Shabana Rehman, Death | One of the largest trees has fallen
The comment expresses the writer’s opinions.
Shabana Rehman was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and came to Holmlia in Oslo as a two-year-old, where she grew up. This morning she died, just 46 years old, as one of the most significant Norwegians of our time.
I have had individuals who have influenced the Norwegian social debate more than Shabana Rehman. I got who has been the role model for so many like her. And I know few who have stuck to their project to that extent – through thick and thin.
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She started as a columnist in VG, then Dagbladet, just 20 years old. This is how she became one of the very first of the new generation of young people with an immigrant background who broke through the sound barrier in the Norwegian public.
Although, Shabana represents no one but herself.
She did not write on behalf of anyone, she did not write to someone. She insisted on being herself – the way all other Norwegians were. With her own experience of a culture of shame or honor in the family, she nevertheless wrote in such a way that many recognized themselves.
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It particularly caused a stir when she appeared in a portrait interview naked, with only the Norwegian flag painted on her body. But what at first glance might seem just a stunt, was by no means just that.
Shabana had both self-insight and social insight, which she conveyed with wit, humor and warmth.
Of course, he also had to try himself as a stand-up comedian. In the performance Shabana goes skiing across Greenland in 2002 she made fun of most of the cultural and religious differences in the kingdom with a large dose of self-irony.
It was during this period that I met her for the first time. The plan was to take the stand-up performance home to its roots – specifically to an underground theater in Karachi. A team from TV 2 was supposed to be involved in slep, and we did a trial recording in Copenhagen, among other places.
But in the end she realized it was getting too dangerous.
No one could guarantee the safety of such a performance in Pakistan, no matter how “closed” it was. Instead, the next sensational stunt soon came. But according to her herself, this was not planned:
The self-proclaimed “mullah” Krekar had already become a super celebrity as a Kurdish leader accused of terrorism in Norway. On this evening in April 2004, he was on stage at the Smuget nightclub in Oslo when Shabana Rehman stepped forward.
What weight does such a mullah really have? she wondered – and grabbed him around the hips and lifted his ham.
Krekar himself became enraged, and reported Rehman for physical abuse, after all she had caught him on the ass. The event went around the world, and a devastated Shabana was able to tell the New York Times itself:
– If a small woman like me can lift him, he cannot be dangerous.
But it became more dangerous:
The following year, 15 shots were fired with automatic weapons at the family restaurant Rehmans on Grünerløkka. No one was hurt, but Shabana was given police protection.
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One of the possible “explanations” for the attack was her recent “butt stunt” during the film festival in Haugesund that year. Here she rocked with the then Minister of Culture Valgerd Svarstad Haugland (KrF) on stage, in addition to showing her bum to the festival audience.
Some found it distasteful, but according to her herself, this was her most important performance: a protest against cultural and religious misogyny, in a context that describes in detail in the commentary article Butt Stunt Explained – Fear of The big, black ass.
For a period it became quieter around her:
She went to New York, and stayed away for a few years to acquire more formal knowledge at the American Comedy Institute. Back home in Norway, she found space for her other, great passion: animals. Both at home – with the Samoyed dogs Eckhart and Casper, and at work – as spokeswoman for the animal protection organization NOAH.
But soon it took the limelight again, for real:
In November 2017, the Born Free foundation saw the light of day, inspired by the then parliamentary representative Abid Raja – and with Shabana Rehman as day-to-day manager. One of the first big projects was the reopening of the traditional Stovner revue, together with Shabana’s old friend and comedian colleague Zahid Ali.
In the school revue, the advanced students at Stovner, primarily minority youths, spoke freely about themselves and others. To eleven wild cheers. Until the accusations of racism (!) appeared.
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The incident is important, despite the fact that the deputy speaker himself Kamzy Gunaratnam (Ap) was among the many who refuted the strange claims. It shows a bit of what Shabana Rehman had to fight against later, and which hardly a single Norwegian avoided getting with him:
Too soon, the anonymous accusations of accounting mess and waste of money in Født Fri also surfaced. An investigation report was ordered and, despite the conclusions being both contested and refuted, were the scandal of the decade in Norwegian administration soon a fact.
It is to Shabana Rehman’s credit that she did not become bitter about the Born Free dispute, despite the fact that she fought both hard and long to be cleared.
Instead, she joined Farmen Kjendis, and then the Freedom of Expression Commission.
And then she fell in love.
Pig farmer and musician Petter Simonsen at Østre Pavestad farm in Aurskog-Høland. A man with the same interest in organic farming and animal-friendly operations as herself, and who could also be tempted by a calm and idyllic life in the countryside.
Unfortunately, the cancer diagnosis came at about the same time.
And, as we all know, this was not a benign diagnosis. She had already been “written off” by the Norwegian healthcare system, in the sense that the Games had no good prognosis. But not even here did Shabana Rehman say stop:
She googled and found alternative treatment in Germany that could give hope. A friend started kronerrolling, and soon she was back at it as a columnist in Nettavisen. This time in the form of regular diary entries from the many rounds at the private treatment facility Medias Klinikum.
But she also spoke out for other media, so that she could give hope to more people.
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In August, she was awarded the prestigious Ossietzky Prize by Norwegian PEN, for exercising freedom of expression in a «creative and sensational way». When I visited her and Petter on the farm at the end of September, she was full of optimism. This should go well.
And it did:
In October, she stood on stage in Jacob’s Church in Oslo with her beloved Petter, who sang with his band while she talked to Alf van der Hagen about life and illness in a packed church room.
In November, she performed at the Kulturhuset in Oslo, at the actual presentation of the Ossietzky Prize. But not just that; she also fought her way to Kristiansand to take part in the conclusion of the Swedish Waste Commission – long after she should have put in the years according to Norwegian games.
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Where did she get the last cancers and months from? We can speculate on that if we want. It could be from the alternative treatment in Germany, it could be falling in love, or it could be sheer will – but it’s not that important.
The most important thing for Shabana, I think, is that she continued to be the Narrator for as long as possible. That she continued to talk about what occupied her, to be involved and give people hope and coherence, to talk about what was important to us and to her.
As a narrator, she was one of the greatest. For some it may be paradoxical, but Shabana Rehman with her Pakistani family background is one of those who have told us the most about what it means to be Norwegian.
Shabana Rehman spent her last Christmas and Christmas at Akershus University Hospital. There she was surrounded by her family and her partner until the end.
She leaves behind various traces and a significant cultural heritage, and not least a large group of friends and followers who have learned from her and been inspired by her.
Our thoughts today go to those who were closest to her.