The key back to society

Selling ‘=Oslo,’ the still very new magazine whose revenue goes half-n-half to the vendors and back into production of more issues, has changed the lives of the vendors. It has given me a reason to get up, said vendor 018 Dagfrid Fosen, normally to be found outside the shopping mall CCVest, in honour of Vibeke Omberg, the initiator and editor, on the event of Omberg receiving the Norwegian Amnesty Award 2005 earlier this week. (16-NOV-05)

From the moment the first issue of ‘=Oslo’ came on sale 28 June, citizens of Oslo have noticed that the street scene has been radically different from what it used to be. 300 of Oslo’s homeless, previously ignored by the rest of the city’s population, became visible, now standing up with a good-looking, hard-hitting magazine in hand. In recognition of this, Omberg, (left, with vendor 018 Fosen, photo: Amnesty), has been selected this year’s Amnesty International Human Rights Award Laureate for giving homeless and others falling outside society a new dignity and for her contribution to strengthen attitudes of equality and human worth.

-Without the vendors, this wouldn’t have worked
-The name of the magazine signifies exactly this equality, said Omberg, (right, with Secretary General Petter Eide of Amnesty International, photo: Vidar Ruud, ANB), in her speech at the Human Rights House on Wednesday. -‘=Oslo’ is a help for self-help initiative, and I’m somewhat embarrassed that the prize is awarded in my name. Without the vendors, this wouldn’t have worked, Omberg insists, while issue #4 continues the record selling habit established by its thre predecessors. -With the first issue, we made a first print-run of 10.000, but ended up selling about 70.000. Sinc then, we have sold 50.000 to 70.000 of all our issues.

-Make the invisible among us visible
The idea of a street paper, sold by the people already living on the streets, is not new. In fact, the International Network of Street Papers has members in 28 countries, but Omerg has no ambition to copy some of ‘=Oslo’s most famous forerunners.  ‘-The Big Issue’ in Great Britain sells well,  but it is very celebrity focused. We would rather make the invisible among us visible, a policy made practice more evidently than ever in the current issue where 61 of the issue’s 84 pages is dedicated to a portrait gallery of those producing and selling ‘=Oslo,’ including even the dog Inka.  

-Look at me
Among the vendors present was also Rikke Eriksen, who, in addition to selling ‘=Oslo’ also writes for the magazine. With her permission, www.humanrightshouse.org publishes a translated version of her poem ‘Look at me’:

Look at me
behind empty eyes
and hollow laughter
behind a fac of stone
and corpse-coloured skin.

Within clenched teeth
and a dying body
within dazed thoughts
and the silent cries of night.

Look at me
behind the sharpe needle
and the many injections
behind the false pleasures
and my acknowledgement of loss.

Look at my ruined life
look at me
the road to here doesn’t have to be long
it could just as well have been you!

-Now possible to plan for the future
-Selling ‘=Oslo’ has been my key back to society, explains vendor 018 Fosen. And Amnesty International Norwegian Section’s Secretary General Petter Eide explains the selection of Omberg even further: -Beggars and drug addicts now face the citizens of Oslo with a new dignity in their eyes and an income which makes it possible to begin planning for the future. The jury for the Award is of the opinion that Omberg’s work is extraordinary, visionary and creative.