Martin Kolberg on the drama that made him sick for five months

TRANBY (Dagbladet): – It was dramatic. Symptoms could indicate a stroke. But in one day, doctors discovered that there was a virus in the balance nerve. I’m in full swing now, but I’m a little behind. I mean I’m 90 percent healthy, the Labor veteran tells Dagbladet.

It was on December 18 of last year when it happened. He had spent the night in a hotel in the center of Oslo. It felt bad. He thought it best to get to the Storting. There he would get help, he knew. And maybe he would recover, if he could just sit in the office.

Now Støre has to argue

Dramatically

It is only a few minutes walk between the hotel and the Storting, but it was demanding enough to get there.

– When I got to the office, I collapsed. Really collapsed. I vomited and couldn’t stand up. Symptoms could indicate a stroke. Therefore, he was in a hurry to get to the stroke ward at Ullevål hospital. They quickly discovered that it was not a stroke, but a virus in the balance nerve. But it was a dramatic situation at the time, says Kolberg, who praises the emergency center at the Storting and the hospital doctors for their quick and effective help.

In addition to the viral disorder, Kolberg was struck by a colon infection this winter, prompting further hospitalizations. Just two weeks before the Storting took a summer vacation, he was back.

You are not 100 percent free from viral disease.

– For example, I can cross Torggata, where the stone slabs form a grid. So I have to stop and catch up. The brain does not manage the adjustment. It’s a bit like getting up in an unsteady rowboat, explains Kolberg.

Warns against the tax bomb

Last year at the Storting

Yesterday he was, for the last time, present during the solemn inauguration of the Storting. Because Kolberg has refused to be re-elected to the Storting. That decision has nothing to do with the disease, says Kolberg, but is the result of considerations over time.

LOSS OF SELF CONFIDENCE:
Martin Kolberg is concerned about the bad polls and says that the Labor Party lost some confidence in itself after the 2017 elections. – But I think we have reason to say that we are right, says Kolberg. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
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– I have lived in politics and in the party since 1967. What has made it possible is an internal engine, a commitment to a fair development of society and the good conditions of workers. I still have that commitment. But you get to a point where people like me have to drop the part that is about being “online”, having a permanent place and a position of great importance. The force of experience is the common thread of the story. But experience can also make you regress, that is, think too much backwards and not be aware of the development of society. All generations must create their own work. I came to the conclusion that it was now right to give up the Storting seat and let others go, says Kolberg.

But it is sad to embark on his final year as a parliamentary representative, he admits.

– Of course it is melancholic, and a bit solemn. But I don’t think about it with pity. You have to live in the future, that applies to me, to the party, to politics, says Kolberg.

At the same time, just a week after Trøndelag Ap’s dramatic and enlightening annual meeting, Kolberg was, without drama or press coverage, re-elected Buskerud Ap county leader. It probably means an election campaign for the party he has served all of. his life.

Low self-esteem

– What is the reason why the Labor Party fails to rise in the polls?

– First I would like to say that I am concerned about the situation. My analysis is that for too long we have not been clear enough about the opposition and about basic social democratic values. Social Democratic clarity is a prerequisite to being able to say something about the right wing, but also very necessary to mobilize the voters themselves. I believe that the draft program that has now been presented is a good and important step in the right direction. It is a clear social democratic program that points to the differences between the right and the left in Norwegian politics.

– So you think Labor is better prepared than in 2017?

-Yes. I support what Jonas says. We got too lazy in 2017, both on show and in political practice, and we didn’t push the dividing lines to the right well enough. I’ve said it before: a social democratic party should never put tactics before politics. We must mobilize our people on a social democratic basis.

– But now it’s been a while since 2017, why hasn’t the Labor Party increased support?

– After 2017, we lost some confidence in ourselves. I think we have reason to say that we are right. During the crown crisis, Erna Solberg has had to use state power for business and the market to survive, and this shows that a social democratic understanding of society is a prerequisite for society to move. What would a right-wing government have had to face if we had not had the oil fund? Now, it is not the case that the Conservatives were against the establishment of the Oil Fund, but they were against much of the oil policy that created the basis of the Oil Fund. Because they thought the state’s share should be much less, says Kolberg, continuing:

– The differences are increasing

– If the conservatives had been allowed to carry out all the privatizations of health as they wanted, we would have found ourselves in a completely different place when facing the crisis. We depend on a strong state that can maintain the integrity of society and take care of the weakest, says Kolberg, who has now spoken enthusiastically.

– Conservatives are not stupid, but they are conservatives! The project of the modern Conservative Party is not to decisively challenge the community, because they do not dare, he says.

Kolberg continues:

– But they do it point by point, through a skewed distribution of value creation, cutting consistently and completely incomprehensible to those who sit at the bottom of the table, who give money to those who are at the top . The Statistics Norway report now shows how inequalities are increasing. Completely unnecessary. Conservatives believe that if it goes well at the top, then it flows down. If it rains on the priest, it drips on the hood. But that’s not the case, says Kolberg. The Labor Party must present this message with more confidence, he believes.

Urgent with red-green

– In an interview last year in connection with his 70th birthday, he said that it is urgent that the Labor Party build a new red-green project. How are you?

– The Labor Party has the ambition to be the unifying force of the left in politics. But we must be clear that we want to establish a red-green government. How and when did I leave it to the party leadership. When it comes to the MDGs, it is not relevant with government cooperation, but we must understand that the environmental movement is here to stay. It’s a popular movement, says Kolberg.

– Everything we have defended can be lost

He believes that the development of the red-green collaboration in 2005 is the most important thing he has contributed to.

– Hopefully, if there’s anything left after Martin, it’s the red-green project. Several worked for this and I had my role. I was the party secretary and supported him in the party, says Kolberg.

– Caricatures

The recently elected deputy leader of the Conservatives, Tina Bru, believes that Martin Kolberg draws pure caricatures of the party through his statements to Dagbladet:

– Cartoons are far from reality. They describe a conservative who does not exist. Letting people choose a private kindergarten or healthcare at the expense of the public sector does not challenge the welfare society, it develops and improves it. It contributes to greater innovation, quality and freedom of choice, says Bru in a comment on Kolberg’s ointments.

– Conservatives in government have consistently targeted skilled employees in school, health and police, and we have also wanted Norwegian companies to have competitive conditions so that people have a job to go to, he continues.

Honest book

Together with Dagsavisen commentator Hege Ulstein, he is now working on his memoirs.

– You have promised that the book will not be published before the elections. Does that mean you have gunpowder?

– I have made the decision that if you are going to write a book, it must be an honest book. If not, here’s a new product just for me or my audience! Then it will be an honest book, says Kolberg.