marshtide | Entries tagged with politics

Hi everyone, I know I never write. I am pretty terrible at this whole journal thing just now apparently. But I just wanted to drop you some important links.

BASICALLY, that forced sterilisation law that I talked so much about all last year? Not going anywhere, apparently, despite the fact that basically everyone except for the Christian Democrats has said it needs to be gone. Because you know, we can't upset the Christian Democrats! We are apparently cool with continuing to sterilise people against their will before we will let them change their legal gender in order to not upset the Christian Democrats!

Here is a petition you can sign.

Here is info about a demonstration that will be taking place on wednesday (info in Swedish) and here is an english translation of that information.

”Kampen för rättvisa har också historiskt varit en stark drivkraft för rösträtt, mot apartheid, för jämställdhet, mot diskriminering och för rättsstat. För Moderaterna är rättviseperspektivet ständigt närvarande.”

Oh god, I have to go either cry or laugh until I cry now. Either way this merits tears.

Tr:

"The fight for justice has also from a historical perspective been a strong driving force for the right to vote, against apartheid, for equality against discrimination and for the constitutional state. For the Moderate party the perspective of justice is a constant presence."

OK, that's a horrible translation, but the original quote is also pretty horrible. *eyes it* I.. no really, that's just badly constructed. I refuse to take the time to do a nice translation of something so crap. Anyway, uh... guys? Remember how you voted against universal suffrage? And against sanctions when Sweden was considering its stance on apartheid? And against basically everything except lowered taxes, actually?

OH RIGHT, details like that are just the Social Democrats coming with silly, irrelevant questions about history! Like we should care about history! Haha!

(Whole article @ DN)

- Ulf Lundell var på Babel igår. HUR kan han vara så tråkig och samtidigt så provocerande? -_- Och nästa vecka blir det fler tråkgubbar - Franzen och Umberto Eco. Jösses. NÄSTA TORSDAG ÄR INSTÄLLD P.G.A. GUBBÖVERSKOTT.

- Kulturgrammatik börjar småirritera mig. Författaren ska vara så jävla förstående och förklara precis allt om kulturella skillnader men verkar ändå har visa... döda vinklar, så att säga... som han är helt omedveten om. Han skriver t.o.m. om en kvinna som på en av hans föreläsningar försökte påpeka en sådan. Han tyckte ju att hon var lite dum. Sorry to say, gubbe, men det ÄR möjligt att kvinnor kan ha lite bättre kol på könsdiskriminering än vad du gör.

- Nu vill jag sjunga dig milda sånger verka i alla fall vara en bättre bok än grabben i graven bredvid, MEN. Det känns ganska underredigerad. Jag vill ta en röd penna till det och kryssa ut typ minst ett stycke onödig beskrivning i varje kort kapitel, och det upprepar sig själv ganska mycket, och människor pratar på något jävla konstigt sätt som ibland känns helt orealistisk. Alltså... människor i böcker pratar inte som människor i verkligheten, och det är helt OK, men det ska vara en stiliserad avbildning som känns i alla fall trovärdigt, va, eller som funkar på något annat sätt som del av bokens stil. Ehh... ja, det som jag ville säga var att det är sällan ett bra tecken när man känner att man redigerar en bok som man läser.

- Alliansen jag hatar er. Ja jag vet, vilken överraskning. Men! liksom! Alliansen smygavskaffade mål om delad föräldraledighet. -__________________- Visst kan man bli trött på hela grejen med föräldraledighet som Enda Stora Jämställdhets Mål, men inte för att det är en dålig grej i sig - snarare för att fler saker behövs utöver detta, och för att jämställdhetsdebatten som det ser ut i riksdagen är så jävla hetero. (Fast det är tillsyntes inte längre någon pågående debatt överhuvudtaget.)

I alla fall. Man får inte bestämma hur folk ska leva sina liv, eftersom man är liberal, säger jämställdhetsministern. Det vill säga, man får inte FÖRUTOM NÄR MAN FÅR, alltså, när det är en grej som vi tycker om går det jättebra! :D Liksom, det är helt OK att bestämma hur transpersoner och invandrare ska leva, men man får inte ens ha åsikter om att det kanske vore bra om kvinnan i ett heteroförhållande inte förväntades ta hand om barnen ensam. Nej. Det vore att ingripa i folks liv och inskränka dem. MAN FÅR HA FRITT VAL! JA! MAN BEHÖVER VÄL INTE JOBBA MED FOLKS ÅSIKTER ELLER STIFTA LAGAR FÖR ATT NÅ ETT JÄMSTÄLLT SAMHÄLLE, DET KOMMER UTAN ATT MAN GÖR NÅGOT ALLS. DET ÄR TYP TROLLERI VET DU VÄL. :D

Alliansens liberal"feminism", what the hell.

- Ja förlåt mitt svenska är säkert helt obegripligt idag, jag känner mig fortfarande ganska förkyld och jättetrött och jag sitter här och skriva inlägg istället för att läsa Kulturgrammatik. Suck. XD

Oh god. A brand of sweets is changing its packaging because it had one of those blatantly offensive asian stereotype things going on. NOW A DEBATE PROGRAMME ON SVT IS HAVING A THING ABOUT IT. WHY. HOW IS THIS EVEN A THING. THEY HAVE ASKED THE SWEDISH PUBLIC WHAT THEY THINK. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR WHAT THE SWEDISH PUBLIC THINK BECAUSE I HAVE A HORRIBLE SUSPICION I KNOW AND IT WILL MAKE ME SCREAM. ALSO SINCE WHEN WAS DECIDING WHAT IS AND ISN'T RACIST A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS FOR THE MOSTLY WHITE POPULACE TO HAVE AT.

Wow sorry that was a lot of caps.

But I have... feelings.

(Also in news on a completely different axis of fuckery one of the resource books we're using for both the written and spoken parts of the course & which mostly contains articles and vocabulary practice and things like that, contains an article about LGBT - ok, no, I'm being too generous, they were only talking about the L and the G - parents and their families. Because you know, equal adoption rights, ability to build a family in a variety of different ways, still limitations, it's a thing. The article was fine as far as it went, mostly an interview with a lesbian couple with small kids. But! It came with a debate question! Those are always so much fun. I love it when people debate my rights! Just LOVE it! Especially when the question is phrased like, IS SOCIETY READY FOR THESE KINDS OF FAMILIES? DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE BAD FOR THE CHILDREN? ....hey kristdemokraterna is it you sneaking around back there?

We didn't get around to the discussion in the lesson it was scheduled for, but I will be wearing my most homosexual t-shirts until further notice.)

Sergels Torg, the central square in stockholm, full of people. Really, really full of people.

[image: a crowd fills Sergels torg, central Stockholm, and sits on & against the walls and railings surrounding it.]

We spent today in Stockholm, running errands. In the evening there was a manifestation (I have no idea what to call this in English, watch my grasp of the language drain away) in the city centre to both remember the victims of the terror attack in Norway and to promote political openness. We didn't stay the whole course, because J was with us and super-tired, but we were there a while. The atmosphere was good. See above.

I'm glad we went.

Then Valborg went online. Oh no. Now people On The Internets, I gather, are saying it was TOO POLITICAL OMG.

It was organised by the social democrats' youth group, that is to say, the partner organisation to the one targeted in Norway.

This was an explicitly political attack. The majority of the victims were explicitly interested in politics. How the hell is it inappropriate to bring in politics? It seems deeply appropriate to me to keep talking about the things that these kids were interested in and working for. The alternative would seem far less appropriate.

By the way, Jonas Gardell said something that we've been thinking: that the thing to do in this situation is to be political. Support groups that help immigrants. Support groups that protect human rights. Support religious freedom and gender equality and queer movements and what the hell ever else makes the world a better place; examples in question picked because of arsehole responsible for the terrorist attacks' particular dislike for them.

Also, the "He Did It Because Of Computer Games" brigade have now deemed it safe to come out of the woodwork. Ugh.

I am so ready for Pride, by the way. We are going to have a party. And also go to seminars about racism and islamophobia. Take that, you fucking bastard.

(On which note, revised schedule to come tomorrow. Along with questions about food preferences etc.)

O Norway. :( I am thinking of you guys. Much love.

By the way, for those of you I've been wailing to about the entire series of horrible assumptions about the culprit of the crimes, Swedish media is finally getting its act together and moving away from treating this as some kind of lunatic who came from nowhere and examining context. We're also admitting that this was explicitly political. (It is admittedly pretty impossible to deny at this stage.)

For example:

In SvD Tötte Löfström writes,

Risken är nämligen stor att vi i våra huvuden avfärdar det hela som en galen människas verk och därmed möjliggör fler, liknande dåd i framtiden.

Tr:

There is a great risk of writing the whole thing off as the work of a madman in our minds and so making possible more crimes of the same kind in the future.

In Expressen Ann-Charlotte Marteus writes,

Kent Ekeroth är inte heller ensam om att överge politiskt och kollektivistiskt språkbruk och övergå till individuellt och psykologiskt, när han får veta att gärningsmannen är norrman. "Galning", "vansinnesdåd", "ensamvarg" och "tragedi" var mycket vanligare ord i går, än "terrorist", "terrordåd" och "extremism".
Om Anders Behring Breivik visar sig vara skyldig, och utan medhjälpare, kommer det bli frestande att börja kalla honom ensamvarg, en särling, och ge honom en psykiatrisk diagnos. Han kan bli en sorts norsk motsvarighet till den misstänkte svenske seriemördaren Peter Mangs.
Den strategin har sina fördelar. Genom att använda medikalisering kan samhället slå sig till ro med slutsatsen att "ensamvargen" är en sjuk ö i en frisk kultur, inte ett symptom på problematiska drag i själva kulturen.

tr:

Kent Ekeroth* isn't alone in abandoning political and collective language and going over to individual and psychological when he realises that the culprit is Norwegian. "Madman," "act of lunacy," "lone wolf" and "tragedy" were much more common words yesterday than "terrorist" "act of terrorism" and "extremism."
If Anders Behring Breivik turns out to be guilty and without helpers it will be tempting to call him a lone wolf, a nutter, and give him a psychiatric diagnosis. He can become a kind of Norwegian equivalent to the suspected Swedish serial killer Peter Mangs.
This strategy has its advantages. Through use of medicalisation society can comfort itself with the conclusion that "the lone wolf" is a sick island in a healthy society, not a symptom of a problematic movement in the culture itself.

Uh-huh.

* Kent Ekeroth is a member of Sverigedemokraterna who spent Friday night talking with particular glee on twitter about who he thought was behind the whole thing and sending HAHAHA TALK YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE to muslims. Class act, truly.

SVT has also broadcast some good interviews from Norwegian TV, but since it was on TV I can't quote you.

In DN someone writes that we win by talking and looking honestly at what's going on in our society and by being politically active. We don't win by saying it was pure madness with no explanation and allowing ourselves to dismiss it.

But I'm done for today. I have a horrible cold. I've mostly been sleeping. Time to go find some easy reading.

In the middle of march my older cousin got married in Edinburgh. I made it there on crutches and dosed up on the strongest medication that the healthcare system can provide outside of a hospital, and I was glad I did, because the ceremony was lovely and I got to see some of my favourite family members (I don't have a close relationship with very many people in my family at all).

Only one less than wonderful thing happened, and I have a feeling that I should just be letting it go, but you guys, it just keeps playing back in my head.

I'm not very good at not getting angry.

We were sat on a table with some distant relatives of the groom's, i.e. no-one I'd ever met before, and my brother. We made small talk fairly successfully. They weren't that far away from us in age and viewed themselves as liberal, open-minded people - we had been placed thoughtfully, basically, and well away from any stuffy uncles who might feel the need to make loud jokes about lesbians once they'd had a drink or two.

But then, like idiots, we got into a conversation about politics.

(Cue the threatening music.)

Gay marriage went ok, although there was a fair amount of "people like you" going on.
We could all agree that European immigration politics are fucked.
But then! Then!

Then we talked about spending cuts.

Well, said the guy who was most politically interested, I don't think they're very bad. It'll be fine.

They mostly affect people who're already worse off, though, I pointed out (possibly less coherently than this, I admit). Women, immigrants, single parents, the disabled, the unemployed, people from working class backgrounds.

Oh, he said, but you shouldn't listen to the statistics on that, he said. They're so politicised.

The thing is, he said, people get used to having things. They get used to being entitled to benefits. They get entitled. That doesn't mean they are entitled to everything they want.

BUT, I said, and probably fortunately for all, we got cut off at that point by someone standing up to give a speech. The conversation was not resumed and no fight broke out in the middle of what was otherwise a lovely wedding.

But I keep thinking BUT, damn it.

Let's translate this position of his into the reality that people are dealing with.

It goes something like, The thing is, people get used to being able to eat. They get used to being entitled to a home and to not starving because they can't work. They get all entitled about it not being legal to treat them as less human than anyone else. That doesn't mean they have the right to actually be treated like people...

One day I will learn to just not engage.

I am vaguely hoping that now I have written this out I'll be able to stop thinking about it! WE'LL SEE. ;;

................................................

...I mean not that it's really surprising given the general direction of Europe at the moment and the fact that it's David Cameron. But.

ALTERNATIVELY: David Cameron's failure to behave decently creates discomfort AND MASSIVE SUFFERING.

This was news at the weekend but I'm still headdesking: Basically, the people in charge of schools wanted all the major religions to be covered equally in religious education classes but the government has overruled them and said that Christianity is Totally Most Important, so, you know, fuck equality.

Amazing.

I shall be over here with the cat. We will be practicing our looks of hatred and distaste.

He's better at it than me though.

How sick am I of politics now? I am this sick.

Every day is a new barrel of laughs, basically!

On the one hand, Sverigedemokraterna want us to believe that they are tragic victims (most of them being members of that well known oppressed minority group, straight white men) and that When They Are Dead We Will All Be Sorry (because they are absolutely all going to get murdered by hateful foreigners any moment now). Also it will be all the fault of the press for their terrible hate campaign.

On the other hand, everyone else is in hysterics about SD and a lot of people seem to be painting this picture of them which is worse than they really are. They're terrible people but they don't, in total honesty, have to be more than the local idiots if everyone else in parliament can just get their act together and stop acting like the end is nigh. They don't have decent policies, they don't make sense, and while it may be a frustrating idea for the alliance that sometimes they might vote with the opposition it wouldn't actually be a catastrophe for the country that would send us spiraling into chaos. If no-one is co-operating with them or taking up their policies, they do not actually have the power to steer the country in their chosen direction - they just get to pick between the viewpoints of two blocs which are, on the whole, considered socially acceptable and non-extreme.* And no-one can do anything about that, and no-one has a "responsibility"** to change their actions because SD might choose to vote with them, and actually, that is a fucking dangerous idea, so you know, fuck you, Frederik Reinfeldt.

Anyway, one of the dangers here actually is that you say that SD are the most evil people ever - and then the reality actually ends up looking kind of OK in comparison, and they get to say they're being demonised. Treating them in a way that could actually make them look more sympathetic to people who are sitting on the fence about the whole thing? Great idea. You know, you can point out the things they say that are wrong and damaging and racist or sexist or otherwise horrible. You can counter those points. You can maybe try to be adults about it too. I'm pretty sick of the hair-pulling and name-calling now TBH. I know they love to play that game but you needn't keep on joining in. That is giving them power.

* my feelings of deep distaste for KD and the "insane communist extremists" school of thought about Vänster aside. (By the way, Lars Ohly is about the only person who has occasionally said things that haven't made me want to throw the radio/TV/newspaper out the window lately. What's with that?)

** Also if I hear the word "responsibility" from a politician one more time I will scream. Everyone is taking responsibility or is demanding that someone else take responsibility or.

(från igårs Svenska Dagbladet.)

Bugger. Both for the kommun vote - really, my kommun? really? after that much corruption you decided what Moderaterna needed was to become the biggest individual party in the area? - and for the national vote, where no-one has a majority and Sverigedemokraterna have got their disgusting little paws into the Riksdag. With 5.7% of the votes. Wagh.

So, you know, happy fucking Monday. Let's see what they can come up to deal with this and if it will completely depress me. I know the Alliance is trying to flirt with Miljöpartiet, but...

Today, I fucked up my wrist slightly cooking aubergines. Don't ask how, I don't even know. I'll not be typing too much for a little while to try and encourage recovery.

But I do want to comment on the election stuff a little more before I go, as much to have a record as anything: I've just watched the final pre-election debate and was really impressed with all the rödgröna leaders. Even Mona Sahlin (Socialdemokraterna) was very good today, which did surprise me. Maria Wettestrand (Miljöpartiet) is seriously quite brilliant, though.

I'll be even sadder when they lose now!

I think the main other things that have stuck with me are that:

1. it is almost impossible to really listen to anything the current boss (Fredrik Reinfeldt) says - it's just sound. It does something really weird and almost hypnotic and I don't think I can remember much at all of what he said, except that he flat-out refused to admit that his own legislation on disability benefit had actively damaged a lot of people's lives and that it was obvious it would do so, even when it the relevant lines were quoted to him and evidence was provided of people being fucked over. Obviously a lovely man.

2. I nearly threw something at the TV when kristdemokraterna's leader had the nerve to say that a vote for them was a vote for solidarity. How do they have the fucking nerve? And that word! I don't think it means what they think it means!

3. it's pretty amazing how everything that is wrong with the country is now apparently not just socialdemokraterna's fault (because they've been in power for the majority of Sweden's recent history) but also the fault of both miljöpartiet and vänsterpartiet - neither of which have ever held office.

It's like magic!

Plans for the weekend:

Fika.* Vote. Wish I could get drunk watching the results.

Plans for Monday:

Take exam.

* Drink coffee and eat delicious (gluten-free) pastries. National institution.

OMG! I have just been talking to party representatives, because it was my homework from school this week. It's all terribly exciting, you know.

I can now inform you that Folkpartiet's chosen representative does not believe discrimination exists, the lady from Moderaterna thought that I was making up the laws about trans people to fuck with her because they sounded so weird, and that Kristdemokraterna's motto is totally "We Don't Discriminate But [offensive statement]" and also "we have gay people in our party too!" - I suddenly understand the appeal of bingo cards that much better, and believe KD are nearing full house. (They also denied that they had ever voted against LGBT rights. It's always FOR someone else's rights. Usually for the right of straight rich white men to be bastards to everyone else. Or for the rights of THE CHILDREN. Cute, anyway.)

Centerpartiet's dude was vague and confused on any question that wasn't to do with the environment and I was interrupted in my talk with him by a woman who came by to tell him that he was evil because a farmer refused to give her milk when she was a child. I do not even know. Vänsterpartiet were absent with an apologetic little note on their door about understaffing and a phone number, Miljöpartiet were present and probably the most competent, volunteering a lot of information for each question (am admittedly biased), and Socialdemokraterna at least had an answer on hand for every question I asked (Miljöpartiet are the only other one who gave an answer which really was an answer in every case) - particularly, their lady had a lot to say about the education and work placement systems for immigrants.

Everyone agrees that the schools in this kommun are crap.

I spoke with Kristdemokraterna last out of a certainty that my conversation with them would end in speachless rage, which naturally it did. (A child needs one mother and one father! Because men and women are SO inherently different that a child without both will be warped forever, I guess. OK, they only said the part about being so different, not the part about warping forever, but you know. It was really quite heavily implied.)

Other highlights: Moderaterna's answer to my question as to what the most important environmental issues in the kommun are? "Traffic should go outside town. We're building a road."

...

O really.

& Kristdemokraterna's answer? "I'm afraid I can't talk about kommunal issues. But we're very good on the environment. A poll said so. We're as good as miljöpartiet!" ...I see. Uh... I am... feeling so convinced.

I must have earnt chocolate by now, right?

Today in "things that have actually been useful in giving me some kind of quick impression of the Swedish political landscape":

RFSL (Sweden's big LGBT rights group) has carried out a survey of members of political parties, asking them questions on issues including the rights of gay parents and the situation of trans people in Sweden. They scored the answers, with -5 being the most anti-LGBT view and 25 being the most pro.

Party averages based on what they said in response:

Predictably, Sverigedemokraterna (Immigrant Bastards Go Home) scored an average -2.5 out of 25 (ha) and Kristdemokraterna (Christian Democrats) scored 4.4, while Vänsterpartiet (Left party) came in at 18 and Miljöpartiet (Green party) came in at 17. The best average of 21.3 went, also predictably, to Feministiskt initiativ (go on, you can work that one out yourselves).

Moderaterna (Moderates, the largest party in the current coalition government) only scored an average of 4.6. If you were wondering. And most of the members asked to participate didn't respond. And of six people who got the lowest possible score of -5, 5 were from this party. Wow, doesn't that give you confidence.

The others are hanging around between 10 and 14, which I guess mostly implies a "hadn't really thought about it" kind of attitude.

Based on what they've actually done (voting and motions and so on) rather than what they say, for the parties in parliament, I copy-paste:

Moderata Samlingspartiet –0,2, Centerpartiet 1,7, Folkpartiet liberalerna 2,6, Kristdemokraterna –3,8, Socialdemokraterna 9,1, Miljöpartiet de gröna 11,3, Vänsterpartiet 17,0.

...yeah.

I suppose most of the rest of you who will care about this/be personally affected by it can read the Swedish article for full details, though! Given that it's an article about politics I'm pretty sure I'd just fuck up more if I tried to translate much, though I think I understand the key points.

(Reading about politics - and statistics - in Swedish is a new, special and vaguely terrifying experience for me, so do forgive me if I'm a little all over the place... Now I'm going to resist the temptation to keep expanding this post and go to sleep.)

Via some random series of link-hopping, the beginning of which I've forgotten: White male authors privileged, writing by women dismissed via placement under increasingly broad heading of "chick lit". No really! I am so shocked. I never saw it coming!

To be honest, dismissing writing by women about women as Girl Stuff was seriously old in the 1880s. And long, long before, I'm sure.

Is it time to move on yet? As a culture I mean? Or is literary merit actually determined by the size of your cock? Have I had it wrong all this time?

(Also deeply shocking, from today's edition of svenska dagbladet: Sverigedemokraterna say that no-one in Sweden was prepared to made an election video for them, so they had to go to... guess! Go on, guess! Yes, that's right.

Denmark.)

You'll be pleased to know, though, that today I sat between a woman who is an active supporter of socialdemokraterna (social democrats) and a woman who is not sure if she will vote for miljöpartiet (greens) or vänsterpartiet (the left party). This made me feel considerably better, after various run-ins with kristdemokraterna (~~creepy "family values" bastards~~ christian democrats) supporters and such over the last few days in school. We had a conversation about social justice! In terrible, terrible Swedish! On the other hand, in election terms, I do wish the polls were looking better for the red-green bunch...

In queer feminism news I also have to say that I'm finding Maud Lindström wildly theraputic at the moment. I'm almost tempted to make a project out of translating her lyrics, because man, does she ever get it. How certain experiences feel, really. And she's hilarious. I do like it when people are both right and hilarious. ♥

Profile

Toft

December 2012

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

Style Credit

Base style: Blanket by sforzinda
Theme: The Teal and the Grey by twtd

Syndicate

Page generated Jun. 16th, 2025 01:47 pm

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page Summary

Have you got your kicking boots on?
Uh... right, sure. That sounds... convincing.
[Svenska] Är det inte helgen än.
Ahahahahaha no.
Yeah I am not done yet
Norge
Suspect this is a sadly representative position.
Yeah, sure.
I don't know why I'm posting about politics again. I don't think that was in the plan.
Politics: waaaaaaagh
No comment.
That went about as badly as it could've
Almost there
More politics! More fun!
This is mostly for my own understanding - more politics
Shock, or, things I do when I should be writing
But!