Gudrun Schyman and other beacons of light

So elections are coming up in Sweden, and things are just ridiculous right now. We used to have wide (-ish) range of different parties that you could vote for, but last election the right wing (affectionally referred to as the "bourgeois" parties, although the translation is rather iffy) along with the center party formed an alliance and won the election, this year the left wing (consisting of the Socialdemocrats who aren't all that left anymore, but is supposed to be party for the common workingclass person, anyway, and the left party, formerly communist now socialist, basically) and the enviroment party has formed an alliance as well, and so the election is really between these two extreme opposites, that are looking less extreme by the minute as the debates continue, since both "blocks" are inching towards the middle in order to gain more voters, and so instead of debating about all the crucial questions that the public needs answered, it's seems that the entire election has been stripped down to the one difference that the two "blocks" can honestly stand up for, and that's taxes: to lower or not to lower the taxes is, apparantly, the question.

Never mind the statistics of unemployment and outrageous injustices in our public sector. The right wing is addressing people's greed, of course we have to care for our young, our sick and our elders, but in politics you always have to prioritize and at the end of the month you want to be able to have enough money left in your bank account to nurture a healthy savings account as well as afford to indulge yourself some additional pleasures and enjoyments... no mention of those who don't have any money left at the end of the month, or those who don't have enough money to even last them all month, no mention of the unemployed, the poor, the sick who can't pay their medical bills because apparently health insurance has become synonymous with economic support and aid that can be doled out selectively, as opposed to a fucking right.

But you know, I'm just so sick of it. My mother's a part-time politian, she's stubbornly fighting the fight, speaking for the those who can't speak for themselves, she's marching for this and that, she's debating and rolling that heavy rock up that cliff, and I honestly admire her stubborness or gullability or whatever it is, I myself gave up on that particular game when I was about fifteen. Because the truth is, the human race is a herd animal cursed with an ego and consumed by greed, so as much as it kills me to admit this... there will always be a class system, there will always be wars and there will always be injustice in the world as long as we're around.

The whole idea behind solidarity is like a childhood fairytale that we day dream about in moments of nostalgia, but when it comes right down to it, it's every person for themselves, and we only need a couple or so other people in our herd so fuck the rest of the planet's population. I used to want to save the world too, as a kid, and I used to believe in the possibilty of peace on earth and equality, I used to believe in human rights and that all people were created equal and born with equal rights, opportunities and a fair chance, but... let's face it. That's just not the reality we live in, is it?

Well, I'm not completely giving up. I have one -ism that I still feel passionately about, that I'm still willing to fight for - feminism - and there are beacons of light that keep me going and keeps me from throwing in the towel completely. My mum being one. Gudrun Schyman being another, spokesperson for the fairly new party called feministic initiative, that I'm voting for (although, there's no F! in my hometown, so I'm still voting for my mum in the county election)

The other night she wiped the floor, as always, in a debate with a representative from the Swedish Democrats (a xenophobic party that seems to have one issue they're passionate about and that's to stop immigration) and it was pure awesomeness. She talked circles around him and wasn't fazed once, while he started blinking and spluttering and stuttering more and more as it became clear that he had nothing against her arguments. At one point she actually said that he was so ignorant about the issues he was trying to debate that it was getting embarassing, and she was right.

It reminded me of a debate she was in years ago, when she was still leader of the left party, when she was supposed to be grilled by the host and the other guest, and she just wouldn't be fazed, she had a logical, brilliant answer for everything and she delivered it in her professional, calm yet still quick-witted manner, whilst the person who was brought in to grill her kept getting redder in the face and eventually was rendered speechless. (He had a heart attack after the show and had to be taken to the emergency. He survived though, so it's okay to laugh. Kind of...)