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Tag archives for general election

A Swedish football kit in Buenos Aires

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Boca Juniors Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Do you recognize the Swedish flag? Photos: Photogamma

Boca Juniors Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Do you recognize the Swedish flag? Photos: Photogamma

A couple of days ago Emma blogged about the result of the Swedish general election and the fact that a new party takes place in parliament, the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD).  In history we’ve seen how importartant immigration and globalization has been and I have an interesting point to make. At the moment I’m in Buenos Aires, Argentina programming a Swedish institute show featuring the Swedish artist Taken By Trees (more about that event later). Being here, absorbing this really cool and by all means vivid city, made me think about the various cultural influences here and that they seem to be the very soul of the city. Buenos Aires would have been nothing without its immigrants and the influences they brought here. Here you can probably eat some of the best sushi, pizza and cup cakes in the world, and nobody would ever question the fact that they all got here thanks to people moving here at some point. You also find big East Indian and Jewish communities in the city. Time, I think, will always make the discussions about the downsides of immigration obsolete.

A really cool story about how not only food and people travel in a global world, is the kit and badge of the Buenos Aires football team Boca Juniors. Maradona, Argentina’s own Zlatan Ibrahimovic, used to play for them. Do you recognize the team colors? Thinking about Sweden? Yes you’re right, it’s the yellow and blue of the Swedish flag. And how did this happen? The original jersey color was actually pink. Legend has it that in 1906, Boca played another team that used this strip to decide who would get to keep it. What happend was that Boca Juniors lost, and decided to adopt the colors of the flag of the first boat to sail into the port at La Boca in Buenos Aires. This proved to be the Swedish freighter “Drottning Sophia” sailing from Copenhagen  under Swedish flag. This resulted in Boca Juniors adopting yellow and blue as new team colors. Check out the 105th anniversary kit below!

So the next time you see Boca Juniors, remember the Swedish connection and what immigration is all about in a globalized world!

The Boca Juniors 105th anniversary kit

The Boca Juniors 105th anniversary kit. You just can't miss the Swedish flag.

Per

September 22, 2010

Sweden promotion in a new political reality

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Public poll: "I mean, there are too many immigrants. Yes / No / Don't know"

Public poll: "I mean, there are too many immigrants. Yes / No / Don't know" Photo: Wrote/Flickr

Sweden.se’s job is to promote Sweden. This is a fun job, a job I’m normally proud of. I usually consider it a privilege to share my country with the rest of the world and boast about what an open, caring society Sweden is. Sure, we have problems as well — with schools, healthcare, immigration — but we’re a reasonably healthy country and we’re still a role model for many other countries.

Today my job somehow became more difficult. The result of yesterday’s Swedish general election means that a new party takes place in parliament, the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD). SD wants to make Sweden a much more closed country. They want to cut down immigration of refugees and immigration on the grounds of family ties by 90 percent.

One of the problems with SD’s rhetoric is that they only talk about what immigrants cost, not what we as a country gain from them. I’m not just referring to immigrants bringing their different cultures here, making Sweden a richer country in that sense. They also contribute to Swedish society by bringing much needed competence, working hard and paying taxes.

Personally, I now feel slightly ashamed of where the country is headed. But, at the same time, I try to remind myself that more than 94 percent of the Swedish voters chose another party than SD. And I firmly believe in democracy, in everyone’s right to have their say — and this is what may happen in a democratic society. Everyone has their say, and I personally don’t agree with the result. Tough.

The political problem now is that neither the center-right, nor the left-of-center coalition won an outright majority, as it seems. (The final count won’t be finished until Wednesday.) And a minority center-right government gives SD the potential to influence the decisions taken in the Swedish parliament.

I’m no political expert, but it seems like we have a difficult time ahead of us. Let’s just hope that this election result will serve as a lesson to the other, anti-racist parties in Sweden and that it will lead to increased democratic anti-racist efforts. So that the next election result will be different. So that Sweden will still be a country that I want to promote in the future.

Emma

September 20, 2010

Like two peas in a pod?

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Swedish politican or American TV star? Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Sweden’s general election is just two days away. Think almost everything has been said by now, remains to be seen if the winning side gets things done.

Time now to focus a truly serious political matter. The two peas in a pod, or as we Swedes say, “lika som bär”.

Everyone over here knows Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt looks like our cartoon character Alfons Åberg, that’s no news.

This one I find more intriguing. Is this CSI star William Petersen or Green Party leader Peter Eriksson?

William and Peter get my vote in TV4:s ongoing look-alike survey.

/Oliver

Oliver

September 17, 2010

It’s billboard time

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Photo: Oliver

Sweden’s general election is approaching, which means it’s time for political billboards all over Stockholm and the rest of the country.

I usually don’t pay attention to political billboards, but this one by the Liberal Party caught my eye. Loosely translated, it reads: “Without Mr. Miyagi, no Daniel-san. Introduce apprenticeships for the young!”

Cannot decide whether I find this ad catchy or lame, perhaps it’s both. Since the point got across, it can’t be that bad, I guess. But then again I have a decent knowledge of film, which is a bit of a pre-requisiste in this case…

/Oliver

Oliver

September 6, 2010

Green election

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environmental-debate

Environment spokespersons from all the parliament parties were being questioned by SSNC earlier this week.

Sweden’s general election is getting closer and closer, and the election campaigns are visible in almost every street. Earlier this week I attended an environment debate with representatives from the different political parties arranged by the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC).

Earlier SSNC has made a review of the parties’ environmental work during these last four years, and delivered quite a lot of criticism. The government parties failed, according to SSNC, among other things because of having opened for a more aggressive exploitation of shores and beaches, having lifted the ban on new nuclear reactors and having abolished the tax on fertilizers (produced by fossil fuels and leading to eutrophication of the Baltic Sea).

But neither the red-green opposition parties were spared criticism. SNCC has stated that not even Miljöpartiet (which actually means the Environment Party) has really good environment politics.

During the debate I went to here in Stockholm, what caused the most fervent discussions were different subsidies for cars that emit less CO2, whether or not to raise the carbon tax (which will in its turn cause higher petrol prices) or which way is best to raise taxes on environmentally harmful things and lower them on more environmentally friendly ones.

The big debates have otherwise touched how to count emission reductions, or rather if all of Sweden’s national emission reduction goals have to be achieved within the country, or if we could instead pay for emission reductions in other parts of the world.

But it wouldn’t be fair to say that environmental issues are in the main spotlight right now. In a survey made by the publication MiljöRapporten representatives from all parties admit that they don’t think environmental issues will determine these elections, unless something acute, lika an environmental scandal or other kind of disaster, occurs in the coming weeks and makes the debate change focus.

What I miss most in the debates of this election, though, is the big perspective on the whole sustainability issue. How is Sweden going to be a good place to live in without fossil fuels? How do we deal with the planetary boundaries and construct a way of living that wouldn’t require three globes to be sustainable in the long term?

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

September 2, 2010