Tears, despair, mistrust and power struggles. Accusations of threats, lies, revenge and coups. The inner life of the Labor Party’s largest and most powerful local team laid out for the open stage is like a dreary and unrealistic episode of the drama stage Makta. A local team manager who needs to be supported after being thrown against his will. While the deputy leader resigns in protest and demands an investigation. And Trond Giske sings behind. The only thing missing was a hippopotamus in the room. Déjà vu In return, someone had set up a popcorn machine outside the venue. If it weren’t for the fact that this looks like a repeat of last year’s annual meeting in Trondheim Ap, it’s almost like you can’t believe what you’re seeing. Last year, the appointed leader candidate Jørn Arve Flått was wrecked in the run-up to the annual meeting. Gunn Elin Høgli, who had the great Nidaros Social Democratic Forum behind him, came in as leader. The Giske-led local team has a majority in Trondheim Ap. In reality, they also have all the power if they choose to use it. And they do. But the collaboration between Giske and Høgli was strained. Høgli believes it is because she supported an AUF, while Giske believes she has not done a good enough job of lifting the party. Only days before the annual meeting, there was a motion of no confidence against Høgli from Østbyen Ap. Nidaros again chose to use his power to support the publisher, and an openly disappointed Høgli left the annual meeting. But before she left, she chose to tell from the pulpit about threats from Giske and the election committee’s leader Eva Kristin Hansen. They both believe that Høgli is not telling the truth. Before she left the hall, outgoing leader Gunn Elin Høgli had a sharp confrontation with Trond Giske. It obviously did not impress the majority. Photo: Bjarte M. Johannesen / news Although Høgli’s settlement made a significant impression on the majority. Nidaros favorite Pål Sture Nilsen came in as the new leader. And indeed, Giske himself stepped in as deputy chair thanks to a bench proposal on the eve of the meeting. Also a repeat of what happened when Giske suddenly became deputy to the board on the eve of last year’s annual meeting. A two-part party The annual meeting was a demonstration of power from Trond Giske. He has all the power in Trondheim Ap and gets what he wants. At the same time, criticism against him is growing, and it is being brought out in the open to a greater extent. There has not been a lack of critical voices in the past either, but with few exceptions it has been reserved for nooks and crannies and buckets. Before this weekend’s annual meeting, four of the full-time politicians at the town hall have openly criticized Trond Giske’s role in the media. Many people wonder what is the point of being active in Trondheim Ap, when in reality it is Giske who decides everything. This is partly due to a generational change in Trondheim Ap. Several of the new full-time politicians are not part of the old alliances and conflicts which at times have been a strength, but increasingly a scourge for the powerful and myth-wrapped local team. In reality, it now looks like two parties. A grass-roots Giske party that has a majority and a town hall-run party that has Ap central at its back. Party secretary Kjersti Stenseng strongly encouraged the party to gather. This can hardly be a pleasant experience for new members, she told the annual meeting. If nothing else, they agree on one thing: Trondheim Ap has become its own worst enemy. Who the enemy is is disputed. Party secretary Kjersti Stenseng strongly encouraged the local team to gather. Group leader Emil Raaen documents the historic annual meeting. Photo: Bjarte M. Johannesen / Bjarte Johannesen/news But when the criticism grows and the local party leaders protest, how can Giske become increasingly powerful? The answer lies in the fact that he has managed something that they have not. The miracle in Nidaros After being robbed of all power and honor in the party, he has created his own position of power with two empty hands and a determination that should have been researched. From nothing, he has built up Norway’s largest local team, well helped by rhetorical skills and his good nose for what catches the grassroots in social democracy. The fact that Ap himself is struggling to find a way out of the quagmire has made the job easier for him. Although there is a long line of people who want to label the 4,482 members of Nidaro’s Social Democratic Forum as Giske’s useful idiots, he can point to a hyperactive party team where they discuss politics, organize festivals, actively educate their members, go on trips, eat waffles and obviously having a good time together. The fact that the local team engages many people who are outside the working world should deserve a star in the margin for a party like Ap. If it had been anyone other than Trond Giske who had created Nidaros, that person would have been praised on Youngstorget and sent around to school the rest of the country in organisation-building. His book “Worth fighting for”, which the party leaders do not want to touch with tongs, would be a bible. But precisely because it is Trond Giske, the local team is looked down upon and the motives made suspect. Hardly without reason. A long-anticipated comeback? Most people now seem certain that Giske is aiming for a seat in the Storting, and that the way is open for a comeback in national politics. Many believe the party needs a politician like him. While others have less noble motives for wishing him a parliamentary seat. Now those in Oslo can have to deal with him, sighs in the corners of Trondheim. Because there will be no peace until we get rid of Trond Giske, it is said now. Many have spoken those words before. Meanwhile, there is a perpetual stream of politicians who come and go. But Trond Giske remains.
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Trond Giske is becoming increasingly powerful. And increasingly friendless – Speech
