As you might have heard, things didn´t turn out in that election as I would have hoped. The extreme right wing party The Sweden Democrats got 5,7 percent of the votes and entered the Swedish parliament. This also meant an unclear parliamentary situation. Fortunately ten thousands of people gathered around Sweden to protest against the party. The video below is from Stockholm. In translation, the crowd in the video says: "What are we going to do?". "Crush racism!"
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Four days left to election...
Found this great guide to the Swedish election for the parliament which is held on Sunday.
Regardless of your political opinion, this is one of the most interresting elections in years. No matter the outcome of the election, the result will be a historical event.
If the left-wing alliance gets a majority Sweden will have it´s first female prime minister in history. That person is the leader of the Social democratic party, Mona Sahlin.
If the right-wing alliance wins it will be the first time in modern history a right wing government runs the country for two terms. Sweden has a history of dominance from the Social democrats in government, a tradition which has only been broken on a few occassions. But the governments have only lasted one term.
Right now scenario 2 is the most likely one. The right wing-alliance have shown rising numbers in the polls and in the latest they have a majority of the people´s votes.
The left wing has little more than 40 percent. Their hope is that a lot of Swede´s still haven´t decided which party to vote for. It might be as many as one million or more, which is the reports given in Swedish media. Why so many people haven´t made up their mind yet might this older blog post shed some light on. Its an own interview I made with political scientist Jenny Madestam.
What worries me about this election is that the Sweden democrats have gained over four percent of the votes in the polls. which is the bar a party need to reach to get seats in the parliament. I certainly don´t want this extreme right wing party to enter parliament.
But I do think that we don´t need to be too worried. Since a lot of people haven´t made up their mind I believe those voters are normal voters who haven´t decided if they will vote for the right or left-wing, or which party within respective wing to vote for. I don´t think insecure voters are choosing between the Sweden democrats and a mainstream party. To vote for such an extremist party and move away from a traditional party takes more conviction than that. And when the insecure voters have decided, the Sweden democrats share of votes will decrease.
I hope to God I´m right.
/ The Cat Goes Political
Regardless of your political opinion, this is one of the most interresting elections in years. No matter the outcome of the election, the result will be a historical event.
If the left-wing alliance gets a majority Sweden will have it´s first female prime minister in history. That person is the leader of the Social democratic party, Mona Sahlin.
If the right-wing alliance wins it will be the first time in modern history a right wing government runs the country for two terms. Sweden has a history of dominance from the Social democrats in government, a tradition which has only been broken on a few occassions. But the governments have only lasted one term.
Right now scenario 2 is the most likely one. The right wing-alliance have shown rising numbers in the polls and in the latest they have a majority of the people´s votes.
The left wing has little more than 40 percent. Their hope is that a lot of Swede´s still haven´t decided which party to vote for. It might be as many as one million or more, which is the reports given in Swedish media. Why so many people haven´t made up their mind yet might this older blog post shed some light on. Its an own interview I made with political scientist Jenny Madestam.
What worries me about this election is that the Sweden democrats have gained over four percent of the votes in the polls. which is the bar a party need to reach to get seats in the parliament. I certainly don´t want this extreme right wing party to enter parliament.
But I do think that we don´t need to be too worried. Since a lot of people haven´t made up their mind I believe those voters are normal voters who haven´t decided if they will vote for the right or left-wing, or which party within respective wing to vote for. I don´t think insecure voters are choosing between the Sweden democrats and a mainstream party. To vote for such an extremist party and move away from a traditional party takes more conviction than that. And when the insecure voters have decided, the Sweden democrats share of votes will decrease.
I hope to God I´m right.
/ The Cat Goes Political
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Right was to stop Sweden democrats
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my negative view of the liberal party Folkpartiet´s suggestion to ban face veils in schools just weeks before the election. I interpreted that as part of an attempt to hinder the Sweden democrats from entering parliament. But in my opinion it´s not the right way to handle the problem by partly accepting their agenda.
it is much better what has happened in the last days - a total rejection of the Sweden democrats world view (just the name "democrats"..). Channel four decided to not show the party´s election commercial movie, claiming it was breaking the law by making racist remarks (rightly so,
Even better than Channel four´s decision was the documentary made by Lena Sundström, a documentary where she examines the statistics often presented by the Sweden democrats - as it turns out - it is false! How surprising... Watch part of it here (In Swedish)
No, immigrants are not naturally more involved in crime, class is a stronger factor with risc of getting involved in crime. And its not a "dangerous" neighborhood just because it lives immigrants in that area. The more media put forward these issues before the election, the better. And hopefully we can avoid the real threat to Sweden´s democratic society - a stronger Sweden democracy party.
/ The Cat Goes Political
it is much better what has happened in the last days - a total rejection of the Sweden democrats world view (just the name "democrats"..). Channel four decided to not show the party´s election commercial movie, claiming it was breaking the law by making racist remarks (rightly so,
watch it here). The commercial features women in burqa competing with senior citizen´s to get money from the state. A really awful and disgusting message.
Even better than Channel four´s decision was the documentary made by Lena Sundström, a documentary where she examines the statistics often presented by the Sweden democrats - as it turns out - it is false! How surprising... Watch part of it here (In Swedish)
No, immigrants are not naturally more involved in crime, class is a stronger factor with risc of getting involved in crime. And its not a "dangerous" neighborhood just because it lives immigrants in that area. The more media put forward these issues before the election, the better. And hopefully we can avoid the real threat to Sweden´s democratic society - a stronger Sweden democracy party.
/ The Cat Goes Political
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
New York times discusses Sweden´s form of government
I am a member of this association myself and attended this meeting (but not pictured in the article). New York Times were there and the result was a very interresting article about Sweden´s form of government, discussing if a monarchy or a republic is the best form of government in Sweden (my own opinion is obvious).
/ The Cat Goes Political
/ The Cat Goes Political
Thursday, 19 August 2010
Sweden 3rd best in the world!
Newsweek recently published a list which ranks the best countries in the world. Sweden was ranked third ont his list which includes Quality of life, level of education and health care.Life is Swede...:)
/ The Cat Goes Political
/ The Cat Goes Political
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Newsweek Ranks the World's Best Countries | ||||
| ||||
Monday, 9 August 2010
Islam and USA
Very interresting discussion about islam´s relations with the U.S. And also about the founding father´s positive view on islam. The Daily show with Jon Stewart.
/ The Cat goes political
/ The Cat goes political
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Akbar Ahmed | ||||
| ||||
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Wrong way to stop Sweden democrats
The liberal party Folkpartiet Liberalerna announced today that they want to ban face veils such as niqabs or burquas in Swedish schools.
The argument is that it should be easier to see and communicate with each other and that teachers are suppose to see that they are grading the right pupil.
First I am not going to discuss the issue itself. What strikes me more is the timing of the announcement.
In September its election. It comes at a time where the extreme right-wing party The Sweden democrats have shown risng numbers in the polls. They are close to making the four percent limit line of votes which is required to get seates in the Swedish parliament. This is of course a way to try to bloc them from getting votes, but in my opinion its note the right way to handle this problem.
One should discuss the integration question in large instead of throwing out populist proposals just before the election. By doing like Folkpartiet we are pushing the limits for what is acceptable in society and I believe that unfortunately benefits the Sweden democrats in the long run. The next proposal to blocing the Sweden democrats from the Swedish parliament might be more extreme, the next even more extreme. And so it might continue election after election, which would of course be a dangerous development. I want real discussion about integration, then the Sweden democrats will show their true face and also lose votes. That is my conviction.
This comes not long after the decision in France where as i understand it, no one can no longer wear face weils in public, which I must say is frightening. Of course you must be ablo wear what you want when youre walking on the street!
What is interresting about this subject in general is that it shows one of the fundamental issues within democracy which has to be discussed on a regular basis: When different values which can all be attributed to democracy are clashing.
Take this latest proposal from Folkpartiet. One might argue one must be able to coomunicate in a democracy, especially in a vital institution such as the school. Also, one might claim religion should not be "visible" in the secular "neutral" school. On the other hand you can claim it is violating one´s freedom of religious beliefs. We MUST discuss this and get a intelligent and civilised debate. Otherwise The sweden democrats can continue to blame all society´s ills on immigrants.
The argument is that it should be easier to see and communicate with each other and that teachers are suppose to see that they are grading the right pupil.
First I am not going to discuss the issue itself. What strikes me more is the timing of the announcement.
In September its election. It comes at a time where the extreme right-wing party The Sweden democrats have shown risng numbers in the polls. They are close to making the four percent limit line of votes which is required to get seates in the Swedish parliament. This is of course a way to try to bloc them from getting votes, but in my opinion its note the right way to handle this problem.
One should discuss the integration question in large instead of throwing out populist proposals just before the election. By doing like Folkpartiet we are pushing the limits for what is acceptable in society and I believe that unfortunately benefits the Sweden democrats in the long run. The next proposal to blocing the Sweden democrats from the Swedish parliament might be more extreme, the next even more extreme. And so it might continue election after election, which would of course be a dangerous development. I want real discussion about integration, then the Sweden democrats will show their true face and also lose votes. That is my conviction.
This comes not long after the decision in France where as i understand it, no one can no longer wear face weils in public, which I must say is frightening. Of course you must be ablo wear what you want when youre walking on the street!
What is interresting about this subject in general is that it shows one of the fundamental issues within democracy which has to be discussed on a regular basis: When different values which can all be attributed to democracy are clashing.
Take this latest proposal from Folkpartiet. One might argue one must be able to coomunicate in a democracy, especially in a vital institution such as the school. Also, one might claim religion should not be "visible" in the secular "neutral" school. On the other hand you can claim it is violating one´s freedom of religious beliefs. We MUST discuss this and get a intelligent and civilised debate. Otherwise The sweden democrats can continue to blame all society´s ills on immigrants.
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