Scandinavia

We join the comrades of the Red-Green Alliance of Denmark in unequivocally condemning the attack on a meeting to debate free speech and a Jewish synagogue in Copenhagen on Saturday-Sunday 14-15 February. At this time it seems the attack, in which a member of the meeting audience and young Jewish security guard were killed, was the work of an individual, a young man of Palestinian heritage, and impoverished background who had recently spent time in jail. It seems this individual was “inspired” by an Islamist political creed and the murderous attacks in Paris last month. How should socialists...

We are living in a time when freedom of expression is being curtailed on many different fronts. On February 14 in Copenhagen, a meeting debating blasphemy and the right to offend was cut short by a gunman apparently determined to execute Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist known for his cartoons of Muhammad. The gunman managed to kill a 55 year old audience member and followed this by killing a Jewish security guard outside a synagogue the following day. Is this going to be the inevitable consequence of doing things considered blasphemous by some fanatics? Will the political and cultural...

In Sweden, as across Europe, far-right and racist ideas are increasingly popular. Last autumn’s general election saw the anti-immigrant, far-right Sweden Democrats win almost 13 per cent of the vote and 49 MPs. Parallel to this has been a rise of direct violence and threats against minority groups, in particular Muslims and Roma. During the Christmas holidays three mosques around the country were attacked by arsonists. Five people were injured and many Muslims say they feel unsafe at home and at mosque. Anti-racists have organised rallies in opposition to the far-right and in solidarity with...

An all-party parliamentary group on prostitution has recommended Britain follows the lead of countries such as Sweden and Norway, which make the purchase of sex illegal. Neither buying nor selling sex is illegal in the UK but soliciting, pimping, brothel-keeping and kerb-crawling are all criminal activities. The Nordic model, which also decriminalises sex work, rests on the argument that all prostitution is violence against women. The parliamentary group, following that line, says the current law “serves to normalise the purchase and stigmatise the sale of sexual services — and undermines...

Several people were attacked in central Malmö by members of the fascist Svenskarnas Parti (Swedes Party), on their way home after having taken part in celebrations for International Women's Day on 8 March. The incident occurred after a night time demonstration against violence against women. One person is now in intensive care with serious head injuries and a further three have suffered knife wounds to the arms and lung, amongst which was a member of [socialist group] Allt åt Alla Malmö. The attack on demonstrators can’t be seen as an isolated incident. Neo-nazis have carried out violence...

Reading Frank Furedi’s article ‘Culture War: the narcissism of minor differences’ (Spiked Online) I became aware of the debate in Scandinavia on whether to ban the ritual circumcision of boys. The way Furedi framed this debate alerted me to the need to think through a socialist response. Take his opening paragraph: “On Sunday, a majority of Swiss voters said yes in a referendum on imposing quotas on the arrival of immigrants from EU countries. On the previous weekend, there were mass demonstrations in France, at which protesters chanted slogans in defence of the traditional family and...

Women working in Finland’s transport industry face similar issues to their UK sisters. The largest party in the Finnish government is the National Coalition (the equivalent of the UK Conservatives). The Green Party is also part of the government, and holds the position of Minister of Transport. It is selling the state-owned transport companies. All public sector companies are up for sale. This is in line with European Union anti-trust laws, but the right-wing government seems to be going along with it willingly, rather than being reluctantly forced by the EU. Women's employment rate in Finland...

On Friday 19 July, 36 cities around the world hosted protests against the violent abuse and murder of sex workers. These protests were sparked by the transphobic and whorephobic murders of sex workers in Sweden, Turkey, France, Italy and other countries. We were demanding “Justice for Jasmine and justice for Dora” , in reference to two recently murdered sex workers. In the week the protests took place, a trans* sex worker from Turkey called Dora Oezer was killed. Turkish police are looking for her murderer, who some news sources are saying was a client. Prostitution is legal in Turkey but...

Since April 1, almost 70,000 Danish state school teachers have been locked-out by their employers. The lockout is the latest in a series of austerity measures initiated by the so-called centre-left government, led by social-democratic Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. After its first year, which included some policy changes such as increased rights for migrants and LGBT people, enthusiasm for the new government has drastically waned and given place to resignation and repulsion as well as resistance. After turning against the trade unions in June 2012 for failing to accept a longer working...