Stories from Sweden,
the Humanitarian Superpower # 10
the country with a different view
on the word “democracy”.
“Sweden is a humanitarian superpower.”
Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister, Sweden
Sweden is a democracy on paper. And on the Internet, on the homepage of the Swedish parliament — Riksdagen. In reality it is not.
The word “democracy” is very frequently used by politicians and in the media. It sounds good and reassuring. But the politicians in the government and the parliament of Sweden have their own interpretation of the word democracy:
Every fourth year, on Election Day, we need to be out there charming the people with nice sounding promises, so that they vote for us! So that we can stay in power and enjoy our high salaries and nice benefits, and live secure and good lives — until next election day.
Let me give you one example — among many — of how “democracy” works in Sweden. The Minister for Gender Equality, Maria Arnholm of the Liberal Party Folkpartiet (People’s Party…) does not want to let families to decide who — the mother or the father — should stay at home when a child is born. Sweden has one of the worlds’ most generous maternity/paternity leave insurances, altogether 480 days. Out of those 480 days, 60 days have to be used by the mother, 60 days by the father. The rest can be spent freely.
The fact that a government gets into the private life of individual families, forcing them to spend their maternity/paternity leave (that they have paid for through taxes) in accordance with what politicians think is best, should not be accepted in a democracy. In Sweden, if the people do not obey the Government, 60 days will be lost and the child is deprived of those 60 days at home with one or the other parent!
The Minister is a feminist whose goal is absolute “gender equality”, even at the expense of individual people in individual families and their individual children! Her main goal is to teach and force fathers to stay at home and take care of their babies. The child, who has a father (or a mother for that matter) who runs a small business, for example, will loose the chance of having a parent at home for 60 days if that parent cannot leave his or her business for that long. The other parent is not allowed to use those 60 days…
Now the Minister wants to extend those 60 forced days of maternity/paternity leave to 90! Still with no chance for families to make their own decisions on what is the best and most suitable way for them to share the days of staying home with their baby. And if one of the parents just simply cannot leave his or her job/business for 90 days, then the child looses the chance of spending that time with the other parent. The Minister says:
I’m pushing for a third month, even though I’m convinced that a large part of the population may oppose it.
Columnist Marika Formgren wrote in the local newspaper Barometern (headline: Folkfostrarpartiet, which means something like “the party that wants to be a parent to the people”):
People do not know their own good, and the knight in shining armour, Ms Arnholm, sees herself as the hero who will slay the dragon, by running over the ignorant people.
And on 30 June the big daily newspaper GöteborgsPosten, under the headline Arnholm mot folket för ny pappamånad (“Arnholm against the people on the matter of another month for fathers) quotes the Minister:
A “terrifying small minority” of the Swedish people consider a third paternity month a good idea.
And:
There is resistance among the voters.
This is Swedish democracy!
More on the subject in coming articles!
