Saturday, May 02, 2009
A break blogging
Unfortunately this blog is lagging behind. And it will continue to do so for a while. Due to consuming work out of town I am not able to find the time and effort to work on the blog as much as I would like to. Two examples of why blogs like this are important:
1. There are many things to write about Sweden and its centralised government. Particularly as the election to the European parliament in June getting closer. The debate about the future of the union is almost non-existent in the media. The parties are selecting the top-of-the-list candidates (the same old worn out, lazy and compliant political pros as we have seen in Swedish state politics for decades). We are expected to go to the ballot boxes on 7 June and pretend that this is an expression of true democracy.
2. The major political parties are as far as ever from considering the proposal by the Ansvarskommittén to regionalise the political and public sectors from the state level to the regions.
But in this country the bloggers can blog themselves blue in the face without seemingly making any change on the central government’s attitudes or policies.
I regret to inform the readers of this blog that my face blueness would have to diminish for a while. The workload dictates a brake for at least a couple of months. In the meantime I recommend the following quality blog sites about Scanian regionalism:
Malte Lewan
Johan Wadenbäck
1. There are many things to write about Sweden and its centralised government. Particularly as the election to the European parliament in June getting closer. The debate about the future of the union is almost non-existent in the media. The parties are selecting the top-of-the-list candidates (the same old worn out, lazy and compliant political pros as we have seen in Swedish state politics for decades). We are expected to go to the ballot boxes on 7 June and pretend that this is an expression of true democracy.
2. The major political parties are as far as ever from considering the proposal by the Ansvarskommittén to regionalise the political and public sectors from the state level to the regions.
But in this country the bloggers can blog themselves blue in the face without seemingly making any change on the central government’s attitudes or policies.
I regret to inform the readers of this blog that my face blueness would have to diminish for a while. The workload dictates a brake for at least a couple of months. In the meantime I recommend the following quality blog sites about Scanian regionalism:
Malte Lewan
Johan Wadenbäck
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Insulted identity
The largest regional newspaper Sydsvenskan never fails. It just doesn’t seem to care if Scanians are insulted by its generalising policy on who regard themselves a Scanians and who do not.
One headline yesterday read: “35 Scanians caught in huge narcotic scam”. Another one today reads: “Scanians behind shoddy construction work”.
As discussed earlier on this blog, according to Sydsvenskan the Scanians are behind many shady activities – from pimping prostitutes to insider crimes. Why does Sydsvenskan persist in this outrageously abusive headline habit?
Well, according to the former chief editor the newspaper policy is to regard everyone living in the region as “Scanians” regardless of background, origin or personal wishes. Those who object to this are simply regarded as being exclusive of people of different extraction. The fact that many Scanians are offended by the paper’s generalisations in obviously of no concern to Sydsvenskan.
The journalists are supposed to be masters of words and should be able to write their pieces without discriminating some of its readers.
One headline yesterday read: “35 Scanians caught in huge narcotic scam”. Another one today reads: “Scanians behind shoddy construction work”.
As discussed earlier on this blog, according to Sydsvenskan the Scanians are behind many shady activities – from pimping prostitutes to insider crimes. Why does Sydsvenskan persist in this outrageously abusive headline habit?
Well, according to the former chief editor the newspaper policy is to regard everyone living in the region as “Scanians” regardless of background, origin or personal wishes. Those who object to this are simply regarded as being exclusive of people of different extraction. The fact that many Scanians are offended by the paper’s generalisations in obviously of no concern to Sydsvenskan.
The journalists are supposed to be masters of words and should be able to write their pieces without discriminating some of its readers.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Backwards into the future
There is an expression in linguistic circles: ”A state’s official language is a regional language (or dialect) with an army behind it”. During the last 150 years the Svealand language (a Scandinavian dialect?) has used the “army” to promote itself. The army in this case has been, among other things, the development of mass communications, central control of the public school system and the mass media as well as control of the main chunk of the taxpayers’ money.
The promoter of the Svealand Swedish language – the state government – has, according to a small newspaper note in the Sydsvenskan today, now submitted the bill to the Riksdag to make by law Swedish the only official language of the state.
The article (not published on the paper’s website but is found here) says that “at the same time all national minorities” will have the opportunity to learn their languages” and list the 5 languages that the government has approved within the framework of the Charter on regional or minority languages. The regions can kiss good-bye to what remains of their languages.
With the state government - with all its vast resources - as the opponent to an official recognition of the historical Scanian language, it probably doesn’t help much that UNESCO has Scanian on the endangered small languages list.
The Scanian linguistic identity is like being a prisoner within the State and with Svealand as the Prison Gate Keeper.
The promoter of the Svealand Swedish language – the state government – has, according to a small newspaper note in the Sydsvenskan today, now submitted the bill to the Riksdag to make by law Swedish the only official language of the state.
The article (not published on the paper’s website but is found here) says that “at the same time all national minorities” will have the opportunity to learn their languages” and list the 5 languages that the government has approved within the framework of the Charter on regional or minority languages. The regions can kiss good-bye to what remains of their languages.
With the state government - with all its vast resources - as the opponent to an official recognition of the historical Scanian language, it probably doesn’t help much that UNESCO has Scanian on the endangered small languages list.
The Scanian linguistic identity is like being a prisoner within the State and with Svealand as the Prison Gate Keeper.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Culture - Twenty to three.
The present Swedish government ordered 2007 an official report on culture, which was published this week. The report was a brick of a publication – 890 pages. The newspapers report that it will be a significant change in the objectives of the state culture policies. The number of central state authorities dealing with culture will be reduced from twenty (!) to three. The regional governments will be allocated some new (limited) rights and some extra cash to deal with cultural activities.
But the report of 890 pages could easily have been reduced to one, which could include the following points:
But the report of 890 pages could easily have been reduced to one, which could include the following points:
- The state is an administrative entity assembled by military and colonial means. The state, therefore, does not have a basic culture foundation. Regional and local communities have. The state should therefore not have concerned itself with cultural issues in the first place.
- The state should apologise for trying to create a centralised cultural nationality, which has caused regional and local cultures and languages to diminish, likely to a point beyond repair and restoration.
- The state should apologise for, by military or administrative means, moving regional and local cultural properties from the region to the Capital of Svealand depriving generations of people in many regions the right to conveniently connect to past history. The state should return them to their places of origin where the items mean something more than just nice pieces of artefacts on museum shelves.
- The state should promise that it will follow the Council of Europe’s charter on regional self-government, which states (Article 9) that the state should not earmark financial support for culture to the regions. There is therefore no need for state authorities on culture to allocate funds, not even the remaining three proposed by the report. Just hand over the cash.
- The state should accept the UNESCO definition culture: “Culture is no longer tied to the arts and literature but also to people’s way of life, basic rights, values, traditions and religious faith. This definition has laid the foundation for recognition of different nations and peoples distinctive characters. All nations and peoples cultural identities have been recognised and the notion that all cultures constitute the heritage of humanity has been emphasized.”
Sunday, February 01, 2009
The end of a Long Trial
Four coalition party leaders in government held a press conference the other day in order to announce that they had finally decided to make permanent the trial period for the Region of Skåne. After ten years of uncertainty. It means that the province of Skåne will continue to elect political parties to represent the people in the regional government. That’s good. But it is not perfect.
To be anywhere near perfect a few more steps need to be taken:
To be anywhere near perfect a few more steps need to be taken:
- Transfer of administrative tasks from the state governor’s office (Länsstyrelsen, which for all practical purposes is overseeing and controlling everyday decisions in Skåne), to the elected Region Skåne (which is virtually toothless in many areas of political life).
- Start negotiations to make the domestic region (Skåne) correspond with the EU region (Skåne/Blekinge) and the almost at thousand years historic region (Halland/Skåne/Blekinge).
- Find politicians for the Region Skåne who understand that they have a responsibility to protect the welfare, prosperity, identity, culture and traditions of the people who elected them and not to support and protect the powers of the state government and the central party system.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
All? Or only some?
The language rights of the National Minorities in Sweden have to be strengthened, says the Minister of Integration. The Finish speakers should have more opportunities such as better communal services in their own language. More local governments will have to provide services in other languages than the official state language, particularly in the north where the Samis have fought against Sweden’s intolerant language policies over the years. For that Sweden has been internationally criticized, particularly by the Council of Europe.
Is the move of the Minister a signal of a new era in Sweden’s relations to human cultural rights? If so, maybe the problem of the Scanian language may also be considered by the Minister instead of being hid away in a dark corner of the conscience of Swedish governments for the last century or so. And we do not ask for much:
If that kind of ridiculous arguments are shared by the government, we may as well kiss goodbye to the majority of the 6500 languages in the world today, of which many are existing dangerously close to extinction.
Is the move of the Minister a signal of a new era in Sweden’s relations to human cultural rights? If so, maybe the problem of the Scanian language may also be considered by the Minister instead of being hid away in a dark corner of the conscience of Swedish governments for the last century or so. And we do not ask for much:
- Only that the historic Scanian language, spoken widely here only a generation ago, is recognized as a distinct Scandinavian language.
- Only that the government apologizes for its anti-Scanian language policies, which have almost totally eliminated the Scanian language.
- Only that the government ensures prosecution of discriminatory abuses against the Scanian language by Swedish citizens like the one the Minister will find here as a terrible example.
- Only that the Swedish government follows the advice of the Council of Europe to initiate a dialogue with Scanian organisations regarding the status of the Scanian language instead of blatantly ignoring it.
If that kind of ridiculous arguments are shared by the government, we may as well kiss goodbye to the majority of the 6500 languages in the world today, of which many are existing dangerously close to extinction.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Midsummer’s party?
This is a small film of how the Swede’s are perceived to party on the longest day of the year - Midsummer’s Day.
A red little cottage. Food drink and dance. High culture. High cuisine. High life.
At least according to the Germans.
A red little cottage. Food drink and dance. High culture. High cuisine. High life.
At least according to the Germans.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Gaza - a crisis of the state system
The Israel-Gaza crisis is a crisis of the state system. It is just another example of how poorly the global state system is working. It also brings into the open the impotency of state controlled institutions, like the UN, to ensure that state governments are behaving in a proper and decent fashion.
The modern European type central state is the creation of the French revolution in 1789 and implemented in Europe as late as in second half of the 19th Century. At the end of WW2 there were only 45 “modern” states in the world (R. Griggs). Before the French revolution, Europe consisted mostly of self-governed regions.
The “modern” type state means a state with one central government, one currency, one legal system, one military entity and so forth. After WW2 this state system was exported to every corner of the world including its built-in conflict pattern.
The central regions in power were lucky – they could continue to gather and enjoy wealth and power and start building an international peer state system. The rest would see their political and administrative powers move to the state capital. They would see their languages, cultures and traditions diminish and their pride and dignity with it.
The state border-makers did not care very much on whose traditional territories they drew the new border lines. In many cases old and ancient regions were split into pieces and incorporated into adjacent states as state leaders fought over borders. Even today the rigid state borders are the cause of many conflicts both in Europe and elsewhere because of that.
Fortunately for Europe, the founding fathers of the EU realised that, in order to avoid more wars and conflicts in Europe, the states governments had to be stripped of the ability to start new wars. The process of weakening the states started 1950 and is still going on. The state nationalists, victims of a century or more of nationalistic state propaganda, are objecting. But the process of depriving the states of the right to start new wars in Europe is continuing, whether the state nationalists like it or not.
The establishment of Israel, and before that also Palestine, is the result of this state nation-building mentality that has created so much wars and conflicts in the past. Rigid borders – drawn in the sand of the desserts – have created inter-state hatred and state nationalistic extremism. The Europeans have seen it all before.
The solution? Support the creation of an EU equivalent in the Middle East with all the controlling institutions that is governing the present day Europe. Weaken the state governments of the ability to start new wars and conflicts by stripping them of their present undisputed right to refer to state sovereignty regardless of how badly these governments treat their own people or their neighbours.
The next step is to open up the state borders for free movement of people, goods, services and capital, just as we are now doing in the EU. Allow people to socially intermingle freely and they will eventually learn to live with each other. Use the money, now spent on guns and rockets to kill and maim each other, on efficient policing to prevent individual people from initially jump at each others throats. Eventually people will come to the point where the state and other propaganda have ceased to twist their minds and they can start to live thier peaceful daily lives.
This solution may sound naïve knowing the situation in the Middle East and how strongly the majority of people are indoctrinated to believe in the state system as the only solution.
But the EU concept of diminishing state influence and depriving them of their tools to start new wars is working, at least for me. I was born during WW2 and retired last year. I belong to the first generation, for centuries, of Northern Europeans who was never summoned by the state government to go to war to kill people. Not once during my active life, which is quite amazing when you think about it.
And for that I can thank the founding fathers of the EU – Monnet and Schuman – for their idea of a Europe consisting of weaker states less disposed to war and destruction and, as an extra bonus, stronger cultural regions.
The modern European type central state is the creation of the French revolution in 1789 and implemented in Europe as late as in second half of the 19th Century. At the end of WW2 there were only 45 “modern” states in the world (R. Griggs). Before the French revolution, Europe consisted mostly of self-governed regions.
The “modern” type state means a state with one central government, one currency, one legal system, one military entity and so forth. After WW2 this state system was exported to every corner of the world including its built-in conflict pattern.
The central regions in power were lucky – they could continue to gather and enjoy wealth and power and start building an international peer state system. The rest would see their political and administrative powers move to the state capital. They would see their languages, cultures and traditions diminish and their pride and dignity with it.
The state border-makers did not care very much on whose traditional territories they drew the new border lines. In many cases old and ancient regions were split into pieces and incorporated into adjacent states as state leaders fought over borders. Even today the rigid state borders are the cause of many conflicts both in Europe and elsewhere because of that.
Fortunately for Europe, the founding fathers of the EU realised that, in order to avoid more wars and conflicts in Europe, the states governments had to be stripped of the ability to start new wars. The process of weakening the states started 1950 and is still going on. The state nationalists, victims of a century or more of nationalistic state propaganda, are objecting. But the process of depriving the states of the right to start new wars in Europe is continuing, whether the state nationalists like it or not.
The establishment of Israel, and before that also Palestine, is the result of this state nation-building mentality that has created so much wars and conflicts in the past. Rigid borders – drawn in the sand of the desserts – have created inter-state hatred and state nationalistic extremism. The Europeans have seen it all before.
The solution? Support the creation of an EU equivalent in the Middle East with all the controlling institutions that is governing the present day Europe. Weaken the state governments of the ability to start new wars and conflicts by stripping them of their present undisputed right to refer to state sovereignty regardless of how badly these governments treat their own people or their neighbours.
The next step is to open up the state borders for free movement of people, goods, services and capital, just as we are now doing in the EU. Allow people to socially intermingle freely and they will eventually learn to live with each other. Use the money, now spent on guns and rockets to kill and maim each other, on efficient policing to prevent individual people from initially jump at each others throats. Eventually people will come to the point where the state and other propaganda have ceased to twist their minds and they can start to live thier peaceful daily lives.
This solution may sound naïve knowing the situation in the Middle East and how strongly the majority of people are indoctrinated to believe in the state system as the only solution.
But the EU concept of diminishing state influence and depriving them of their tools to start new wars is working, at least for me. I was born during WW2 and retired last year. I belong to the first generation, for centuries, of Northern Europeans who was never summoned by the state government to go to war to kill people. Not once during my active life, which is quite amazing when you think about it.
And for that I can thank the founding fathers of the EU – Monnet and Schuman – for their idea of a Europe consisting of weaker states less disposed to war and destruction and, as an extra bonus, stronger cultural regions.
A Fabulous Church
Kanal Lokal will close down because the owners do not seem find it worth while to make the necessary funds available (see previous blog entry). Last night they broadcasted a piece about the Gumlösa Church in north-eastern Skåne. What a fascinating building! What a fascinating interior! What a fascinating Christening font! What a fascinating history!
The question is: how is it possible to live a whole life in Skåne without being aware of this fabulous church? Who or what is responsible for withholding such information from the people and for such a long time. If it wasn’t for Kanal Lokal, most of us would probably go to the greener pastures, ignorant of the grandeur of the Church of Gumlösa
Now Kanal Lokal is likely to go to its “greener pastures” due to financial starvation. The job of informing the people of cultural and historic sites will go back to the central state broadcasting institutions, which have previously failed to inform of such landmarks as the Church of Gumlösa
Sometimes the State feels like a choking prison with culture and history as its main prisoners.
The question is: how is it possible to live a whole life in Skåne without being aware of this fabulous church? Who or what is responsible for withholding such information from the people and for such a long time. If it wasn’t for Kanal Lokal, most of us would probably go to the greener pastures, ignorant of the grandeur of the Church of Gumlösa
Now Kanal Lokal is likely to go to its “greener pastures” due to financial starvation. The job of informing the people of cultural and historic sites will go back to the central state broadcasting institutions, which have previously failed to inform of such landmarks as the Church of Gumlösa
Sometimes the State feels like a choking prison with culture and history as its main prisoners.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Black in the tube
About 70 000 regular daily viewers of the only real Scanian television channel will mourn on Monday next week. The channel Kanal Lokal goes bankrupt and will close down. The reason stated by the management is that the financial crisis has made it impossible to obtain financial support to continue the broadcasts. Have they asked the biggest Stockholm based media moguls Bonniers who, directly or indirectly, owns it? Controlling the amount of businesses like these they should be able to find financial support somewhere.
Left for the region’s viewers is very short news casts (we are talking about minutes a day) of regional news on the centrally controlled television media, were the local involvement in front of the cameras is minimal.
We are forced by law to pay television licence fees (just fancy words for additional taxes) of about € 200 per year to the remaining state radio and television stations. Regardless if one is watching it or not
Why do we have state media in the first place? But, in all fairness, half (preferably all) of the licence fees should go to local and regional radio and television channels.
Kanal Lokal – we are going to miss you!
Left for the region’s viewers is very short news casts (we are talking about minutes a day) of regional news on the centrally controlled television media, were the local involvement in front of the cameras is minimal.
We are forced by law to pay television licence fees (just fancy words for additional taxes) of about € 200 per year to the remaining state radio and television stations. Regardless if one is watching it or not
Why do we have state media in the first place? But, in all fairness, half (preferably all) of the licence fees should go to local and regional radio and television channels.
Kanal Lokal – we are going to miss you!
