Eric Sundström: Första maj 2007 i Hudiksvall!

My First of May celebration in Hudiksvall was one of my best ever. We were around 200 happy social democrats in the demonstration and according to the local paper almost 500 people listened to my speech. Before I started, Sara from the local SSU-club delivered a very good speech on climate change.

I started my speech as I always do on the First of May; by quoting a sentence from Olof Palme’s First of May speech in Kramfors in 1964. That quote is about global injustices, which I exemplified with some sad numbers and images (one billion people will go to bed hungry tonight, for example).

I then spoke about how globalization, after all, is improving the lives of many and giving us new possibilities. Then I argued that the Swedish model is one of the best ways I know of in terms of handling globalization and turning it into jobs and greater equality. After that I discussed how the pillars of the Swedish model (an open economy, strong trade unions and generous welfare) is threatened by the Swedish right-wing government. [I always make I point of mentioning our opponents late in the speech; this is our day and I prefer to talk about global injustices and how we want to make the world a better place]. I then concluded with a five point agenda for renewal of our own policies.

I had great fun when delivering the speech, and from what I could tell it was well appreciated. Thanks, all you nice social democrats in Hudiksvall. Days like this make me realize why I love our movement so much.

After the speech, my friends Torbjörn and Henrik (photo below) drove me home in the car we rented. We had a great time in Hudiksvall (and when discussing life and debating politics in the car). I am very happy to have friends like this.