one for sorrow
Sep. 19th, 2010 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
harborshoreOh, fuck. Racists in my parliament.
So there was an election today. I voted. Because that's what you do in a democracy, if you want a say. The right to vote is a right but it is also a boon, a gift, a way to speak that I am so profoundly grateful for. I don't quite have the words to articulate my dismay and anger at the moment, but I will try.
See, there's a party that calls themselves the Swedish Democrats. They stand for, oh, I don't know, truth and justice and NO MORE FOREIGNERS IN OUR COUNTRY. Their candidates are the kind of people who include in their website bios, "Oh, no, I have no problem speaking to people from other countries." They will be in my parliament. They're getting something like 5.7% of the vote. GODDAMMIT. That means 20 seats. TWENTY RACISTS IN MY GOVERNMENT.
I don't get it. I don't get how you found a party based on the premise that some people are better than others by virtue of where their parents are from (because it's not enough to be born in Sweden for these people). A party against a multicultural society. (Yeah, that's the campaign slogan of one of these morons.) I am so saddened, so deeply saddened and angry that people are voting for them, that people think they have anything worthwhile to say. It's the price we pay for having a democracy, but oh, it hurts so much tonight.
This is my country. This is a place I used to feel safe, where Astrid Lindgren wrote about Pippi Longstocking and other nonconformist children, where--but I don't feel safe now. I'm blond and green-eyed and will never look anything but Swedish, but these people threaten my friends, my ex-girlfriend, my favorite football player, my fucking life, which is built on the premise that people are worth the same and deserve the same chances. (Besides, it's not like they're very fond of queer people or think very highly of women either.) What is happening? I don't understand it.
Also, as icing on the cake, we're currently reelecting the conservatives (of course we are) and my favorite asshole Christian Democrat will remain in charge of Social Affairs. He thinks all families should consist of a man, a woman, and two children, but who am I to say any differently.
This isn't my country. I don't recognize this place.
So there was an election today. I voted. Because that's what you do in a democracy, if you want a say. The right to vote is a right but it is also a boon, a gift, a way to speak that I am so profoundly grateful for. I don't quite have the words to articulate my dismay and anger at the moment, but I will try.
See, there's a party that calls themselves the Swedish Democrats. They stand for, oh, I don't know, truth and justice and NO MORE FOREIGNERS IN OUR COUNTRY. Their candidates are the kind of people who include in their website bios, "Oh, no, I have no problem speaking to people from other countries." They will be in my parliament. They're getting something like 5.7% of the vote. GODDAMMIT. That means 20 seats. TWENTY RACISTS IN MY GOVERNMENT.
I don't get it. I don't get how you found a party based on the premise that some people are better than others by virtue of where their parents are from (because it's not enough to be born in Sweden for these people). A party against a multicultural society. (Yeah, that's the campaign slogan of one of these morons.) I am so saddened, so deeply saddened and angry that people are voting for them, that people think they have anything worthwhile to say. It's the price we pay for having a democracy, but oh, it hurts so much tonight.
This is my country. This is a place I used to feel safe, where Astrid Lindgren wrote about Pippi Longstocking and other nonconformist children, where--but I don't feel safe now. I'm blond and green-eyed and will never look anything but Swedish, but these people threaten my friends, my ex-girlfriend, my favorite football player, my fucking life, which is built on the premise that people are worth the same and deserve the same chances. (Besides, it's not like they're very fond of queer people or think very highly of women either.) What is happening? I don't understand it.
Also, as icing on the cake, we're currently reelecting the conservatives (of course we are) and my favorite asshole Christian Democrat will remain in charge of Social Affairs. He thinks all families should consist of a man, a woman, and two children, but who am I to say any differently.
This isn't my country. I don't recognize this place.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:44 pm (UTC)seconded! ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 08:41 pm (UTC)I can empathize though. I feel similarly with every election we have in my town, state, and country.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:42 pm (UTC)It's such a mess. But hey, the leader of the Social Democrats is currently such a leader that I'm bawling every time she is on screen. Amazing lady.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 09:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-19 11:38 pm (UTC)people can be so wrong. :(
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-20 12:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-20 11:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-20 12:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-22 11:06 am (UTC)"Christian Democrats". Two words that together make my blood run cold.
Sympathies.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-26 03:21 pm (UTC)