DALARNA, Sweden—At the end of August, Swedish representatives were questioned by the ‘UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’ as to what actions had been taken to diminish intolerance. Continue reading
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Sweden, President Obama, and a letter from an American that received asylum
DALARNA, Sweden—Mr. President, today (September 4) you will be coming to Sweden, a country I arrived in sixteen years ago. You will be coming to a country famed for its Nobel Prize, the so-called ‘Swedish-model’ for an equitable society, not to mention Ikea, Volvos, Ingmar Bergman, and so much more. But over my sixteen years in Sweden there’s been change, an immensely popular article that was recently published here being, ‘The country we called Sweden no longer exists’ (this English version being from The Local, the original, Swedish version, published in Scandinavia’s largest paper, Aftonbladet). Continue reading
Swedish riots: ‘The underclass has reacted’
DALARNA, Sweden—The Swedish riots appear to have ended, but while most of the media fumbles about to understand what happened, the answers arguably seem to have been provided 12 March, over two months before the unrest began. At that time I interviewed Paul Lappalainen, a senior Swedish civil servant who had run the Government’s 2005 inquiry into ‘structural discrimination.’ It was a most prescient moment when he said “I prefer not seeing riots,” but warned it “seems that policymakers are not trying to avoid the conditions within which riots occur.” Continue reading
Sweden, Russia, NATO, and the military-industrial complex?
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!
DALARNA, Sweden—The word ‘surreal’ was the first which came to my mind, what I witnessed during the last third of April indeed seeming best described by it. Of course, too much has too long been overblown, the strongest of adjectives too frequently employed to mask the weakest of circumstances; but, in this instance the word ‘surreal’ seems appropriate, although what brings it to mind are events that indeed seem ‘overblown.’ Continue reading
NATO in the Arctic: Cowboys and Indians redux?
DALARNA, Sweden—The catastrophe of Global Warming is rapidly bringing accessibility to the Far-North, an often discussed ‘rush’ to claim land and resources ongoing as I write this. Continue reading
Aaron Swartz, activism, and the ‘rewards of courage’?
Aaron Swartz was an activist who allegedly wrongly downloaded documents, facing a potential prison term for this reportedly more severe than that for “Killers, Slave Dealers And Bank Robbers”. But, was this alleged act the sole motivator behind governmental action? Had Aaron’s ‘politics’, his victories on behalf of Internet freedom, anything to do with the severity of circumstances he faced? Continue reading
Politics, the US and Sweden, and a ‘laboratory for rightwing radicalism’
DALARNA, Sweden—It was an ‘interesting’ year here, perhaps best described by a quote from a Guardian article that I recently read: “Despite its reputation as a leftwing utopia, Sweden is now a laboratory for rightwing radicalism.” Continue reading
Refugees in Sweden . . . frozen? Frozen out?
DALARNA, Sweden—As I write this, the wind is strong enough to sound like a freight train, accompanying snow falling for two days now, and while it was about -17F yesterday morning, it’s a comparatively balmy 14F at the moment. But, winter in Sweden isn’t a good time to go around sockless and in flip-flops, and for a group of refugees in Blekinge, that’s what was occurring just a few days ago. Continue reading
New York City Subways: Do you believe in magic?
It took just short days before New York’s subways overcame the assorted horrors of ‘Frankenstorm,’ Superstorm Sandy’s turning subway tunnels into horizontal saltwater silos proving nothing that could stop NY. But just after Sandy struck, Bloomberg News headlined “New York Subway System Faces Weeks to Recover From Storm,” the story observing that many of the Subway’s key electrical systems “can be ruined by salt,” leading to a “short circuit.” In the same article section, titled “Saltwater Damage,” the piece observed that “such a failure caused the deadliest crash in the history of Washington’s Metro system in 2009.” Continue reading
New York City’s ‘Frankenstorm’ . . . much could have been avoided
“Oh Great Lord of the Almighty Dollar,” the panicked voice cried out, its Wall Street owner realizing he was indeed in truly deep water, “how could you have forsaken your devoted and faithful?” But though this poor soul lifted entreaty after entreaty to what had become his sacred deities—those of Narcissism, Hubris and Greed—reality swept in like the hurricane it was, flooding Wall Street and much around it. Continue reading
A tale of two very different Swedens
DALARNA, Sweden—The attack came at the afternoon’s end, this making the fourth I would report to the local police. I was on the phone when the sickeningly familiar odor made itself known, known in a way that only nightmares that are real can, its presence followed within minutes by the strong kidney pain accompanying such attacks. And while a toxic agent was responsible for the fumes I was enduring, the most remarkable thing was that I was in my apartment in Falun, Sweden, not some distant battle zone. Continue reading
Sweden: When a progressive icon becomes the darling of the right
FALUN, Sweden—When most people think of Sweden, it’s of a country that once virtually defined the meanings of both integrity and social justice, a place that for many was once more an ideal than a nation. But unrealized by most, that place we knew was slowly dying, victim of the same neoliberal toxins that have poisoned so much, with another Sweden, a ‘Brave New Sweden,’ rising in its place. Continue reading
Living in Sweden, a place where injustice may be just the new way of life
FALUN, Sweden—If Julian Assange enters Sweden, he won’t be coming to the country many people think of. In 2010, an article from The Guardian was titled “The new Swedish xenophobia,” its Swedish author forecasting xenophobia would “gain new strength, new strongholds, new legitimacy.” And it has. Continue reading
Greek election: The limitations of today’s ‘democracy’ and the feeding of fascism
The storms of so-called ‘economic reform and austerity’ have swept our global landscape, the far-right growing to new heights with the toxic precipitation these storms brought, Fascism’s supposedly long dead seeds thriving in the nourishment of a malignant climate. But what of society’s genuine populists, our Left, our champions of social justice and all that’s right. Continue reading
Living in Sweden and the meaning of ‘subhuman’
FALUN, Sweden—This winter, the temperatures here were sometimes below minus twenty (Celsius), but that’s relatively warm compared to some aspects of what everyday life has become. With the accompanying photo shouting forcefully against what indeed seems to exist for many, accepting its message means that illusions about Swedish justice and integrity fade, uneasily being replaced by haunting questions. Of these, by far the biggest question revolves ever more unsettlingly around the security of one’s life and property, not to mention concerns regarding what Sweden’s future may hold for those of foreign origins. Continue reading
‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ . . . the reality of Sweden’s dark side
DALARNA, Sweden—The film’s US opening was December 20, with a Reuters review of David Fincher’s too-real thriller titled, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” The film paints Sweden in darkest shades. But, the sad fact is that there’s a very uncomfortable amount of truth in Stieg Larsson’s fiction. Continue reading
Old age: Sweden best, says UN report! Time to die young?
Posted on October 17, 2013 by Ritt Goldstein
DALARNA, Sweden—It’s been some days since the United Nations Population Fund report emerged, an elderly advocacy group called HelpAge International partnering in the effort to highlight the well-being of elderly in 91 countries. Continue reading →