Civic Duty - Voting ✓

Today the nation in the European Union named the Kingdom of Sweden is having elections for the national, regional and local parliaments.

I have, of course, performed my duty to democracy, myself, my friends and family, my compatriots, my nation and for all future generations by casting my vote on one of the democratic parties running for election. I will keep my votes to myself, as is my democratic right, however, I will reveal one of the parties I did not vote for in any of the elections.

I did not vote for The Sweden Democrats, because it is a populist, anti-intellectual, xenophobic, Islamophobic party, infested by Nazi ghouls from the past and Neo-Nazis from the present.

Their solution to every political problem they encounter is simple and easy and speaks to the lowest and most vile common denominator within the Swedish population and is not based on factual evidence at all but on thoughts, feelings, and beliefs based on prejudice.

Areas of politics and the Sweden Democrats solution

Healthcare:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Housing Shortage:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Terrorism:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Finances:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Taxes:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Immigration:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Education:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Defense:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Daycare:
"Bla, bla, bla and then we kick out the immigrants, the refugees, and the Muslims and send them back to where they came from. Sweden will be back to what it was in the early 50's when life was beautiful."

Etc, etc, ad infinitum!

7/22 Remember the Victims

On this day in 2011, a right-wing extremist and xenophobe went on a rampage and killing spree in Norway, first killing 8 people in Oslo City center and later killing 69 more, mostly children, on the island of Utøya.

Remember the victims!

http://www.ukrainegiftdelivery.com/

Remember the Victims

On this day four years ago a right wing extremist and xenophobe went on a rampage and killing spree in Norway, first killing 8 people in Oslo City center and later killing 69 more, mostly children, on the island of Utøya.

Remember the victims!

Jon Vegard Lervåg, 32, Oslo * Ida Marie Hill, 34, Oslo * Hanne Ekroll Løvlie, 30, Oslo * Tove Åshill Knutsen, 56, Oslo * Hanna M Orvik Endresen, 61, Oslo * Kai Hauge, 32, Oslo * Anne Lise Holter, 51, Våler * Kjersti Berg Sand, 26, Nord-Odal * Karrar Mustafa Qasim, 19, Vestby * Andreas Edvardsen, 18, Sarpsborg * Ronja Søttar Johansen, 17, Vefsn * Emil Okkenhaug, 15, Levanger * Åsta Sofie Helland Dahl, 16, Sortland * Monica Iselin Didriksen, 18, Sund * Rune Havdal, 43, Øvre Eiker * Tore Eikeland, 21, Bergen * Espen Jørgensen, 17, Bodø * Karin Elena Holst, 15, Rana * Aleksander Aas Eriksen, 16, Meråker * Victoria Stenberg, 17, Nes * Ruth Benedicte Vatndal Nilsen, 15, Tønsberg * Isabel Victoria Green Sogn, 17, Oslo * Ida Beathe Rogne, 17, Østre Toten * Elisabeth Trørnnes Lie, 16, Halden * Monica Elisabeth Bøsei, 45, Hole * Håvard Vederhus, 21, Oslo * Carina Borgund, 18, Oslo * Ingrid Berg Heggelund, 18, Ås * Tarald Kuven Mjelde, 18, Osterøy * Porntip Ardam, 21, Oslo * Andrine Bakkene Espeland, 16, Fredrikstad * Torljus Jakobsen Blattmann, 17, Kristiansand * Jamil Rafal Mohamad Jamil, 20, Eigersund * Tina Sukuvara, 18, Vadsø * Fredrik Lund Schjetne, 18, Eidsvoll * Steinar Jessen, 16, Alta * Lejla Selaci, 17, Fredrikstad * Henrik Rasmussen, 18, Hadsel * Thomas Margido Antonsen, 16, Oslo * Mona Abdinur, 18, Oslo * Anders Kristansen, 18, Bardu * Gunnar Linaker, 23, Bardu * Ismail Haji Ahmed, 19, Hamar * Trond Berntsen, 51, Øvre Eiker * Sharidyn Svebakk-Bøhn, 14, Drammen * Silje Merete Fjellbu, 17, Tinn * Hanne A.Balch Fjalestad, 43, Lunner * Bano Abobakar Rashid, 18, Nesodden * Syvert Knudsen, 17, Lyngdal * Diderik Aamodt Olsen, 19, Nesodden * Simon Sæbø, 18, Salangen * Synne Røyneland, 18, Oslo * Birgitte Smetbak, 15, Nøtterøy * Margrethe Bøyum Kløven, 16, Bærum * Even Flugstad Malmedal, 18, Gjøvik * Tamta Lipartelliani, 23, Georgien * Kevin Daae Berland, 15, Askøy * Silje Stamneshagen, 18, Askøy * Hanne Kristine Fridtun, 19, Stryn * Håkon Ødegaard, 17, Trondheim * Sondre Furseth Dale, 17, Haugesund * Henrik André Pedersen, 27, Porsanger * Eivind Hovden, 15, Tokke * Rolf Christopher Johansen Perreau, 25, Trondheim * Sverre Flåte Bjørkavåg, 28, Sula * Eva Kathinka Lütken, 17, Sarpsborg * Maria Maagerø Johannesen, 17, Nøtterøy * Modupe Ellen Awoyemi, 15, Drammen * Lene Maria Bergum, 19, Namsos * Guro Vartdal Håvol, 18, Ørsta * Marianne Sandvik, 16, Stavanger * Andreas Dalby Grønnesby, 17, Stange * Sondre Kjøren, 17, Orkdal * Bendik Rosnæes Ellingsen, 18, Rygge * Gizem Dogan, 17, Trondheim * Snorre Haller, 30, Trondheim * Johannes Buø, 14, Mandal

Zlatan, Volvo & Wilderness

Music by: Zlatan Ibrahimović featuring Day - "Du gamla, Du fria" (The Swedish National Anthem)
Produced by Max Martin

Clip description:
"Sweden is our home. Mountains, vast forests, long distances, sun, rain, darkness, snow and ice. This inspires and challenges us when we develop our cars. The Swedish wilderness is our heritage and it is here we find our strength. Just like Zlatan Ibrahimović. This is our celebration of Sweden."

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Zlatan (the son of a Bosnian father and a Croatian mother who individually emigrated to Sweden, where they met each other, fell in love, married and built a family), is undoubtedly the most widely loved Swede living today, although his "Swedishness" is disputed by a small clique of xenophobic extreme nationalist. 

Zlatan is a professional footballer who at the moment plays for the French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Swedish national team. He has previously played for the Swedish club Malmö FF, the Dutch club Ajax, the Italian clubs Juventus, Inter Milan and A.C. Milan and the Spanish club Barcelona (briefly). Zlatan is regarded to be one of the best footballers of his generation in the world.

Volvo is a Swedish multinational manufacturing company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its principal activity was the production, distribution and sale of cars, trucks, buses, and construction equipment. In 1999 the car division, Volvo Car Corporation, was sold to the American Ford Motor Company, who in turn sold it to the Chinese motor manufacturer Geely Automobile (owned by the Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding Group) in 2010.

Notwithstanding these facts, Volvo Cars is still a Swedish company with its headquarter based in Sweden and its production in Sweden and Belgium. (Some cars are also produced in China, but exclusively for the Chinese market.)

So Zlatan, driving in a Volvo and cavorting about in the empty Swedish wilderness while rapping the Swedish national anthem, kissing and cuddling a blonde woman and blonde children after taking a sauna in a log cabin in the woods and jumping into an ice hole afterwards is about as Swedish as you can get - at least for 95% of the population in Sweden. We love it and ignore the clique who don't.

The only thing "un-Swedish" about this commercial is that Zlatan is actually wearing trunks when he jumps into the ice hole, no decent Swede would ever do that. It's pure blasphemy against everything that is sacred, nature should be met in the flesh as every Swede knows! 

The Swedish Hijab-Rebellion

A pregnant Muslim woman was recently knocked down on a street in Stockholm and had her headscarf ("hijab") pulled off by the assailant. Following the assault women who wear the veil testified that they are often subjected to name-calling and harassment of the most vile kind, both Islamophobic and misogynistic.

The incident lead to the so called "hijab-rebellion", in which women from all walks of Swedish society, wishing to show solidarity and "normalize" the wearing of hijab, started posting pictures of themselves in veils on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You name it, it was everywhere.

This "rebellion" lead to a counteraction from a combination of strange bedfellows, militant feminists and xenophobic ultranationalists on the far right of the political spectrum. They claim that the hijab is a sign of a patriarchal cultural and religious tradition of male oppression and control of women and is a tool to curtail women's freedom to dress as they chose and to express their sexuality. They also claim that it is counterproductive to integration as it creates barriers against the surrounding majority culture. Some even go so far as to say, that by wearing the veil in a Western culture the women are doing exactly the opposite of what they claim they wish to achieve, i.e not to draw attention to themselves.

Throughout Europe we are also receiving reports that young Muslim women are starting to don the veil for various reasons, some as a political statement or as a protest against the exploitation of female nudity in the Western cultures. There may be even more reasons.

I find myself a bit lost in all the rhetoric. As far as I am concerned the hijab in itself is most definitely a powerful symbol of male oppression and control and of a traditional chastity culture. However, I wouldn't dream of ever trying to regulate what a woman may or may not wear, just as I would not wish to regulate the length of her skirts or infringe on her complete right to her own body and sexuality.

Any woman should be allowed to dress as she chooses, for whatever reason. Just live with it and accept it!

Narrow-Minded Xenophobe

What is the matter with right-wing gay men? Why do so many of them turn out to be stupid, narrow-minded, sexist and bigoted twats?

Not all, mind you, because I know quite a few conservative gay men who are perfectly sane and pleasant to be around, although they have this strange preoccupation with finances, taxes and "the holy market" and these always has to be given priority before the welfare of people (my words, not theirs).

Tobias Billström, photo by Pawel Flota

Meet Tobias Billström, Sweden's Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, the only out gay person in the Swedish government and a member of the right-wing party Moderaterna ("The Moderates" [sic!]).

Tobias Billström has for a long time called unwanted attention to himself by making stupid and ridiculous statements.

Lately he in an interview, when arguing about who the people are that are hiding undocumented immigrants in Sweden, said "Sometimes we are given the impression that the undocumented person who is hidden lives with a nice blond Swedish lady in her 50-60's who wants to help. But that is not the case. Most people live with their compatriots who are neither blond, nor blue-eyed."

Today he was - once again - forced to retract and apologize for that xenophobic statement. 

In my mind his apology should not and cannot save him, because I believe his statement expressed his true opinion in the matter. Tobias Billström is an embarrassment for Sweden, the Swedish government, his party and for himself. The sooner the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt realizes and acknowledges this and fires Tobias Billström, the better.

With the Sweden Democratic Party getting seats in the Swedish parliament in the last election and the growing xenophobic sentiments in our country we cannot afford to have a minister that expresses inexcusable opinions that should not be heard from a politician claiming to support a democratic and civilized society and governance.

#dethärärmittland

The hashtag in the title is used in thousands of tweets in the Swedish parts of Twitter today. Translated to English it would read #thisismycountry. I will go into the reason for the flood of tweets with that hashtag but first let me leave this message.

Bock, 42 y.o., laird, born in Lund, Sweden, by ethnic Swedish parents, moved to Lahore, Pakistan when I was 11 months old. I returned to Sweden when I was 13 y.o. as a blonde, fair skinned, ethnic Swede speaking better Swedish than those around me who had never left the country. When I "returned to my homeland" I was in effect an immigrant who spoke English and Punjabi as fluently as I spoke Swedish. I did not understand Swedish culture, society and norms of behaviour. In every way, except for my ethnicity and command of the language, I was culturally Pakistani and hated being dumped in this terrible and cold country by my well meaning parents. Not until I was 20 y.o. did I feel that #thisismycountry.
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The reason for the flood of tweets today on that theme was the unveiling yesterday of a film taped on a cellphone belonging to the Sweden Democratic Party parliamentarian Kent Ekeroth, the party´s legal policy spokesman, almost two and a half years ago. In the film we see Mr. Ekeroth and two of his party colleagues in a confrontation outside a McDonald's restaurant in Stockholm.

One of the colleagues, Erik Almqvist, the party´s financial policy spokesman, is seen telling Soran Ismael, a Swedish comedian of Kurdish extraction, why he cannot claim Sweden as his country. After that Mr. Almqvist moved on to name calling of a xenophobic nature and to calling a young woman who tried to interrupt the confrontation "the little whore".

The cellphone film has forced Mr. Almqvist to step down from all his political offices within the party, while Mr Ekeroth has declared that he is taking a timeout after his film showed the three parliamentarians arming themselves with iron rods.
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Update: The best tweet on the subject that I have found so far. Kurdo Baksi is a Swedish social commentator, journalist and author of Kurdish extraction.

Translation to English:
"My name is Kurdo Baksi and I am 47 y.o. I love eating kebab with lingonberries and take long lonely walks in the forest #thisismycountry"