Raymond M. Kristiansen (45) is a Norwegian who has a «glocal» scope to things; locally founded, and with a keen view on the global scale.
Raymond works as a Project Manager in a large organization in Norway, and in his spare time he writes, reads, and is involved in different projects in Norway or elsewhere.
Raymond has since 1998 when he started studying at the University of Bergen been involved in different arenas.
Raymond has several interest fields. One of the main ones has been to prevent the build-up of ghettos and parallell societies in Norway. In order for that to happen we need to have a more diverse population everywhere, we cannot have “black areas” where there is only white flight from that area, and likewise we cannot have a situation where Holmenkollen is merely for the traditionally ethnic Norwegians of white skin.
Having lived in or near Copenhagen for 10 years, including 1 year near Mjølnerparken, Raymond has a deep understanding for how destructive patterns can lead to all kinds of social problems.
As President of the Board of Vestli Skole, which is a primary school at the top of the Groruddal valley, Raymond worked every day in 2018-2019 to improve the situation for the 500+ students and their parents as well as the neighbouring area.
As part of his work to prevent the build-up of ghettos in Norway, Raymond was a member of the Committee who was chosen by the Ministry of Education in Norway on October 26th 2018 to work on writing a new Norwegian Public Report that was delivered as a so-called “NOU” on December 16th 2020. Here is a link to the press release from the Ministry about the creation of the Committee, and here is the link to the expert’s panel homepage. The final report, in Norwegian, is available here.
As of April 2023, Raymond is also involved in Engineers Without Borders in Norway and is leader of the expert group on IT and digitalization.
Raymond is eclectic and a generalist, and is not considering himself to be a master of any trade.
Contact: raymondmk@gmail.com / +47 90405425
Published texts by Raymond (mostly in Norwegian)
March 28, 2018: Den Nødvendige Foreldrestemmen
https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/i/zLbgQK/Kort-sagt_-onsdag-28-mars
May 3rd, 2018: Konsekvensen av en delt by (kronikk)
https://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/konsekvensen-av-en-delt-by/69764911
May 27, 2018: Tre forslag for en bedre Oslo-fremtid
May 31st 2018: Vi som bygger et nytt Norge (kronikk)
https://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/i/5Vzz6O/vi-som-bygger-et-nytt-norge
March 5th 2019: ‘Aktivt medforeldreskap må komme på moten’
https://akersposten.no/aktivt-medforeldreskap-ma-komme-pa-moten/19.3359
November 13th, 2019: “Ikke skyld på oss”
https://www.nrk.no/ytring/ikke-skyld-pa-oss-1.14779144
Texts about Raymond
2005: A story, originally published as a radio piece at PRI’s The World radio show in the US, about the way Raymond spear-headed the use of videoblogging in a political context in Norway during the 2005 parliamentary elections in Norway. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4229698.stm
2011: PC Mag made a story about how Raymond used the new Google+ social network in new ways during the tragedy of July 22nd 2011 in Norway where the homegrown terrorist Anders B. Breivik killed over 70 people. The story highlights how Raymond used available tools in a new manner and also how he is not really that interested in the fame itself, but rather in the experimenting with the medium. https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2389184,00.asp
2018: This news story in the Norwegian tabloid newspaper “VG” is about the public meeting that I co-hosted at Vestli square on April 13th 2018, the weekend after some youngsters threw snowballs at the police. The public meeting ended up having an attendance of about 60. https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/ngbBo5/foreldre-paa-stovner-vi-mener-at-en-grense-er-naadd
2018: This news story in the other main Norwegian tabloid newspaper “Dagbladet” is about another campaign that Raymond and others from the parent association of the Vestli school did
https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/jeg-reagerer-spontant-pa-forjaevliggjoringen/69761696
2020: This news story was on the front page of national newspaper Dagsavisen in Norway on Monday February 3rd 2020. It is about a fundraising campaign I started for 60 school children in Oslo who needs some support to make sure that Everyone in the classes going on a trip to the mountains have warm clothes. The campaign, which lastet a week, resulted in 135.000 NOK raised, and in addition 50.000 NOK more as sponsored clothes. For the children involved, this meant that they could be in the mountains for the week without freezing. In Norway, nature is a big part of the culture.
2020: Furing the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lack of tsrgeted information to different audiences in Oslo, the capital of Norway.
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Projects/engagements:
2015: OrgSigns: Website: www.orgsigns.net
2018: VestliFest – a community event at Vestli in Oslo, with 1400 guests during the day.
2018: Vestli.Life – a magazine for parents at Vestli school.
2020: February: Mortensrud School fundraiser. Raised a total of 135.000 NOK and winter clothes for about 50.000 more during a 1 week project; link to Fundraiser, link to national news story (was a front page news story on February 3rd).
2020: April: #OmdelingsDugnad. A project to share information from the authorities about COVID-19 and the importance of keeping social distance, washing hands etc. This campaign distributed about 6000 posters in different languages in different parts of Oslo. We had a total of 40 volunteers. News story: https://vartoslo.no/a/227665. The project lasted for 10 days.
2020: July: Preparation for the August 2nd 2020 Yazidi Open House in Oslo.
2023: Got involved in Engineers Without Borders in Norway as a volunteer.