sweden – Citizen Reporter

Gothenburg Fate

I came to Sweden with a very simple and what may seem to be a very harmless goal – to spend time with 2 of my best friends. Even though I may have other projects to spent my time worrying about, the previous project to keep on re-evaluating, and daily activities back home on which to focus my energy. Somehow it seemed only natural to put it all aside and come spend 4 days in a city I know little about and help support a friend speaking at a Swedish media event.

Here at the end of my journey I now see this journey as having had a much higher purpose. Through a series of coincidences and good conversations this became a trip that both inspired and educated me through the experiences of old and new friends. You can’t help but learn something when for several nights in a row you sit down for dinner and drinks with critical, creative, and experienced minds.

As I sat at dinner tonight polishing off some special Swedish dish, I couldn’t help but smile at the conversation going around from person to person at this table. It was better than most university classes I’ve ever experienced and just as exciting as any podcast discussion I’ve ever listened to with great interest. As we looked at the world of successes, failures, possibilities, and ideas, I realized I didn’t just come to Gothenburg to hang around. I came to this place to meet up with this group of friends and colleagues, to help organize my thoughts in order to be ready for my next challenges.

Thank you friends. And thanks Gothenburg.

bm257 Filesharing Philosophy with Peter of the Pirate Bay.

In some parts of the world people still use the term “steal” to describe getting music through bittorent or other systems. At the same time, many people use the term filesharing or downloading to describe that same process. Laws might get passed and moral judgements might be imposed, but how logical are such views when it comes to the sharing or copying of digital material.

My guest today is Peter of the Pirate Bay, one of the most popular sites on the internet, period. Moreover, someone who has a strong commitment to struggle and educate people when it comes to the nature of filesharing. Looking beyond scare tactics and the manipulation of governments by large corporate interests, Peter has alot to say when it comes to how we think or could think about the world reknowned practice of downloading things from the internet.

I also recommend the most recent Yeast Radio, which features Peter in a debate on intellectual property. And a previous edition of Chaos Radio International which provides alot of essential information about pirate bay, why and how it does what it does.

Iraqi Swedes

I’ve been up to my neck in research for the next Eclectic Newsbrief, (which is now hosted by Madge Weinstein!), and the topic that I most enjoyed was that of the huge influx of Iraqis in Sweden! Yes… Sweden!

Some fascinating developments. First of all, almost 9,000 Iraqi’s applied for asylum there last year…a huge increase over the 3,000+ in 2005. Also… Sweden accounts for half of all the Iraqi’s who have sought asylum from their imploding country in the European Union.

Also, browsing through the PEW website which is the greatest source for info about people everywhere, they pointed to a NY times article that stated compared to the US, Sweden – home to 9 million people- has opened its doors to BY FAR more Iraqi’s over the past few years.

Now hooray for Sweden, no doubt about it. I read all about the services, on the Swedish migration board website, they’re working on providing to the huge number of Iraqi’s coming to the country. A wonderful thing for both Sweden and the Iraqi’s.

On the other hand.. whats with the US government? They send troops to supposedly die for Iraq. They spend mountains of money on Iraq. They talk a mighty talk about how hopeful they are for the country. How about opening the doors to more Iraqi refugees than say… Sweden?

Lastly.. its also not a proud spot for crazy governments like the Netherlands and Denmark who have now made it famously difficult to be welcome as a refugee from anywhere.