Kamzy Gunaratnam

Kamzy Gunaratnam (born Khamshajiny Gunaratnam, Tamil: கம்சாயினி குணரத்தினம் (''Kamcāyiņi Kuṇarattiņam'') in Jaffna, Sri Lanka on 27 March 1988) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She served as Oslo’s deputy mayor from 2015 to 2021.Varaordfører 'Khamshajiny Gunaratnam
Oslo's official website Gunaratnam was nominated in second place on the Labour Party's general election list for Oslo, in the 2021 parliamentary elections for the Storting, which she won.

Politics

Gunaratnam was elected as a representative to Oslo City Council for the first time in 2007, she was a deputy member of the Storting (2013-2017) and took office as the deputy mayor of Oslo on 21 October 2015. She is a member of the Labour Party, who represent a progressive, social democratic political approach. In Workers' Youth League (AUF) she has had both local and central key positions and has been editor of the nationwide membership magazine, Praksis

During an interview with Guardian journalist Lauren Razavi two months after she was elected, Gunaratnam described her political approach: "The only way we can move society forward is by disagreeing, discussing and coming up with new solutions to the problem we're facing. We need as many people as possible to be involved to realise the best solutions for our city and our country. In 10 or even 100 years, we have to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and tell our children and grandchildren that we took these decisions and we're proud to have done what we've done."

Gunaratnam is known for her work for wide tolerance of different ethnical backgrounds, political opinions and religious faiths. Nevertheless, she is also known as an opponent of polarizing online hate speech, which she also herself has been exposed to.

On 18 March 2023, she announced that she was resigning from her position in the Oslo Labour Party during the party's annual meeting. She reasoned decision with a need for renewal within the leadership. At the same she expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership being predominantly white, using the racial slur "blendahvit" when describing the leadership.

Response to European refugee crisis

Speaking to Guardian journalist Lauren Razavi in December 2015, Gunaratnam said: "I believe every country should take their responsibility. There was a time when Norwegian people flew over the Atlantic to the US because of the situation in Norway. Today people see Norway as a great place to be, and we should feel honoured by that."

Background

Gunaratnam was born in Sri Lanka and came to Norway as a refugee when she was three years old. Her parents were Tamil refugees who worked in the fishing industry in the north of Norway, though they relocated to Oslo a few years after arriving in the country so that Gunaratnam and her brother could go to a Tamil school.

After joining the Tamil Youth Organisation in Oslo, Gunaratnam met governing mayor Raymond Johansen who encouraged her to get involved with politics, which she did. She was subsequently banned from returning to Sri Lanka as a result of her engagement with politics in Norway. She later studied social geography at the University of Oslo. She officially took over the first name ''Kamzy'' in October 2018, a name she has for long been known as in Norway.

2011 Norway attacks

On 22 July 2011, when Gunaratnam was aged 23, she attended a Workers' Youth League Camp on the island of Utøya, where Anders Behring Breivik committed a massacre that killed 69 people. Gunaratnam swam 500 metres across the Tyrifjorden Lake to survive as bullets struck the water around her. Breivik was later, as one of the many charges, found guilty and sentenced for her attempted murder.- Jeg tror mange føler at vi først og fremst er politikere, ikke ofre
''Dagbladet'' 4 July 2013

References

External links

The Deputy Mayor
official website of the city of Oslo

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunaratnam, Khamshajiny
1988 births
Survivors of the 2011 Norway attacks
21st-century Norwegian women politicians
21st-century Norwegian politicians
Living people
Labour Party (Norway) politicians
Norwegian city councillors
Women local politicians
People from Jaffna
Politicians from Oslo
Refugees in Norway
Sri Lankan Tamil emigrants to Norway
Tamil politicians
Sri Lankan Tamil women
Survivors of terrorist attacks
University of Oslo alumni
Women members of the Storting