Aslak Sira Myhre (born 28 May 1973 in Stavanger) is a Norwegian culture administrator. Since 2014 he is director of the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened ...

. Myhre has been a leftwing politician, and was for a period leader of the former party

Red Electoral Alliance Red Electoral Alliance ( nb, Rød Valgallianse, nn, Raud Valallianse, RV) was an alliance of far-left groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote revolutionary socialism ideals into the Norwegian parliament. The party dissolved itse ...

(RV). In the local election in Oslo in 2015 he was listed for

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, the party succeeding

since 2007, however not on top, and he did not get a seat. Myhre's parents were both active on the political left and his father Eldar Myhre is a known trade union chairman at

Aker Kværner Aker may refer to: Places * Aker, Norway, a geographic area in Oslo and a former municipality in Norway * Vestre Aker, a district of Oslo within former Aker municipality * Nordre Aker, a district of Oslo within former Aker municipality * Aker Br ...

. Aslak was very active in student demonstrations at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

during the 1990s and sat on the university board in 1996. He was the party leader of Red Electoral Alliance between 1997 and 2003, and sat in the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in his home city Stavanger between 1999 and 2003. He was the top candidate for Storting for Rogaland in the 1997 election and

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

in the 2001 election, but his party failed to win any seats. Leaving national politics, he became an executive of !Les, an association to stimulate children and youth to read more. Myhre has also worked as a football journalist for both the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and ''

Klassekampen ''Klassekampen'' ( en, The Class Struggle) is a Norwegian daily newspaper. It describes itself as "the newspaper of the Left." The paper's net circulation is 34,000 (2021), and it has around 111,000 daily readers on paper (160,000 on Saturdays). ...

''. In 2006 he started as director for the House of Literature in Oslo. The House of Literature opened in 2007, it is Europes largest and has more than 250.000 visitors annually. In 2014 he was appointed director of the National Library. For his work with !les and The House of Literature, Myhre in 2008 received "Eckbos legaters Kulturpris". Myhre has published several books, and has published articles in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' in the aftermath of the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

.Myhre, Aslak Sira, ''The Guardian'' (24 July 2011)
Norway attacks: Norway's tragedy must shake Europe into acting on extremism
/ref>Myhre, Aslak Sira, ''The Guardian'' (30 November 2011)
Anders Breivik's hatred does not come from a delusional mind
/ref> He is married to current editor-in-chief of '' Samtiden'', Cathrine Sandnes.

Controversy

He was in 2002 convicted to 90 days in prison for failing to report for national

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

service. On appeal in 2003 his sentence was made suspended on probation. His case was controversial since Myhre had only political objection to serve national service due to Norwegian participation in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

's out of area involvement and his refusal to classify himself as having objections to serve military national service. His objections were neither religious, moral nor ethical, which are the legal requirements for being granted civilian national service under Norwegian National Service laws.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myhre, Aslak Sira 1973 births Living people Red Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Stavanger Leaders of political parties in Norway University of Bergen alumni Directors of government agencies of Norway