Minister Huitfeldt's lecture at Luther College, Iowa

Thank you, Dr. Johnson, for your welcoming words,

I am very pleased to be here at Luther College. A college founded by Norwegians more than 160 years ago. Its first president was Peter Laurentius Larsen – Laur Larsen. He was born in the town of Kristiansand on the southern coast of Norway in 1833. When Larsen grew up, Norway was among the poorest countries in Europe.

And many left for America. Some of them returned home, but the majority of them settled in this new land. Most of them here in the Midwest. Looking for opportunities and a better life.

Such as Niels Johnsen Kaasa from Heddal in Telemark. He left Norway in 1839 and eventually settled in Winnishiek County, Iowa. He ended up as a pastor here in Decorah.

I can imagine the young Niels Kaasa sitting on the top of a hill in his native Telemark in 1839 - before he left for the U.S. Looking out over the village, the valleys, and the countryside.

And what he saw was mostly misery. Poverty. He saw people with small or no chances of social mobility. If you were born poor then, you were destined to become poor for the rest of your life. He saw no hope. No future.

Then I imagine that same Niels Kaasa sitting on top of that same hill in Telemark today. Looking out over the same village, valleys, and countryside. What he would have seen? How he would have reacted? He would have seen much the same landscape, but a completely different country.

He would have seen a country with opportunities. Prosperity. Hope.

He would have seen people with equal chances of social mobility, whether they are born rich or poor. Black or white. Girl or boy. Educated people with all the possibilities in the world to pursue a good life.

Now, Norway is not unique in that sense. Many European countries from where people emigrated, and perhaps in particular the Nordics, have been through a similar transformation. From poverty to prosperity. And although there are many reasons and explanations for that journey, the most important one, I think, can be summed up in one word: Trust.

Trust between people. Trust between rulers and those who are ruled. Trust in the government due to trust in the system of governance.

And I should also add: Trust between nations.

You know, in my office in Oslo I have a paper written by the U.S. State Department. Well, I probably have many papers written by your State Department, but this particular one is special.

It is entitled “Proposals for expansion of World Trade and Employment” and is dated November 1945. Only three months after the end of the most destructive war the world has ever seen.

And the first line of that paper states that the main prize of the allied victory is the power to establish the kind of world we want to live in.

And in the next sentence, it states that the fundamental choice is whether countries will struggle against each other for wealth and power. Or work together for security and mutual advantage.

The ideas that those sentences express are what fostered the world order upon which the community of nations have been built since 1945. A largely peaceful and predictable world order based on international law. And on a trust between nations that these laws are respected. These are ideas of American origin. Ideas which fostered international institutions such as the United Nations, The World Trade Organization, and global Human rights institutions.

In all times before 1945 wars of conquest were for many states a main means of conducting foreign policy. Between 1816 and 1945, a state disappeared on average every three years. With the adoption of the UN Charter, an international law ban on warfare was established. And this has worked.

In the entire post-war period, wars of conquest have hardly occurred. Prior to February 24, 2022 (with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine) more than 30 years had passed — with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait — since one country had directly attempted to conquer and change the borders of another internationally recognized country.

So, trust is key. Between nations. And in nations. Trust is the resource that make humans capable of efficient cooperation. What professor Robert D. Putnam at Harvard refers to as “social capital”. In societies with a high degree of trust there is a sense of shared fate. A sense of common interests - that we are all in the same boat. Heading in the same direction.

Compared to most other countries, Norway and the other Nordic countries have a relatively low degree of economic disparity. Economic inequalities are less today than 100 years ago. At the same time, the level of trust is higher today than 100 years ago. And there is a clear connection. This development has removed barriers and made social mobility possible. So that anyone who is willing to work hard can pursue their ideas and succeed, regardless of their background.

Education is a precondition for that social mobility. The possibility to get an education. Education has provided my country with enormous wealth.

Because knowledge is what made it possible for us to extract oil and gas from the North Sea basin. To produce electricity from our waterfalls.

To cultivate salmon in our fjords. To design world class ships. The examples are many.

Today, Norway is a nation with almost endless opportunities. It would not have been possible without education. Knowledge.

And knowledge is also what will take us through the next big transformation. To a sustainable, non-fossil green economy.

Because of the climate crisis, we are in the midst of a green energy transition. A transition that has accelerated due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. As Russian gas export to Europe has come to a halt. Today, that export is almost zero.

The green energy transformation is at the top of Norway’s foreign policy agenda.

We are the biggest exporter of oil and gas to Europe, and in the transformative years ahead we will continue to provide much needed energy to partners in Europe and beyond. But the globe is boiling. Temperatures are raising. And nowhere on the planet is that more visible than in the Arctic, an area where Norway and the U.S. have strong common interests.

The green shift is a game changer. But a game changer that reflects opportunities. For us, in areas such as offshore wind, hydrogen, zero emission transport, battery technology, minerals, and carbon capture and storage. All areas which are rapidly growing in the U.S. and beyond.

The United States is Norway’s most important economic partner outside Europe. The green shift will create opportunities and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. And among my priorities is to secure an even closer cooperation in this green shift between our two countries.

But solving the climate crisis and managing the green transition is not something any country can do on its own. Not even the United States. The climate crisis is a global problem, and we need global solutions. We need to work together.

Dear students, it is no small burden that will be placed on your generation’s shoulders in the years ahead. Climate changes are real. And they are our own making. Which means that we are the ones who must fix our faults. And make sure that the solutions we find today will not create the problems of tomorrow.

It will be another giant step for mankind. But we have conquered challenges before. Often with the United States at the helm. And I am confident that we will do it again.

With skills. With brains. And with hope.

Hope. During the dark years of war in Europe in the 1940s a message of hope was sent from the Midwest to the people of Norway.

In May 1942, during the Nazi occupation of my country, the Norwegian prime Minister (Johan Nygårdsvold) visited the United States. Among other places he was also here, at Luther College.

And when he returned to London, where the Norwegian government stayed during the war, he held a radio speech. Illegally broadcasted throughout Norway. In that speech he talked about his impressions from his visit to the U.S.

And he concluded with the following words: “The battle will be long, it will be hard, and it will demand great sacrifices. But it must and will be won. Because the United States will never give up until we have won a complete victory over the enemies of liberty and civilization.”

Today, we are once again fighting enemies of liberty and civilization in Europe. Through the war in Ukraine. Where a Russian victory would eliminate Ukraine from the map.

The Ukrainians do the fighting. And suffer the most. But this war is about something more than Ukraine. It concerns the right for any country to make their own decisions. To choose their own way. As we chose ours as a founding member of NATO in 1949.

The war in Ukraine is a war against a brutal and authoritarian regime. A fight for democratic rules and individual rights. And a fight for international law and rules that have framed international cooperation since the end of the second world war.

All of this is now at stake. And we cannot allow that. We cannot allow that a brutal, authoritarian regime can invade an independent, democratic country without consequences. We cannot allow President Putin and his likes to dictate what kind of world we shall live in.

Which is why Norway, the United States and other allies and countries support Ukraine. With arms. With medicines. With money. And other ways of military and civilian support. And we will continue to do so. For as long as it takes.

It is a paradox of history that parts of the international legal order – the edifice we established after the Second World War – were developed from experiences in today's Ukraine.

The main architect behind the term "crimes against humanity", Hersch Lauterpacht. And one of the architects behind the Genocide Convention of 1948, Rafael Lemkin, both came from the Lviv area. Both were Jewish.

Their families were almost wiped out during the Holocaust. They themselves experienced the horrors of war up close before they fled.

Now we again see millions of people on the run. Civilian apartment blocks, schools and hospitals that are bombed. We see civilians tied up, tortured, and killed. We find mass graves that shock. And we hear the constant and blatant lies from the Russian regime. Lying to the world. Lying to their own people.

Russia is our neighbour. And a focus point for calibrating our foreign- and security policy. We share 200 kilometres border with Russia in the high north. And we have done so for more than 1000 years, without ever being at war. As far as I know we are the only country bordering Russia by land which has never been to war with Russia.

After the cold war we established cross-border cooperation on several levels. Ten years ago, more than 300 000 people crossed the border every year, bringing growth and economic activity to the high north region.

Now, there is almost no activity. It is in Norway’s interest to have a predictable og balanced relation to our big neighbour in the East. To cooperate where we can, in areas of mutual interests. But today that is not possible. 

This week I attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Where obviously the war in Ukraine was on the agenda.

And I am pleased to note that we, our allies, and a large majority of the countries in the world today condemn Russia’s brutal war and support Ukraine in their self-defence.

We cannot sit silent and watch. We cannot allow President Putin to win this war.

Do you know what Putin fears the most? It’s democracy. The will of the people. Because democracy means freedom. It provides hope. It gives strength to the belief that a society can be corrected and changed. That regimes can change. For the good of every individual.

In Putin's and other so-called strongmen's worldview, Western democracies are weak. They think we have no future. That we are spineless and without morals.

For many, this message hits home. They see a strong man. A model they themselves want to be. We see tendencies towards illiberal moves in several countries, also in Europe. And when democracies weaken, women and queer people are often the first to be affected. The so-called strong men believe that which gender, or which orientation you have, should determine what opportunities you have in life. The fight for their rights is also foreign policy.

But democracy has proved resilient. Time and again throughout history, individual freedom and democratic institutions have faced strong opposition. Tried broken. As during the rise of communism and fascism in the 1920s and -30s. But democracy has endured. And time and time again come back.

Not because democracies are flawless. Or particularly efficient. But because the alternatives to democracy are so much worse. People across all cultures and geographical affiliations do not want to live in a dictatorship. They want freedom. To be allowed to say what they want. Think what they want. And have the opportunity to decide themselves what kind of lives they want to live.

But even if democracy as a system of governance has proven to be robust, it will wither if people are not willing to fight for it. Many like us, who have grown up in peaceful and prosperous democracies, like the United States or Norway, we take democracy for granted. Putin's war reminds us of what is at stake.

While driving from Minneapolis into this great state of Iowa this morning, I noticed the writing inscribed in your flag: “Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain.” And it struck me that that is exactly why we support Ukraine in this war. To prize the liberties and maintain the rights, not only for the Ukrainians, but for all.

Dear students, friends,

Another key issue in Norwegian foreign policy is our peace and reconciliation efforts around the globe.

Our involvement has a humanitarian dimension. To end human suffering and distress. By creating peace. But it is also about something more. Something beyond peace.

Because peace is a prerequisite for a democratic system of governance. The rules-based world order I mentioned earlier has one precondition: A largely peaceful world. Thus, peace is also in our own self-interest.

Our role often involves bringing parties in war and conflict together. We are seldom the ones negotiating peace agreements. But we facilitate political dialogue. So that the parties in conflict may find political solutions. Our role depends on there being a realistic desire for a solution among the conflicting parties. Which is not always the case.  

The parties are often miles apart. They may not even recognize each other as legitimate actors. Which is why we seek to start from what unites. Rather than what divides. Any dialogue must start there. In the recognition of common interests.

Be it in Venezuela, Afghanistan, Colombia, or in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the Middle East. Which are some of the conflicts where we have been involved.

Our position is that we can talk to almost any party in a conflict if they are willing to engage in a political dialogue. Any party which it is possible to engage.

There are different views on this approach. Norway has more than 30 years of experience with this, and we believe in it. In dialogue. Even if it presents us with some dilemmas. Like having to talk to parties with whom we deeply and strongly disagree. Parties who might be responsible for horrible actions. Like the Taliban. Hamas and Hizballah.

But I sincerely do not believe that Afghanistan will be a better country for Afghans if we refuse to talk to the Taliban, despite the horrors they have caused. A view shared by Afghan civil society and human rights activists. A view also shared by Norway’s chief of defence, General Eirik Kristoffersen. Who is a highly decorated Afghanistan-veteran himself. We deeply disagree with the Taliban, but I don’t think that refusing to talk with them will get us anywhere.

Isolating authoritarian regimes could also bring them closer to each other and widen the gap between them and us. That is not in our interest.

The essence of what we do in our peace and reconciliation efforts is not to make the parties in a conflict agree with each other. But to make them understand one another. And show respect for each other's point of view.

If the parties in a conflict achieve mutual understanding and respect, then a long step towards peace has been made. But it is difficult. We are often criticized. And sometimes we fail.

On November 4, it will be 28 years since Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot and killed during a public meeting in Tel Aviv. Some would argue that the Oslo-agreement died with him. The agreement that was supposed to ensure peace between Israel and Palestine. Now there have been no real negotiations between the parties since 2014.

The Palestinians have achieved neither independence nor sovereignty. All negotiation attempts have so far failed. The conflict is characterized by terror, violence, and the use of force.

Norway has been involved in this conflict for almost 30 years. We will continue to be engaged. Only a negotiated two-state solution will safeguard the security and dignity of both Israelis and Palestinians.

I visited the region two weeks ago. My message to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders is that it is urgent to return to the negotiating table. Before it is too late.

Dear friends,

Luther College’s mission statement is: “As people of all backgrounds, we embrace diversity and challenge one another to learn in community, to discern our callings, and to serve with distinction for the common good.”

I love that mission statement. I might copy that as the statement for Norway’s foreign policy.

By education I am an historian. And I know very well that history cannot predict what the future will be like. Or tell us what decisions we should make today. History never repeat itself. Every epoque is unique. But history can help us avoid doing the same mistakes as we have done before.

And history is the weave that binds the past, the present and the future together. Weave is an old Norse word, by the way. Veifa – to weave.

Luther College is a part of our common weave. Which contains the strong threads between Norway and the United States. One weave with many images.

The Norway that Laur Larsen left in 1857 does no longer exist, except in the fabric of history.  And just as Norway is no longer the country Larsen left, Luther College is no longer the college he founded.

We have both changed. To the better, I would say. Much thanks to increased diversity. And knowledge. But we are still a part of the same fabric. We are still images in the same weave.

A weave which also contains pictures from Kabul in Afghanistan in the chaotic days of evacuation, in August 2021. When everyone else had left, there were still troops left from two countries. To pack up and finish the job. Only two flags fluttering in the wind at the military base by the airport. The flag of the United States. And that of Norway.  

Flags which were prohibited in Norway when Prime Minister Nygårdsvold visited Luther College in 1942. The Nazis forbade it, and any celebration of our constitution day. The 17^th. of May.

On that day in 1942, the prime minister held a speech not so far from here. In Minneapolis. Where he said that “our saga tells us that personal freedom has always been a sacred thing. And that when attempts were made to violate this freedom, when tyranny and dictatorship gained the upper hand, people left Norway to build a future in other countries. But they never forgot Norway.”

Norwegian immigration to the Midwest is a part of our saga. Luther College is a part of our saga. And that saga continues. In different ways and in a different kind of world. The Norwegian government highly values the close ties between Luther College and Norway.

Thank you for your attention.

I am happy to take any questions you might have.