political and philosophical issues as we walked.

Albright is careful to warn against the indiscriminate use of the term “fascism,” and she very properly begins this book with a discussion of its proper usage and meaning. Beginning with the origins of the term in the early twentieth century, she traces the development of Fascist regimes and leaders who promote Fascism, from Mussolini and Hitler through Stalin (who raged against Fascism while practicing it to an advanced degree) through to the present. Erdogan, Orban, Milosevic, the Kim dynasty, and Putin are some of the many practicing Fascists Albright covers. Donald Trump has a chapter devoted specifically to him, but Albright is not writing a partisan screed by any means, merely analyzing the man’s behavior and actions and demonstrating their disturbing similarities to leaders who clearly practice Fascism. Perhaps the most important chapters are the final two, in which Albright enumerates the danger signs for the United States and the world and provides a series of questions to ask and steps to take for concerned citizens.

This is a book written for the general reader which does not abandon scholarly rigor. It is extensively documented with a Notes section that will be an excellent resource for those of us who wish to learn and study more. In 2018 the way forward for the United States and the world is uncertain, but we are still fortunate (so far) to have strong and confident voices like Albright’s to guide us. (John D. Cofield, Amazon top review)

Glacial lake, near Holmaskjer, Folgefonna. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

When I got up to the second resting hut I was quite tired so I sat down in it and took some food and drink and felt that it was doing well. When I had regained some strength, I packed my things and went out and looked down into the landscape where I had worn myself up. And it was good to see that this was now over. But at the same time, there was a steep climb for me up towards the glacier, so I started to walk slowly upwards while I thought different things about life and in my life, and these are the kind of things I go and think about when I go hiking in the mountains.

Rocks, stones, snow and cairns. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

I reached the first cairn and it turned out that it had actually slipped out a bit, so it testifies to a violent weather with wind, snow and rain. I was almost a little sad to see that the fine cairn from the year before had been destroyed by the forces of nature, but that’s exactly how nature’s forces are, and it seems just like the force of gravity, just like the counter force that I meet when I use muscle power to win over gravity and get me up to the top.

I went further up. I came across a snowdrift and saw that the next cairn, and also the third cairn was in order, so that things had not been completely destroyed up here. Furthermore, I had to cross another small glacier, a fairly large, slightly steep snowdrift that lay directly over a lake where large lumps of ice lay and floated. The glacier plunged steeply down towards the ice lake which had a strong green color.

I did well, because I chose to walk high up where it was less steep, and in addition it was easy to walk there because there was ice under the snow and thus it was not difficult to get a foothold.

Folgefonna glacier. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

The next thing was that I walked over a fairly large, slightly steep snowdrift, and it went well, because it was easy to walk there because there was ice under the snow and thus it was not difficult to tread. Then I came up to the top where I was to climb down into the next valley.

Now I had come so high that I could see the cabin at the top of the mountain, and from this boulder I was to climb down into the next valley and embark on the last stage.

There were many large stones there, and I unfortunately stumbled and fell and hit myself a little on the elbow and on the knee. But when I got up and got an overview, it turned out that there were not very serious injuries, but I bled a lot from the elbow and it was not nice because I did not have plasters or things like that with me. And that’s how it is when you go hiking in the mountains and at least when you go hiking alone in the mountains — things happen. I have walked 20,000 steps, and on step number 20,001 I stumble. My boot hits a rock and I hit the ground and injure myself. It’s so typical! This is how it is, and one must accept that things happen, that it is so, that things one does not want to happen, they happen.

Hikers descending. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

I got safely further down the mountainside between all the big rocks and further down and went out on the last big snowdrift that I had to cross to tackle the last hill up towards the top and the glacier.

On the mountain that juts out of the ice is the cabin called Holmaskjerbu, and that is the cabin I was going to spend the night in.

I had not embarked on this trip if I had not known that I had a bed up there reserved for me for the night. On previous trips I have taken up there, I have gone both up and down on the same day, and it is far too tiring and demanding now, it is not advisable to go that far at my age.

On the glacier, man is small. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

The last stage of the trip went well, and in the end I was up on the plateau where I could see the glacier Folgefonna itself spread out, something like a very beautiful sight, a large, calm white surface that widens up to the horizon.

The large, white surface is reminiscent of the sea, a sea with small-topped waves, but here, unlike the sea or the ocean, the surface lies completely still, and not a single wave curls.

One should not overlook the beautiful when it turns out, and here I had found the beautiful.

I paused and stopped the voice of Madeleine Albright’s audiobook, to save for the descent the next day the remaining 3 hours of lecture from Fascism A Warning.

A large, white surface reminiscent of the sea. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim

I found a small rock at the edge of the glacier where I took off my backpack, sat down, found myself food and drink and sat in the sun for a couple of hours. I could feel the heat from the sun on my face and began to feel the good well-being in my body that often comes after a long and tiring trip.

I closed my eyes, opened them again and looked at the large ice mass, the huge glacier that lay there in front of me.

And I thought I was a lucky guy who had the opportunity to experience this peaceful moment up here on the roof of our country.

All rights reserved. © Øivind H. Solheim, author of novels, poetry, articles, essays, short fiction and experimental writings. Contact: [email protected].

Hikers crossing the glacier from the other side. © Photo by Øivind H. Solheim
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