Art for Peace

Last week a Syrian-French artist flew in from Marseilles to Malmö to contribute to the exhibition Syrian Art for Peace, arranged by our Peace and Conflict Programme students. During 12 hours Rohan Houssein painted 'Zenobia is crying'. In the video linked below, the process of painting it is presented and Rohan explains all the symbols making up the painting. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/FOUm3YXARNs

In Memorandum...

I used not to be so fond of him. Having read Winnie's autobiography, I kind of lost it somehow. However, what happened after his release from Robben Island turned out to be a changer for me. Few individuals have made such a change, just by being true to their beliefs, values, principles. Such people have no age. They become icons, sources of inspiration, wells of hope.

Rest in peace, but stay with us. We need it so dearly.

THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIPE TO DO RIGHT

Nobel Peace Prize 2013

Unfortunately, the last years choices by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee have meant that the October announcement is awaited with growing unease by many, myself included.

However, this years Laureate is a very legitimate and highly interesting choice! Congrats to the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a historically typical choice of the committee. Focus on disarmament and international cooperation for a more peaceful world. Fully in line with the testament at least!

I would have liked to see Dennis Mukwege though, or Galtung, Lederach or Sharp. The committee has through the years completely forgotten the researchers... which is typical of politicians! 

 

If Syria was Sweden... Part III (see previous below)

The sudden, and according to many observes completely unexpected developments in Sweden, leads to frantic behind-the-scenes diplomatic activity. Sweden is not a member of any defence organisation, and hence the international community could agree on a concerted and swift international action to calm down the situation. On the other hand the country is also strategically geo-politically placed—i.e. an agreement will be difficult to achieve. Russia, most openly supported by Iran, Iraq, the Vatican, Argentina and the Philippines on the one hand has an interest in a politically weakened Scandinavia, while the USA, France, Germany, Great Britain, South Africa and Turkey are quite clearly interested in keeping the Scandinavian voices strong. Countries like Poland are divided on the issue; Sweden is very popular among the Polish people, but the strong stance on abortion, women’s, and children’s rights are issues over which Poland and Sweden have disagreed openly during the last many years, both in the EU and in the UN. China and India has the same kind of relationship with Sweden, and indeed all of the Nordic Countries, and remain quiet.

The first step discussed is of course to call the various parties to a conference to achieve an immediate ceasefire. This attempt fails almost as quickly as it has been printed down; nobody seems to have a clear idea regarding who the rebellious groups are, really. Clearly, the Home Reserve is involved, and is supported by the Strong Man of Malmö, and lately even his second in line, as well as the Mayors of Gothenburg, the second city of Sweden, and a number of other important, smaller cities around the country. It is also clear that the police are divided (some siding with the rebels, some with the army), and that there have been a number of deserters, leaving the army, the Air Force (some bringing smaller air crafts with them), and marines. There seems, however to be some involvement also of criminal elements with access both to advanced weaponry, money and international semi- and fully criminal networks. The political goals of these last actors are difficult to estimate, while those of the other actors seem to be very readable—either freedom from Stockholm (i.e. a division of Sweden into smaller states), or a continued Swedish state (the British solution supported by Turkey and South Africa), possibly with greater autonomy of the rebellious regions (which is the solution favoured by Norway, Germany and the USA).

Weapons are circulating, as weapons storages have been emptied, and soldiers bringing as much as they can with them when leaving their regiments. Increasingly, the press reports on deadly violence between and against civilians, some attacks seemingly prompted by personal conflicts between individuals or family groups, others based on suspicions of siding with one side or the other.

While many are fleeing to neighbouring or other countries, most Swedes stay within the borders, but deciding to take as much as they can possibly bring, and leaving the areas where fighting is going on. Even Stockholm begins to feel the consequences, as internal refugees come in rather large numbers, for ‘visits’ to family members or friends in the capital city. City planners and local politicians are foreseeing serious over crowding within only a few days amidst the acute violent crisis. At the same time, a number of Stockholm residents decide to leave the city, as they feel an increasing aggression from Mälardal-Swedes, i.e. local to the capital city region, or as they soon start to name themselves, ‘authentic’ or ‘real’ Swedes. Fighting between individuals and groups of people increase in Stockholm, both because of the influx of ‘outsiders’ and because regular Stockholm residents get into fights over what an ‘authentic’ or ‘real’ Swede is exactly, and how many generations deep belonging needs to be to make you authentic. 

If Syria was Sweden... Part II (see part I below)

The local ‘Strong Man’ of Malmö has on many occasions been directly opposing the policies emanating from the National Parliament in Stockholm. The extremely quick development of this volatile situation, has taken most Scanians and Swedes by surprise. He however, claims that this should not be a surprise, as the interests of the army are the same as those of the Government. From his office the local Swedish Television mange to televise his speech against what he calls the ‘Swedish occupation of Scania,’ claiming that this is an offence of the same kind experienced a little more than 300 years ago, asking his fellow Scanians not ‘to bow ever again to Stockholm.’ He says he will himself approach the Home Reserve and participate in the struggle to free Scania once and for all.

Local and national politicians as well as the military seem to be divided—and hence paralysed—on the issue, as P7’s advancement in less than 10 hours have led to road blocks all around Malmö, aggressive searches in particular neighbourhoods and armed clashes between local brigades (Home Reserve, some divisions of the local police and criminal elements joined) and P7’s soldiers patrolling the main streets of the city. It is increasingly apparent that P7 is not isolated in the Swedish army; the Marine and the Air Force have come in to support P7, while other regiments have started preparations for similar situations.

In other Swedish towns and cities people are taking to the streets in angered protests against a government and parliament, which seems to completely have lost all control of the military. The mass protests are not organised, but seem to embrace all kinds of civil society actors, political parties and un-organised civilians joined in outrage. The Prime Minister, in a bid to indicate being in control of the situation, explains the need to keep Malmö calm. Within 24 hours of the siege of Malmö, the army, heavily supported by the Air Force and the Marine, invades Gothenburg, Kalmar, Karlstad, and not least Kiruna.

Rumours spread that the bridge to Copenhagen is about to be closed, and Danes living in southern Scania, as well as an incredible number of Swedes from the southern end of the country pack essentials in their cars, in a frantic move to leave the country. On the eve of the second day of the crisis, the Öresund bridge is packed with cars, the Öresund trains are swamped with people, and since the traffic in the Swedish direction is close to nil, people have started crossing the bridge on foot on the ‘wrong’ side. Similarly, the boats for other Danish cities, including Rönne in Bornholm, are crammed with people wishing to leave Sweden until the crisis is over. Only the ferries across the Baltic Sea, towards southern Finland and Estland do not experience any significant rise in number of passengers. The roads into Norway are also fully packed with people claiming they are off on holiday. Only airports seem to be operating as usual without any disturbances; they are under the control of the army. The number of cancellations is rising however. 

If Syria was Sweden... Part I

I am not in favour of military intervention in Syria. Not at all. There are too much weapons in use, too many fighters on the ground as it is. Need no more—we are in dire need of less rather! 

Consider the following situation: conflicting Stockholm-based elites have ruled Sweden for more than 50 years. “Stockholm,” or the “08’s” as they are popularly called in the rest of the country, has tightened the grip on power during the last 10-15 years, to the detriment of the rest of the country. Anger and frustration is reaching a boiling point, particularly in regions with historical experiences of tough rule from Stockholm; Scania, Småland, Blekinge, Halland and the Northern regions, including Herjedalen, Jämtland and the mining city of Kiruna. The response from Stockholm has been less than interested in talks about political change, economic equality between regions and social, cultural and religious freedoms. 

There have been plans of arranging marches towards Stockholm from the different main cities around the country, from Malmö, Kalmar, Halmstad, Göteborg, Karlstad, Kiruna. There are historical precedents to this, of which the whole population is aware. Creating Sweden was not done easily over a night—it took centuries of warring regional interests and local leaders. The history of resistance to Stockholm is well known, and some of the stories highly publicised, such as the Dacke feud, the Snapphane rebellion, or the Battle of Lund. In addition, there are myriad local stories of heroes and martyrs having risen to fight “Stockholm” over the centuries all over the country. The resistance is also represented in the capital city itself, which has for three hundred years been a magnet to people from all over the country in search of a future impossible to envision in the area from where people came. There are a number of Swedish descendants around the world, particularly in the USA. Most of them with roots in the regions with the harshest experiences of Stockholm (again Småland, Scania and the Göteborg region is well represented). As the situation in Sweden is seriously deteriorating, they are now being contacted by their long-lost kin in Sweden, being asked to act as lobby groups in their new country.

The rebellion starts in the small village of Revinge, some 40 kilometres north east of Malmö, when a local rebel group, belonging to the Home Reserve, attacks the military camp P7. The Home Reserve in many parts of Scania now decide to side with the Revinge Group, and as the National Army advances on Malmö the Home Reserve groups gather in the city to protect it from the Army. In Malmö itself, local criminal gangs side with the Home Reserve rebels, forming a number of support groups of their own, based on different allegiances between them.