Thursday September 23 2010, 6:11 pm
The Swedish election is a mess.
For you to understand first I need to explain how the political parties of Sweden work. There’s seven big parties which have been around for a long time and these seven are split in two coalitions. It’s the left-wing “Red-Greens” with the Social Democratic Party, Left Party (which I vote for) and Green Party and then there’s the right-wing “Alliance” with the Moderate Party, Liberal People’s Party, Centre Party and the Christian Democrats.
In this election The Social Democratic Party got the most votes but didn’t win the election because the right-wing four party coalition got more votes together than the left-wing three party coalition. However the right-wing coalition didn’t get majority in the parliament because of a eight party getting into the parliament this year. The racist Sweden Democrats.
Now the right-wing coalition have 173 seats in the parliament, the left-wing coalition 156 and the Sweden Democrats 20. That means the Sweden Democrats can give either side the majority depending which side they choose to support. The thing is neither side wants to work with the Sweden Democrats to get majority and neither side wants to work with each other to make sure the Sweden Democrats don’t get to set the majority.
So all in all the party with the most votes didn’t win and the coalition with the most votes didn’t win either. And we now have racists in the parliament with the power to tip Sweden either right or left. I would rather have the right-wing have majority in the parliament than the Sweden Democrats in this position of power and that says a lot about what I think about the Sweden Democrats because I hate the right-wings politics. In the end, racism is worse though.
Plugs: Shaina
Tuesday September 21 2010, 2:54 am
I’m currently on a very short break from studying. Since I’m a distance education student I can take breaks whenever I want to and I decided I needed one after finishing my three first assignments for school. It’s just a three day break and tomorrow I’ll open my books again for even more studying than before. You see the 7th I’m going to visit my sister who recently moved to Härnösand (700 kilometers up north) and I’ll be staying there until the 11th. I’m realistic enough to realize I won’t do any studying whatsoever while I’m gone so I will have to do a lot more of it before I leave not to fall behind. In seventeen days I need to finish four assignments. And I thought the three I just finished in eighteen days was stressful enough! It’s still interesting though and I’m learning so much new stuff in my political history class. It’s focus is on the working class and worker’s rights movement in Sweden and for me with my left-wing stance it’s very intriguing reading.
This reading is making me rather sad though because it’s about how the socialist parties reformed Sweden into a country of high welfare, which the current right-wing government now is ruining. What took 100 years to build up is being torn down now. Nope, sorry, I won’t shut up about politics just because the election is over. I’m very concerned about the future of Sweden and the election has made the political interest that’s always present in my life grow even more. Now if ever is the time to talk politics, to try to change things, now is the time to debate and question. The right-wing needs to be exposed for what they are so that everyone sees that what’s called “the new workers party” is nothing but a wolf in sheep clothing, with the same old agenda of reducing workers rights and giving more to those who already have the most. This battle isn’t about this or that political question. It’s about ideology! Socialism or capitalism. What kind of society we want to live in and what effect the current changes will have on not just today but the future as well.
Plugs: Pim, Sam
Monday September 20 2010, 3:25 pm
The right-wing four party alliance won the Swedish election yesterday. That means things will continue downhill in my beloved country. People don’t care about solidarity any more. It’s just money, money, money and me, me, me. I hope everyone who voted right-wing will become sick and loose their jobs. Then they’ll see how they manage in the new Sweden that doesn’t give a shit about anyone but the rich.
Yes, I’m bitter. It’s hard watching what you love being torn down, sold out and ruined in the name of capitalism.
Plugs: Rachel-Rebecka, Elizabeth
Saturday September 18 2010, 5:51 am
99% of my blog is in English. However this particular post is not. This one is written in Swedish and is about the Swedish general election.
Imorgon är det val och jag anser att det är en väldigt viktig dag, inte bara av rent demokratiska skäl utan även därför att vi nu har chansen att bli av med alliansen. Att jag är vänsterpartist är inte direkt någon hemlighet. Det har jag varit i snart tio års tid och det förkunnar jag med stolthet. Nu vill jag dela med mig av några av anledningarna till varför jag röstar rött och inte blått. Jag hyser inga förhoppningar om att omvända mina bloggläsare med detta. Majoriteten av människorna jag omger mig med är redan vänster och de som inte är det kan jag omvända lika lite som de kan omvända mig. Här vill jag bara dela med mig av ett litet urval av intressanta debattartiklar et cetera vilka på olika sätt speglar mina politiska åsikter.
Rödgrön regeringsplattform – För hela Sverige!
Lars Ohly berättar varför du ska rösta på Vänsterpartiet – Word!
Stellan Skarsgård på rödgrön dag i Kungsträdgården – Stellan Skarsgård förklarar varför detta är ett viktigt val och varför han röstar rödgrönt.
Vänsterpartiet föreslår gratis kollektivtrafik för studenter – Intressant förslag!
Lars Ohly och Ida Gabrielsson i containeraktion – Vänsterpartiet angående ungas svåra situation på bostadsmarknaden.
Sverige håller på att slitas sönder – Om hur alliansen raserar välfärden.
“Cancersjuka tvingas till arbetslöshet och misär” – Om alliansens sjukförsäkringspolitik.
Klamydiabrevet – Sveket – Emelies gripande blogginlägg om sin sjuka utförsäkrade mor.
Löntagarfientligt och destruktivt av alliansen – Alliansen gynnar de som redan har makt.
Vårdbolagen lever gott på våra skattemedel – Små personalkooperativ var det visst tal om Reinfeldt?
Svenska skolor säljs till fonder i utländska skatteparadis – Om alliansens privatisering och utförsäljning av svenska skolor.
Apoteksvinster går till skatteparadis – Mer om privatiseringarnas konsekvenser.
Den allierade journalisten granskar medias valkampanj – Om borgerlig medias vinkling av valkampanjen.
Oanständigt av Reinfeldt hålla partibidragen hemliga – Korruption finns inte i Sverige. Eller?
Kulturtidsskrifterna hotas vid borgerlig valseger – Om hur kulturtidsskrifter riskerar mista statligt stöd.
Plugs: Cecilie, Angie, Belinda
Friday September 17 2010, 5:13 am
Of all the damages four years of a right-wing government has caused Sweden the privatizing of governmentally owned companies and institutions is what I consider the worst – and the most irrevocable. When hospitals and schools go from being owned by the government – which means all of us together – to being owned by individuals, focus soon (instantly) shifts from doing good to making money. Look at USA and how good care their private hospitals take of the American people. Look at the American universities which kids with poor parents can forget about. That may not be the situation with privately owned hospitals and schools (there are no privately owned universities yet, thank god) in today’s Sweden but some day it will be. Because those who buy the institutions are not interested in the good of the Swedish people. They’re interested in making money. Research shows that the profit the private care and schools make don’t go to improving those institutions but rather down the deep pockets of the already rich owners. That’s the major difference between private and governmental owning. And one day when everything is owned by capitalists only interested in making money, when there’s no going back and undoing what has been done, when we have no say over either the education or the medical service of this country, that’s when universities stops being free and hospital care becomes a privilege for the rich. That’s when we become like USA. And that’s the day everything that’s good about this country dies for sure.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Sweden isn’t broke. We’re a rich highly developed country with a system that’s working. Don’t break it by voting right-wing this Sunday.
Plugs: maria, Angelica, Sean
Saturday September 4 2010, 2:28 am
If you don’t understand Swedish please read the previous post.
Linda Skugge lever i någon slags bubbla och förnekar fakta vem som helst som har den minsta koll på arbetsmarknaden i Sverige vet är riktiga. Läs och förundras över människans dumhet.
En gång i tiden (ca 2001) tyckte jag Linda Skugge var vettig. Men nu? Hur tänker hon egentligen? Vilka jobb pratar hon om? Har hon helt missat att det råder utbredd arbetslöshet i Sverige? Om ungdomar är för fina för att jobba varför är det de som utgör majoriteten av de anställda på McDonalds? Varför är det de som sliter som telefonförsäljare med provisionsbaserade löner? Varför är det de som hamnar på praktikplatser där de utför samma jobb som löntagare fast på bidrag istället för lön? Linda Skugge har noll koll på verkligheten! Och allt snack om att när hon var ung då fick hon minsann jobb hur lätt som helst. Hallå Linda, tiderna har förändrats!
Plugs: Angelica, Malin, maria
Wednesday June 30 2010, 3:17 am
On the IMBD forums I’ve seen a lot of people in favour or American re-makes because they think they’re easier to follow than subtitled movies in the original for them foreign language. There’s also many countries (Most of central and southern Europe) that dub just about everything in another language than their native one. For me as a Swede I have a hard time understanding what they find so difficult about subtitles. Sure in some less developed countries where a large percentage of the population can’t read it’s one thing but when Americans prefer re-makes and French and Germans dubbed movies it’s just silly. Personally my reading skills were good enough to follow subtitles when I was seven and it’s been working well for me ever since.
I think it’s especially silly when people (Americans, it’s always Americans) complain about how it’s hard to follow a movie in a language they don’t understand with subtitles they do understand. Personally I think it’s harder to follow a movie in a language you do understand with subtitles in another language you also understand.
The things is no matter how good the subtitles are not everything can be accurately translated. Take humorous puns like this for example: “What did the grape say when it got stepped on? Nothing – but it let out a little whine”. Translated to Swedish the words “whine” and “wine” have no similarity to each other which means that directly translated the joke no longer makes sense. The usual solution to this is replacing the joke with a similar one. It works but when you understand the spoken English and get the joke it’s a bit annoying reading a completely different joke in the Swedish subtitles. That is what you could call hard to follow. Hearing one thing in one language and reading another in another language. Yet here in Sweden where almost everyone understand English we don’t complain because we’re used to this.
What do I want to say with this? That people who think subtitles makes movies hard to follow should think about how we do it in Sweden and how we manage well despite the fact that most of us understand both the spoken language and the subtitled one. Dubbing makes movies look weird and re-makes… well isn’t that just extremely unnecessary? Just read the damn subtitles.
Plugs: Ashley, Becky, Cecilie, Karin, Rhea, alisha, Erin, Veronica, maria
Tuesday November 10 2009, 9:38 am
I woke up to a grey sky and rain. I actually like rain, in the summer. This time of the year it’s not very pleasant though since it’s already cold enough without getting drenched in freezing water. Alas, the misery of fall!
I’m off to work in less than an hour and I don’t look forward to going there. My last work may have been 2 (metric system) miles (20 minutes by car) away but at least I got to go there by car with dad. Now I have a job in my home town which of course is nice but which also means that I have to walk or ride my bike there. Even in the pouring rain.
Speaking of something else. I wonder when I’ll get the vaccine against H1N1. Everyone in Sweden are being vaccinated for free but right now only those in the risk groups. My sister had the vaccine a couple of days ago due to her being in the risk group because of her diabetes. The rest of us have to wait a while longer though. Are you getting the vaccine fellow Swedes? Are there any other countries that vaccinate their entire population by the way? Obviously considering the American health care system that’s not the case with USA.
And speaking of that. What do you think about the American health care reform? I think it’s great. It’s insane that people can’t afford health care in USA. Really insane.
Now I need to get dressed since I’ll be off in not too long. Laters!
Plugs: Karin, maria, admin, Maria, Malin
Thursday October 15 2009, 2:52 pm
It’s interesting how people from other countries think that the entire Sweden has the same climate. Of course that’s not odd since I sure as hell don’t know much about the climate of other countries than Sweden and our closest neighbours Norway, Finland and Denmark.
Still I can’t help but laugh when I read questions on traveling forums where people ask about dog sledding possibilities in Stockholm. We don’t get much snow here in the south and there’s certainly hard to find a dog sled in the Stockholm area. It’s the same with reindeers. There are none in the southern Sweden.
Another funny thing is how people from the southern Sweden think that the climate difference between the south and the north is way bigger than it actually is. When friends of my mother from the south where to visit us in my old home town in the north they asked about whether they needed to bring knitted sweaters and warm jackets with them. In June. The summer may be pretty short there but there is a summer! And it gets pretty hot there as well.
The climate doesn’t differ that much during the summer. It’s during the winter that the climate difference gets big. The temperature, the amount of snow, the length of the winter vary greatly depending on which part of the country you live in.
After ten years in the south the short winter, early spring and lack of snow still amazes me. In February I see signs of spring while people who grew up here think I’m crazy. But the thing is as soon as the snow is gone and the temperatures goes above 0C (32F) I think it’s spring time. Because spring in the north isn’t as much about flowers as it is about melting snow.
God I’m so happy I don’t live there anymore. Because I hate cold weather and snow and love sunshine, green forests and flowers.
Which season is your favourite?
Plugs: Marie Claire, Karin, Deanna, Grace, tiff k, Rachel-Rebecka
Thursday October 8 2009, 9:49 pm
I’ve now applied to nineteen classes at colleges from Blekinge in the south to Luleå in the north. They’re all distance education classes though so I can study all of them from home. The plan is to study two or three classes. I’d like to study one coding based class, one involving graphic design and a third one about Java, PHP or databases.
A couple of the classes I’ve applied to are:
Web development – Introduction
CSS based web design
Web publication: Technique , design, communication
Picture and graphic design for the web
Web design with JavaScript and Document Object Model
Databases and object oriented programming in PHP
Animation with Flash
Basic Java programming
Some things I’m familiar with. Other things not. Whichever classes I get into I’m still excited.
Speaking of something entirely different. I always see cool candy in American movies and think “oh, I’d like to try that”. Obviously that’s often kind of impossible since I live in Sweden. So I thought, would anyone like to exchange candy with me? You don’t have to live in the US, anywhere but Sweden is cool. You send me candy from your country and I’ll send you candy from Sweden. Anyone interested?
Plugs: Alyssa, Elizabeth, Angie, Joebs, Kimmy, tiff k
Welcome to Whirlwind, the online home of a 28 year old Swedish artist, web designer and blogger who goes by the name Angelica. The site consists of 544 MB words, photos and art. Please do take a look around.
