Lars Gule


Lars Gule is a Norwegian philosopher. He has graduated with a doctorate in philosophy, and is an associate professor. From 2000 to 2005 he was secretary general of the Norwegian Humanist Association. Gule became known to the general public in 1977 when after having joined the DFLP group, Gule was arrested in Beirut, Lebanon with explosives in his luggage intended for Israeli targets leading to a six-month conviction and subsequent deportation. He remains active as a pro-Palestine activist. Gule is often used by Norwegian media as an authority on questions regarding the Middle East, Islam and extremism.

Education and professional life

Lars Gule studied history, philosophy and social science at the University of Bergen and received his doctoral degree in philosophy at the same university in 2003 when he defended the dissertation Social Development and Political Progress in Two Traditions A Conceptual and Comparative Analysis of Western and Arab-Islamic Ideas of Social and Political Change and Improvement.
In 1987 he administered the Middle Eastern Languages and Culture subject as well as The Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, both at the University of Bergen. In 1989, he was associated with the Chr. Michelsen Institute human rights programme as a PhD student and administrator. He later returned to the University of Bergen as coordinator of the research programme Nature, Society and Water.
From July 2000 to December 2005 he was secretary general of the Norwegian Humanist Association. From February 2006 he was Programme Director at the Center for Multicultural and International Work at Oslo University College, and in August 2007 he moved to a position as associate professor related to the fields of multicultural understanding and development studies at the Department of Education and International Studies, Oslo and Akershus University College. From January 2009, the Gule was also associated with HiO's Centre for the Study of Professions in a 50% position as a post doctor. From January 2010 he became a full-time post doctor research fellow at the SPS and worked, inter alia, with professional practice in multicultural society. The post doctor fellowship ended in August 2013. From November the same year he obtained a full-time position as associate professor at the same university college, now a full university OsloMet, continuing to work on multicultural issues. However, Gule's research interests have moved in the direction of extremism after the terrorist attacks in Oslo and at Utøya on 22 July 2011, and from the fall semester of 2015 he is contributing to the teaching of a 15 ECT credit course called "Knowledge on Extremism and Radicalisation".

Travel to Lebanon and prison

In January 1977 Gule travelled from Norway on a trip that was supposed to take him through much of the Middle East. The first goal was Lebanon, where most people believed the situation was beginning to normalize after one and half years of civil war. Gule sympathised with the Palestinian cause and became involved in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian political party and terror group. Gule has denied that it was his intention to participate in terrorism and describes his involvement as part of the "anti-imperialist" struggle.
The DFLP asked Gule to carry out an armed operation in Israel in early June 1977. Gule has explained that the DFLP proposed three targets for him: a bomb could be placed either be in a pedestrian underpass in Tel Aviv, in the President Hotel in Jerusalem or outside an apartment complex with gas containers outside in what was referred to as a "bourgeois neighbourhood"." Gule has argued that he rejected these targets as he was sceptical of what could be regarded as terrorism. "The suspect had made it known to his employers that he did not want to take human life. The purpose of the explosion was to mark the 10th anniversary of the war in 1967, strengthen the Palestinians' fighting spirit and morale", he said later during interrogation to the Norwegian police. He did not succeed in engaging the DFLP in a discussion on a more symbolic target.
Khaled Nazzal was guidance officer for Gule.
As it was not possible to travel directly from Lebanon to Israel, Gule was to travel back to Norway where he was to procure a new passport before he went on to Israel after a few weeks, during the time he would consider if he could participate in such an operation. He received a plane ticket to Europe and $1,300 from the DFLP, to cover the other travel expenses.
At the security check in Beirut International Airport on 6 May when Gule was about to leave Lebanon, a security officers found approximately 750 grams of plastic explosives hidden in the covers of books Gule had in his backpack. He was eventually handed over to the Lebanese intelligence service and after harsh interrogations, Gule confessed to his cooperation with the DFLP. Gule has explained how he was exposed to torture, including being beaten under the soles of the feet and threatened with liquidation.
Gule was sentenced to six months prison in Lebanon and a fine for the "illegal possession of weapons". He was acquitted of attempting to carry out terrorist acts using explosives.
The case attracted great attention in Norwegian media in the summer of 1977, and when Gule was released from prison and returned to Norway in November 1977, he was questioned by the Norwegian police. The attorney general, however, chose to react with a waiver, even though he repeated his statement about having begun what could be construed as planning a bombing in Israel.

Secretary general of the Norwegian Humanist Association

Back in Norway Gule began studying history at the University of Bergen in 1978. Then, after completing an MA in philosophy, he administered the programme Middle Eastern Languages and Culture as well as The Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities, both at the University of Bergen. In 1989, he became associated with the Chr. Michelsen Institute Human Rights Programme as a PhD student. He later returned to the University of Bergen as coordinator of the research programme Nature, Society and Water.
In 2000 Gule was appointed to secretary general of the Norwegian Humanist Association and started working there on 1 July. He served in this capacity until 9 December 2005. The immediate resignation came as a result of a disagreement with the Executive Board on an organizational questions. But his departure from the position only meant that his resignation from the fixed term of six years was advanced a few months.
Gule was till then the secretary general who had been in the position for the second longest time in the history of the Norwegian Humanist Association, years. Gule emphasized the equality of all life stances – religious and secular – and promoted human rights during his period. He contributed frequently to the media and participated in public debate. He was often controversial, not least with his criticism of fundamentalist Islam. Yet he defended the religious freedom of Muslims and the right to be a Muslim in Norway. Controversial was his statements about faith communities' right to discriminate, including women and gays, because those who feel discriminated against have an exit option. This option dissolves the apparent contradiction between fundamental rights – religious freedom and the right not to be discriminated against. This is why the state should not intervene in the internal affairs of religious communities, in Gule's opinion.
In the work of a professional historian on the history of the Norwegian Humanist Association, Gule is considered a distinctive ideological leader of the organization. He also emphasized Gule's commitment to human rights during his period as secretary general.

Social commentator

As early as at high school in his home town Larvik in the early 1970s, Gule participated the public debate. For a period he was active in Sosialistisk Valgforbunds Ungdom and Sosialistisk Valgforbund, later the Socialist Left Party, but he was never a member of the Marxist–Leninist-Maoist SUF or Workers' Communist Party. In the article "Some critical considerations of the Marxist class struggle theory", he delivered a theoretical critique of the Marxist theory of class struggle as a necessity for the Communist revolution.
He became a member of the social democratic Workers' Youth League, the Labour Party's student group, and was briefly leader of the organization at the University of Bergen, but has not since been active in the Workers' Youth League. He is currently a politically independent, though his social views and positions in the public debate places him on the "left".
The interest in the Middle East that was ignited during his stay in Lebanon in 1977 has followed Gule through his studies. His Master's degree in philosophy was entitled "Adlyd Gud og de med autoritet blant dere" and was a study of classical Islamic and modern Arab political thought. This led to an interest in Islam and human rights that Gule has pursued since. This is reflected in several articles and is also a central theme in his doctoral dissertation.
Gule often participates in the public debate through newspaper articles and online debates, where he is particularly critical of totalitarian ideologies and religions. Therefore, he supported Professor Bernt Hagtvet's criticism of Workers' Communist Party, who is alleged to have abused his Bangladeshi wife seriously, including by hanging her up by the feet, four times. In his book Den fjerde opphengingen. Beretningen om et varslet justismord og en profesjonsstudie av aktøransvar from 2010, the investigation, the experts' statements, the sentences and the role of the press are all reviewed in detail.
After the terrorist attacks in Norway 22 July 2011, Gule has been interviewed and cited by both Norwegian and international media as a commentator on extremism, terrorism and multicultural issues, especially since he had "discussed" with Anders Behring Breivik on the website Document.no.

Selected bibliography