Olof Palme... and Bruce Springsteen!

Today it is 20 years since Sweden’s Prime Minister and the Social Democratic Party’s chairman Olof Palme was assassinated in central Stockholm. You will find articles about Olof Palme’s life, his political legacy, and the unsolved murder everywhere in Swedish media. But I also found an AP story in The Washington Post and The New York Times, and an article in Le Monde.

When I was eleven years old, in the 1985 election campaign, I managed to get my father and grandfather to drive me to a public meeting where Olof Palme held a speech. The meeting was in the city of Solna just outside Stockholm and I can still remember sitting amazingly thrilled on a bench made of wood, waiting for Palme to arrive. And all of sudden he walked up on the stage in front of us, and I am pretty sure he had the speech in a plastic bag. At least my father used to joke about that, even several years later.

I remember election night 1985 vaguely, partly because my dad used to tell me how I lectured him about the functions of the Swedish electoral system (yes, I was a political nerd already then). I remember the night when Palme was shot, of course. For some reason my aunt lay awake the whole night listening to the radio; she called my family as soon as she heard the terrible news. The next day we went into Stockholm, just like so many others, in order to leave some flowers on the sidewalk where he was shot.

Due to a lot of reasons I did not become a member of Social Democratic Youth when I turned 14 a couple of years later. That is another long story. It was not until the late 1990s until I found my way into the Social Democratic movement through student politics. But ever since that meeting in Solna almost 21 years ago, Olof Palme has been my major source of political inspiration. The main reasons are the same as for so many others: his hungry heart, beating for international politics, his fight against apartheid and all his other fights against oppression and injustices, his rhetorical skills.

This morning I put some roses on his grave, just like I do every year when I am in Sweden on the 28th of February. But I will not try to interpret his political legacy or retell stories others have already told - and/or experienced first hand. Others, who knew him, worked with him or have studied his legacy from an academic point of view, do that much better.

My contribution will only be the memories above, and this following quote. Thanks to my wonderful sister Anna, who recently found this speech by coincidence, I now know that my worlds match even better: in the speech Olof Palme speaks about Bruce Springsteen at length! I had never heard of this speech before, in which Palme is mixing politics, rock’n’roll and the importance of youth involvement. So, for all Swedish-speaking fans of Olof Palme and Bruce Springsteen out there, please enjoy.

Olof Palme under en debatt i Sveriges riksdag om den ekonomiska politiken, tisdagen den 11 juni 1985:
Sedan till en helt annan sak. Många talar om de svåra tiderna. Men slagregnet återföljs ofta av regnbågar. Och regnbågens skönhet förjagar minnet av slagregnet.

I lördags och söndags samlades över 120 000 unga människor till rockkonserter i Göteborg. Jag har hört bekanta som var där berätta om en enastående upplevelse, om en energisk, himlastormande gemenskap i musik och dans, om en fest i glädje och rytm. Från scenen sändes ljudet ut med en oherrans massa watt. Den mänskliga energin kunde mätas i ännu större tal. Lite lakoniskt meddelade Göteborgspolisen att det var en lugn helg.

Ibland – oftare än vad som sker – är det befogat att här i riksdagen ge de unga människor ett erkännande som det annars för oss äldre är så lätt att smutskasta, som ofta förstår så mycket mindre än vi anser oss begripa.

När Bruce Springsteen gjorde en paus, efter en och en halv timmes musik, kom störtregnet, ackompanjerat av en regnbåge. Solen letade sig fram med sneda kvällstrålar över de tiotusentals väntande ungdomarna på fotbollsplanen.

Då kom Bruce Springsteen in igen. Han sjöng om arbetslöshetens och de sociala orättvisornas störtregn i ”Johnny 99” – den sång som han uppmanat Reagan att lyssna på – och han sjöng om arbetarungdomarnas hopp och drömmar.

Jag vet inte hur mycket vi i vår generation förstår av denna musik och av dessa texter. Men de som talar om de unga som förtappade odågor har fel. Och de som missar krusningen i den anpassliga masskulturens mest kolorerade media för ungdomarnas faktiska inställning har också fel.

I själva verket är det säkert nu som det alltid har varit: Ingen upprörs så av sociala orättvisor som de unga. Ingen finner det i grunden så felaktigt som de unga att det skall behöva finnas arbetslöshet. Och ingen drabbas heller hårare av arbetslöshet eller är värnlösare mot orättvisor än de unga.

Därför känner jag ett behov av att säga att vi måste – och kan – tro på de unga. Frågan är vilket samhälle som förtjänar de ungas tilltro.

I mitt första anförande beskrev jag det goda samhälle som vi socialdemokrater strävar efter, där det finns jordmån för generositet och där det finns plats för alla.

I bjärt kontrast till detta samhälle står det konkurrens- och konfrontationssamhälle som man verkar tala om. I ett sådant samhälle måste människorna ständigt bekämpa varandra. I den kalla egoismens samhälle blir varje människa en medtävlare och ett tänkbart hot. Ur detta föds misstro och misstänksamhet.

Vi socialdemokrater säger nej till den sortens samhälle, som i längden blir isande kallt och ödsligt att leva i. Vi säger nej till den begränsning av den enskildes möjligheter som orättvisor och otrygghet innebär.

Vi säger ja till den solidaritetens och demokratins samhälle där fria människor gemensamt, i ömsesidig respekt och under ömsesidigt ansvarstagande, formar en tillvaro där alla har lika möjligheter och lika värde. Vi säger nej till ”systemskiftet” och ja till att värna och förnya folkhemmet!

(Bilder på OP från AiPs bildarkiv)

Harboring terrorists?

The question whether a Dubai maritime company will be allowed to operate ports in the US has taken a new turn, according to a story in the Washington Post:

"The Bush administration said yesterday that it has accepted a proposal from a Dubai maritime company to conduct a 45-day review of the national security implications of the company's plans to take control of significant operations at six U.S. ports."

Still, I think this cartoon sums it up best…

The golden generation did it!

I did not watch Liverpool beat Manchester City today, although the game was shown on cable (Canal+). The reason? Olympic ice-hockey final between Sweden and Finland. And yes, it was a fantastic victory. The decisive goal says it all: Peter Forsberg to Mats Sundin to Nicklas Lidström, who scores. Three representatives of Sweden’s golden generation, who now had their last chance to win a major tournament.

Sure, I am a federalist, I believe in a global social democratic movement and I think the nation state has had its best days. But tonight I am a very happy Swede, and our three crowns that for example can been seen on our hockey-jerseys, naturally represent Forsberg, Sundin and Lidström.

Och till sist några rader om mejlen

Hela historien med mejlen från Sveavägen 68 känns naturligtvis väldigt jobbig. Först och främst och naturligtvis: det som har hänt är förkastligt, sådana här metoder ska inte förekomma i valrörelser eller i andra sammanhang. Punkt. Men samtidigt är det en personlig tragedi, den person som har skickat mejlen känner jag som ödmjuk och mycket kunnig. Vidare: granskningen av de politiska alternativen måste fortsätta, men det ska vara en tuff, hård, rättvis och schysst granskning – utan förtal. Lars Stjernkvist har skrivit en som vanligt tänkvärd krönika i Skånska Dagbladet.

Åter på konventet...

...och den trådlösa uppkopplingen funkar som den ska så följ gärna bloggen på aip.nu. Om du vill läsa alla blogginlägg från konventet går du in på aip.nu, klickar på bloggen i menyraden, och väljer sedan "arkiv - februari". Och nej, jag vet ingenting mer om mejlen från Sveavägen 68 än vad som står att läsa i tidningarna.

In cold blood

Seems to me like one should try to head off to the movies this weekend, several times. I haven’t even seen “Brokeback Mountain” yet, although people have told me that I probably will like it a lot. And I haven’t seen “Match Point”, although I have heard it is a really good but somewhat different Woody Allen-movie. And today two other movies have their opening night in Sweden; “Capote” (about the legendary author Truman Capote, infamous for his weird parties in NYC in the 1960s) and “The proposition” (written by Aussie Nick Cave).

I ran into a colleague earlier this week who had seen “Capote” on a screening for journalists and he was really thrilled (and on his way into a second-hand bookshop to look for Capote’s book “In cold blood”). I cannot wait to see Philip Seymour Hoffman (who I think I first saw as the very weird guy in ”Happiness”) as Truman Capote and the movie is getting stellar reviews in the papers this morning.

And then I will probably run to a second-hand bookstore and look for “In cold blood”. Maybe in cowboy-boots, if I finally manage too see “Brokeback Mountain” as well.

På plats på konventet...

...och har trådlös uppkoppling så aip.nu (särskilt aip-bloggen) kommer att uppdateras under dagen.

A Swedish political "convention"

Sweden's political opposition (four parties to the right of center) is arranging a political "convention" in Stockholm Thursday and Friday. I will be there, working, but you can (as always) read my reports at aip.nu (news and the blog). See ya soon.

“Vice-prez Cheney drives country into ditch, shot friend as cover up”

I know it is a tragic story and that an old man was hurt. But I cannot help spreading this picture. Dick Cheney, the man who wanted to bomb Iraq and find UBL, but who ended up with a record like this:

En sång för vår Elit

Mustafa Can bjuder i dag på en riktigt smaskig artikel i DNs kulturdel: den svenska ”übereliten” mobbar andra kändisar på en väldigt intern mejllista som heter Elit. MejlStalin är Alexander Bard som sköter listan, och nu lär Bard ha blivit tokig eftersom det hela har läckt ut. Läs artikeln här (och missa inte länkarna).

När jag läste artikeln kom jag att tänka på sången ”Elite” av Kent. Läs texten till låten, i synnerhet raden ”Ett hundra överklass poeter - kan inte ge mig någonting.” En tänkvärd kontrast.

Sen vandrade mina tankar vidare på följande vis. Grundfrågan i den här ”elitdebatten” är inte förekomsten av ”übermobbing” på en e-postlista. Vi har yttrandefrihet och det hela kan ses som en del av det nya elektroniska samtalet, som de otippade elitmejlarna Olle Wästberg och Stikkan Ljunggren säger i sina krystade försvarstal. Visst, mycket korkat verkar skrivas på listan och jämförelsen mellan ett middagssamtal och en e-postlista håller inte (argument som Wästberg och Ljunggren anför). Men grundfrågan är enligt min mening en annan.

Om Sverige i framtiden ska ha kommunala musikskolor i Eskilstuna, eller om musikskolan ska vara privat som i Täby, avgörs i demokratiska val där folkdjupet tycker till. Framtiden avgörs inte på en e-postlista. Men det offentliga samtalet som formar den information som når folkdjupet bestäms till viss del av personerna på e-postlistan.

Slutsatsen blir att artiklarna om e-postlistan är rolig skvallerläsning, men grundfrågan måste handla om makten över det offentliga samtalet och bristen på socialdemokratisk idédebatt som når folkdjupet. Det är en debatt som ska föras i en rikstäckande socialdemokratisk morgontidning, som ska stimuleras av en starkare s-tankesmedja som kompletterar Arenagruppen, som ska utvecklas i dialog med ”folkdjupet” i Sverige, och som ska få impulser av den internationella socialdemokratin.

Och: socialdemokratin måste också se till att använda nya medier för att underlätta det samtalet. En e-postlista är naturligtvis inte lösningen, och det finns redan många sådana. Men den nya SAP-hemsidan är ett steg i rätt riktning, som måste följas av flera. Nästa steg borde vara en pingsajt som visar vilka s-bloggar som har uppdaterats av sossar runt om i landet. Långsiktigt handlar det om en strategi som möjliggör en bred, socialdemokratisk idédebatt och högre s-närvro i det offentliga samtalet.

Problemet är alltså inte Bards e-postlista. De kan gott prata vidare om vem som har störst ni vet vad i svenska fotbollslandslaget och söka kändisgemenskap via dataskärmen. Grundfrågan är att e-postlistan sätter ljuset på förekomsten av en mediaelit och själva makten över det offentliga samtalet. I det bredare samtalet måste socialdemokratin öka sin närvaro och se till att vinna slaget om de nya idéerna.

Nytt avsnitt av Freedom News Network

Missa inte heller det nya avsnittet av Freedom News Network, som bland annat tar upp bloggfejden mellan Esbati och Forsell och föreslår att Sverige ska bygga ett eget Gitmo på Gotland. "Gotmo", alltså. Och att de skojar om Leijonborgs bok och videofilm är självklart. "Wherever there's economic growth - you'll find Lars Leijonborg." Väldigt roligt.

Lästips in Swedish

Missa inte att Tidens senaste nummer till vissa delar ligger ute på nätet. Läs gärna min artikel om Lars Erik Ansgar Leijonborg. Via en diskussion om Italien fick jag nys om följande artikel om Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. Läsvärt! Och med anledning av partiledardebatten: läs om Aftonbladets Sifo-bluff här. Nu ska jag på repskap med Stockholms Arbetarekommun, och sen är det Benfica-Liverpool. Quite a night.

Bad habit hopefully cured, starts with Dylan

I have picked up a bad habit recently; not really finishing books I started reading. But now I have been doing something about the little pile next to my bed and the other night I finished Bob Dylan’s Chronicles. Volume One. I really liked the book, the way the stories are told are fantastic, and even if you are only vaguely familiar with Dylan’s life, you will for sure enjoy reading about it in his own words.

One of the best parts of the book tells us how “Oh Mercy” was recorded. Short version: Bono comes to Dylan’s house, they drink Guinness, Dylan says he has some songs lying around, Bono calls master producer Daniel Lanois, Lanois rents a fantastic house in New Orleans, Dylan and musicians arrive, recording is not great, Dylan takes a ride on motorbike with wife, meets strange Chinese guy, finds inspiration, records one of the absolute best records of the last 20 years. End of chapter.

The book also has a few party political reflections (i.e. not only vague references to the radical years in the 1960s). One example is that Dylan thought, somewhat surprisingly, that Barry Goldwater was quite ok. But my favorite part is the following:

“The upper Midwest was an extremely volatile, politically active area – with the Farmer Labor party, Social Democrats, socialists, communists. They were hard crowds to please and not too much for Republicanism. John Kennedy, before he became president, when he was still a senator, had come up to Hibbing on the campaign trail but that was about six months after I left. My mother said that eighteen thousand people had turned out to see him […] If I had been a voting man, I would have voted for Kennedy just for coming there. I wished I could have seen him.” [p. 231]

I would recommend the book to anyone with more than only a slight fondness for Dylan; the language is flowing, the stories great, and the musical references everywhere. And read it in English, at least the translation to Swedish is supposed to be crap.

En liten koll av argumenten...

...i kvällens partiledardebatt ligger nu ute på aip.nu. I stort tycker jag att formatet var lite konstigt, Smedsaas kändes väldigt partisk, Göran Persson var mycket bra (i synnerhet efter första reklamavbrottet), Maud Olofsson begriper jag bara inte, Reinfeldt kör så mycket laid-back att man knappt minns något han sa, Ohly var inte klockers, Eriksson var bättre men flummar ut lite väl mycket, Leijonborg bara skrattar jag åt efter inslaget på Public Service imorse (fåglarna med influensa återvänder till dammen bara ersättningarna sänks till 65 procent).

Slutsats: ganska rörigt, men den grundläggande känslan förändras inte; om valet kommer att handla om politik, den ekonomiska utvecklingen och Sveriges framtid så kommer socialdemokratin att vinna. Bristande granskning av "alliansen", socialdemokraternas samarbetspartier och det långa maktinnehavet är borgerlighetens hopp. Det förändrades inte av en sen debatt på TV4 när många istället kollade OS, Six feet under och annat och gladdes åt 2-1 segern över USA.

Partiledardebatten på TV4

Som vanligt kommer jag att kolla upp vad Reinfeldt säger, tolka det och lägga upp en text på aip.nu direkt efter debatten. Synd att debatten krockar med Six feet under, men är det valår så är det...

House of Cards on dvd, and in Swedish newspaper

The Swedish newspaper DN now has some drive telling its readers about quality but not blockbuster things that can be seen on dvd. Yesterday the fantastic BBC political drama “House of Cards” was in focus, which surprised me and made me happy at the same time.

“House of Cards”, and the subsequent episodes “To play the King” and “Final cut”, is the story of how Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson) becomes British PM after Margaret Thatcher. It is a brilliant story and should be watched by a wider audience (especially political folks who have found their way to this blog).

So, if you are interested in politics, and if you like “The West Wing”, this is a perfect (albeit very dark) BBC-take on British politics. Can be found at Amazon, for example.

Frankenstein is dead! (Promise, Monks!)

From the website of the European Trade Union Confederation:

"The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) regards the result of the European Parliament (EP) vote on the Services Directive as a real victory for European workers. The European Parliament has today approved, by a large majority, the compromise reached by the main political groups in the Parliament, at the same time burying the initial Bolkestein proposal and putting a new text in its place."

This is of course fantastic news. And I think and hope that this can be the start of a new dawn for the European left: the EU is not simply a neo-liberal project, it is also a “campo di possibilità” (field of opportunities), like Gramsci used to say.

The mobilization of the European trade union movement has indeed been impressive, as have the cooperation between the ETUC and social democratic members of the European Parliament like Evelyne Gebhardt and Jan Andersson. But John Monks, secretary general of the ETUC, underlines that the battle is not won yet. Now the issue goes back to the Commission and the Council of Ministers. But the old “Frankenstein directive” should and must be buried now, and hopefully this compromise will be the final one.

So I say congrats, John Monks. But tomorrow (Saturday) we will be on different sides in another not as important, but still indeed very important, battle: Liverpool FC-Manchester United, the FA cup, 5th round.
(Photo by Tommy Svensson)

Just drop the ”code of conduct”

In the on-going debate about the Danish cartoons, some people are now suggesting that we should get a “code of conduct”, regulating how the media should treat sensitive subjects.

According to a story on Swedish public radio this morning, the EU is discussing a “code of conduct” as we speak. Franco Frattini, vice president of the EU Commission and responsible for issues like this, did not come to a meeting where the subject was discussed with MEPs and journalists. Highly suspicious.

The countries of the EU should be allowed to have their own ways of solving matters when the freedom of expression is taken too far. Like The Economist underlines (Leaders February 11th), no country permits completely free speech. In seven European countries you are not allowed to deny that the Holocaust took place. That makes perfect sense in for example Germany, but each country should decide limitations like these on their own, given for example the specific historical context.

So, the conclusion again is that freedom of expression is indeed a fundamental pillar in a democracy, but it should be handled with care and not needlessly offend others. And how it ought to be handled with care should not be decided in Brussels. The most important thing to do is not to shut down newspapers, but to engage in a respectful dialogue with the Muslim world. And in the long run, hopefully, things like democracy, human rights and freedom of expression can continue to spread around the world. The Economist again:

“And freedom of expression, remember, is not just a pillar of western democracy, as sacred in its own way as Muhammad is to pious Muslims. It is also a freedom that millions of Muslims have come to enjoy or aspire themselves. Ultimately, spreading and strengthening it may be one of the best hopes for avoiding the incomprehension that can lead civilizations into conflict”.

Nisha up and running

These days I am very happy for a really good friend of mine: Nisha has now started her job as a political columnist at Sweden’s biggest newspaper (Aftonbladet). If you can read Swedish I highly recommend you to start reading her columns regularly. You will find her first column, a thoughtful comparison of Chinatown and s Swedish suburb, here.

Election kick-off

During the SAP-LO election kick-off in Örebro (Tue-Wed) I will be mostly writing at aip.nu, see you there! (And don't miss the SAPs new homepage!)

Valentine's Day

It’s Valentine’s Day folks so don’t forget to take care of your loved ones. I trying to do just that: about to make breakfast for her and then I will play the number one Valentine’s Day song.

Harry Schein, 1924-2006

I slutet av förra veckan stod två arbetskollegor och väntade på hissen. Den ena undrade vad en nekrolog är, och den andre förklarade. Jag lade mig i och sa att Harry Scheins klassiska DN-krönika om nekrologens betydelse skulle ge den ultimata förklaringen. En dag senare har Harry Schein gått bort, och ytterligare någon dag senare publicerar DN Scheins klassiska text, ”Nekrologernas nekrolog” (DN 14/2, ej på nätet). Kusligt.

Min far lärde mig tidigt att alltid läsa Scheins texter i DN. Noga, så att vi sedan kunde diskutera dem. De var alltid välskrivna, tänkvärda och härligt provokativa. Förhoppningsvis ges Scheins krönikor ut i bokform, vilket har skett med The Guardians krönikör Hugo Youngs texter. En whisky och några krönikor av Schein och Young. Ett perfekt sätt att hedra två tänkvärda män med varsin otroligt vass penna.

SAIS-professor in the news again

One of my old professors at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Bologna, John Harper, is interviewed in a Swedish newspaper today (here). I think Harper makes one very good comparison: Italians elected Berlusconi for the same reasons that the Brits elected Thatcher; hoping that economic problems would be thoroughly addressed. But Berlusconi has not at all delivered, which gives the opposition a good chance to win, says Harper.

Personally I just decided to travel to Italy for the week of the election, and I am looking forward to an election victory that finally will end Berlusconi's years in politics. In 2001 I lived in Bologna and watched supporters of Berlusconi and the neo-fascists celebrate together in a piazza. Let us hope that the Italian left, an alliance of some nine parties, won’t mess up this time.
(Picture of Piazza Maggiore in central Bologna)

Moz is coming to town

I sure felt a little stupid, but there are certain things a Fred Perry progressive must do: This morning I sneaked out of a meeting in order to call the same number a million times, finally get through, and then buy tickets for Morrissey’s show in Stockholm (April 2nd).

I have not seen Morrissey live for quite a few years and I am very much looking forward to the new album, released the day after the concert in Stockholm, and the show. The new album was recorded in Italy last autumn, the title is “Ringleader Of The Tormentors”, and the first single, "You Have Killed Me", will soon be played at a radio station close to you.

Regarding the album I just found a sneak review of it at The Guardian’s blog (entry written by Caspar Llewellyn Smith):

In the next issue of the Music Monthly (published 19 February), there's a review of the forthcoming Morrissey album - which carries the snappy title 'Ringleader of the Tormentors'.

As you can see from this little taster, Paul Morley quite liked it:

'Ringleader is the story of a life all his other songs have only hinted at - it has a kind of exhilarating, intimate Blood on the Tracks suddenness the way it appears after years of him never quite out-doing his early classic work and sometimes seemingly trapped inside his own myth. From the day he was born, through the streets of Manchester, out into the mean world of sinister places and demanding people, to the day he never actually died - it's all here. Fans of Morrissey, and maybe a few enemies, will have all their prayers answered - a whole album of songs that rock, drone and swing in the way his best songs - Smiths or not - do between the strangely familiar and the completely unfamiliar...'

Sounds good to me, and the fact that Dylan’s classic album “Blood on the tracks” is mentioned in the review should be a good sign. Soon it’s Spring, and Moz is coming to town...

(Photo of Moz in Rome from True to you)

Progressives unite: A far fetched resolution

I have been collecting addresses of interesting blogs for a while in order to update the list on your right. But one blog that I have to tell you about right away is “A far fetched resolution”. Just read the “About me”:

I'm a political hack on an away day, taking a brief sojourn in academia with a view to making an honest man of myself. Bored enough to think that sharing my thoughts with the world might be interesting. DisLikes: the loopy left of the cult-like factional kind, Liberal Democrats, the Conservative party and ideology and everything they stand for, Consensus. Likes: The city of Liverpool my home (spiritual and sometimes temporal), the Labour Party in all it's manifestations (at least most of them), my cat, a good argument, wine, pubs.

I did not know about the cat, but something is telling me that this blog will combine hilarious reflections with sharp political analysis. Go on and bookmark/add to your link list right away!

Och jag nås av ett rykte...

...som säger att det bloggas om bloggen. Politik, fotboll och country, som sagt.

Efter Faktum: Freedom News Network!

Gänget bakom Faktum fortsätter i känd stil och riktar nu in sig på "Alliansen". Kolla in Freedom News Network här, och läs mer här. Kan ge inspiration till aip.nu... (Via Esbati).

Iran going nuclear: don’t bomb, don’t ignore

One of the best professor’s I have ever had is Philip Gordon, who taught a class on French politics at Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2002 (same year as Le Pen made it to the 2nd round of the Presidential election in France). Recently professor Gordon, together with his colleague at Brookings Ivo Daalder, got a very interesting op-ed published in The Washington Post.

The subject is Iran, and their line of argument is that Iran’s nuclear facilities should not be bombed (of course), but that their recent behavior cannot be ignored:

"Given these bad options, what should the United States and Europe do instead? The answer is that they should do what they said they would do -- make Iran pay a real price if it refuses to suspend its uranium enrichment activities again. This means first making a concerted effort to win Russian and Chinese support for tough action at the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.N. Security Council next month."

The article is really worth reading if you have an interest in international relations, and think that a line must be found between the two bad options (bombs and doing nothing, respectively).

London called with defeats

Liverpool FC has been to London twice and lost with 0-2 twice: against Chelsea Sunday and Charlton yesterday. I watched the Chelsea-game in a bar and listened to the surprising Charlton-defeat on the radio (through the internet) and was pretty angry yesterday, but I cannot help laughing at this little story. That child seems like a cool kid, even though he wears Chelsea colors. (Thanks Arne).
(www.zen95558.zen.co.uk/files/video/%5Bsavefile%5D060206031923_GerrardHandshake.wmv)

The Guardian: “Sweden, an oil-free economy”

As I have written about before, star-columnist Thomas L. Friedman recently highlighted our global dependence on oil. And the fact that Sweden has an oil-commission aiming to break that dependency has impressed, for example, the state of California and its governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Moreover, the newspaper Friedman writes for, The New York Times, ran an article about Sweden's environmental policies a few days ago.

Personally I am proud that our government addresses the major issues of our common future. And since this blog has a tradition of spreading the word when international media writes the articles Swedish newspapers should write, here comes yet another example.

This time it is one of my favorite newspapers, The Guardian, that runs a story called “Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy.” The article is a pretty straightforward account of the government’s official policy, with some British comparisons, and notes:

”Sweden has a head start over most countries. In 2003, 26% of all the energy consumed came from renewable sources - the EU average is 6%. Only 32% of the energy came from oil - down from 77% in 1970.”

The article also mentions that even George W. Bush is talking about breaking the dependency on oil, something that was also brought up in the recent radio-debate between Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson and the leader of the opposition Fredrik Reinfeldt (Conservative party).

When the Prime Minister confronted Reinfeldt with the political right’s lack of environmental policies, Reinfeldt mumbled that he is “pro the EU”, which is indeed a very lame answer. He also tried to bring up the issue of nuclear power, which is a dead alley for him since we have an agreement in Swedish politics to phase out nuclear power smoothly as other sustainable alternatives grow. Even one of the parties in Reinfeldt’s right-wing alliance is backing that agreement.

Conclusion? Thank you, international media, for highlighting Sweden’s future-oriented policies. And I added the Swedish party-political dimension, just because you should not miss that social democracy is the political alternative looking forward. Now I hope that at least some parts of the Swedish media, and not only the ones normally highlighting stuff like this, will follow The Guardian’s example.

(Thanks to Henrik in Brussels)

The conflict in Vaxholm: A Latvian company gave us the final wake-up call

I was asked by some friends at the ECOSY (Young European Socialists) secretariat in Brussels to write down my thoughts regarding the conflict in Vaxholm. Here goes:


The conflict in Vaxholm: A Latvian company gave us the final wake-up call

"Imagine a kitchen table. 14 blacksmiths sit around it. They are all blacksmiths in the same city. They are angry about the low wages. It is not enough to feed their children.
Everyone promises one another not to work for a lower wage than 22 cents per hour. And no one will work Sundays.
Around that table, in that moment, a trade union is born.
Everyone puts 25 cents in the empty cookie-jar on the table. Because they understand they must save in order to make the employer accept their demands.
That cookie-jar is their first strike-fund.
But one of the 14 blacksmiths is still not convinced. He does not have a job, and he thinks that 22 cents is too high a demand. The others must be satisfied with a lower wage. Otherwise he will never get a job.
One of the other blacksmiths then puts an empty coffee cup on the table. Everyone puts one krona in it. That is a week's salary to the one who is out of work.
The empty coffee-cup is their first unemployment benefit fund.
They take a piece of paper and write down their demands. The following day they take the piece of paper to their employers and ask them to accept their demands. The employers accept a new higher salary, 20 cents per hour, and they all sign the piece of paper.
They have completed their first negotiation. And the piece of paper is their first agreement.
This is a trade union: our common promise stipulating the price and conditions of our work. And we know we can only achieve this if we stand together. And that we together must have economic resources in order to protect the promise we made between us.
That is what we do in the trade union. We promise one another."
(Swedish Minister of Labour, Mr. Hans Karlsson, in a speech at the LO-congress 1996.)

The conflict in Vaxholm between two Swedish trade unions (electricians and construction workers) and the Latvian company Laval goes to the heart of the Swedish model. The speech cited above might come across as a nostalgic description of how democracy in the workplace once was won. But between the lines the core of the Swedish model and trade union history can be detected.

First, in the cited example all 14 blacksmiths decided to join, and the union participation rate in Sweden is still extremely high. Therefore the interest of trade unions tends to overlap with the general interest in society. This is not the case when only one out of ten workers are unionised, leaving the door open for more protectionist policies.

Secondly, the wage demand in the example above is realistic and modest. Swedish wages are still increasing at a level close to the European average, in spite of very strong trade unions that theoretically could demand more. But in accordance with point one, trade unions must also think of the general interest, and too high wages tend to spur inflation, undermining the real wage increase of the workers.

Thirdly, minimum wages or legislation is nowhere to be found in the example above. The employers and workers also make their agreement without the involvement of anyone else. Sweden still does not have minimum wages, legislation has been rare, and the state is not involved when wages are set. The structure of collective bargaining is still alive, and functioning very well.

The core of the conflict in Vaxholm has to do with whether Swedish trade unions are allowed to put a non-Swedish EU-company under blockade, if the company (for example) pays salaries below the level set by the collective agreement. In accordance with the example above: what would the 14 blacksmiths do, if five Latvians show up, and dump wages through doing their job at 15 cents an hour?

The point of view of the Swedish trade union is simple: the Latvians are more than welcome to work in Sweden, but they should also get 20 cents per hour for their work. Otherwise we would enter a race to the bottom, where the Swedish blacksmiths would have to sell their work for 14 cents per hour. Therefore, the trade union has the right to put a company under blockade if they do not accept the wage level set by collective agreement. But is this in accordance with EU law?

As things look now, it seems likely that the freedoms of the internal market cannot be regarded as standing in conflict with the right of the trade union to strike and put a company under blockade. Moreover, the idea with collective bargaining is not only to give workers decent wages, but also to treat everyone the same way. That is a principle normally adored in the EU.

It should also be stressed that Sweden was promised upon entering the union in 1995 that this model could be kept. Also, one must ask if it is the purpose of the EU to fight a system that functions well and is very popular in the member country. Indeed, even the most pro-European parts of the Swedish labour movement (i.e. SSF) would probably turn its back on Brussels if we were forced to throw one of the cornerstones of the Swedish model over board.

Finally, some people are arguing that Vaxholm is mostly a political conflict, and should be settled in Sweden and not in Luxemburg. This is the new standpoint of the Swedish blue-collar trade union LO, even though the Court of Justice of the EC in Luxemburg still and most probably will present a ruling (that is the tradition when the Court is handed a case).

Personally, I make three reflections.

First, many people on the far, nationalistic left took for granted that the freedoms of the internal markets easily would beat "anomalies" as the Swedish model and a few trade unions. But it has happened before and it will happen again; social democratic policies and trade unions can win fights in the European Union. And it is important to note that the decision to stand by Sweden was unanimous in the board of the European Trade Union Confederation. There is no serious divide between trade unions in the West and East of the EU over this issue. Also, quite a few countries, some of them with governments to the right of centre, have rushed to support Sweden's case.
Conclusion: The EU is an arena of opportunity for the left, not an arena where we always lose.

Secondly, Vaxholm might have fooled us to lose focus. One of the most alarming news during the last year is not that the Vaxholm-case ended up in Luxemburg. To see German trade unions give in and accept worse working conditions in order to keep jobs in Rüsselsheim looks much more serious to many observers. After hundreds of years of trade unionism and gradual achievements, was that the start of a slippery slope? Hopefully not, of course, but when global capital and companies travel everywhere, we on the left must do the same.
Conclusion: All trade unions on earth should take globalisation even more seriously, and spend even more of their time and resources on cross-border work and activities.

Thirdly, the journalist and former SSF president Jesper Bengtsson recently suggested that the recent neo-liberal years actually might have been a blessing for the left. Think of it. Maybe the anger and protests against Bush, Bolkestein, Barroso, Berlusconi, and Buttiglione really brought us closer together over the borders. I tend to agree. And up here in the north, the conflict in Vaxholm forced the Swedish labour movement, with its powerful trade union branch, to think again and think hard about globalisation. The outcome of the conflict in Vaxholm might well be the turning point when the Swedish labour movement finally realised that globalisation is the new major challenge and opportunity; that the EU is not a necessary evil but what Gramsci called campo di possibilità (field of possibility); and that big chunks of the European left is looking up to Swedish social democracy, waiting for us to again play a more active role.
Conclusion: A Latvian company called Laval might have delivered the final wake-up call, giving us the necessary re-internationalisation and pro-Europeanisation of the Swedish labour movement.

Eric Sundström

Voltaire, Johnny Cash, och Henrik Brors

Ledarkrönika ur veckans Aktuellt i Politiken:

Voltaire, Johnny Cash, och Henrik Brors
Alla pratar Muhammed-teckningar och slutsatsen blir ofta upplysningsfilosofen Voltaires maxim: ”jag ogillar vad du säger men kommer med mitt liv att försvara din rätt att säga det”. Det är bra att vi får en europeisk offentlig debatt till försvar av våra gemensamma grundläggande värden, som tryckfriheten. Men även om frihetens försvar är viktigast ska den avnjutas med förnuft och inte i onödan kränka och skända. ”Walk the line”, som Johnny Cash hade sagt.

I svensk inrikespolitik är Voltaires maxim en lika självklar institution som DN-debatt. Problemet i Dagens Nyheter är snarast en brist på granskning av det politiska samtalet. Dagen efter radiodebatten mellan Persson och Reinfeldt skriver DNs förment opartiske politikchef Henrik Brors att borgerligheten inte alls vill skapa en låglönemarknad. Det är bara en socialdemokratisk tolkning, menar Brors.

Sidan 13 i den gemensamma borgerliga budgetreservationen motbevisar dock Brors: ”De fackförbund som är ytterst ansvariga för arbetslöshetskassorna får också motiv att via lönebildningen hålla nere arbetslösheten.” Ingen socialdemokratisk tolkning, alltså. Snarare löntagarfientlig, borgerlig politik. Uppenbart för den som orkar läsa innantill.

I radiodebatten sa Reinfeldt att det försvunnit 50 000 jobb från industrin och att inga nya jobb har tillkommit i privat sektor. Men sedan 1994 har det skapats mer än 300 000 nya jobb i Sverige. Bara under det senaste året har 60 000 jobb tillkommit. Nyföretagandet slog rekord under 2005.

Reinfeldt sa också att han har en samlad allians med ett gemensamt regeringsprogram. Men borgerligheten är bara överens om ett par av statens nästan 30 budgetområden. Oenigheten gäller såväl biståndet som kärnkraft, Natomedlemskap och Systembolagets bevarande.

På www.aip.nu ogillar vi ofta vad borgerlighetens företrädare naturligtvis har rätt att säga och påstå. Därför granskar vi vad som sägs desto hårdare. Det hade nog såväl en upplysningsfilosof som en radikal countryrockare gillat.

Eric Sundström

Läs fler artiklar, bland annat om Margot Wallström, på aip.nu.

Friday follow-up III: Walk the line, folks

I am not at all objective when it comes to Johnny Cash, but I think a lot of you would like the movie “Walk the line”. I agree on many of the positive things I read about the movie beforehand: Joaquin Phoenix is amazing as John R. Cash, and Reese Witherspoon is as amazing as June Carter. It is incredible that they actually learnt to sing (and play) this well for the movie (even if Joaquin cannot really do the dark, low Cash-voice). I would not be surprised if they both win an Oscar.

The major thing you can hold against the movie is that it is a somewhat predictable love story that we all now ended up in a long and warm marriage. But it is a totally fantastic love story, nevertheless. And sure the movie ends already in the mid 1960s, and sure it would have been interesting if the movie illustrated Cash’s religious ponderings a little bit more in depth. But still: the music is great, the acting is great, and the story is true and great. Walk the line to movies now folks, and then you can see a scene including this fantatic piece of dialogue (right before Johnny Cash plays at Folsom Prison):

Record Company Executive: “Your fans are gospel folk, Johnny. They're Christians, and they don't wanna hear you singing to a bunch of murderers and rapists, tryin' to cheer 'em up.”
Johnny Cash: “Then they ain't Christians.”

Friday follow-up II: Squash!!!

Friday afternoon I played squash for the third time in my life, and this time I actually won a set (my new 70 euro racket is paying off...). It is a lot fun, very exhausting, and not that time demanding (my friend and I played for some 35 minutes, and after that you sure are tired). I would say this is a perfect alternative if you like racket sports, and are looking for something that makes you run and think at the same time. Try it, and read more here.

Friday follow-up: Poul Nyrup Rasmussen

During the press conference Friday in Stockholm, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen presented the work being done within the PES on how to build a social Europe. Read an article about it here (in Swedish), or browse among the documents here (English, German, French). PNR also mentioned the new proposal of the Swedish Farmer’s party; to address unemployment by making it easier to fire young people. Needless to say, PNR said that the proposal should be thrown into the garbage can. He also commented on the fact the French have tried the idea, and that their Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has claimed that it is a part of the Nordic “flexicurity” model (flexibility and security). Just to make it clear to one and all: to worsen working conditions is not part of the Nordic model, which is not a “take what you want meal”, as PNR said. You can read an article about the press conference here (in Swedish).

After the press conference the board of PES-Stockholm had an informal lunch with PNR. Since it was an informal lunch I will not give away the details here, but PNR said he was very proud to meet the first local group of grass-root activists within the whole PES/EU. I am very excited about the idea of more pan-European political work within PES, which I have written about before (here in English, and here in Swedish). PNR promised that the work with PES-activism will continue, the next step is a special section on the PES website. Never forget folks, another Europe is possible. And by the way, do the European right have these kind of activities? Young Swedish conservatives having lunch with Berlusconi?

That’s a Friday: Nyrup and Cash…

Been extremely busy all day but went to a press conference and had lunch with Poul Nyrup Rasmussen; I will have to share some thoughts about that later. Now I have to run off and try to win over a friend of mine on the squash-court, and then I have tickets for the opening night of “Walk the line”. So: more on all this later, happy Friday!

Tyckfriheten i den malliga tidningen

Störde mig på hur Brors tolkar politik åt oss i dagens tidning.

Botemedel här för alla som saknar Jesper

Goda nyheter för alla som har saknat Jesper Bengtsson på AB:s ledarsida: nu har Jesper en egen nätkrönika på den nya arbetsplatsen SEKO-magasinet. Två till tre krönikor i veckan om aktuella politiska frågor utlovas, och förhoppningvis får krönikorna permalänkar snart? I alla fall, den första krönikan driver en tes som motsvar förväntningarna:

Själv väljer jag att tolka de senaste årens många protester mot högervridningen av EU som en europeisering av den politiska debatten, inte en nationalisering. Kanske började det med protesterna mot kriget i Irak. [...]

Därefter har miljörörelsen mobiliserat gränsöverskridande för hårdare kemikalieregler i EU. Facket och vänstern har gjort gemensam sak i kampen mot tjänstedirektivet. Och för bara några veckor sedan strejkade Europas hamnarbetare mot det så kallade hamndirektivet, som sedan röstades ned i Europaparlamentet. Samma tendens slår nu igenom i Vaxholmsfallet. [...]

Kanske är det i själva verket Europa vi ser födas i protesterna mot nyliberalismen.

Jag tror och hoppas att Jesper har rätt. Åren med gubbarna på B (Barosso, Berlusconi, Bush, Beinfledt) medför att Europas vänster måste ta sig samman och börja samarbeta över gränserna. Sedan står vi bättre förberedda än sist (runt 1998-1999) när pendeln svänger och vi får en vänstermajoritet i Europa. Ett scenario värt att kämpa för.

Valduell Persson-Reinfeldt

Vad sade Reinfeldt egentligen i radiodebatten?

Breaking news for Europe's left!

Margot Wallström just had a press conference in Brussels and said that the European Commission will back the Swedish government and the Swedish trade unions with regards to the conflict in Vaxholm!

According to Wallström, the European Commission sees no conflict between the Swedish labor market (with collective bargaining), and the laws of the Union. Read more about Wallström’s statement here (in Swedish). This was good news for the Swedish model, the European left, and the future of the EU.

This also implies that Swedish right-wingers will have to find another way to break the Swedish model, now when the European Commission will not do the work for them…

Another SOTU…

So, Bush held his State of the Union address yesterday. I am listening to it right now, mainly because “you have to” if you follow US politics. I cannot really stand all the rounds of applause for a smirking W, so I understand what TPM is saying.

But anyway, the big happening was the arrest of a woman called Cindy Sheehan right before the speech. Her crime: wearing a t-shirt with an anti-war message.

Via AMERICAblog I read the following:

“Did you know that in 1971, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to arrest a man who wore a "F--- the Draft" T-shirt into the courthouse? (Cohen v. California, you can look it up.) So now Alito's on the court for 45 minutes and your civil liberties are already going down the toilet. You were warned.”

Or like The Hives would have said: “Hate to say I told you so".

ESP-möte torsdag 18:00 på 68an!

En liten notis till alla sossar i Stockholmsregionen: Möte med ESP Stockholm på Sveavägen 68 imorgon torsdag klockan 18:00. Tema: Vaxholmskonflikten. Medverkande: Anders Teljebäck (statssekreterare) och Anna Thoursie (LO-ekonom och tillträdande Agora chef). Boken "Konflikten i Vaxholm" av Ingvar Persson kommer att finnas till salu för endast 40 spänn. Ses!