It’s certainly not poetry or meant to be

(more like the convenience of liberal punctuation if anything, to make reading sense)

and not even a Sardar joke is this:

Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down…

The battle for the Muslim vote has only just begun

and politicians (not just

the Lord Mayor of Malmö

it seems are prepared to go

to any lengths, to satisfy their electoral clients.

And so we have

the Christian Democrats in line,

the Moderates in line,

The Centre Farmers Party in line

Birgitta”We shall Overcome” Friggebo’s Folk-Party in line

in Rinkeby

Ohly, Marx & atheist Associates in line

no longer is it said that religion

or even the Taliban is the opium

of the people

all in line

the Environmentalist Party too, together they stand

in line to endorse and support,

to build and ratify

one more mosque in Rinkeby,

to cultivate & nurse to encourage and send the entourage

to fetch

the Muslim vote

in order to attain to the political paradise.

The Sweden Democrats will  probably not agree with her, but here is one of the most famous sayings yet attributed to Mona Sahlin:

“”If two equally qualified persons apply for a job at a workplace with few immigrants, the one called Muhammad should get the job. It should be considered an asset to have an ethnic background different from the Swedish one.”

Sardar Joke:

“Gang of SARDARS broke a Bank.
Instead of cash they found Bottles full of Chilled Red Wine,
Happily they drank & went away.
Next day Headline aai: Blood Bank lutya gya. ”

Postscript:

“Europa är vi Allihopa”: We are all Europe – says Herman Lindqvist. From that one can infer the statistical reality of numbers (Europeans) but “Europa är vi Allihopa” does not translate into “We are all Europeans” even if it says so in our passports “Swedish”, or does it?

In the not too distant future, just as we now have a Moroccan born Muslim immigrant as the Mayor of Rotterdam – the second biggest city in Holland, so too we may well have a Muslim immigrant as the mayor of Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö – which already has a 25% immigrant population. This is the new demographic reality….

Report abuse »

Glory be to Sweden:

Glory

Glory be to the Super Golden Quartet of Daniel Rickardsson + Johan Olsson +Anders Södergren +Marcus Hellner..

by 19.5 seconds

How does one translate simple swear words that come spontaneously like “fi faan “ ( the devil) into equally melodious or mellifluous Eng-lish forms ?

Ama not a sports journalist or any kind of journalist for that matter but just for the record must report yesterday’s  Day of Glory for Sweden. Perhaps if I did it in Swedish it would better reflect true national sentiment – otherwise it amounts to a sub-standard translation of genuine Swedish poetry into English – or vise-versa as in

“ Tis a glorious charter, deny it who can,
That’s breathed in the words, “I’m an Englishman.” :

not a very challenging proposition, not even from the opposition and a wholly not very satisfying literary pastime

Having said that, nor can I adequately convey how I FEEL about yesterday’s victory not even with all the resources and devices available to “ the brightest heaven of invention “ in her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II ’s English or even in the more nationalistic form of Monarchical Swenglish spoken and written by Swenglishmen and Swenglishwomen just as a true blue-blooded English bard could sing:

“This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,–
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England. “

So the golden Quartet comprising our princes Daniel, Johan, Anders and Marcus did sing us all to victory for Moder Svea.

Let’s leave it up to our Swedish literary savants to outdo Old Bill in showing true national spirit or colour  in verse.

I too watched the whole show on Eurosport TV from the start to the glorious finish with our Superb Swedish commentators who made such congenial company. Prayed to the Almighty to strengthen the legs of Johan Olsson and to pour more than the courage of Richard the Lion hearted  into his heart and to fortify his spiritual willpower, stamina and determination – put on Orsa Spelman but that was insufficient orchestration to give wind to his sails and so I put on something of the great Soukous spirit with Shora Mbemba’s “Cyclone” – and that too must have helped swing the incredible Johan Olsson on till he touched Anders the most rhythmical of  the Quartet and from then on it seems that Sweden was really on.

The time’s almost up on the computer I’m using

…. my better half came home just when Marcus Hellner was grabbing the Swedish flag and ski-ing over the finishing line – she tells me “ jag vill titta på nyheterna ( “ I want to watch the news “ just at about two minutes to ten O clock and I’m feeling as if I’m singing

Bessie

Smith: “He’s

just like

a lion, Lordy, Lordy, I’m reformed today!”

So I tell her Hallel -u -Jah : This is the news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and point to Marcus Hellner

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the Gold and the Glory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Report abuse »

One of the surest ways of ascertaining where somebody comes from (very generally speaking) is to note the rapidity with which he or she turns to the pages of foreign news when he or she opens the Dagens Nyheter or Svenska Dagbladet. But it is not all foreigners domiciled in Sweden  or  of more temporary tourist status and  just passing through who place Swedish domestic issues on the back burner.

Interestingly enough, whether it’s Sweden or the USA ( who more or less always have a war or two on their hands) it’s usually domestic issues, especially bread and butter issues that hit the pocket, that’s usually the most important and holds sway over voter behaviour…..and not issues related to feeding the starving masses in e.g. Africa – or issues relating to peace and bliss and some of the missing tranquillity in the Middle East.

As the elections approach it’s a common perception ( perhaps just wishful thinking among the biggest grumblers among the most disgruntled) that The Sword of Damocles is hanging over the head of the Moderate’s Fredrik the Great and his allies.

As the election approaches the electorate talks more and more about what the government is doing – talks of the government more as “the Alliance” and less as “the government “ – per se.

In the area of international development and Foreign Affairs the talk is of course about The Swedish Government’s doings and sayings.

Gunilla Carlsson is always in the news and certainly has more than a feather in her hat – what with her having hosted a very successful European Development Days 2009 Conference in Stockholm and much more.

Today the headline is all about another success in the area of post conflict transition to democracy building: Carl Bildt inaugurates the Swedish Embassy in Iraq

Concerning  Swedish troops in Afghanistan, the members of the Alliance and the Social Democrats are all agreed that we shoud be there.

Report abuse »

Jihan Elmi,

The beastly weather continues here in Stockholm even as we ( Sweden) rake in more medals at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

But, back to the theme and to put you at ease: When I wanted to learn Islam , it was designated that “The Bangladeshis “ should teach me. The Bangladeshis were said to be gentle people and so some of your guys such as Dr. Pyar Ali, Daulat Khan, Jackie Hussein, Imam Mohammed Islam, and some of the Tabliq Jamaat people from the Kakrail Masjid taught me some of the little that I know. I did travel with them to Copenhagen, London, Oslo…. I am not a stranger.

I must also confess more of an acquaintance with Ali Shariati ( including his “Marxism and other Western Fallacies” , “Sociology of Islam” and his “Fatima is Fatima”.

About the Swedish scene, a long time ago I was familiar with Åke Sander’s output, and less so with sociology professor Pym Fortuyn and since I have a more literary bent, I’m much more acquainted with Sadeq Hedayat …..

From the beginning, one of the things that we have to get right, is the fact that most people in the world are not Muslims…

Currently showing in the Modern Museum in Stockholm is Lee Lozano and one of the head lines from her exhibition is ” Seek the extremes, that’s where all the action is” -she’s talking about art of course – and as to Islam we can always find the extreme – or the extreme picture even when we do not seek it as in for example here

And not so far away, even here.

What I’m saying and I’m sure that’s what you are saying too is, that there’s surely middle ground between the idea of armed Jihad and what could be the more peaceful, common  ground of dar al harb, dear Jihan….

Over here, Islam is an aspect of our deliberations and one of the centres of gravity as far as integration is concerned , since we are talking about 400,000 Muslims who currently live in Sweden. The best published material that addresses these questions about integration etc – that I have come across so far is the Chief Rabbi of the UK & Commonwealth Lord Jonathan Sacks’

The Home We Build Together

which is simultaneously realistic and visionary. It’s something that all the European ministers of integration and gender equality and their staff and all the public debaters and social critics ought to be thoroughly familiar with .

Finally, as your voice must be heard and you too must suggest answers to our questions, you could as the sociology major check out some of the statements that Taslima Nasrin of Bangladesh made about the Islam and woman question, when she was a guest here in Stockholm.

Report abuse »

Reponse to Jihan Elmi’s query

HOWDI

It’s something like minus 20 degrees in the Himalayan snow in Stockholm this morning!

I’d first of all like to assure you that this fakir has a lot of respect for spiritual Islam and that I am fully acquainted with it.

The context of what I wrote (what you refer to as my ”article”) is the numerous discussions that have taken place in The Local , with reference to Islam – including discussions about immigration, Turkey, etc. This is the immediate background, and so my comments were more or less being addressed to people who have been following these discussions in the Local.

The wider context is of course the general media coverage of Islam – as religion, as a political force and way of life under siege in Pakistan, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, perhaps in Iran, elsewhere, and not least of all in Eurabia . And as far as Eurabia is concerned I’d like to refer you to what Mark Steyn has to say about this Eurabia which is not just an idea or the figment of a paranoid imagination.

So you are pursuing an honours degree in sociology? Congratulations!And doing your research? Power to the people saith I. And you try to ”discover not only what the article is implying or what the article is about, but also what the conclusion is and sometimes how the article is related to its title.” And so you should. And perhaps also, how the article is not related to its title?

I can further assure you that like all other men I too have sociology as a background but I am no Gustav Le Bon! I was only -  to use Krio slang – I was only “ shooting breeze!”

You continue:

”In this case, I do not see your point or point view, no conclusion and your article lack clear understanding of what is being said”

This means that like the one who calls himself ”Sage” through no fault of mine you too do not see my point of view or draw any conclusion and lack a clear understanding of what you read. I don’t think that I have  arrived at any conclusions but have merely stated the state of things as they are or seem to be. I was merely asking questions which still remain for you to answer and arrive at your own conclusions, based on what I said and based on what you know or/and think outside of what I wrote. The questions again: Islam: Dignity? Yes. Glory? Maybe. But where is the joy? The tidings of great Joy?

Report abuse »

The fall of the Dutch Government over Afghanistan  due to the labour partner of the coalition withdrawing from the governing alliance leaves one wondering whether Swedish troops in Afghanistan will be an election issue.  This question also remains unanswered, although it was  reported just last week  that after the death of two of our soldiers in Afghanistan  the Swedish people’s support  for Swedish troops in Afghanistan has been boosted, in this country  to the extent that  the ministry is now sending more troops  there.

 How accurate is this piece of information about the boost and how popular is support for the war in Afghanistan in this country and in other member states of the European Union? Depending on how the war efforts succeed against the disparate groups of nationalist fighters who all come under the blanket term Taliban, these are relevant questions that will continue to dog the war machinery under the command of USA and NATO forces. Unlike Denmark, Norway and Holland, Sweden is not a member of NATO…

The timing of the so called operations have of course been carefully planned  - the Taliban fighters usually hole up in the mountains during the winter, waiting for spring to come so that they can carry on.  In this very severe winter we’re hearing tales of triumph issuing from the well-equipped foreign aggressors who can see in the dark and listening to tales of civilian deaths being mourned by the Afghans themselves, still fighting for dominion over their own territories – against some of the world’s most powerful armies – first the Soviets and now Superpower USA and faithful allies (I wonder when they will be asking for assistance from China, Israel or Iran)

All in all, so far it’s been a costly war  and in my informed opinion, the tar and feathering of the Taliban which is amenable to reform – is still being terribly exaggerated. Looking ahead to the kind of action that’s likely to come the first thing that one notices is that on the whole Iran is already  totally surrounded and boxed in.

 One has reservations about war and shedding blood, and one even has reservations about the present danger of the Noble Peace Prize falling into disrepute but one has faith that the Swedish people will stand up for what’s right and resist what’s wrong and call for peace and for early peace talks when it is in the interest of peace and of saving other people’s lives, to do so.

Report abuse »

There’s no denying  the role of Sweden and the Swedish government and the Swedish people’s influence on the world stage. Even greater than Swedish influence is the European Union’s influence since the whole is greater than just a part of the great European Union, and of course the whole is also greater than the sum total of all the various individual parts that make up the European Union,  especially should that whole, speak with one voice  and in the name of humanity or in the name of the Union

It’s therefore this comment by our Foreign Minister that is a little worrying/worrisome to a humble, peaceful Swedish citizen – and here we are not merely concerned with just “rights” like the right/s of Saddam Hussein to manufacture a nuclear  reactor for peaceful purposes only – I think that the sane citizen would also be looking at the direction in which the wind is blowing  – not just the evil wind – and think more of the probabilities of Iranian  intentions and less of their rights, if we are thinking of making the world a safer place for all of us.

Mr. Bildt in his own words ( no doubt it’s good for business)

Further developments ( Carl B)

And here,

PM Netanyahu’s concerns about Iranian intentions are shared by many

Report abuse »

London eyes,

I always think of Sweden, i.e. Swedish males as “old blue eyes” and the little princesses as goldilocks as illustrated by Jenny Nyström…..

It’s Cool Black writing:

The colours of Sweden are Blue and Yellow ( as in “I am curious yellow” )

White is not only the gentle covering that decks the wintry landscape all the way, from Haparanda to Ystad. It’s especially beautiful when bathed in golden sunshine. Artists in Lofoten ( in Norway) sometimes capture that peculiar light.

 You seem to be all surprised by White, but not by the White House?

I’ve been laughing recently about Merry England always talking about the weather and this time round crying because it’s four degrees below zero ina London. As you must have noticed, below ten degrees is part of our Swedish Eskimo environment and furthermore White is so alluring as a metaphor as in these prophetic words of Isaiah 1.18 (according to the King James Version):

I don’t know whether your eyes are brown or blue but I do know that there’s been all that talk about Black Power, usually with the clenched fist and that it’s  still a sentiment that’s politically correct although its opposite number – white as a colour that can be suggested or posited as the opposite of Black- as in  White Power is frowned upon - but – from an entirely White Power nationalistic point of view White is not only a colour but, like Black,  also an identity as in identifying with tennis shoes, White Jesus, White Mary ( Mona Lisa vs. Black Madonna) or dreaming with Bing Crosby about peace on earth, a White Christmas, goodwill to all men and a Happy New year.

A uniformly white foreground/backgroud can be tiring to the eyes, even in a Zen Buddhist monastery. For the interior walls, a Swedish interior house decorator suggested that I add a tinge of red, a tinge of gentle pink to the white to relieve the whiteness of its stark monotony – and so it’s seldom wholly pure white that goes into the colouring….slightly different from the whitewashed whiteness of old colonial houses in Cape Coast (Ghana) or in Spain……

There’s also all that quiet fire in the Swedish temperament as recently expressed through the winning streak of our Golden Vancouver heroine Charlotte Kalla of Sweden and our hero of the day, our one and only Björn Ferry !

You may be dreaming about house decorations in Bahia – that’s alright – I think that given the present stage of climate change, it’s a little early in the day to be expecting the Swedish temperament to incarnate into something more tropical. There’s the inbuilt Vitamin D,  but Cayenne/Ethiopian pepper is not in the centuries old genetic code of all Swedes to be able to deal with such high temperatures the year round – and that’s why some Swedes ( but not all  Swedes) fly South with some of the birds in winter and like pantheists, (all Swedes)  immerse themselves in the Swedish nature religion in the summer to arrive in heaven more immediately and more directly – and every Swede knows that heaven here on earth is called na-tur…..(nature) and is to be found på landet ( in the countryside) an  environment of lakes , meadows,  mountains , sea, sand , blue sky, cliffs and the many, many colours of our Wonderful WORLD

Report abuse »

Sjävkänslan i Sverige is for me not the same as “self esteem”. I can’t find the right words with which to translate what I feel about “självkänslan” which is in itself something of a concept. It’s not mere “self-esteem” – it’s more of a very realistic self-assessment and the self assessment of the average Swede ( don’t ask me who she or he is) is that sure, Sweden is a great country, coupled with all the great things that Sweden has been in the past. Every Englishman has read about Gustavus Adolphus – when Sweden was like the USA and kicking ass everywhere – and everyone outside of the Swedish borders venerates August Strindberg, Selma Lagerlöf, Ingmar Bergman,Emanuel Swedenborg and has heard about the Vikings, Swedish sex, ABBA, Bjorn Borg, and more recently Hans Blix who excelled even himself in last week’s BBC Hardtalk and should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a long time ago.

Everybody knows that Dag Hammarskjöld is one of the greatest Swedes that has ever lived

And Raoul Wallenberg can certainly be added to the list of eminent Swedes…

 In the very near future – in June to be precise, the House of Windsor and all the Royal Houses of Europe up to the most venerated Royal House of Japan and the most loved King of Thailand will have heard about and participated in the earthshaking love event that will restore Sweden to the limelight on the world stage – namely the Royal wedding that will weld together our Princess Victoria and her Daniel , through the holy rites of Holy Matrimony that will take place in the Stockholm Cathedral on the 19th of June 2010.

 Princess Victoria wedding

 http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Princess+Victoria+wedding

 After which the nation will slowly return from national euphoria to some lower form of political reality as the left, right and centre battle it out – for power on the day of Judgement : 19thSeptemberr, 2010 and here I’d just like to zero in on one aspect of the pending elections, namely the immigrant aspect of the demography questions (on the religious idenity/ people front  among other things it’s over 400,000 Muslims in Sweden today, and less than 21,000 Jews with an un- or incalculable number of Christians and other minority religious and non-religious   or cultural, national ( foreign) denominations….

Today, this is supposed to be the reality:

Fifth of Swedish population foreign

and here are more details about

immigrants in Sweden

 This apparently uncontrollable/ uncontrolled phenomena is not peculiar to Sweden alone, not when we look at Sweden as a country – state or province of the European Union. Not peculiar to Sweden alone , but quite new for Sweden because unlike Great Britain, France, Portugal , Spain, Holland, Belgium, Germany, even Italy, apart from exercising propriety rights over the tiny West Indian island of St. Barthélemy for the very brief period of a few years, Sweden has never been a colonial power – with colonies in Africa, Asia, South America……from which places citizens have usually gravitated back to the colonial headquarters, part of what ex-colonials have called “ re-paying the colonial debt”( the new “White Man’s Burden”)

 Now, believe it or not this spurious piece of news turned up about the British left and this too takes me back to my meeting a Swedish gentleman on a bus some fifteen years ago and we got to talking. He had lived in Chicago in the sixties and wondered whether I was from those parts. “Why should you wonder so?” I asked him in my Maine accent.

” Because someone by the name of Olof Palme made sure that every Tom , Dick and Harry from just about every corner of the world was brought into this country”, was his reply to the question, and thus was the conversation terminated, on the spot.

 The spurious piece of news is this and gives some food for thought:

 All over, the left supports immigration for votes

 http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=20571#comments

 Now we are left grappling with questions of integration, problems still to be solved about the high rates of unemployment among immigrants, the rise of the Sweden Democrats who will surely win at least one parliamentary seat this coming election even if no one wants to enter into a ruling coalition alliance with them, should it be necessary to do so in order to obtain a parliamentary majority and these questions and problems are all bedevilled by the attendant problems of racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. About the latter which featured very prominently in the Local in connection with that infamous Aftonbladet article, here is the final post-mortem:

The Aftonbladet Organs -Trafficing Accusations against Israel : A case study

http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=3&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=624&PID=0&IID=3327&TTL=The_Aftonbladet_Organ-Trafficking_Accusations_against_Israel:_A_Case_Study

 There are of course many questions arising from the sketchy material provided above and some of these matters arising shall have to be looked into a little more deeply, because we all love Moder Svea and today, the Left, the Right, the Centre and the so called Christian Democrats are all courting the immigrant vote……

The very specific question is : What is on the various  party agendas  for immigrants?

Report abuse »

Letter to Farooq

Quoting myself (a letter to Farooq A. Kperogi 

“ Farooq,

I should also like to thank you very much for this very insightful

essay.

I’m relieved to know that I’m not the only one who has occasionally

suffered from similar post-colonial uncertainties, sometimes more,

sometimes less temporarily.

I should come up with a few such examples shortly and uncertainty is

always  at the crux of the moment (you could call it the grammatical

exigency of the situation. I’m also thinking about language

interference problems for Swedish speakers too, they are also

sticklers for correctness when employing Her Majesty the Queen’s

English, sometimes lovingly and reverentially a confessed inadequacy

or localisation called Swenglish ( Swe-dish+ English.

I’ll ask my better half who is a language buff…

Best regards

Cornelius “

http://www.tv4play.se/aktualitet/nyhetsmorgon?videoId=1.1479902#player

Report abuse »