tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-333568112024-03-05T23:50:04.184+00:00Radical Lefta socialist, feminist and green perspective on events in northern Europe and around the worldStuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-68619029805971623882009-08-13T21:45:00.003+01:002009-08-13T21:49:56.028+01:00Check out my new blog.I'm not necessarily going to abandon this (although with my lack of posts it would seem that I have already) but I've formed a new blog where I'll be trying to cover the Norwegian election up to when it takes place in the middle of next month so that's where most of my activity is likely to be in the immediate future.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://nordenblog.wordpress.com/">http://nordenblog.wordpress.com/</a></span>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-9545298158817985402009-06-08T20:02:00.020+01:002009-06-10T20:07:49.150+01:00Mixed picture for European radical leftHere's the share of the vote received by all of the main parties of the radical left across Europe in the recent EU parliament elections<b>:<br /><br />Cyprus:</b> Progressive Party of Working People - 34.9% (+7.0), 2/6 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Czech Republic:</b> Communist Party - 14.2% (-6.1) 4/22 seats (-2)<br /><br /><b>Denmark:</b> Socialist People’s Party - 15.9% (+7.9), 2/13 seats (+1)<br />People’s Movement Against the EU - 7.2% (+2.0), 1/13 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Finland:</b> Left Alliance - 5.9% (-3.2), 0/13 seats (-1)<br /><br /><b>France:</b> Left Front (includes PCF) - 6.3% (+0.4), 5/72 seats (+2)<br />New Anticapitalist Party - 4.8% (+2.6), 0/72 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Germany:</b> The Left - 7.6% (+1.5), 8/99 seats (+1)<br /><br /><b>Greece:</b> Communist Party - 8.3% (-1.1%), 2/22 seats (-1)<br />Coalition of the Radical Left - 4.7% (+0.5), 1/22 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Ireland:</b> Sinn Féin - 11.2% (+0.1), 0/12 seats (-1)<br />Socialist Party - 2.8% (+1.5), 1/12 seats (+1)<br /><br /><b>Italy:</b> Refounded Communists/Italian Communists - 3.3% (-5.1%), 0/72 seats (-7)<br />Left and Freedom - 3.2% (+0.7%), 0/72 seats (-2) <i>compared to Greens last time</i><br /><br /><b>Luxembourg:</b> The Left - 3.2% (+1.5), 0/6 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Netherlands:</b> Green Left - 8.9% (+1.5), 3/25 seats (+1)<br /> Socialist Party - 7.1% (+0.1), 2/25 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Portugal:</b> Left Bloc - 10.7% (+5.8%), 3/22 seats (+2)<br />Communist Party/Green Party - 10.7% (+1.6), 2/22 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Scotland: </b>Scottish Socialist Party - 0.9% (-4.3%), 0/6 seats (±0)<br /><b><br />Spain:</b> United Left/United & Alternative Left/Catalan Greens - 3.7% (-1.0), 2/50 seats (±0)<br />Republican Left of Catalonia/Galician Nationalist Bloc/Basque Solidarity/Aralar - 2.5% (+0.1), 1/50 seats (±0)<br /><br /><b>Sweden:</b> Left Party - 5.6% (-7.1%), 1/18 seats (-1)<br />Feminist Initiative - 2.2% (+2.2), 0/18 seats (±0)<br /><br />Overall then an advance compared to last time in Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal - although in Germany and France the left will be disappointed not to have achieved anything like as much as some recent polls had predicted and the Dutch Socialists are down considerably on the 17% they received in the last national election. The biggest success stories are Denmark and Portugal where the Socialist People's Party and Left Bloc have made huge gains respectively. The differences between both parties are quite stark though with the Socialist People's Party having abandoned much of their radical roots in recent years and instead focussed on cooperation with the Social Democrats and Radical Liberals.<br /><br />The left meanwhile has less reason to be cheerful in the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Sweden. In Italy especially the defeat is crushing with a loss of all 9 of the MEPs the radical left won last time. However a combined share of 6.7% is nevertheless an improvement on the 3.1% received by the now defunct Left Rainbow coalition in last year's national election. Since then the Refounded Communists have split with the reformist wing breaking off and forming the new Left and Freedom coalition together with Greens and radical Social Democrats. Both received just over 3% which is under the new threshold of 4% required for representation. Further north in Sweden and Finland the left parties also went back considerably and each lost a seat. The Swedish Left Party did do unusually well last time and their result yesterday is roughly the same as what they got in the 2006 parliamentary election. In addition the newly formed Pirate Party has won strong support among young people and has, as a result, undoubtedly dented the Left Party's support.<br /><br />Here in Scotland the SSP has lost more than 80% of its support compared to last time and while 0.9% is an increase on the 0.6% we received for the Scottish Parliament in 2007 it's hardly anything to celebrate when you get beaten by Nazis and Christian fundamentalists and receive the same vote as an independent who noone's ever heard of. The party's resources are extremely limited and while some people (like myself) could perhaps have done more to help the campaign I really don't think there's anything that would have made too much of a difference. I'd like to be optimistic about the future of the left in Scotland but at the moment we just don't seem to have the political culture to support a proper multiparty system or the sort of popular engagement in politics which is required to get people thinking about issues and ideology rather than about a politician's personality and charisma (which is in turn dependent on them being able to win coverage from the capitalist media).Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-55425263068841223912009-04-26T09:10:00.018+01:002009-04-26T10:30:26.128+01:00Left victory in Iceland but Left Greens do worse than expected<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4744r4bfFzqw2sC5dRS60wREJ8BzBFCvtkLWU7YgnRJX9Qvlu6NtXmGbPrCkzjp7Ta28qgwqhfNMKzChMU9J-FzUWZK38NdGI9v0JGOa26Fqgux333X6JHaK_esgIYVO8mlz5/s1600-h/icc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4744r4bfFzqw2sC5dRS60wREJ8BzBFCvtkLWU7YgnRJX9Qvlu6NtXmGbPrCkzjp7Ta28qgwqhfNMKzChMU9J-FzUWZK38NdGI9v0JGOa26Fqgux333X6JHaK_esgIYVO8mlz5/s320/icc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328912033051347106" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Social Democrats: 29.8% (+3.0), 20 seats (+2)<br />Independence Party: 23.7% (-12.9), 16 seats (-9)<br />Left Greens: 21.7% (+7.4), 14 seats (+5)<br />Progressive Party: 14.8% (+3.1), 9 seats (+2)<br />Citizen’s Movement: 7.2% (+7.2), 4 seats (+4)<br />Liberal Party: 2.2% (-5.1), 0 seats (-4)<br /><br />On the left we’ve basically got the moderate pro-EU Social Democrats, the radical leftist, feminist, environmentalist Left Greens and the Citizen’s Movement which arose out of the recent protest movement and was only formed 9 weeks ago. The main party of the right is the Independence Party who have been in government almost continually for as long as anyone can remember but have lost a huge amount of support over the country’s economic collapse which was caused by the neoliberal economic policies they pushed through over the last 2 decades. The Progressive Party are supposedly a centrist, agrarian party but are probably closer to the right on many policy issues. The Liberal Party (now out of parliament) are populists who have strongly pushed the issue of fishing rights and have been accused of making various xenophobic remarks in recent years.<br /><br />Now on to the results. The major surprises are the failure of the Left Greens to do as well as most had expected together with the strong showing for the newly founded Citizen’s Movement. That the Left Greens would be the biggest party, as some polls had predicted, seemed to me to be too good to be true and I remembered from the last election in 2007 when again the Left Greens didn’t do nearly as well on election day as many of the polls had predicted. But 22% (an increase from 14% last time) is still not bad and leaves them as perhaps the strongest party of the radical left in Europe. The main reasons I can see for why they didn’t do as well as they could of is the growth of the Citizen’s Movement together with Social Democrat leader Johanna Sigurdardottir’s short time as Prime Minister which gave her party more of a chance to set the agenda than it might have otherwise.<br /><br />The Social Democrats have been trying to portray their success as an endorsement of the EU and the Left Greens have apparently said they would now be willing to back a referendum on Icelandic membership even if they continue to remain strongly opposed. However according to the polls a majority of people would reject membership so unless the fishing issue gets sorted out I don’t think the pro-EU side should be particularly optimistic that they can win any potential vote on the matter.<br /><br />Overall, despite my disappointment that the Left Greens didn’t do better, I think there’s plenty to be positive about. For a start the once dominant Independence Party has been severely weakened, losing at least a third of their support, and Iceland will now see its first every left-wing majority government. The Citizen’s Movement which will remain outside government (almost certainly a Social Democrat/Left Green coalition) and has strong links to the protest movement will also, I think, help ensure the new government listens to the people and remains true to the spirit of the revolution which swept away the nation’s corrupt neoliberal government. Most of their voters are in addition people who would probably have otherwise supported the Left Greens. We should also remember that Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir is from the left of the Social Democrats and the very thing about her that appeals most to people, according to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/world/europe/26iceland.html?_r=3&hp">New York Times</a>, is that she comes across as being the complete opposite of everything which characterised the so-called ‘New Vikings’ who ruled the country and brought it to a state of ruin with their reckless neoliberalism.<br /><br /><u>43% of new MPs women</u><br /><br />According to my count of the newly elected MPs 27 out of 63 are women (43%) - a significant increase from the last parliament in which women made up 33% of MPs. This now gives Iceland the second highest percentages of female MPs in Europe (Sweden comes first with 47%). It’s also almost certain that Social Democrat leader Johanna Sigurdardottir will remain in office as the country's first woman Prime Minister and the world’s first openly lesbian national leader. Here’s the figures by party:<br /><br />Social Democrats: 10/20 (50%)<br />Left Greens: 7/14 (50%)<br />Citizen’s Movement: 2/4 (50%)<br />Progressive Party: 3/9 (33.3%)<br />Independence Party: 5/16 (31.3%)Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-66978716922315488242009-04-24T20:27:00.010+01:002009-04-26T09:32:46.211+01:00ANC wins 66% - why?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNcf5qDvbbcTZkVG7VYFa4s8lax4ROMRE6uHvT9vneNyCeAJuT8w_nHnIC-tTb1OIynlZNbcXNSc6aVM0kcoVjJssX8YV5YDjv79hDyAMW70JMJ0tn7mXto9Q8GRCW_aFYFKad/s1600-h/ancr.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNcf5qDvbbcTZkVG7VYFa4s8lax4ROMRE6uHvT9vneNyCeAJuT8w_nHnIC-tTb1OIynlZNbcXNSc6aVM0kcoVjJssX8YV5YDjv79hDyAMW70JMJ0tn7mXto9Q8GRCW_aFYFKad/s320/ancr.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328342457089947906" border="0" /></a><br /><u><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Latest results (2004 figures in brackets)</u><br /><br />African National Congress: 66.15% (69.69%)<br />Democratic Alliance: 16.32% (12.37%)<br />Congress of the People: 7.46% (n/a - ANC split)<br />Inkatha Freedom Party: 4.59% (6.97%)<br />Independent Democrats: 0.92% (1.70%)<br />United Democratic Movement: 0.86% (2.28%)<br />Vryheidsfront Plus: 0.85% (0.89%)<br />African Christian Democratic Party: 0.79% (1.60%)<br />United Christian Democratic Party: 0.39% (0.75%)<br />Pan Africanist Congress of Azania: 0.28% (0.73%)<br />Azanian People’s Organisation: 0.22% (0.25%)<br />Minority Front: 0.22% (0.35%)<br />African People’s Convention: 0.21% (n/a - PAC split)<br /><br /><u>The ANC’s failure to deliver</u><br /><br />For a party that has delivered so little over the past 17 years it seems astonishing that the ANC should have taken 66% of the vote in the recent South African election and may retain the two-thirds majority it needs to single-handedly alter the constitution. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, have grown slightly to take 16% while the ANC breakaway (set up by supporters of former leader Thabo Mbeki) won a relatively unimpressive 7-8%. Most of the smaller parties have been hit quite badly and the former Black liberation movements, the Pan African Congress of Azania and the Azanian People’s Organisation (two of the only parties which represent a left alternative to the ANC), could lose the 4 seats they currently hold in the South African parliament.<br /><br />Why is it that the ANC remains so popular when the average South African dies at the age of 49 and when the country’s infant mortality rate stands at a shockingly high 44 in every 1,000 births. South Africa is not a poor country - in GDP per capita terms it’s equivalent to Costa Rica (life expectancy: 78, infant mortality: 9) and Serbia (life expectancy: 74, infant mortality: 7). We can’t of course forget the role of apartheid in all this and South Africa has been left with a terrible legacy of racial segregation and impoverishment of its Black population. What is so shocking is the fact that over the last 17 years there has been no significant improvement in the lives of ordinary people. In fact in some ways things seem to be getting worse - in 1994 for example the average life expectancy was 60.<br /><br />At the root of the misery faced by ordinary South Africans is of course the ANC’s refusal to take any real steps to redistribute the country’s land and wealth (with a Gini coefficient of 0.58 it’s currently among the world’s ten most unequal countries) and their outrageous mismanagement of the HIV/Aids crisis (denial being the only appropriate word with which to describe the approach of former President Thabo Mbeki). Some articles by John Pilger which I would really recommend can be found here:<br /><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-07-the-downfall-of-mbeki-hidden-truth">http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-07-the-downfall-of-mbeki-hidden-truth</a><br /><a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2008/04/south-africa-pilger-world-anc">http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2008/04/south-africa-pilger-world-anc</a><br /><a href="http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=481">http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=481</a><br /><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/1998/317/21309">http://www.greenleft.org.au/1998/317/21309</a><br /><br />Among other things he discusses the compromises which the ANC leadership made with the white elite, which made their ultimate rise to power far more palatable to the old apartheid state, and their utter collusion with big business to betray the goals of the Freedom Charter which back in 1955 had declared that South Africa belonged to “all who live in it” and pledged to share out the land, transfer industry and resources to the people and provide housing and medical services to all.<br /><br />For the ANC to get another huge majority of this size is, I think, extremely unhealthy for South Africa and will do nothing to promote a more open and democratic culture. Neither will it reduce the ruling party’s complacency or force them to take any more account of the needs of ordinary people, not least the impoverished majority as the enter into the financial crisis with an unemployment rate of 40%, an Aids crisis which shows no sign of going away and with very little chance of ever entering the new ‘Black middle-class’ which the ANC seems so keen to promote.<br /><br /><br /><u>Jacob Zuma: a tragedy for South Africa?</u><br /><br />Here’s a few of the statements made by South Africa’s new President (and ANC leader) Jacob Zuma:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“God expects us to rule this country because we are the only organisation which was blessed by pastors when it was formed. It is even blessed in Heaven. That is why we will rule until Jesus comes back. We should not allow anyone to govern our city when we are ruling the country.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Same-sex marriage is "a disgrace to the nation and to God": "When I was growing up, an ungqingili (a homosexual) would not have stood in front of me. I would knock him out."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“In Zulu culture, you cannot leave a woman if she is ready... To deny her sex, that would have been tantamount to rape” (said during rape trial against him).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Taking a shower after sex "cuts the risk of contracting HIV".</span><br /><br />Jacob Zuma enjoys immense support across South Africa and has the strong backing of the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. He’s also a highly controversial figure who has faced (but has never been found guilty of) charges of rape and corruption. In the rape trial against him he ridiculed the sex life of his accuser, a 31 year old woman now living abroad, while his supporters chanted slogans and burned photos of her outside the court, throwing stones at another woman they mistook to be her. He admitted to having sex with her but ultimately was able to convince the court that it was consensual. According to the prosecution the woman didn’t openly resist his sexual advances as she was in a state of shock at the time but he was acquitted nevertheless. Here’s an article which discusses further the gender dynamics of the case: <a href="http://www.aegis.com/news/dmg/2006/MG060304.html">http://www.aegis.com/news/dmg/2006/MG060304.html</a><br /><br />There are very real reasons to fear for the future of South Africa and its democracy with a man like Zuma in charge who so often resorts to the worst type of populism and is of such questionable character. That so many South Africans, especially those who are materially disadvantaged, have put their faith in him to such a large degree is perhaps a symptom of the despair which so many feel over the lack of progress since the end of apartheid. But it’s a misplaced faith and one which will ultimately serve noone. What we need most of all is of course a strong left-wing opposition (something which at the moment completely non-existent) but in the absence of that surely anything to check the ANC’s power can only be a good thing.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-14246704334387784272009-04-23T00:36:00.009+01:002009-04-23T07:02:49.426+01:00Iceland: sex purchase bill passed, strip club ban fails - for the momentiI haven't read about it anywhere else but according to an <a href="http://www.klassekampen.no/55891/article/item/null">article</a> (<a href="http://209.85.227.132/translate_c?hl=no&ie=UTF-8&sl=no&tl=en&u=http://www.klassekampen.no/55891/article/item/null&usg=ALkJrhi4hptSyAn0vgsZ2NmrNhqR_09ACA">English translation</a>) in the Norwegian paper Klassekampen the bill to ban the purchase of sex was passed by the Icelandic parliament on Friday (and has come into effect immediately), the day before it broke up for the election. At the same time the proposal to remove the current exemptions allowing the operation of strip clubs in the country was rejected, which is a shame but I don't think should in any way be cause for despair. The left still only has a minority in the Icelandic parliament but things are likely to change dramatically on Saturday when the Social Democrats and Left Greens are expected to receive up to 60%+ of the votes there. As the poll I posted recently shows most Icelanders are highly supportive of a ban on stripping so I think we could easily see it happening in the not too distant future.<br /><br />The article's centred around an interview with <span style="" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()">Guðrún Jónsdóttir of </span><span style="" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()">Stígamót, an organisation which runs women's shelters and campaigns against male violence in Iceland. Interestingly she points out that with Iceland becoming the third out of five Nordic countries to ban the purchase of sex (only Denmark and Finland have still to do so) we can now talk about a 'Nordic model' on prostitution. In Iceland itself the feminist movement had been pushing strongly for a change in the law for 10 years and is entirely united in its opposition to prostitution. A poll in 2007 found that 82% of women and 57% of men wanted to criminalise the purchase of sex while only 8% of Icelanders were completely opposed to the measure.<br /><br />According to </span><span style="" onmouseover="_tipon(this)" onmouseout="_tipoff()">Guðrún Jónsdóttir prostitution has always been hidden in Iceland - "we live in a micro-society where everything happens in secret" - and that it'll be another thing getting the law to be properly enforced. However it's still an extremely important symbolic victory in terms of having a law which clearly defines prostitution as a form of violence against women and places the responsibility firmly on those who use their money to perpetuate it. There's also a new action plan against human trafficking and hopefully new resources will be made available to help women leave the industry. What we need now is for them to shut down the strip clubs and on paper at least Iceland should be fully sex industry free. In the meantime let's celebrate the fact that Iceland is the second country in less than 6 months (along with Norway) to make the purchase of sex a crime. It's been a full ten years ten years since Sweden did so so let's hope the progress of the struggle against prostitution is accelerating and that it won't be long before other countries consider similar legislation.<br /></span>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-76878130619407002412009-04-14T21:57:00.014+01:002009-04-15T01:33:16.211+01:00Strong support for stripping ban in IcelandSupport for ban:<div><br /><div><div>Everyone - 58%</div><div>Women - 73.8%</div><div>Men - 42.7%</div><div>Social Democrat/Left Green supporters - 70%</div><div>Progressive Party supporters - 56%</div><div>Independence Party supporters - 36%<div><br /></div><div>This is according to a <a href="http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2009/04/14/majority-want-to-ban-striptease/">poll</a> today in Frettabladid. I haven't heard anything yet on the progress of the proposed new law I wrote about a few weeks ago and it's perhaps going to wait until after the election on the 25th but it certainly doesn't look like there's going to be too much opposition from the public. I find it interesting that Icelanders take such a negative view towards an industry which most people in other countries seem to see as nothing other than a form of harmless fun (or so they've been led to believe by the patriarchal capitalist media). How we replicate it here, I don't know, but it shows that having a strong and united feminist movement and a political left which takes the issues of gender inequality and oppression seriously is something which really can help to change common understandings and attitudes throughout society regardless of the interests of the ruling classes.</div></div></div></div>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-75785581045307432862009-03-19T06:15:00.015+00:002009-04-14T22:52:28.325+01:00No place for the sex industry in Iceland<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaXGz9XTVgIoJ8TCSIwRUpqDqjXjqLEPTmgAtQGDIdVIE38EHYSdazFSCgwb68PcXaPe68TURqr4_h4VzyBsnvcfw6pNtr8T8VSDlw-_WXkRLxSG97q5B8scYhtqK7cKiy-1d/s1600-h/fem.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixaXGz9XTVgIoJ8TCSIwRUpqDqjXjqLEPTmgAtQGDIdVIE38EHYSdazFSCgwb68PcXaPe68TURqr4_h4VzyBsnvcfw6pNtr8T8VSDlw-_WXkRLxSG97q5B8scYhtqK7cKiy-1d/s320/fem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314781596933038786" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /></span><div><span style="font-style: italic;">'Prostitution is violence'</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> - Icelandic feminists in 2005</span><br /><br />I’ve been writing rather a lot about Iceland lately but <a href="http://icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16539&ew_0_a_id=321477">this</a> is just too good not to mention. The new left-wing government has decided, in an attempt to eliminate all human trafficking into Iceland, to fully outlaw both the purchase of sex and the running of strip clubs. Describing human trafficking as “the most disgusting form of international and organized crime that exists in the world” Social Affairs Minister Ásta Ragnheiður Jóhannesdóttir drew up a 25 point action plan which includes the two measures and it is hoped that as much of it as possible can be implemented in time for the new elections in late April.<br /><br />With stripping banned too this will take Iceland further than both Norway and Sweden and, since pornography is still illegal (at least according to Iceland Review), will in effect mean that the sex industry is more or less completely outlawed. This is a huge victory for the Icelandic feminist movement which is proportionately quite strong and has long been fighting to shut down the few strip clubs that exist as well as campaigning to get the purchase of sex criminalised.<br /><br />Iceland of course has a history of strong feminists - on the 24th of October 1975 90% of the country's women <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/18/gender.uk">went on strike for a day</a>, marching out of their workplaces and refusing to cook, clean or look after children. For a time also there was a women's party represented in parliament with many former leading members now involved in the governing social-democratic Alliance and Left Greens.<br /><br />Under the decades of right-wing rule progress towards gender equality and female liberation was in many ways held back but with capitalism thoroughly discredited, the left in the ascendancy, and for the first time ever, a female Prime Minister and a gender balanced cabinet the feminist movement can hopefully again march forward and take back what should rightfully be theirs. And can act as an inspiration to their sisters and supporters elsewhere.<br /><br />There's some more stuff in English about Icelandic feminism here if anyone's interested:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.feministinn.is/almennt/english.html">http://www.feministinn.is/almennt/english.html</a><br /><a href="http://www.feministinn.is/generaltfeministafelagid/english.htm">http://www.feministinn.is/generaltfeministafelagid/english.htm</a></div>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-19967763082269092212009-03-04T05:17:00.005+00:002009-03-04T05:39:09.184+00:00Iceland: a nation in revolt<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwn4Dzc2muy4_CxdhyphenhyphencvcLPPkjB_d1UlexLmAoX42rSUOgSj-FSAb8GsZOFwh5rWsvOlKc1Y4IFVDCtRS0FgQZ7CytKhdgt9Bi2e37t-MJrqEVHT20FaI0HG9spNL5d7BK3MM8/s1600-h/reykjavik.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwn4Dzc2muy4_CxdhyphenhyphencvcLPPkjB_d1UlexLmAoX42rSUOgSj-FSAb8GsZOFwh5rWsvOlKc1Y4IFVDCtRS0FgQZ7CytKhdgt9Bi2e37t-MJrqEVHT20FaI0HG9spNL5d7BK3MM8/s320/reykjavik.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309202939610895202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Here's a more detailed article I've written for the socialist Frontline magazine on the latest situation in Iceland. It should be out later this month but I though I'd post it here as well so people can read it while it's as topical as possible:<br /><br /><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --> </style> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><u>Iceland: a nation in revolt</u></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The dramatic events of recent months in Iceland may have had relatively little mention in the UK media yet they provide one of the clearest indications in recent years not just of the failure of neoliberal capitalism but of the potential for ordinary people to resist and reject those who rule over them and the dominant ideology they seek to impose. In what is perhaps a sign of what we may see in other nations should the crisis continue and intensify, the government was forced to resign after months of mass demonstrations outside parliament which culminated in the building being brought under what could be described as a state of siege by thousands of protesters on the 22<sup>nd</sup> of January. New elections have been called for April and the people of Iceland have been forced to rethink their country's direction both socially and economically for the years ahead.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Economic background to the crisis</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Iceland for the last 19 years has been ruled by governments led by the conservative Independence Party, first under Davíð Oddsson and then Geir Haarde. Davíð Oddsson who was Prime Minister from 1991 until 2004, and is now the most hated man in Iceland, is widely seen as the architect of the Thatcherite policies which allowed the financial sector to emerge out of nowhere, becoming the source of the country's new found wealth. The banks were privatised, taxes were cut back and regulations slashed. In addition Iceland, unlike its Nordic neighbours which have largely maintained relatively high and progressive personal tax levels, has adopted a system of flat taxation (currently at 36% of people's income), being one of the few countries outside Eastern Europe to do so. Corporation tax has also been steadily reduced and currently stands at 18%.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">In some ways the Independence Party's neoliberal policies appeared, economically at least, to have been a success and in GDP per capita terms Iceland became, for a number of years, the third richest European nation after Luxembourg and Norway. A wealthy class with their luxury apartments and enormous cars emerged and a culture of aspiration was endlessly promoted among ordinary working and middle-class Icelanders. Yet the foundations of Iceland's economic miracle had always been shaky and much of the country's visible wealth was bought with borrowed money. The deregulated banking sector which was at the forefront of the country's new economy had been quickly building up enormous debts which by last year had astonishingly reached ten times the country's total GDP.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Disaster strikes</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The potential for disaster though had been completely ignored by those in a position of power and it wasn't until the collapse of the bank Glitnir on the 29<sup>th</sup> of September 2008 that people started to become aware of the scale of the problem. Within the space of a just a few days the krona then plunged by around a third and soon afterwards on the 7<sup>th</sup> of October the second major bank Landsbanki went into administration. Part of Landsbanki was the internet savings scheme Icesave and when withdrawals by British savers were restricted Gordon Brown outrageously used anti-terrorism laws to freeze Icelandic assets in the UK, a move which some say contributed to the collapse of the last remaining bank Kaupthing days later.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The effects of the crisis were very quickly felt by ordinary people as workers started getting laid off, inflation soared to 18% and people have lost their homes and cars. While unemployment was minimal back in September it is now estimated at over 7% and it is believed that this year the economy could contract by as much as 10%. As a result many families have started relying on charity food aid and the welfare system has been overwhelmed by the numbers of people seeking state assistance. Icelanders have understandably been outraged over the situation and at the years of recklessness at the hands of their government and banks which directly led to it. A popular movement of resistance has began to emerge and from October onwards protesters had gathered regularly in their thousands outside parliament in Reykjavík.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>People take to the streets</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Repeatedly those at the top have refused to accept any responsibility, assuring people that everything was fine, that the banks were sound just days before they collapsed and, once they had, that it would be no time before the economy would pick up again. Perhaps unsurprisingly people have seen through the lies of the powerful and political activism in its various forms has flourished. One of the organisations which sprung up, and which was involved in the protests outside parliament, is the grassroots campaign group <i>Raddir fólksins</i> (Voices of the People) with the singer and activist Hördur Torfason one of the people who helped get it started. Outraged at the behaviour of the political and economic classes who bankrupted his country he tells, in an online interview, how at the beginning he went to parliament square with a megaphone and talked to and listened to the views of ordinary people. From there a popular movement was built up and the protests became a regular occurrence with the aim of forcing those in a position of power to accept responsibility and resign - namely the government and the boards of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority. At the height of the demonstrations in Reykjavík as many at 10,000 people were in attendance, a significant figure for a country with a population of just 300,000.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">On the 20<sup>th</sup> of January the situation on the streets suddenly became more dramatic as up to several thousand people clashed with the police who used pepper spray and made over 30 arrests. Outside parliament people banged pots and pans, blew horns and made as much noise as possible to disrupt its first meeting of the new year, staying on through the night and lighting bonfires to keep themselves warm as well as burning the large Norwegian Christmas tree. The following day Prime Minister Geir Haarde's car was surrounded and pelted with eggs and snowballs and thousands surrounded government buildings which had red paint thrown over them. On the 22<sup>nd</sup> police used tear-gas for the first time since the anti-NATO protests in 1949 to disperse people from around the parliament as rocks, paving stones and bottles were thrown at the building and at the Prime Minister's office, smashing windows and injuring several police officers.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">According to the Icelander Eiríkur Bergmann writing in The Guardian “The word ‘revolution’ might sound a bit of an overstatement, but given the calm temperament that usually prevails in Icelandic politics, the unfolding events represent, at the very least, a revolution in political activism". A people who, like most Europeans, were once politically apathetic and rarely took to the streets for any reason have became angry and engaged with what is happening around them. A sense of protest can be felt right across Icelandic society and those who have taken to the streets can be found in all age groups and walks of life. It is not just the poor who have suffered from the crisis but also the professional and middle classes who have faced large numbers of job losses and risked losing their homes and cars due to the enormous levels of personal debt. Icelanders have also used new information sources to bypass the mainstream media and there has been a surge in political blogs and online activism.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Government falls</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">After the three days of intense protests Prime Minister Geir Haarde announced on the 23<sup>rd</sup> that a new election would be held in May and that he had been diagnosed with cancer and didn't intend to continue beyond that point. However the protesters wouldn't go away until their demand that the government resigned had been met. From the beginning of the crisis opposition within the social-democratic Alliance to their coalition with the Independence Party had been growing considerably and when the party's Reykjavík branch voted in favour of pulling out on January the 22<sup>nd</sup> it seemed likely that their days of participation in the government were numbered. On the 26<sup>th</sup> of January the party officially terminated the coalition after the Independence Party refused to sack the Central Bank's board and agree to a cabinet reshuffle. Geir Haarde shortly afterwards called for a national unity government but this was ultimately rejected by the Alliance and Left Greens when, after several days of negotiations, they announced their intention of forming a new minority government together which would govern until a new election on the 25<sup>th</sup> of April.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="firstHeading"></a>The new government's programme, announced on February the 1<sup>st</sup>, includes the intention to alter the constitution so as to make reference to public ownership of the nation's resources resources and allowing greater opportunity for the use of national referendums. Also included has been the cancellation of the Act giving generous pensions to Ministers and MPs, measures to stop people losing their homes and assurances that the needs of ordinary people will be taken into account as much as possible and the welfare system protected. One of the new government's first decisions was to call for the resignation of Iceland's three central bank governors, including its Chairman, former PM Davíð Oddsson. Yet in a show of contempt for the Icelandic people Mr Oddsson has refused to accept all responsibility and repeatedly ignored the requests of the new Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir for him to stand down.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>The Left Greens</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="firstHeading2"></a>For such a small country Iceland has a surprisingly diverse political scene. On the the left there is the Left Greens who were founded in 1999 as a more radical alternative to the merger of the Social Democrats, People's Alliance, National Movement and Women's List into today's centre-left Alliance. From the beginning they have placed a strong emphasis on environmental issues, gender equality and national independence from organisations such as the EU and NATO. In the first two elections they were able to gain 9% of the vote, growing in 2007 to 14% on the back of a strong campaign against the construction of several large aluminium smelters, something the government of the time was keen to promote. With 3,000 members and a popular and respected leader, Steingrímur Sigfússon, they have been in a strong position to represent themselves as the main political opposition to the status-quo as neoliberal capitalism becomes irreparably discredited in the eyes of many Icelanders.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="firstHeading1"></a>In a number of the opinion polls conducted over the last few months the Left Greens have emerged as Iceland's most popular political party and they will be trying hard to hold on their strong position in the run up to the election on April the 25<sup>th</sup>. Support for the centre-right Independence Party has naturally been badly hit by the crisis and it appears likely that, for the first time in decades, parliament could be dominated by the left. With the social-democratic Alliance and Left Greens keen to continue their joint coalition both parties will be competing to gain the most support and therefore be in the strongest position to lead the next government. Interim Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir from the left-wing of the Alliance, and the country's first female and openly gay PM, is someone who also enjoys a high degree of respect among Icelanders, being seen as someone likely to stand up for the disadvantaged, and her brief time as leader of the nation has helped her party regain much of its popularity in recent weeks.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>EU</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">A likely area of contention for any new government and one of the issue where the strongest disagreement exists between the Alliance and the Left Greens is Iceland's proposed EU membership. After the crisis initially set in and particularly with the rapid collapse of the krona there was a surge in support for Iceland joining the EU with the Independence Party dropping its active opposition to membership and the agrarian Progressive Party officially coming out in favour. As the Alliance has long backed membership this leaves the Left Greens as the only major party still strongly opposed. However according to the polls much of the early enthusiasm appears to have dissipated with the majority of the public again on the 'no' side as the issues involved get discussed and debated in more detail. People are also aware that even if Iceland does get accepted quickly into the union it is unlikely to be allowed to join the Euro any time soon due to the strict fiscal rules imposed upon member states.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The main drawback of membership for Iceland specifically is in the area of fishing, which with the collapse of the nation’s banking industry is likely to become an even more important part of its economy in the years ahead. At the moment Iceland as part of the EEA (European Economic Area) can stay out of the Common Fisheries Policy and therefore can set its own quotas and regulate who fishes off the Icelandic coast. If they joined the EU, on the other hand, they would be forced to open their waters to fisherman from other European nations and would have to accept centrally agreed quotas which they would have little control over. Iceland has long fought for national control of its fishing stocks, getting into several skirmishes with Britain in the 70s in the so-called 'Cod Wars', and over the last few decades they have arguably done a far better job at building a sustainable fishing industry than any of the member states of the EU. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Where now for Iceland?</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">What type of Iceland its citizens can look forward to, now that the banking sector lies in ruins and is likely to have a much reduced role in future, will surely be at the front of people's minds in the run up to the election. Economically many would like the country to return to a more traditional way of life, utilising its vast natural resources and rebuilding the fishing communities which have dwindled in size as people pursued new lives in Reykjavík, once just a small town but now home to around half the nation's population of 300,000. The last decade or so of riches now has an air of unreality to it as all the money which flooded in has disappeared again just as fast with nothing much left to show for it apart from half-built apartment blocks and luxury car dealerships whose customers have vanished into thin air. Despite their difficult financial situation though a number of Icelanders have spoken of their relief that this period of their history is now over and that anger and resentment is again possible, that a culture of scepticism and critical debate has replaced the blind faith in capitalism and the free market which was once so common.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The anger at the Fred Goodwins of our world who have stolen so much from ordinary people while leaving a trail of destruction in their midst is something that can be felt more and more in every country as the human implications of the economic crisis have became clear. Not just in Iceland but also in Greece and Latvia have people resorted to direct action to show their discontent at the policies of their governments. Recently in Ireland, a country whose famed 'Celtic Tiger' economy has run out of steam and where few of the benefits have been spread to the working population anyway, hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets in anger. Iceland however is the first country where the protesters have succeeded in achieving their main goal and represents a spectacular, if socially disastrous, testament to the instability of neoliberal capitalism. Only under such a system could a resource-rich country go overnight from one of the world's wealthiest to a bankrupted state whose population are, in large numbers, facing the loss of their homes and their jobs and where families can't even afford to feed themselves without relying on help from local charities.</p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-45434083218871377892009-02-01T16:19:00.009+00:002009-04-14T22:52:42.062+01:00Opposition to EU membership grows in Iceland<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrN2uElJC4Q96-IwA72vNViNBf_2-yJGsK9AcquR2_jqilGCqyxamnrAo6UmKX23aAVbsag733LmhUz6Wub9-IStRR14nKA0-fYhLN2LEIAG6Zqg7cQAhn4tbhD-Djukb7z8L/s1600-h/bl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrN2uElJC4Q96-IwA72vNViNBf_2-yJGsK9AcquR2_jqilGCqyxamnrAo6UmKX23aAVbsag733LmhUz6Wub9-IStRR14nKA0-fYhLN2LEIAG6Zqg7cQAhn4tbhD-Djukb7z8L/s320/bl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297864673674076226" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div>As a new left-wing minority coalition of the social-democrats and Left Greens takes power today (with new elections planned for the 25th of April) it looks like opinion is shifting away from support for EU membership. According to the Norwegian newspaper <a href="http://www.dagsavisen.no/innenriks/article395509.ece">Dagsavisen</a> the last two polls have both shown the no side in the lead - by 38.3 to 37.7 percent in one poll and by 59.8 to 40.2 in another - which is in stark contrast to those carried out just a few weeks ago. In addition Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre who has been in Iceland for the last few days says he doesn’t expect EU membership to be an important priority for the new government. It was reported yesterday in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/30/iceland-join-eu">The Guardian</a> that Brussels is keen to have Iceland as a member and would fast-track them for admission in 2011. For numerous reasons though it is in the interests of Iceland not to go down such a road and in the end it's what ordinary people think that counts.<br /><br />As for why Iceland should remain out the most important thing is perhaps fishing which with the collapse of the nation’s banking industry is likely to become an even more important part of its economy in the years ahead. At the moment Iceland as part of the EEA can stay out of the Common Fisheries Policy and therefore can set its own quotas and regulate who fishes off the Icelandic coast. If they joined the EU on the other hand they would be forced to open their waters to fisherman from right across the union and would have to accept centrally agreed quotas which they would have little control over. Iceland has long fought for national control of its fishing stocks, getting into several skirmishes with Britain in the 70s, and over the last few decades they have made a far better job of building a sustainable fishing industry than any of the member states of the EU.<br /><br />The collapse of Iceland’s currency was the main reason why people initially turned in favour of the EU yet even if Iceland did become a member it’s in no way guaranteed they’d be allowed to use the Euro because of the strict fiscal rules imposed on member states. Some in the Norwegian government opposed to the EU, such as Centre Party leader Liv Signe Navarsete, have instead suggested that Iceland’s currency could be tied to the Norwegian krone. I’m not an economist and have no idea what the consequences of such a move might be for Norway but it would certainly in my view be the most favourable option for Iceland, stabilising its currency while allowing it to remain independent of many of the centralised and undemocratic EU structures which take little account of the social and economic needs of ordinary people.</div>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-72147517170920724652009-01-27T06:24:00.015+00:002009-01-28T05:11:02.338+00:00Norden til venstre: Icelandic government falls, left ahead in Norway<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTn4I5oVUjYFyhRi5WFQuqTcs_v1Q7fJ_8W84zGMpsaW1rdAaqlwBaQWiHv88qVHmMb2YlYuMpnaBtMlps9uga_xeJWpeKEFx3R1pmRY4bojq7g2RW-VekuWPFSnkA4ti6pWZ/s1600-h/ip2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfTn4I5oVUjYFyhRi5WFQuqTcs_v1Q7fJ_8W84zGMpsaW1rdAaqlwBaQWiHv88qVHmMb2YlYuMpnaBtMlps9uga_xeJWpeKEFx3R1pmRY4bojq7g2RW-VekuWPFSnkA4ti6pWZ/s320/ip2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295856980091984962" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Icelanders protesting outside parliament</span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"> in Reykjavik</span><br /><br />After weeks of regular protests outside the Icelandic parliament in Reykjavik, the government has finally collapsed with the social-democratic Alliance unwilling to continue in their coalition with the conservative Independence Party. Many Icelanders have meanwhile thrown their support behind the socialist Left Greens with them expected to become the largest party in any future election according to the polls. A government which refused to accept any responsibility for what had happened and for the misery which many ordinary families have been subjected to, has finally given in to the demands of its angry citizens, or at least the social-democrats have realised that staying in a coalition with the Independence Party any longer will do them more harm than good.<br /><br />If the Left Greens become the largest party and if the Alliance have enough seats to allow both parties to form a coalition then Iceland will undoubtedly have the most radical government of any western country. Their ability to act will of course in many ways be reduced due to the serious situation the country finds itself in, with the economy expected to shrink by 10% this year, unemployment approaching a record high and inflation making basic items hard for many Icelanders to afford. But with the right policies the poor and the jobless need not be hit as hard as they might otherwise have been. A left-wing government would, I expect, return to a more progressive tax system, do what it can to stop people losing their homes and redistribute whatever resources are available to those who need them the most. Perhaps most importantly they would lay the foundations of a new economy based not around banking but on developing the nation’s vast natural resources in a way which is largely at harmony with nature.<br /><br />The political situation right now seems a little unclear with the outgoing Prime Minister Geir Haarde calling for a national government while some in the Alliance, Left Greens and agrarian Progressive Party have called for the three parties to form a temporary coalition until the elections, already expected to take place in May after an earlier announcements from Mr Haarde shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer. It’s difficult to say what the political impact of either option would be for the parties involved but the Left Greens are the one party which has consistently offered a real alternative to the free market economic policies Icelanders are now blaming for what’s happening so I expect they’re likely to remain strong over the next few months.<br /><br />In Norway meanwhile the last three or four polls have all been predicting a parliamentary majority for the centre-left which is significant as ever since their election in 2005 most polls have been predicting a clear victory for the opposition. Before these latest polls the left hadn’t been ahead once since 2007. Fortunately the financial crisis has helped turn things around around as the government appears to be seen doing things, putting forward a number ‘crisis packages’ to help Norwegian businesses, banks and municipalities. Yesterday a further 20 billion kroner was announced and if it proves not to be enough the government can quite easily dip into the oil fund. Nevertheless predictions are that over 100,000 jobs could be lost over the next few years so they’ll be hoping as few as possible go before the election in September.<br /><br />The left has also been strengthened from an ideological perspective with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg arguing that the crisis proves the superiority of the Norwegian model over the free market American one, given that Norway has been far less affected by most other countries and that it was unregulated capitalism which was undeniably responsible in the first place. The right-wing Progress Party (Frp), which recently showed its true colours by calling for uncritical support to Israel during their war against the people of Gaza, has only one answer: yet more tax cuts and deregulation together with the reckless use of oil revenues. Perhaps as a result of the voters are abandoning them in droves with the Frp down to below 20% in the most recent poll, the lowest they've had for years.<br /><br />The election is of course over 8 months away and a lot will happen before then. Personally I think it could go either way - although even if the four opposition parties do get a majority the composition of the future government is far from certain as both the Liberals and Christian People’s Party have suggested they’d be unwilling to join a government which includes the Progress Party. What’s clear though is that the left’s now in a better position to hold on to power, due largely to the crisis, and hopefully the opposition will be weakened further as they come under greater scrutiny in the run-up to the election.<br /><br />By the way if you want to keep up to date with what's happening in Iceland these are all good sources:<br /><a href="http://newsfrettir.com/"><br />http://newsfrettir.com</a><br /><a href="http://icelandreview.com/">http://icelandreview.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.icenews.is/">http://www.icenews.is</a>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-87126717788016325132008-11-10T06:02:00.015+00:002009-03-04T05:45:54.454+00:00Update on prostitution law in Norway<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mrD5fGhGD9f1YIIzzRX9XAh1X_01DHMjhwb9WQQt8Cjieq_OgpXhxZETZeOrmgRwINEQi6kLBON4oe4h1YLwzS3g3rJWtUvIbhPJBYLhja4m1jckE1iLHS7kzMzHG1-mzS_A/s1600-h/storting.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0mrD5fGhGD9f1YIIzzRX9XAh1X_01DHMjhwb9WQQt8Cjieq_OgpXhxZETZeOrmgRwINEQi6kLBON4oe4h1YLwzS3g3rJWtUvIbhPJBYLhja4m1jckE1iLHS7kzMzHG1-mzS_A/s320/storting.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266905367556653106" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Norwegian Parliament (Storting) in Oslo</span><br /><br />As you may know the Norwegian government has been planning for a while to follow Sweden in criminalising the men who pay for sex. Influenced by radical feminism, the law aims to shift the responsibility wholly on to those who create the demand for prostitution and who use their money to abuse and exploit others. Like in Sweden the punishment will be a fine and/or term in prison of up to 6 months although at the same time it'll go further by making it also an offence for Norwegian citizens to buy sex while abroad.<br /><br />Kvinnegruppa Ottar, the more radical of Norway’s two main feminist campaign groups, is reporting on their website that the law is to be voted on by the Storting on the 20th of November and if it passes (which is almost certain as it has the support of all three governing parties as well as the Christian People’s Party) it will enter the statute book on the 1st of January next year. Glasgow City Council have also been advocating the adoption of similar legislation here in Scotland so let’s hope the Norwegian move will add new momentum for the campaign against prostitution not just in our own country but all over the world.<br /><br />To mark the occasion the sex industry has been getting more attention in the Norwegian press than usual. Best-selling tabloid VG has gathered together a series of articles under a section titled '<a href="http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/sexmarkedet/">det norske sexmarkedet</a>' on their website and in the last few days it's emerged that several years ago a member of parliament was warned by the Storting's President Jørgen Kosmo after being reported paying for sex while on an official delegation abroad.<br /><br />The VG articles, as well as giving coverage to both supporters and opponents of the law in Norway and abroad, go into detail about the effects of the law in Sweden where, since it was introduced in 1999, trafficking and street prostitution have been dramatically reduced and where the vast majority of people continue to support the legislation. But undoubtedly prostitution does still continue and it's not necessarily been as effective in curbing the demand as feminists would have liked. Many Swedes blame the softness of the penalties handed out or believe that the police haven't done enough to tackle the problem. Indeed of the 189 people reported in 2007 for buying sex not a single one (according to VG) was convicted.<br /><br />The authorities in Norway will perhaps try to learn from some of these failings but, regardless, the law will still send out an important message about what society thinks of prostitution and whom it believes should be held responsible for its existence. As Grete Jacobsen from Kvinnegruppa Ottar said in an <a href="http://kvinnegruppa-ottar.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=366&Itemid=78">article for Stavanger Aftenblad</a>, it is:<br /><br />“Mest av alt retter seg mot menn og menn sine holdninger! Loven sier at vi som samfunn ikke aksepterer at menn ser på kvinner som en vare de kan kjøpe seg rett til å penetrere bakfra i smugene i Gamle Stavanger, eller hvor det nå skulle være. Det er en lov som slår fast at prostitusjon er vold mot kvinner og barn, og det motsatte av likeverd. Helt korrekt blir kundene definert som voldsutøvere og fra 1. januar i neste år, vil horekundene bli straffeforfulgt for sine handlinger. Da kan endelig folk melde i fra til politiet om navngitte horekunder. Fra da av må horekundene stå til ansvar for sine overgrep. Andre tiltak for å snu menn sine holdninger har dessverre ikke lykkes. Horekundens frihet har gått på bekostning av andres frihet og må dermed begrenses i et samfunn der kvinner og menn skal være like mye verdt...<br /><br />“Å skape en folkelig motstand mot prostitusjon vil likevel gi den største effekten av en kriminalisering av horekunder. Loven er normgivende og kommer som følge av en langvarig, seig kamp om hodene til folk. Det er ikke lett å frata menn rettigheter, men det forplikter å være et av verdens mest likestilte land. I en verden med økende fattigdom og prostitusjon, trengs menn i en solidarisk dugnad for mer rettferdighet, også for kvinner som da slipper å ‘opne seg for mannen.’”<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Most of all directed at men and men's attitudes! The law says that we as a society do not accept that men should be able to see women as a commodity which they can buy the right to penetrate from behind in the alleyways of Old Stavanger, or wherever it is now. It is a law which clearly states that prostitution is violence against women and children, and the opposite of equality. Correctly those who pay for sex will be defined as perpetrators of violence and from the 1st of January next year, will be punished for their actions. Then can people finally report to the police the customers who buy sex. From then on the customers will be made responsible for their abuse. Other measures to change the men's attitudes have unfortunately not worked. The freedom of sex customers has come at the expense of others' freedom, and must therefore be limited in a society where women and men shall be of equal value...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Creating a popular opposition against prostitution will be the biggest impact of the criminalisation of those who pay for sex. The law is normative and comes as a result of a long, tough battle for people’s minds. It is not easy to challenge the position of men, but it is an obligation to be one of the world's most equal countries. In a world of increasing poverty and prostitution, men are needed as part of the collective struggle for more justice, and also for a society where women will no longer have to ‘open themselves for the man.'</span>"<br /><br />(Sorry about the far from perfect translation. I’m learning Norwegian but even with a dictionary it can be hard to understand fully what some things mean or how best to phrase them in English.)<br /><br />Also worth looking at is this speech/presentation (in English) by a representative of Kvinnefronten, the other main feminist organisation in Norway, on the background of the campaign against sexual exploitation in her country:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kvinnefronten.no/INTERNASJONALT/2548">http://www.kvinnefronten.no/INTERNASJONALT/2548</a>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-68752690364146514002008-10-20T18:18:00.021+01:002009-01-28T04:58:19.959+00:0012 of my favourite songs on Youtube<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1_TLELUAOpGuqYbiPla_FrHWBs8XnKyhz1srutHTnbimb6D9p14R0411wLzr7rYDGPTomhcuMBm5QGxPTvI9Wfaud92AGy_GR6oWMKY26QSphTI8eQEMu8egeNKGHnUmFCpt0/s1600-h/m0353.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1_TLELUAOpGuqYbiPla_FrHWBs8XnKyhz1srutHTnbimb6D9p14R0411wLzr7rYDGPTomhcuMBm5QGxPTvI9Wfaud92AGy_GR6oWMKY26QSphTI8eQEMu8egeNKGHnUmFCpt0/s320/m0353.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259384400022615842" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekKPIcoBlQ"><br /></a></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekKPIcoBlQ"><br /></a></span></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekKPIcoBlQ"><br /></a></span></p><span style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GekKPIcoBlQ"><span style="font-size:100%;">Bendik og Årolilja (Gåte)</span></a><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgQePxB8brA"><span style="">Bonden och Kr</span><span style="">å</span><span style="">kan (Ranarim)</span></a><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0TCgBsLkp0">Dejelil och lagerman (Gjallarhorn)</a><br /></span><span style=""><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIC_SNtYpxQ">Euchari (Garmarna)</a><br /></span><span style=""><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LExEHAftbOk">Gamen (Garmarna)</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5xhGL1DoNk">H</a></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5xhGL1DoNk"><span style="font-size:100%;">ö</span><span style="">ga berg och djupa dalar (Ranarim)</span></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1I2nCAaodI">Hùg Air A' Bhonaid Mhòir (Julie Fowlis)</a></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:11;" ><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xTX-YOU0ig">Konungd</a></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xTX-YOU0ig"><span style="font-weight: bold;">ö</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">ttrarna (Gjallarhorn)<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></a></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JmUYF7kHro">Oró, 'Sé do Bheatha 'Bhaile (Sinéad O' Connor)</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4FmiEYSpbg">Puirt-a-beul (Julie Fowlis)</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mes1pKLax-Y">Sjå Attende (Gåte)</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLTrKuK_Wg">Suvetar (Gjallarhorn)</a></span><br /><span style=""><br /></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">All the songs I've posted are folk music of some kind and nine are from Scandinavia with the remaining three from Scotland and Ireland (which probably reflects what I listen to now and what I have in my collection - which I added to when I was in Sweden at the weekend). Celtic music is certainly better known internationally but the Nordic countries and especially Norway also have a vibrant folk music scene. I’ve always enjoyed listening to Scottish and Irish music on Radio Nan Gaidheal but since first hearing Scandinavian music when I was there two years ago I’ve came to like it even more.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> It’s difficult to explain why I like it so much but I find folk and especially the Nordic stuff to be quite expressive and emotional and influenced by the natural environment. Many of the links aren’t really for traditional folk music (Gåte and Garmarna are both folk/rock groups) so they maybe don’t give an accurate picture of the differences between different styles of music. But I like both the old and the new and its always good to be open to different and modern influences. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-90260670018553614442008-10-10T05:47:00.017+01:002009-01-28T05:26:05.766+00:00Iceland - a terrorist state?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwYYnPUVIoafyyvFcnVtMGWWKdKHKajzA5CGr7KBKg64Cz_yV2JSkfCrAovDyNHSUuizgdmltnzAxocaibbgd01xr7c8izkq0P19XMRn-vb68cFABxhj-eDO9IZJhqlVNvJj4P/s1600-h/iceflags.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwYYnPUVIoafyyvFcnVtMGWWKdKHKajzA5CGr7KBKg64Cz_yV2JSkfCrAovDyNHSUuizgdmltnzAxocaibbgd01xr7c8izkq0P19XMRn-vb68cFABxhj-eDO9IZJhqlVNvJj4P/s320/iceflags.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5255382476885105890" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br />Poor little Iceland. A population of just 300,000 yet home to some enormous banks which are now going bust and which the government certainly doesn’t have the resources to save. A rapidly devaluing currency, sky-high inflation and a shortage of public finances are just some of the problems the Icelanders are now having to deal with. In addition Gordon Brown has decided they’re a nation of terrorists. Why else would he be <a href="http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1076011/Cold-war-As-Iceland-refuses-honour-British-billions-failed-banks-Brown-freezes-THEIR-assets.html">using ‘anti-terrorist’ laws</a> to seize their assets, declaring their actions “illegal” and “unacceptable”?<o:p></o:p></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Whether or not Brown actually considers Prime Minister Geir Haarde to be another Bin Laden, his move is unprecedented and throws scorn on the idea that such laws are here to protect the lives and liberty of the average citizen, rather than to centralise yet more powers in the hands of an overbearing and imperialistic British state. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">This, by the way, is far from the first time Iceland has had its sovereignty trashed by the big powers of the world. After the wartime allied occupation the Americans decided to hang on to their large base at Keflavik with little regard for the wishes of local people. And in the 1970s Britain sent in its navy in an attempt to force the Icelanders to accept the exploitation of their fishing stocks by UK vessels.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <span style="font-size:100%;">None of this is to deny the recklessness of the Icelandic banks in this particular case. But they hardly behaved any worse than banks in Britain or anywhere else. Unlike here where the government can seemingly chuck £500 billion of taxpayers money down the drain in a handout to the very same fat-cats who caused this problem in the first place, Iceland has far less options at their disposal. People like Brown should understand this before trying to crucify Iceland for doing exactly what they’ve been doing, and would do should they find themselves in the same circumstances.</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-6496815165260052242008-09-14T07:37:00.022+01:002009-01-30T06:06:06.094+00:00Gray wins Labour leadership<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQk0Ia6Pv5nwgNmFnTDQIckiGGMovYbKqCzuE4FUGtrRO62NSclUIKcfiJGiMycyKJEkfmw42BAyiq-x_8EA_wXVu_n3U8F2Djt3xgLwQLFqqzAZFzuFpt2h-9kO8L9SkMOfJ9/s1600-h/gr.PNG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQk0Ia6Pv5nwgNmFnTDQIckiGGMovYbKqCzuE4FUGtrRO62NSclUIKcfiJGiMycyKJEkfmw42BAyiq-x_8EA_wXVu_n3U8F2Djt3xgLwQLFqqzAZFzuFpt2h-9kO8L9SkMOfJ9/s320/gr.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245779766672006914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />We shouldn’t have been too surprised but Labour has yet again shot itself in the foot by <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7614081.stm">choosing</a> the useless and uncharismatic Brownite clone Iain Gray as its Scottish leader. Cathy Jamieson came second while the most obnoxious candidate of all Andy Kerr was relegated to third place. In the deputy leadership campaign Labour members rejected the socialist Bill Butler in favour of Glasgow MSP Johann Lamont.<br /><br />In my view Labour’s only hope was to choose Jamieson and Butler. While Cathy Jamieson’s hardly a radical socialist she does speak more for the left and has closer links to the unions than either Gray or Kerr. I also thought a victory for her might have been good from a gender perspective as she appears to have a record of speaking out on some feminist issues (such as her <a href="http://womensphere.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/labour-says-no-to-sleazy-restaurant-chain-in-scotland/">strong condemnation</a> several months ago of the proposed opening of Hooters ‘restaurants’ in Scotland).<br /><br />Cathy Jamieson was the one person who could have made the SNP seem bad from a left perspective and re-energised Labour’s core supporters. Whether or not she was actually committed to doing anything once in a position of power I think a shift to the left in tone from the Labour leader would have helped move Scottish politics in a leftward direction and forced the SNP to take more notice of ordinary people’s concerns.<br /><br />At the same time that Labour have been imploding the Liberal Democrats have been moving rapidly to the right with its UK leader Nick Clegg attacking ‘social-democracy’ as somehow being no longer relevant and demanding a new wave of tax cuts, a call echoed by their Scottish leader Tavish Scott who has <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7614646.stm">proposed</a> an immediate 2p tax cut for everyone - this would apparently give the average Scot another £300 in their pocket each year (and of course mean the government has £300 less to spend for each person on education and healthcare).<br /><br />The next general election at Westminster is almost certain to yield a huge majority for the Conservatives and unlike last time (ie. the 1980s) not one of the main UK parties is going to have any sort of alternative to offer whatsoever. Here in Scotland the SNP will keep on portraying themselves as the radical alternative which people want while in reality hardly ever doing anything differently.<br /><br />Large sections of the electorate can be deceived for a few years, perhaps a decade, but not forever. When they realise the real agenda of those in power there is always an opportunity for new social and political movements to emerge. But the more likely outcome is yet more political disillusionment and a growing sense of hopelessness among those who are left behind, those who mainstream politicians ignore and wish would simply go away.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-65393388400201736532008-09-03T04:19:00.007+01:002009-01-28T22:57:18.183+00:00I’m back... againIt’s been a long time since I last posted here but I’d really like to get things going again. I’ve been reading through a lot of radical feminist blogs lately and feel really encouraged and inspired to see so many people taking a stand against the ideology of male-supremacy that pervades every aspect of our lives. I often haven’t known where I want my own blog to go, what to talk about, whether or not to focus purely on things making the news or whether to make it more personal for example. But most of all I’m lazy and would rather sit around doing nothing than actually thinking and bothering to come up with some decent posts. A total of just 4 posts has been the product of my last 12 months here. So I want to try again, I want to talk about what’s happening here and around the world. But I also want to talk about what ordinary people can do and what it means to belong to certain groups in society.<br /><br />I go back to uni on the 22nd by the way. I haven’t actually found out for sure what I’ll be doing but I want to continue with sociology and since I’ve only done it for one of my two years at uni I might have to do the second year course now on its own as a part-time student. This would of course give me yet more time to waste and would make a change from the fairly heavy workload I had last year. Anyway I like sociology and think it fits in well with my own way of looking at the world. It’s not just about understanding the world as it is but about understanding how it got that way in the first place and perhaps how things can be done differently. Only then can we see things like gender and class and race truly as a fiction put in place to serve the interests of the powerful whether they be men, or rich people, or white people.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-91977789532003979362008-05-30T16:08:00.018+01:002009-01-28T05:11:13.104+00:00Large increase for minimum pension in Norway - but will it be enough to keep the left in power?<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrS3cJEsCPH06YH7JSrF07gK0-kWruz-_An-PB0coO8WKo21T4-m3hIVhp2H8CMEMrszNnj9-gZynWvyEBf0kEBnAP_sNTv2wK7jUezvEu7Z8iV4ahC_N2JXYw6Y_ELPIzGVt4/s1600-h/norgov.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrS3cJEsCPH06YH7JSrF07gK0-kWruz-_An-PB0coO8WKo21T4-m3hIVhp2H8CMEMrszNnj9-gZynWvyEBf0kEBnAP_sNTv2wK7jUezvEu7Z8iV4ahC_N2JXYw6Y_ELPIzGVt4/s320/norgov.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5206189155516955506" border="0" /></a></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrS3cJEsCPH06YH7JSrF07gK0-kWruz-_An-PB0coO8WKo21T4-m3hIVhp2H8CMEMrszNnj9-gZynWvyEBf0kEBnAP_sNTv2wK7jUezvEu7Z8iV4ahC_N2JXYw6Y_ELPIzGVt4/s1600-h/norgov.jpg"></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrS3cJEsCPH06YH7JSrF07gK0-kWruz-_An-PB0coO8WKo21T4-m3hIVhp2H8CMEMrszNnj9-gZynWvyEBf0kEBnAP_sNTv2wK7jUezvEu7Z8iV4ahC_N2JXYw6Y_ELPIzGVt4/s1600-h/norgov.jpg"></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Leaders of Norway’s three governing parties - Kristin Halvorsen (Socialist Left - SV), Jens Stoltenberg (Labour - Ap) and Åslaug Haga (Centre Party - Sp)</span><br /><br />The centre-left government in Norway on Wednesday announced a historic increase to the minstepensjon (minimum pension) of 14% - from 119,820 kroner this year (around £11,500) to 136,296 kroner (around £13,000) in 2010 - by comparison the basic state pension in the UK is just £4,700 a year. Disability benefits have also been increased by a similar amount and the settlement has overall been seen as an extremely positive one for the poorest sections of society.<br /><br />But with opinion polls consistently predicting a strong lead for the four opposition parties of between 5 and 20% all is not well in Norway. Especially when much of the declining support for the three governing parties has gone to the Progress Party (Frp) - a populist and highly opportunistic right-wing party which plays on people’s dissatisfaction with high tax rates and their fears over issues like crime and immigration. The Frp cannot, I think, be compared to the neo-fascist and overtly racist parties which have been gaining support across Europe but their high level of support (over 25% in recent polls) is nevertheless a worrying phenomenon.<br /><br />Large numbers of public sector workers are currently on <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2454417.ece">strike</a> as teachers and nurses are demanding higher pay from local councils and the government’s recent decision to <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2450025.ece">increase</a> fuel taxes in a country which already pays the highest prices for petrol anywhere in Europe isn’t exactly popular. In addition a range of reports of run-down schools and universities, a declining quality of care in hospitals and residential homes, and dangerous and poorly maintained roads, have led many to seriously question the competence of both local and national authorities.<br /><br />I recently read a comment on <span style="font-style: italic;">Dagsavisen</span> partly blaming the government’s unpopularity (and the rise of the Frp) on the social and cultural impact of Norway’s enormous oil wealth - people have apparently came to think that anything is possible, that public services should all work perfectly and that they shouldn't personally have to bear the costs of something which could be funded through the oil revenues. They demand to see all the possible benefits of the oil wealth now without realising the importance of saving it for future generations and for dealing with the impact of the oil running out in the next few decades.<br /><br />The Frp is clearly on the right economically, calling for tax cuts and greater private involvement in the provision of public services. But much of their support has been gained, not through this, but through their lavish spending promises - particularly for the elderly but also when it comes to education and healthcare. In most countries it would be impossible to combine this with lower taxes but, at least in the short term, this may appear not to be the case in Norway where oil revenues guarantee a large budget surplus each year.<br /><br />There may be some truth in that observation but it’s also the case that the governing parties had promised far more than they've yet been able or prepared to deliver and inevitably large sections of the electorate are likely to feel let down. The pension and benefit increases this week are a good start for a government trying to get in touch with the mood of its people again but they're long overdue and it will take a lot more over the next 15 months to get enough of the population back on side before the election. The government will also need to put across their agenda more effectively and take on the arguments of their opponents rather than allowing themselves to be scared by them.<br /><br />One area to look at here is income tax - the government has so far avoided increasing it in the fear that it will harm their chances electorally. But in actual fact what they should be doing is making the case for taxation which is both high and, at the same time, progressive. Opinion polls have repeatedly found that Norwegians don't object to paying high taxes on income as long as they can see real benefits to their public services. What is unpopular are indirect and regressive taxes, particularly on basic consumer goods bought equally by the rich and poor alike. If the red-green government are genuinely committed to closing wealth inequalities then they must take concrete steps now to start shifting the burden away from ordinary people and on to those who earn the highest incomes.<br /><br />Even if the worst comes to the worst and the centre-left doesn’t significantly regain its support by September next year an Frp led government is far from certain as although Høyre (the conservatives) have left the door open to cooperation with them, the other two opposition parties - Venstre (the liberals) and the KrF (christian democrats) - have not. The radical left's decline meanwhile looks likely to continue as the SV's inability to, as of yet, take the Labour dominated government in the radical direction many of their supporters had hoped has disillusioned many and harmed the party's reputation as a force for challenging the established political scene in Norway.<br /><br />EDIT: <a href="http://www.redpepper.org.uk/Underdog-politics">This article</a> from Red Pepper (which I found a few months later) is I think useful in explaining some of the tactics used by the Progress Party and perhaps why they've been so successful among sections of the Norwegian electorate.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-56788330973707388942008-04-01T18:28:00.005+01:002009-01-28T05:02:58.516+00:00A new start for the SSP?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5BuyVijOw98UVXmagb0ITvPFJDZXmeliZ5SgLB5_t96yBPADCCr7tRbfYOzsST_egU5UI85deMC29sRed4aLDyuO6dlagK5gytdTaAnl0mxEK3ohMGKUKJTsmFMgMaBIHoEC/s1600-h/sspconf.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy5BuyVijOw98UVXmagb0ITvPFJDZXmeliZ5SgLB5_t96yBPADCCr7tRbfYOzsST_egU5UI85deMC29sRed4aLDyuO6dlagK5gytdTaAnl0mxEK3ohMGKUKJTsmFMgMaBIHoEC/s320/sspconf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184330258151155266" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />This weekend I was a delegate at the SSP's annual conference in Glasgow which was devoted almost entirely to reforming the constitution by giving members a chance to vote on over a hundred proposals which had been the result of extensive consultation within the party. Altogether I was impressed by how things went and while turnout, at around 120 over the two days, could maybe have been better it wasn't the sort of event likely to attract huge numbers of people and everyone that did come was really optimistic about our prospects for the future.<br /><br />The election last year in which we lost all our seats in the Scottish Parliament was of course a huge blow for the SSP but, rather than sit back and allow itself to disappear from the political scene, the party has been ready to learn from its mistakes, examine and change its own structures based on the new political reality which faces us, and most importantly to get back on the picket lines and in to the community struggles to defend our services from attack. Naturally the media has been ignoring us (with just two brief reports on the conference – in <a href="http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?sa=t&ct=uk/2-0&fp=47f2f74613ebd3ac&ei=02fyR629GYHmwQH6goDwAQ&url=http%3A//www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.2157678.0.SSP_plans_joint_male_and_female_leaders.php&cid=1147659780&usg=AFrqEzdOu5gcHuTEXvEabdPOoPCp-8zlnA">The Herald</a> and on the <a href="http://news.google.co.uk/news/url?sa=t&ct=uk/4-0&fp=47f2f74613ebd3ac&ei=02fyR629GYHmwQH6goDwAQ&url=http%3A//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7320249.stm&cid=0&usg=AFrqEzfvQ1MOpuVnQ5tb7wJr75VV9HzU3A">BBC website</a>) but as Colin Fox pointed out the SSP remains by far the largest and most active party of the left in Scotland and there will always be a place for us, especially as people become more and more disillusioned with the SNP.<br /><br />The SSP has throughout its existence tried to be different from other far left parties, being much more inclusive and largely free from outdated Marxist dogma, but the changes voted through this weekend, in my view, represent the most radical departure possible from the sort of traditions which have rightly given the left a bad name in the past. Perhaps most importantly the role of 'Convenor' (who the media have always referred to as the party 'leader') has been reformed as 'National Spokesperson' and split into two joint posts, one male and one female. In addition this post, along with all other elected positions, will be limited to a maximum 4 year term which will ensure powers and responsibilities are shared out far more equally among all our members.<br /><br />Other important changes will include the strengthening of the 50:50 system which attempts to ensure gender equality in SSP bodies and on electoral lists together with a new passage relating to gender being written in under the fundamental aims and principles of the party. The conference itself was designed to be as open and inclusive as possible in terms of how things were discussed and how people could get up to speak and it'll be interesting to see how things develop within the SSP in the years ahead as part of a radical process aimed at making us one of the most democratic parties anywhere in the world.<br /><br />Of course some will ask what the point of all this is when electorally things couldn't possibly be any worse than they are at the moment. I certainly hope the changes we all decided on will help to revive the SSP internally, something which has I think already been happening in recent months. But even if our support among the public doesn't improve in the immediate future I believe that what we've done and are trying to do will be a worthwhile exercise in building a new participatory and genuinely democratic type of politics, a politics in which there are no great men, only equals who are committed to working together in the struggle for a better world.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-49093695553728034122008-02-24T06:06:00.013+00:002009-03-04T05:46:28.159+00:00Monster locked up but how many more women have to die?The life sentence handed out to the vile Steve Wright for his murder of 5 prostituted women last year is welcome to say the least but as <a href="http://rmott62.wordpress.com/2008/02/21/only-one-man/">Rmott</a> asks, far more powerfully than I ever could, what is actually going to change for the tens of thousands of women in this country, and the many millions across the world, who find themselves in an industry where life is cheap and where bodies are bought and sold like pieces of meat? Wright got into the news because he was a serial killer, because the papers saw money-making opportunities from yet another 'ripper' story, but where are the stories of the dozens of other women who have disappeared off the streets over the last decade, largely ignored by a male dominated legal system and a male dominated media who see them as worthless 'whores' who deserved what was coming to them?<br /><br />Proponents of prostitution have typically, including several days ago in <a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/hilary_kinnell/2008/02/hilary_kinnell_on_sex_workers.html">The Guardian</a>, used this terrible case to argue that legalisation is the answer and that as soon as the industry gains legitimacy it's going to cease being any more dangerous or more exploitative than any other. This idea is wrong on so many levels - it is wrong because it assumes that most so-called 'clients' are decent people and that violence against prostituted women is a rare exception which can somehow be legislated away. The truth is that men who pay for sex do so because they want a feeling of power over women, her body becomes nothing more than an object to be invaded and controlled, he pays his money and gets to do whatever he wants to her.<br /><br />It is also wrong because it assumes that prostitution has always existed and will always exist in our society. Am I the only one who's sick of hearing this 'oldest profession' crap? I mean really, do these people think that early humans didn't have more pressing things on their mind such as finding the food they needed to survive on perhaps? The question we need to be asking ourselves today is whether or not we accept the buying and selling of women's bodies by men as normal or whether or not we want to abolish it. We should be asking whether or not men's violence against women is natural and unavoidable because if it is then we may as well start dividing the world up into a male and a female half.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-73945163919714565992007-09-26T02:45:00.007+01:002009-01-28T23:00:49.200+00:00Back to uni + some good news for onceAfter 4 months of doing very little I was fairly happy to go back to Glasgow Uni today for the start of my second year where I'll be studying level 2 Politics and Central and East European Studies and level 1 Sociology. A lot of work (which is not so good) but hopefully there'll be some interesting stuff as well. But there's one slight problem - I've got lectures at 9am 3 days a week (last year there was nothing before 1 in the afternoon). So today I was up at 7:30 after 2 and a half hours sleep - not getting back home again till 15 hours and 2 socialist meetings later. I don't know why I'm still awake but I do know that I feel crap and am probably more than doubling the risk of death from all sorts of hideous diseases (at least that's if the study on sleep I recently read about is correct).<br /><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">On the subject of busy students, something I read today in <a href="http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityteachinginspection/story/0,,2176688,00.html">the Guardian</a> is that the English work much less than those in other countries (studying for just 26 hours a week compared to 41 for the Portuguese, 35 for the French and 34 for the Germans). These 26 hours are said to include 14 hours tuition and at least 12 hours private study. In my three courses the maximum time spent a week in lectures and tutorials (provided I went to them all) adds up to just 12 hours so maybe the Scots are even lazier. As for private study I didn't do nearly as much as 12 hours a week last year but then it was only my first year and I'm probably quite lazy. But I think the fact studying hours are generally much lower in the UK must have something to do with the way in which many students here have to devote so much of their time working in crappy jobs to cover their costs - something made far worse by the abolition of grants and the introduction of tuition fees (in England and Wales at least).<br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: bold;">Not all news is bad news so here's some positive stories I've seen over the last week or so:</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: bold;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7Z4N0dvOVKB3BJhaAiTB50XW24JnsSEVb0zzWzrpwERDWRTZwpDqVFbanQfFAwVbbetgwCQLm9AiEycPGEL3IPmbGybqDO3XRsQ8YnS-SKUvfekbLY52NSqmGY7o4YRLMSVj/s1600-h/norfla2.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx7Z4N0dvOVKB3BJhaAiTB50XW24JnsSEVb0zzWzrpwERDWRTZwpDqVFbanQfFAwVbbetgwCQLm9AiEycPGEL3IPmbGybqDO3XRsQ8YnS-SKUvfekbLY52NSqmGY7o4YRLMSVj/s320/norfla2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5114324909911835122" border="0" /></a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">* After a recent reshuffle Norway's cabinet has, for the first time, more female than male ministers – by 10 to 9. Added to the fact that 4 out of 7 of the country's parliamentary parties have female leaders this is certainly a positive sign for gender equality in the country, at least at a political level. Another good thing about Norway is that it was the first country to introduce compulsory gender quotas within company management positions and soon no less than 40% of such posts can be occupied by women. Patriarchy of course goes a lot deeper than simply creating a lack of female politicians and business leaders but at least the Norwegians are doing more than most. And I'm very happy that they're likely to follow Sweden's example by criminalising the purchase of sex later on this year, a move which will hopefully have a significant effect on public attitudes to the sex industry in general.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">* Scottish Labour's new leader Wendy Alexander appoints 7 women and 3 men to her party's 10 most important posts with hardly a mention and significantly less criticism than you might expect from our sexist media (although if I remember correctly the Daily Record had a big full page story titled “JOBS FOR THE GIRLS”).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">* Italy considers fining men who pay for sex as well as serving legal papers in their own homes to shame them. Any action against these evil bastards is more than welcome but should surely also include keeping them behind bars for a good few months.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">* The emergence of a new mass struggle against the brutal military dictatorship in Burma which has, for 45 years, been torturing and enslaving its own people and starving them of the nation's resources. Western countries might now be expressing their support for the protesters but let's not forget that they've done nothing up to now and have always been perfectly happy to let their corporations profit from the misery of the Burmese population.<br /></p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-84719378055754405482007-08-31T06:23:00.002+01:002009-01-28T05:05:21.528+00:00Courts show their contempt for victims of domestic violence<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2155428,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2155428,00.html</a><br /><br />I felt totally sick and disgusted to read this article a week ago and it provides all the proof you need that we have a male dominated legal system which doesn't give a damn about the rights of women. The article is about two recent cases in which men were found guilty of horrific acts of domestic violence yet were let off with a miniscule fine.<br /><br />The first sick bastard we hear about is Stuart Brown. For 7 years he made his wife Carol McEwan's life a misery before ultimately being convicted of dragging her out of bed and punching her 24 times. What words did the magistrate use to describe him? A "vile monster" perhaps? Wrong, he described him as being of "good character" before handing out a fine of £500. This woman-hating pig has so far been allowed to keep his £100,000 a year job as a hospital anaesthetist. His former partner on the other hand will have to live with the abuse he subjected her to for the rest of her life.<br /><br />The second evil swine is Colin Read. As soon as he had married his partner Elizabeth Axe last year he reverted to being the savage misogynist he really is. In one horrendous attack he slashed her feet after she failed to make a sandwich for him. Eight days later he branded her on the back with an iron, causing severe burns, after complaining she hadn't ironed one of his shirts. Read, a wealthy management consultant on a £90,000 a year salary, was fined just £2,000 for these vicious acts of violence. He didn't even have to undergo a community sentence because according to the judge he would be "too busy" to carry it out.<br /><br />Noone who has ever been a victim of domestic violence themselves can begin to imagine what these two women have been through and it must be a sickening blow to watch the person who subjected you to so much pain and misery being let off with not even a slap on the wrist. According to the Guardian just 4% of the men responsible for domestic violence ever go to prison. Yet for a crime of this nature anything other than prison is a complete insult to the victim and will do nothing to make men like these think twice in future.<br /><br />The legal system in this country is rotten to the core and is clearly far more interested in upholding the interests of patriarchy and of capitalism than it is in getting justice for the victims of those who hold all the power and wealth. Maybe there will be no progress until we get rid of all the overpaid middle-class middle-aged men who make up the vast majority of judges and magistrates and who seem to have no capacity for seeing things from the perspective of anyone else, or at least from the perspective of anyone who doesn't have exactly the same social profile as themselves.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-85999113000823625182007-08-10T00:52:00.003+01:002009-03-04T05:46:46.116+00:00Only 14% of Scots think it's acceptable to view porn!After a long absense (and 5 weeks on holiday in France and Switzerland) I've decided to come back and hopefully start posting more regularly to my blog. I think this article from yesterday's Herald (which made me happy and angry at the same time) is worth commenting on:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1605108.0.0.php">http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1605108.0.0.php</a><br /><br />Firstly we hear the rather surprising figures from a recent poll that only 14% of Scots think it's acceptable to view porn and 10% to pay for sex. This is really positive and while I'm sure many of the participants oppose them for the wrong reasons it suggests that the sex industry, despite its continuous onslaught of patriarchal capitalist propaganda, has been failing miserably to change the attitudes of the Scottish public. In fact according to the article pornography and prostitution have became less acceptable over the last few years. I think it's really vital that feminists build on this almost universal opposition to the commodification of sex by pushing for tougher laws and ensuring our perspective is the one which is heard when the issue is debated in public.<br /><br />The second part of the article, referring to the same survey, discusses public attitudes towards rape, finding that 30% of men and 25% of women believe a woman who's drunk to be to some extent responsible for being raped. 26% of respondents think in the same way in regards to women wearing revealing clothing and 34% of men and 29% of women when it comes to flirting. I suppose one positive thing the survey shows is that such views are far less prevalent among younger people - 7% of adults under 24 believe women who were flirting can be held at least partly responsible compared to 50% of those over 65. And a clear majority of those surveyed do hold the view that women are never responsible for being raped.<br /><br />But why is it that so many people still feel the way they do? Could it be, as an SSP comrade suggested, that sex is very much seen as something which men do to women and that it is women who have the responsibility to say no and resist - with getting drunk being considered an abdication of that responsibility? The above survey was carried out by the Scottish Executive in an attempt to tackle the miserable conviction rate for reported rapes which last year fell below 4% for the first time. What sort of society are we living in, we should be asking, when less than 4 out of every 100 women subjected to rape ever see their attackers brought to justice, when rape victims are hardly ever taken seriously, when they have their stories laughed at and ridiculed by the police and by the male dominated legal system?Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-36285441497987100252007-06-14T04:39:00.003+01:002009-01-28T05:16:24.704+00:00SNP abolish graduate endowment feeI must admit I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of the new SNP government’s policies. One of the most important has got to be the scrapping of the “graduate endowment” charge. Although tuition fees were meant to have been abolished until now Scottish students have had to pay a charge of £2,000 when they leave university. Those receiving the Disabled Students Allowance, like me, have been exempt but for everyone else it’s yet more student debt to be lumbered with and a disincentive to entering further education.<br /><br />I was also pleased to hear Justice Minister Kenny McAskill saying that too many non-violent criminals are locked up and that instead we should put resources into dealing with the really dangerous criminals such as sex offenders. Of course with by far the highest prison population per capita in Europe what alternative do they have? Another positive thing has to be the cancelling of the decision to close A&E at Ayr and Monklands hospital as well as the government expressing its opposition to nuclear power.<br /><br />So I’m a bit happier than I was the last time I wrote about the SNP and it's nice for a government to do something I agree with for once. But still I’m sure, like all the main parties, they’ve got their own opportunistic reasons for doing what they have. The question is whether or not the Scottish Executive can move on from taking a few populist measures and show they’re really serious about changing Scotland for the better. It’s not good enough to drop key policies like an independence referendum or, for that matter, the pledge to wipe out existing student debts.Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-6945841190083043042007-06-04T07:46:00.004+01:002009-03-04T05:47:02.191+00:00Calls for campaign to target men who buy sex<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I was reading in the Sunday Herald that anti-prostitution campaigner Jan Macleod has called on the Scottish Executive to establish a publicity campaign aimed at the men who buy sex now that doing so will, for the first time in Scotland, be a crime. Such an approach could, in my view, help change public attitudes and make clear, in a society where women's bodies are increasingly being seen as any other commodity, that the actions of these men are unacceptable as well as showing who's to blame for the existence of prostitution in the first place. But, as pointed out by the Scottish Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation, misogynistic attitudes among men towards sex begin at an early stage and far more attention needs to be paid, in school sex education classes, to the promotion of egalitarian relationships. Sexuality has to be portrayed not as something which is all about one person's enjoyment but instead as an expression of people's mutual love and respect for each other.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Going back to the recent change the Scottish Executive made in regards to prostitution laws it was certainly welcome but still the priorities are all wrong in that both prostituted women and the so-called “clients” who use money to buy control over their bodies will be held equally responsible for the existence of this vile industry. Sweden offers an alternative approach, one which the Norwegian government is also likely to implement and which the SSP had in its manifesto for the May election. That is to bring in and enforce real penalties against the “clients” while decriminalising prostitutes and giving them help to leave the industry which enslaves them. In Sweden trafficking has been almost completely eradicated and prostitution drastically reduced since the law was introduced in 1999 - so while an end to patriarchy and capitalism will likely be the only way we can fully eradicate the sex industry there is a lot which could be done by the government if the will was there.</p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-8297998131934446572007-06-03T02:14:00.002+01:002009-01-28T05:09:46.452+00:00Same old anti-abortion crap<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Today I was again reminded of the extent of the hostility shown towards abortion rights by many in our society – both at a personal level and from letters in the newspapers. The letters were in response to yet more of the same old sexist pronounceme<span style="font-size:100%;">nts made by Cardinal Keith O'Brien several days ago. Mr O'Brien himself has compared abortion in Scotland to “two Dunblane massacres a day” – as if a woman deciding to exercise her control over a certain part of her body is somehow equivalent to a psychopathic serial killer gunning down children. This is a truly sickening statement and one which serves to severely devalue the pain and horror of Scotland's worst ever act of mass murder.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Recent news which the church didn't hesitate to comment on is that the number of abortions in Scotland over the last year has risen from 12,603 to 13,081. So what? Why do media outlets like the BBC even bother to mention the fact that another 500 women decided to have an abortion? Of course we remain a deeply misogynistic, deeply patriarchal, society and so you could say it's hardly surprising that such attitudes remain. Yet I still have difficulty comprehending just how twisted the logic of some of the people who oppose abortion really is. Do those who constantly rant about women being personally responsible really believe that men have no role in regards to the pregnancy?</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The question is not, as some people suggest, whether or not we should allow the bigoted Mr O'Brien to express his views. It<span style="font-size:100%;"> is whether or not he's talking shite and if we believe so then let's make our opinions loud and clear. Let's denounce the insane hypocrisy of an organisation which calls abortion “anti-child, anti-women and anti-person” yet did nothing to prevent the systematic sexual abuse of children at the hands of its own priests. </span> </p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33356811.post-17123050759164595082007-06-02T09:51:00.002+01:002009-01-28T05:09:31.260+00:00Brown congratulates SalmondSo Gordon Brown has waited a full 29 days after Scotland elected its new parliament to congratulate Alex Salmond for his nomination as First Minister. Childish maybe but then should we really care about the petty disputes between two of the same old establishment politicians who have done, and will do, nothing to challenge those who hold all the power and wealth in our society? <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Let's take a look at the programme Salmond and the SNP have announced:</p> <ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Scrap trams and put more money into improving roads </p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cut business rates<br /></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">End supermarket offers on alcohol</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Abandon bridge tolls</p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Stop building nuclear power stations</p> </li></ul> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Some good, some bad, but what of their own policies have they decided to keep silent on? Well an independence referendum seems to be the most glaring as is scrapping the council tax, two of their most radical policies and the ones which would do the most to benefit ordinary people in Scotland. Most in the SNP may support them but Salmond isn't going to try to push anything through if he doesn't think he'll get it passed in parliament which is likely to mean a lot of disappointed SNP voters at the time of the next election.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And there's all the other things they could do (but won't) if they were serious about building a better society. Things like free school meals, free public transport and taxing those who deserve to be taxed. As always we're not going to get what we want from this government and while the end of the SSP's presence in parliament was a disappointment the fight against inequality and injustice continues, on the streets, in the communities and in the workplace.</p>Stuart Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16070762606574838477noreply@blogger.com0