Swedish News

Restriction of immigrant weddings. SAAB hiring again. From Sweden: Skeletal remains. More Ingmar Bergman 

  • SAAB hiring again.
    Some 700 people working at SAAb lost their jobs last spring, now 155 of them have gotten their jobs back. One of he reasons for this “light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel” is that SAAB is moving back its production of SAAB Cabriolet from Austria to Trollhättan. In order for that production to function, educated and knowledgeable people are needed as the tempo of the production gets faster and faster. Elin Karlsson, who has worked most of her adult life at SAAB, had only been unemployed a month when she was called back. “I hoped I was going to get my job back,” she says. “It all seems positive and we’re keeping very busy. “

  • Restriction of immigrant weddings.
    Lars Svensson, a Social Democrat member of the Landskrona local council, has had enough of immigrant weddings and proposes a quota: only one per month. “We don’t want too many,” Svensson, who is also the manager of a local community center, told a local newspaper. “There are quite a lot of Kurds and Palestinians who get married. There's something about having an oriental background; there can be between 400 and 500 guests,” Svensson explained, adding that "European immigrant groups" aren't included in the term. Svensson also said there’s been too many complaints about noise and untidiness associated with the “immigrant weddings” held at Landskrona Folkets Hus. Habib Ramadani, originally from Kosovo, has lived in Landskrona for ten years and had hoped to hold a wedding reception for his son in the town’s community center last year. His request was rejected by Svensson, citing Ramadani’s immigrant background. “If he had said, ‘no, it’s booked’, that would have been the end of it. But then he asked what country I was from,” Ramadani told the local newspaper. Ramadani explained to Svensson that he was from Kosovo, still hoping to be able to rent the community center’s great hall. “He said, ‘Not for you, you all throw cake on the floor instead of in your mouths,’” Ramadani explained. “But the great hall was free that weekend. Others who worked there told us so.” Having already sent out hundreds of invitations to guests around the world, Ramadani offered to pay professional cleaners to ensure the hall would be spotless following the event. Svensson remained firm, however, prompting Ramadani to try another approach. “Then I offered to pay for two days. But he said that this is the People’s House and as a result, people must be given access,” Ramadani said. Even a promise to keep the party alcohol free didn’t help, leading Ramadani to question Svensson's explanation. “Do I not count as a person? I pay taxes and I’m a part of society. But when we want to rent space for a wedding, suddenly I’m only an immigrant,” he said. “It’s like Lars Svensson wants to get rid of parties thrown by foreigners. It’s called the Peoples’ House but it should be called the Swedes’ House.” According to Ramadani, Svensson also claimed that “immigrant weddings” require advance payment because people who arrange them don’t share “our norms” when it comes to paying bills. Svensson told the newspaper that the community center has been criticized by accountants for accepting payments for “immigrant weddings” in cash, often in large sums the day of the event. “We’ve discussed this a lot. The accountants say ‘either send a bill or pay in advance’. But we probably wouldn’t have received any money. Those who arrange weddings don’t abide by our conditions, by our norms. They come with wads of bills in their pockets,” he said. Per Holfve, a lawyer with Sweden’s Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO) think’s Svensson’s policy of limiting the number of “immigrant weddings” could violate the country’s anti-discrimination laws requiring everyone to have equal access to the facility, regardless of ethnicity. “I think it sounds like they are on thin ice. It’s one thing if someone wants to rent the space and there are concerns about problems maintaining order, but then they have to be concrete; it’s not enough to say that it's something to do with ethnic affiliation. Then it’s nothing other than stereotyping,” Holfve said about the matter.

  • From Sweden: Skeletal remains.
    Finally, some would say, when Sweden returned some skeletal remains of Maori people, which were removed from New Zealand in the mid to late 19th century. The handover was carried out at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, spokeswoman Tina Sjögren said, explaining that remains held in two museums, the National History Museum and the Museum of World Culture were being returned to New Zealand. Two representatives from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa and New Zealand's ambassador to Sweden Barbara Bridge took part in a traditional ceremony held at Gothenburg's Museum of World Culture. "We are going to do a traditional Maori ceremony ... we are talking to the spirits and acknowledging that even though the bodies are departed the spirits have followed us and are in our memory," Teherekiekie Herewin, the manager of repatriation at the Museum of New Zealand, told AFP. Herewin explained Sweden was returning one skull, one skeleton, two arm fragments and one hand that had been mummified. The remains come from at least three and up to five individuals. "The information from the museums indicated that (the remains) are Maori and they are from New Zealand, but there are very little details" about the remains and where they are from, Herewin said. The director of the National Museums of World Culture said his museums were now aiming "to work actively for the repatriation of human remains younger than around 200 years," adding that human remains in Western museums were "mostly the result of colonial relationships and a racist view of the world," he said in a statement. Recently Sweden returned 22 skulls taken from Hawaii. Swedish museums have since 2004 returned the remains of dozens of Aborigines to Australia and a totem pole to a Canadian aboriginal tribe.

  • More Ingmar Bergman.
    A musical about Ingmar Bergman turned into a film? Hard to imagine? We thought so, but people in the know think it can become a hit. The musical is a collaboration between the eccentric pop duo Sparks and the Swedish Radioteatern and the synopsis is simple: A cynical Hollywood producer tries to get Ingmar Bergman to sell his soul. Recently BBC gave the musical an international premiere (Radioteatern in Sweden gave it its world premiere last summer to great critical acclaim) and the Brits loved it, The Independent gave it thumbs up and the music magazine The Word was equally impressed. “The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman” is produced in such a way that the audial experience is everything, nothing visual needs to be added. The Swedish version of the musical was sent from a darkened stage at Södra Teatern, with the sound turned up loud like at a rock concert. The stage itself was dark and empty. People who saw it say it worked very well. But how can it be translated into film? “Well,” says Marie Wennersten, producer and director of the version made by Radioteatern, “Guy Maddin, the independent film maker who wants to turn the musical into film, is known for making films consisting mostly of black-and-white archival material so I don’t think it would be an issue.” Will the film actually be made? That depends on finances, as usual. The Swedish production featured Jonas Malmsjö as Ingmar Bergman and in other parts Elin Klinga as Greta Garbo – actors the real Bergman knew and loved. “They belonged to Bergman’s favorite actors,” Wennersten continued. “So of course I hope that they will be involved in an international film about Bergman.”