Last hours
These are the last few hours of my presidency of the studentsection of the UN association of Kalmar and Öland. Tonight we will have our annual meeting, where I will resign from my post. For the past 2,5 years I have been working quite hard as president/chairman, and the role have actually become a part of my identity and selfimage. What am I if I am not the chairman? But the problem will probably resolve itself in march, when I most likely will be elected president of the whole district instead. But it still feels strange. Though, I must admit that it is also a relief, I am a bit worn. And I have finally found a good successor, which feels really good. It would be disastrous to see the association fall apart upon my resignation. The immediate threat of that has been avoided.
Holocaust
Today it is 60 years since the liberation of Auschwitz by the red army. It is so difficult to comprehend! 60 years is not that long. My parents are nearly that old. This took place in the middle of Europe, "the cradle of civilization". For a swede this is especially hard to comprehend, since very few swedes have any relatives seriously affected by the war. I suppose this must be much easier to grasp for someone who is surrounded by relatives who took part in the war in some way.
A reporter from the swedish national radio company asked me today why anyone should bother to remember the holocaust, "it was so long ago, and 70% of the population of Europe wasn't even born at that time". We must remember, because we still live in a society soaked with hatred and prejudices, and the holocaust is what this can lead to if it is let loose without any countermeasures.
Bookwriting
I have several ideas that I think would make great foundations for writing books, but I just can't get it out on paper the way I want it. Very annoying. I envy people with the gift of writing. I am quite good at writing academic papers and similar stuff, but I am not as good when it comes to other types of texts. Do you ever feel like you have a great idea stuck in your head - but it won't come out properly?
Frustrated!
I can't believe how much work I have the next couple of weeks. A ton of tasks - papers, reports, research and so on. And I must come up with ideas for my next thesis before the end of next week! This thesis I will write this semester is extremely important, and now I am pressed to come up with a theme for it... Thinking about something with fair trade, but I don't know how to make political science out of it. Maybe something about the free zones in China or something... But I must come up with a few options. Thinking about something with Ukraine..... but I don't know. Sucks!
And I've got like a ton of books to read during this time also. And, as if all of this weren't enough, we also have our annual meeting in the UN association next sunday. And that has to be prepared.
Gender issues does not always discriminate women
Most discrimination based on gender is negative for women. That is generally accepted. But is it true? Yes, in most cases it is. Women are paid less for the same job. Women are less represented in the halls of power. Women are more sexualised, and more often seen as objects rather than individuals. All this is true. But....
In some very important aspects of life men are discriminated. Women often has a "natural right" to the children. In Sweden, this is seen in lots of aspects. Examples: If the parents have different family names the child is automatically given the name of the mother. Public child support is always paid to the mother, even if the parents are separated and have shared custody. Those are some examples of the discrimination against men by the state.
But almost more importantly, but very hard to measure, is the fact that the father often is "the outsider" in the realtion. Just the other day I heard a few teenagers talk on the radio. They were a teen-panel, answering questions from the listeners. One mother called and said that her kids always came to her to talk about sensitive stuff, while the father were left outside in the cold. All of the teenagers in the panel agreed that this was the normal situation, they all preffered to discuss things with their mother. Their father had to ask the mother what was going on, since the child did not talk to him. As a man I fear this deeply. It would feel terrible to be left outside. To see that my child has a problem, or is depressed, but not being able to talk with the kid. Being forced to ask the mother what is going on. Horrible.
Just another day
Worked on our old thesis today, fixed some of the problems with it. I think it will get a very good grade when we are done.
Tonight I sold three of my four Katanas. I need the money, but it feels a bit sad. They were really nice.
UN association of Kalmar/Öland
Tonight I led my last regular board meeting with the association. Next sunday we will have our annual meeting, where the new board will be elected. I think my successor Malin will do a good job as president, she is very competent and she's got a lot of drive in her. It feels good to know that the association, which is my pet project, will be taken care of properly.
I will move on up to the district board instead.
Drowning in information
we just had a session in the university library where all the available resources for finding information (books, articles, essays, sites and so on) were presented. We are going to write a c-level thesis this semester, and need to find aproperiate info, obviously. But sometimes it feels like I am drowning in all the information from all these databases! And considering that I am a very experienced internet user, this must be totally mind-blowing for someone who is not so used to the net and finding information!
I am considering writing my thesis on Fair Trade. That way I might combine my studies at the university with those at the Red Cross, and get the maximum learning experience with less effort.
I just saw a tv program about "normal" people who has succeeded in their field. Amongst them were 24-year old Jens from Sweden. In just 1,5 year he has built a company from scratch to selling 150 000 MP3 players, and a turnover of about 100 million SEK, aiming for 1 billion in ten years. All he did was importing already existing MP3 players, redesign the exterior, and put his own name on them. Genius! So simple, so smart. Very frustrating!
Religion
All religions are man-made, and thus imperfect. Agnosticism is the only truth, all else is speculation without possibility of verification. Until death provides the answer.
Did he find the truth?
Fair and Free Trade
Interesting page by an interesting guy, who also participates in the Fair Trade course I am attending. He also let's me crash (in the old town!) at his place when we are going to meet in Stockholm next time (4-6 march). Thanks A!
Bank robbery
Well it seems that the actual bankjob was not in Tierp, but in Skärplinge - another smaller town nearby. But my father is probably involved in the hunt anyway. Let's hope that the robbers aren't as fucked up as Jackie Arklöv and his companions, who killed two swedish cops a couple of years ago when they had robbed a bank...
Oh, my very first blog entry!
I feel that my description as the devils advocate may need an explenation. I enjoy debating immensly, and often provoke debates by taking on the role of the devils advocate, giving arguments that I do not really support myself - just to get the debate going.
Last night I returned from my first weekend with the Swedish Red Cross Fair Trade class. It was interesting, and especially interesting was the negative sides of Fair Trade that emerged. That is Fair Trade as in the FLOs labelling, not fair trade as a whole. For example, they promote small scale producers in the third world, and exclude larger producers. This also means that if a Fair Trade producer is very successful and grows, they will eventually be excluded from the Fair Trade organisation even if they still conduct their business in a fair way. The inevitable conclusion is that Fair Trade will always be a small, marginal, movement. This is quite a bit contra-productive, since the reasonable thing would be to try to make all businesses fair. Right? Even the big ones. Especially the big ones. The more big business get fair, the better for the workers.... I think so, anyway. But this aside, I can also symphathise with the idea of promoting small businesses, to give them a fair chance.
Damn, I just heard on the radio that there has been a bank robbery in Tierp, the small town I grew up in, and that someone got shot. My father is a policeman there, so I must call him and see what is going on...
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