Olof Palme had just won his fourth term as Prime Minister when we spoke in Stockholm in the fall of 1985. Like Denmark’s Anker Joergensen, this stalwart social democrat opposed the “cold, egoistic new liberalism”. Unregulated capitalism threatens the Swedish model of social welfare, he said at his September 15 election victory.
This series sprang from discussions I’ve had with several people regarding the Danish/Scandinavian model of social democracy, or socialism as Bernie Sanders contends. Some well intentioned persons view the Nordic Model as a solution to greedy capitalism, while others view its role as a seditious savior of exploitative capitalism. Many Cubans I knew when living there (1988-96) and visiting since see the Nordic Model as a way out for their failing revolution, gone the way of a bureaucratic state.
I first met Denmark’s last truly Social Democratic Prime Minister, Anker Joergensen, in his state office, unannounced, in late 1980.
Grethe and I had just been married. We had met the year before in Los Angeles where I had been a “participatory journalist”, and activist for social/racial/gender equality and against the Vietnam War. I wanted to start a new life with Grethe in her peaceful, social democratic land.
I spent most of June in Russia and Azerbaijan, mostly Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was my first trip to either country. St. Petersburg, was a city founded in 1703 to be Russia's window to the West, and Moscow, founded in around 1150, is less European. Over 12 million people live in Moscow; only 4.8 million live in St Pete. (By contrast, NYC has 8.5 million people and L.A.
Michael McFaul, the Washington Post and all others who declared Brexit to be a Putin’s victory, still don’t understand that Putin has won long before June 23rd referendum. The fact
Hemp hemp hooray, water cheats and Oregon oil + this day in history w/USS Liberty and our song of the day by Weaves on your Morning Monarchy for June 8, 2016.
Sputnik – May 27, 2016 After Sweden Democrats reneged on earlier pledges to make a last-ditch effort to stall the decision, the Swedish parliament effortlessly railroaded through an agreement which essentially allows NATO to deploy forces in Sweden and brings the non-aligned Nordic country yet another step closer to the alliance. The Swedish parliament ratified […]
Citizen Trump, chorus of anger and concert control + this day in history w/the kinetoscope and our song of the day by Black Pistol Fire on your Morning Monarchy for May 20, 2016.
Nanofarms, certain crops and Mediterranean diets + this day in history w/'Paradise Lost' and our song of the day by Sun Club on your Morning Monarchy for April 27, 2016.
Boots on the ground, TPP reality and states of emergency + this day in history w/Obelisk of Axum and our song of the day by Tiga on your Morning Monarchy for April 25, 2016.
