Category: Culture

Why I am so proud to be watching the Swedes

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes


A young woman with a pushchair walks past me and pins a pink rose onto the wire fence. She stops a moment to reflect, clearly taken by the gravity of the moment. A middle-aged couple huddle together holding tightly onto their teenage son. A woman wearing a hijab gently puts a consoling hand on a crying stranger’s shoulder as she passes silently by. 

There are tens of thousands of people gathered here on Sergel’s Torg Plaza in Stockholm but the noise level is subdued. A respectful silence hangs in the air. The sun is high and shines down on us on this, the warmest day of the year so far. 

A few meters from here, 48 hours ago, 4 people lost their lives in a terrorist attack, and many more were injured. Amongst the murdered victims were a Belgian tourist, a British man living in Stockholm and two Swedes, one of which was a 11 year old girl on her way home from school. 

Today, Stockholmers are gathered in a ‘Love manifestation’ vigil to pay their respects to the victims and their families. The place is packed with people of all ethnic, religious, political and social backgrounds. But today none of this matters, they are united as one. 

I have never been more proud to be watching the Swedes as I am at this moment. When faced with a national trauma, what do these people do? Do they meet it with fear? No, they meet it with love. It is almost palpable at this moment. And with their love, they beat terrorism. 

Minutes after the terrorist attack, the hashtag #openstockholm appeared on which people opened their hearts to each other. They offered sanctuary, support, a sofa for the night, a lift home, food to anyone who needed it. They responded with love, not fear. 

The day after, they went in their droves to the location of the attack and attached flowers to a fence and lit candles. They hugged emergency workers and covered a police car with flowers to show their gratitude. They responded with love, not fear. 

And today, they came in their tens of thousands to show that they are not afraid. They listened to inspirational speeches and moving music. They took back the streets and they did it with love, not fear. 

I’ve spent many years writing about these people – the Swedes. I write sometimes in despair, sometimes in frustration but often with fondness and humor. But today I write with pride. An immense pride. 

As I linked arms with a stranger, an old white-haired lady, and participated in a one-minute silence, I felt inspirited. I was a part of something larger than myself. I don’t know what it was, but it was significant: a meaningful moment in Sweden’s history that will affect the national psyche for a long time to come. 

One of the speakers at the vigil encouraged people to continue to open their hearts and their doors. Showing solidarity and keeping Stockholm an open city is a priority. But this is something we can only achieve if we do it together. 

The final quote of the vigil summed everything up. A quote from Martin Luther King – 

‘Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.’



Segregation on a Swedish school bus

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

school bus

In Sweden, the school system contains many independant schools run with a specific focus such as music, sport, art or specific religions. They should all follow the national curriculum and, in the case of religious schools, they should teach but not preach.

Yesterday, it was revealed that a Stockholm junior school with an islamic orientation has been segregating children on the school bus – boys go through the front entrance and sit at the front, girls go in the rear entrance and sit at the back of the bus. The headmaster of the school has claimed to be unaware of this. This act of segregation has caused a hot debate in Sweden about the ‘islamifying of Sweden’, ‘gender apartheid’ and comments such as it being ‘unSwedish’.

The Swedish Schools Inspectorate are planning on investigating the school further to see if any other ‘undemocratic activities’ are taking place. The Inspectorate has previously allowed segregated classrooms and gender-separated sport lessons.

What can we learn from this?

When this kind of occurance happens in society, it is a great opportunity to reflect on what we learn from it. What is our immediate reaction when we hear examples like this?

  • Do we run straight to the barracades and start defending our cultural heritage?
  • Do we condemn the occurance as, for example, undemocratic or unacceptable?
  • Do we weigh up the pros and cons and try to arrive at a balanced conclusion?
  • Do we think people are allowed to do whatever they want, so anything goes?

All of these are perfectly normal reactions, and one is not better than the other. Obviously, we react in different ways.

I think that these occurances in society provide us with a great opportunity to discuss intercultural competence. Being interculturally competent is generally defined as having an open mindset and the cultural sensitivity to see different perspectives so that one is able to flexibly adapt ones behaviours accordingly. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s about accepting that anything is ok. Intercultural competence can also mean balancing up the various perspectives and standing up for what one thinks is acceptable.

Intercultural competence differs significantly from racism and nationalism. Racism and nationalism focus on others being of lower value than myself or the place I come from. Intercultural competence is about accepting everybody’s perspectives are equally as valid – no matter how tough they are and even if I personally don’t agree with some of them.

So how do we arrive at this place of understanding that all perspectives are equally as valid? We can ask ourselves a simple, but complex, question:

‘What do they think is good about segregating boys and girls on a school bus?’

If we can arrive at the answer(s) to that question, we are becoming more interculturally aware and more interculturally competent. We are seeing the situation from their perspective and not only our own. We are presuming they have a good reason, from their perspective, for their behaviour, rather than immediately judging or condemning it.

Once we have reflected over that, we can decide what we personally think. Does it change our point of view? Can we accept their behaviour more easily? Or does it make me hold my view even more stongly? In that situation, we can say something like:

‘I understand why you think it’s good to segregate boys and girls. I understand your perspective. However, I disagree with it. And here in Sweden, we believe in equal treatment of all regardless of their gender, which is why that behaviour is not something we as a society can accept.’

Compared this to the more reactionary ‘the Islamists are trying to take over Sweden!’ and ‘this country is going down the drain’, you see how the ability to perspectives-take creates a more open, less fearful debate.

It is my belief that if we approach occurances like this in a more interculturally competent way, and try to perspectives-take, we can create a society built on mutual understanding and respect for prevailing values rather than a society built on fear and suspicion.

And that has to be a good thing moving forward, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

 

Top ten English words originally from Swedish

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

moped

As we all know, language is organic and we constantly borrow and interchange words between languages. The word kiosk is for example originally Turkish, restaurant is French, gnu is African Knoisan and alcohol is Arabic.

But what words has Sweden contributed with that have been adpoted into English, and even into other languages?

Well, there are a few…

  1. Moped – comes from ‘trampcykel med motor och pedaler’
  2. Smorgasbord – from the Swedish ‘smörgåsbord’ meaning buffet
  3. Gravlax – from the Swedish ‘gravad lax’ meaning cured salmon
  4. Ombudsman – a Swedish word meaning representative
  5. Orienteering – from Sweden’s ‘orientering’
  6. Tungsten – Heavy stone in Swedish
  7. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – ok, technically Norse but partially Sweden!
  8. To glean – from the Swedish dialectal verb ‘att glena’
  9. Gauntlet – from Sweden’s ‘gatlopp’
  10. Canoodle – debated, but likely to be from Sweden’s word for fornicate – ‘knulla’

This list is probably incomplete. Any other words you would like to add?

Tricking Sweden – April Fool’s jokes 2017

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

april-fools-day-2015

Playing April Fool’s jokes on each other on the first of April is a tradition in many countries – Sweden included. In fact it is an old tradition – the oldest written reference being in 1392 in Chaucer’s ‘The Cantebury Tales’.

In Sweden, when someone is tricked, the tradition is to say ‘April, April din dumma sill!‘. This translates as ‘April, April you stupid herring!’. This is however not as weird as it might sound. In many countries, such as Italy, France and Holland, April 1st is known as “April fish”. On this day, people try to attach paper fish onto the backs of their victims.

April Fool’s pranks flourished this year in newspapers and in social media. Here are a couple of the main ones that tricked Sweden this year:

  • Furniture giant IKEA is branching out into the airline business. Furnishing all the flights with Ikea furniture, the airline will offer low-cost flights to popular destinations. And the name of the airline? FLYKEA.
  • Since military service is to be introduced again in Sweden, a high tech computer company will take over the castle in the town of Örebro. The thick walls and moat will make it inpenetrable for data hijacking.
  • Theresa May needs help to fullfil the Brexit process and calls in British businessman Chris O’Neil, who is married to Sweden’s Princess Madeleine.
  • Finnish-Swedish IT Company, Tieto, are opening a sauna next to their data service center. The sauna is heated from the excess heat from the data center and is a way to environmentally reuse the waste energy
  • Airline SAS have introduced a selfie button next to the seek assistance button. In that way, passengers can photograph themselves without needing to take out their phones.
  • Swedish supermarket chain ICA introduced a new product together with Marabou. The product is toothpaste with the taste of chocolate. It might be brown, but it makes your teeth white.

 

Sweden’s nazi sympathiser, secret agent, communist spy, musical diva!!

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

ZarahLeander

Long before Swedish pop sensation Zara Larsson became famous, she had another famous namesake from Sweden.

Also a singer, Zarah Leander was her name, and she remains an enigma to this day. Active during the war years, was she a source of pride or a source of shame for Sweden? Nobody really knows.

Zarah Leander was born in the town of Karlstad in 1907 by the name of Sara Stina Hedberg. She began her singing career in the late 1920s, and by the mid-1930s she was hugely successful in Scandinavia and in Europe. In particular, the Germans loved her and in 1936, she was contracted to work for the German Film Foundation for whom she made many movies. As her employer was subordinate to the Third Reich, many people viewed her films and her music as nazi propoganda, although Zarah Leander herself never took a public political stance or officially joined the Nazi party. She performed live at many concerts, even after Nazi Germany had invaded Denmark and Norway. She profited from being the biggest, and most well-paid, star in Germany at that time.

After her home in Berlin was bombed towards the end of the war years, she returned to Sweden under much criticism. She was shunned by the artistic community but eventually managed to resume her career. She died in 1981 in Stockholm at the age of 74.

So was Zarah Leander a source of shame for Sweden? Was she a cold-blooded, fame-seeking, profiteering, Nazi sympathiser? On paper it would seem so. But who really knows?

Or was she a source of pride? Was she, as she herself claimed, just an entertainer working to please an enthusiastic audience in a difficult time?

Or was she in fact a spy? Soviet intelligence officer Pavel Sudoplatov claimed, just before his death, that Leander had been a Soviet agent with the codename “Rose-Marie”. He claimed she was a secret member of the Swedish Communist Party and conducted the work for political reasons.

Zarah Leander talked openly about her past and consistently denied that she had any sympathies with the Nazi or the Communist parties or that she worked as a spy for any country. But was she telling the truth? The mystery of Zarah Leander followed her to the grave and today the only legacy we have is her music and her films.

Zarah Leander, 1907-1981. Nazi sympathiser? Communist spy? Secret Agent? Musical Diva!!!

Swedes! Where’s your barbecue?!

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

DST_Countries_Map

This weekend in Sweden, the clocks went forward one hour to Summer Time. Despite the occasional complainer who moans about losing an hour’s sleep, this is usually received very positively in the country. Suddenly,  the light at 6pm becomes the light at 7pm. People are happier, daylight is longer, people venture outside to enjoy the burgeoning spring.

So why do we do this? There are clear benefits, but where does it come from? The practice was first initiated during World War I to give more light for agriculture and other important societal functions. However it was abandoned shortly afterwards, only to come back during World War II.

It was never very popular and by the 1950’s it had again been cancelled. However come the 1960’s, it was reintroduced in many countries due to the energy crisis – the lighter evenings required less electricity.  In 1981, the EU legislated Summer Time in Europe requiring member states to decide particular start and end dates for Summer Time which varies in the different countries.

In Sweden, Summer Time was originally introduced on 15 May 1916 but then took it away. In 1980, Summer Time has been observed every summer in Sweden starting on the last Sunday in March and ending on the last Sunday in October.

In Europe, there are 4 countries that do not switch to and from summer time. They are Belarus, Russia, Iceland and, since 2016, Turkey.

Around the world, there are various countries observing the switch. In USA, they refer to this as ‘Daylight saving time’ but it is not used in all states. In the picture above, blue and orange represent the countries that switch to and from summer time (nothern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere summer). Dark grey have never used daylight saving time and light grey have formally used daylight saving time.

Remembering when to turn the clocks back and forward is sometimes a challenge to remember. In English, the saying ‘Spring forward, Fall back’ was developed to help jog people’s memories. Even the expression ‘March forward’ is used as a reminder.

So what do they say in Swedish? Well, they refer to the popular summer activity of barbecuing. Many Swedes who live in houses, or have a summer house, own a barbecue. In the summer they use it, and in the winter it is safely kept in storage.

So the Summer Time saying?

‘In spring we put forward (English: out) the barbecue, in the autumn we put back the barbecue’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And today Sweden celebrates……?

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

tranafton

 

I was looking through a paper today and I read that today it is Transafton (‘afton’ means ‘Eve’ in Swedish) in Southern Sweden.

‘Wow’, I thought, ‘isn’t that great that they have a special Eve to celebrate transgender people in the South of Sweden. Very impressive‘

However, upon closer inspection, I realised my error – it didn’t say ‘transafton’.

It actually said ‘tranafton’.

After my bubble was burst, my curiosity became aroused.

Tranafton? What is that? After over 20 years of living in Sweden, I have never heard of Tranafton. I know that a  ‘tran’ in Swedish is the bird called ‘crane’ in English. But why a ‘Crane Eve’?

So I looked it up.

The 24th of March is known as Tranafton in Southern and mid Sweden and has been documented since the 1500’s.  . It was said that the crane returned on this day after its winter migration. This was seen as a sign of spring as it brought the light with it. Now it was so light outside that people did not need to light candles inside their houses. On Tranafton it was important to go to bed while it was still light, otherwise you might be subjected to tricks and name-calling.

On Tranafton, children ran outside barefoot – often three laps around the house. The supersition was that this would build up their immune system and make them strong and resilient. In the Swedish counties of Värmland and Dalsland, this was done dressed in bird costumes – a ritual known as ‘running crane’. In West Sweden, children hung stockings infront of the fire and the crane would come and fill them with gifts. This tradition has mostly died out today, but still exists in a handful of villages in Småland, Värmland and on Öland.

So if you are at a loss for what to do this evening – go out and run the crane to celebrate the arrival of the light. But remember, just to be safe, go to bed before it’s dark.

 

 

Swedish art – a new world?

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes
karin-mamma-andersson
Karin Mamma Andersson – About a girl, (2005)

 

Going to the supermarket this weekend? Well, maybe not in the way you think….

This weekend, in Stockholm, is an art fair called Supermarket, which is an international artist-run fair that showcases artists from Sweden and all over the world. If you’re in Stockholm, it could be worth a visit. Here’s the link:SupermarketArtFair2017

Sweden and Art – is that a natural connection for you? How much do you know about Swedish art? If you are an art lover, then Sweden may very well be an undiscovered treasure trove for you.

Sweden has a strong artistic tradition and the art that is produced here often reflects the time and place in which it’s created. Art is good at that – at being the window to our souls, a kind of visual temperature check on how we as a society are feeling at that precise moment.

Let’s take the art form of painting as an example.

Looking back through history, there are many Swedish painters who became giants in their field. Very famous here, maybe not so famous outside of Sweden to those other than the die hards.

Ask somebody to name an artist and names such as Picasso, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, Kahlo probably come up. Probably names such as Larsson, Zorn, Bauer, Brate, Nyström, Jolin don’t come up in the first pass.

But maybe this is exactly what makes it so exciting. If you know nothing about Swedish artists, a whole world is waiting for you to discover.

Maybe you’re interested in discovering new Romantic art? Then check out traditionalists Carl Larsson and Anders Zorn. They were contemporaries and painted delightful pictures of Swedish pastoral life in the 1800’s, early 1900’s.

Or what if expressionism is more your cup of tea? Then check out Einar Jolin’s and Isaac Grunewald’s fabulous interpretations of Swedish society around the 1920’s. Or look up the post-impressionist Nils Dardel and his renound painting ‘The Dying Dandy’ painted in 1918.

Or is it contemporary art that rings your bell? Current painters who are worth looking into are Karin Mamma Andersson, Lars Lerin, Marie Louise Ekman, Linn Fernström, Peter Dahl and Sara-Vide Ericsson. And there are many more.

Or perhaps you want to buy some art, or make some connections? Then get yourself along to Supermarket and get inspired!

And the Best Country in the World for Business is…..SWEDEN!

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

madeinsweden

Despite fear-mongering in the media about the awfulness of Sweden, things are actually going rather well for the country. Or at least that’s what a recent piece of research from Forbes would suggest.

For 11 years Forbes has graded 139 countries on 11 factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

The aim of this to identify which countries are the best for business investment and business development. In other words, which is the ‘Best Country in the World for Business’

And in the latest results, Sweden has soared to the number 1 position, beating out other EU countries, USA and low cost countries. So, Sweden is the best country in the world for business. This creates jobs, generates income and attracts new talent to the country.

And if we take a look at some of the successful companies to come out of Sweden, it would seem easy to confirm this. The country is home to some of the most well-known brands in the world, including Electrolux, SKF, Ericsson, IKEA and H&M.

Skype was co-founded by Swede Niklas Zennstrom in 2003. Music site SoundCloud and file sharing site Pirate Bay are Swedish too. Tictail and iZettle are both Swedish. Sweden is also the home to companies that created three of the biggest games of this decade: Candy Crush Saga, Battlefield and Minecraft. The 1 billion dollar financial transaction company Klarna is also founded and based in Sweden. Not bad for a country of only 10 million inhabitants.

So this would suggest that Sweden is entrepreneurial and successful. And the constant development of new ideas attracts new investment which will keep the Swedish economy motoring on strongly into the future.

Here’s the link for the full Forbes listing: https://www.forbes.com/best-countries-for-business/list/

 

 

 

 

How Swedes have sex

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

sea-of-nudity

One of the major stereotypes of Swedes is that they are sexually liberated.

Twenty years ago, a large research project on 2800 people was carried out looking into how Swedes view sex. Participants were between 18-74 years old. In comparison to many other countries, Sweden was consequently seen as a place that has a liberal view on sex. Now this research is about to be carried out again, to see what, if anything, has changed in the last two decades. The suspicion is that a lot has changed in the last twenty years.

So what did the results look like 20 years ago?

Here’s a summary, courtesy of daily newspaper DN.

In 1996,

  • Sexual debut was on average 16 years old
  • The average woman had 4,6 sexual partners
  • The average man had had sex with 7,1 people on average
  • Swedes between 26-55 had the most sex
  • Sexual activity had increased since the previous study in 1967, except between the ages 31-50 were there was a decrease, probably due to work pressure
  • The top 10% were called ‘superactives’ and the men had slept with 29-560 people and the women had slept with 15-100 people
  • 38% of the Swedes had experience of sexual relations outside of their committed relationship
  • The average amount of penetrative sex was 65 times per year
  • 15-20% of women had same-sex fantasies, 3% of men.
  • Women more frequently reported a diminshing interest in sex. Difficulty to achieve orgasm was the most common reason. Amongst the men who claimed the same reduced desire, premature ejaculation was the most common reason.

 The last time they had sex,

  • 95% had had vaginal sex
  • 59-72% had carressed eachother’s genitals
  • 25% had oral sex
  • 1% had anal sex
  • 71% of men orgasmed, 62% of women acheived orgasm
  • 80% had sex with their husband, wife, partner
  • 5-6% had sex with a friend or casual partner
  • 1% had met via a contact ad

 

In the last twenty years, a lot has happened in Sweden. Easy sexual contacts via aps such as Grindr and Tinder makes sex more accessible. Young people who experiment with their sexualities, and refuse to identify as hetero or homo, is more common than twenty years ago. On the other hand, Sweden is a more multi-cultural society than before and attitudes to sexuality may well be influenced by religion, culture and a new restrictive morality. It will be interesting to read what the results of the new survey reveal.

What do you think? How have things changed?

Let me know in the comments below.