Utenriksminister Jonas Gahr Støre

Ibsenåret 2006

Ordførerens mottakelse i Oslo Rådhus etter åpningsforestillingen 14. januar 2006

Midlertidig versjon. (Vil bli erstattet).Sjekkes mot framføring

Your Majesties
Mr Mayor
Winners of the Ibsen awards
Mr Baardson
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen

First of all I would like to thank you all for an outstanding performance!

We know what to expect from Bentein Baardson; the unexpectable!

We have met the traditional and modern Ibsen; once more demonstrating the extraordinary power of his ability to reach hearts and minds, beyond generations, beyond cultures, beyond decades and centuries. We are indeed not gathered here as “a dead poet’s society”! Ibsen’s works, his characters, his views and visions are so much alive.

So thank you – all of you who have taken part – both on stage and off stage. Many thanks to the Ibsen Year 2006 team, who have arranged this event. And I would like to thank the Mayor of Oslo for opening up the doors of his great hall to us.

A special tribute to the winners of the Ibsen awards – outstanding world artists who have brought Ibsen to so many.

For the Norwegian Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this weekend represents the launch of a year of Ibsen manifestations around the world. It is a major undertaking. In my service I have one hundred diplomatic missions around the world. Ibsen goes further – in 2006 we will be supporting the staging of Ibsen at 130 scenes every week worldwide.

We will do so together with artists from Norway and scores of international artists. From a Norwegian perspective Ibsen will bind the world together in a cultural demonstration of what globalization may mean - from Buenos Aires and Bergen, to Berlin and Beijing.

Ibsen is the best known Norwegian ever. He was a cosmopolitan in spirit. His works have universal value. But let me complicate matters. This is not a celebration of a national hero, and Ibsen’s universal appeal makes him into more than a Norwegian. It is a manifestation of the arts, and more profoundly, it is an invitation to a deeper reflection on his messages.

When I met the Diplomatic Corps as newly appointed Foreign Minister late last year I told them that as 2005 drew to a close I had both good news and bad news to offer. The good news was that a year of Norwegians celebrating themselves as independent and outstanding was coming to an end. The bad news was that 2006 will be a year of remembering Ibsen.

Or to be precise, Ibsen 2006 is good news if we grasp the opportunity to reconnect with art. If we Norwegians do that seriously we will be forced to reflect on more intriguing sides of our national character.

Ibsen could be harsh on Norway and harsh on Norwegians, as he could be harsh on himself, among other things for shying away from drafting himself as a solider to support Denmark’s fight against invasion from the German superpowers in 1864. Observing Norway and Norwegians from abroad he laid out a vision of what he expected of both, touching as it were on his expectations for an independent Norwegian foreign policy.

Preparing for the Ibsen year I have been reconnecting with a particular source, close to my present function. In the Gyldendal edition of Ibsen’s collected works from 1928, one of my predecessors as Foreign Minister, Professor Halvdan Koht, has written introductory pieces to many of Ibsen’s pieces. Between the lines we can see messages of importance also for foreign policy.

In his introduction to Brand, Koht refers to a letter from Ibsen to his Danish publisher Hegel:

“Norwegians and Swedes have a terrible responsibility and I see it as my duty to use the talent that God has bestowed upon me to wake up my fellow countrymen for their laziness and make them realize the survival issues of our times.”

And he went on to write to King Carl XV of Sweden and Norway about his mission in life: “To wake up people and make them think big!”

This evening’s show could serve as such a clarion call – to wake up people and make them think big.

Once again – thank you for a fantastic evening – and may the Ibsen year provide us with many more such opportunities.