Mina Ahadi är en av förkämparna bland ex-muslimerna. Om vi sätter henne mot Ehsan har vi en ur den politiska korrekthetens synpunkt jämställd konfrontation. Båda har rätten att som representanter för erfarenheter av en regim att uttala sig. Jag antar att valet av sympatier är enkelt. Där står vi.
Jag vill också påminna om att jag arbetar med ett konstprojekt. Utan vidare kan man säga att det är något annat än alla möjliga vulgärtolkningar och försök att pressa in det i en politisk agenda. Konsten levererar en bild av ett tillstånd. Och för konsten är överskridandet och kravet på tolerans givet. Att inte förstå det är naturligtvis en möjlighet men blir samtidigt ett missförstånd. En ytterligare invändning är att det är ett misslyckat försök att tillämpa DIS (den internationella samtidskonsten). Jag tror dock inte det i ett lite längre perspektiv är något problem.
Vem av kommentatorerna som har licens? Ja, vi har de som etablerat sig och därmed förskaffat sig en plats i projektet. Mer än så,men mycket nog, behövs inte för att agera under konstlicens: givna deltagare i konstprojektet.
Jag vill också, härifrån Barcelona, påminna att det som ständigt är närvarande i hela diskussionen är oron för folket. Det är inte ovanligt att man tror att folket tar avgörande intryck av konstprojektet på fel sätt. Eller med andra ord: Folket är den obeständiga faktor som kan svänga hur som helst genom sin okunnighet och begränsning. I slutändand kommer, som många ser det, avgörandet från dessa, väljarna. Och de förstår naturligtvis inget om ett konstprojekt. Ett sådant har sin egen väg.
“Jorden gnyr under religionens ok“!
Kungörelse!
PSEUDONYMBYTE!
Tidigare “Islamofob” har (tillfälligt) bytt pseudonym till “Muhammedanismofob“!
Han försäkrar att det inte föreligger någon konspiratorisk tanke bakom pseudonymbytet, utan det endast görs för omväxlings skull, eftersom det börjar bli lite tjatigt med den gamla pseudonymen!
Ombyte förnöjer! Variety is the spice of life!
En nackdel med den nya sjustaviga pseudonymen “Muhammedanismofob” är dock att den kan upplevas som något tungvrickande! Och som skällsord eller som tillhygge i t ex en hetsig TV-debatt, är den nog mindre praktisk att använda!
“För övrigt anser Muhammedanismofob, liksom tidigare Islamofob, att både Mecka, Jerusalem och Vatikanen bör förstöras“!
Flemming Rose : Free speech in Sweden
Every fourth citizen of Sweden supports a legal ban on offending religious symbols.
May I remind the legal counselor about George Orwells’ words: The right to free speech only means something, if it implies the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear. Consensus-building isn’t the right approach when it comes to defining what is acceptable and non-acceptable speech.
Every responsible editor would insist that the limits of the right to free speech have to be challenged and tested every day.
The Swedes may have forgotten, but the country in fact adopted its first legal document on abolition of censorship and the right to free speech in 1766.
http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/flemmingrose
mvh Steen
ALLA relogioner har sina förkunnare, ledare, profeter och religiösa skrifter.
även ”religionen” att inte ha någon religion,
verkar vara i stort behov att förkunna den ”RÄTTA” läran.
Därmed faller den väl på eget grepp.
http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=121&a=378595
Sann och äkta Humanism behöver inga förkunnare, den talar för sig själv.
TID
Denne underlige dimension.
En process går i gang – man kan følge med – flere år – og man kan stadig følge med – så begynder processen at accelerere – men man kan stadig følge, hvis man lige bruger nogle flere timer på det – nu har processen nået en hastighed, hvor de der vil følge med og handle ind i processen næsten må arbejde i døgndrift – endvidere synes mange at have glemt, hvordan deres samfund var, før processen startede – og det er kun MEGET få år siden.
Et par eksempler:
På få år har der udviklet sig”no go areas”. De breder sig: http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=4345.2605.0.0
For få år siden ville dette møde og angrebet på demonstranterne ikke kunne være foregået med så lav og fordrejende en pressedækning. Kan læses om på uriasposten og snaphanen og så her: http://siad.dk/
Till stefan peterson (m.fl.) ang Humanisterna och Nordins artikel i GP
Det kanske kan vara intressant att påminna sig om det postmoderna skedets inträde i den svenska konstvärlden. Där utsågs Lars O Ericsson till det postmodernas förkämpe medan Ulf Linde (felaktigt?) fick representera den gamla modernismen. Lite krystat kan man jämföra detta med Humanisternas (de postmodernas) ”kamp” mot de religiösa (modernisterna). Jag vet att jämförelsen haltar avsevärt, inte minst då det gäller frågan om det värderelativistiska synsättet, som jag kan sägas ha varit en viktig del av det postmoderna. Här står Humanisterna (tvärtom vad många inbillar sig) för ett motsatt förhållningssätt och de utpekar tom värderelativismen som en av huvudorsakerna till att är så svårt och känsligt att bedriva religionskritik i Sverige och flera andra västländer idag.
Hur som helst, Nordins artikel som stefan peterson länkar till http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=121&a=378595 är en i raden av liknande artiklar, där man angriper Humanisterna i synnerhet, och behovet av religionskritik i Sverige i allmänhet. Den innehåller alla de ingredienser som är typiska för det slags yttringar:
1. Man påstår att Humanisterna är troende, de tror på vetenskapen, eller upplysningen eller föreningen Humanismen med Sturmark som överstepräst alt profet. Det är man såklart fri att hävda. Om man orkar kolla upp vad Humanisterna står för inser man att jämförelsen inte håller. Att man däremot håller vissa ideal högt inom organisationen, finns det ingen anledning att hymla om. Som jag skrev ovan kan man knappast kalla Humanisterna för värderelativister.
2. Den slags religionskritik som omnämns i artikeln (kritik mot Kreationismen och dess moderna variant, ID dvs. intelligent design), behövs inte i Sverige! Självklart är detta trams och det kan var och en som håller sig någorlunda underrättad om läget i det nyandliga Sverige idag skriva under på. Vi skall inte heller glömma att vi är en del av Europa och medlemmar i EU, och läget är inte lika gott i alla EU-länder då det gäller religionens självpålagda återhållsamhet i förhållande till vetenskapliga frågor.
3. Man ifrågasätter Humanisternas rätt att kalla sig Humanisterna eftersom ordet redan har en betydelse. Humanisterna har enligt denna kritik inte rätt att ”kapa” det fina ordet. Om man skulle tillämpa samma synsätt allmänt, skulle många organisationer, företag, popband, artister etc., få byta namn.
4. Man menar att Humanisterna driver en hård och orättvis kamp mot de stackars kristna (som inte kan försvara sig…), och jämför gärna med inkvisitionen (detta är ett intressant drag, man använder gärna de dåliga dragen hos religionerna; fundamentalism, fanatism, persondyrkan, oresonlighet etc., då man skall beskriva Humanisterna).
5. Man framhåller religiositeten som en förutsättning för att skön konst och vackra tankar skall kunna uppstå, och verkar ”glömma” att religionen ofta fungerar som kontroll av uttryck som konst och för den fria tanken. Oavsett om det handlar om religion i institutionaliserad eller privat form. Dawkins har skrivit en del tänkvärt om detta i boken ”Illusionen om gud”.
Stefan, när du avslutar ditt inlägg med orden ”Sann och äkta Humanism behöver inga förkunnare, den talar för sig själv.”, så inser du säkert att det i ett sådant uttalande finns en motsägelse. Du blir ju själv en förkunnare med ditt uttalande. Alla idéer, tankekonstruktioner, förhållningssätt och liknande, som vi kan etikettera och tala om, har såklart sina förkunnare och uttolkare. Det gäller inte minst religionerna, men det gäller även t.ex. humanismen. Om det inte vore så skulle vi inte ens tala om humanismen. Om man jämför humanismen med någon av de stora religionerna, kan man nog hävda att den är ganska svagt och splittrat förkunnad och därmed också mera möjlig att ompröva. Att beskylla Humanisterna för att låsa betydelsen av humanismen, vore att först misstolka deras syften och sedan ge dem alltför stor betydelse.
Avslutar med lite länkar till ställen där man diskuterat Humanisterna ur ungefär samma perspektiv som peterson och Nordin:
http://heimdalbloggen.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/nar-christer-sturemark-leker-gud/
http://soilander.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/ateistens-blinda-upprordhet/
http://joakimhorsing.wordpress.com/2007/10/04/morgan-johansson-och-humanisterna-ger-mig-kalla-karar/
http://www.trotank.se/blog/index.php?/archives/942-Helan-och-Halvan-aer-pa-det-igen….html
Peace
Gote
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 1:11 PM
Subject: Support for Lars Vilks
From: Daniel Palomo
vidarebefordrat via gatesofvienna@chromatism.net
. . . . . . . . .
Dear Concerned Reader,
I support rights to free speech, and my beliefs aside, I would like to offer
Lars Vilks my support.
In responding to the media, would it not be advantageous to state the case as
follows:
”Are the Muslims so insecure about their religion that they must respond with
death threats any time someone criticizes them? Surely, Christian, and even
Jews have enough self-confidence to brush off criticism, and even, accept it
graciously as an opportunity to reflect upon themselves.”
I wish I could send Mr. Vilks this message personally, but I do not know how I
may reach him.
If you folks find it of value and are able to convey it to him, I would most
appreciate it.
sincerely,
Daniel
Hej Lars
Låter som om Barcelona gör dig gott.
En välförtjänt ”vila”.
Lars
Stadig spændt på musicalen, specielt kærlighedstemaet (nævnt af dig i del 411) fortsætter jeg fra mit sted somewhere out in space – endnu har du jo ikke bedt mig stoppe.
Kan der laves en kærlighedshistorie med Muhammed som hovedperson, hvis den skal have bare lidt rod i islam?
I førislamisk tid var der et par, Naila og Isaf, som elskede i helligdommen i Mekka, Kabaen. Guden ville ikke have denne elskov i sin helligdom og gjorde dem som straf til 2 stenstøtter. (Kåre Bluitgen). Menneskene satte stenstøtterne, så de ikke kunne nå hinanden. Stenstøtterne fik en plads i ritualerne og omtales som 2 af flere hedenske guder. Ritualerne fandt også en plads i islam. Guden er nok ikke den samme som allah, men de to ligner hinanden på dette punkt: de er ikke særlig begejstrede for kærligheden mellem mand og kvinde, ja vel kærligheden mellem menneskene i det hele taget. De siger ligesom: ”Mig først!” og muslimerne skal altid elske gud højest og være parat til at ofre sine nærmeste. Så de må virkelig lære at styre deres hjerter, så kærlighedsgraderne ikke løber løbsk.
Utroligt at nogen mennesker kan finde på at vælge en, der er så fjendsk mod deres indbyrdes kærlighed, til deres gud.
Ved udspringet af kristendommen står et par med et stærkt forhold – Maria Madalene og Jesus – og de kan vedblive at inspirere kunstnere, som ikke-kunstnere.
Havde det ikke været for hende, var kr. sikkert ikke blevet til noget. Og havde det stået til dette par, var kr. sikkert aldrig blevet til en magtfuld, hierakisk religionsinstitution. Den havde fået en flad struktur, hvor kærlighedsbudskabet bare spredte sig mellem menneskene. Men i den henseende vinder Peter, og romerkirken bygges på ham (det eneste sted i de 4 evangelier hvor ordet ”kirke” indgår, er i den sætning, som er denne kirkes grundlag – gad vide om Jesus overhovedet kendte det ord). De følgende kirkefædre nedgør MM – og hendes kønsfæller. Ikke blot ved at gøre hende til prostitueret, men også ved at bandlyse skrifter, hvor hun har en fremtrædende rolle. Rester af flere af disse skrifter er dukket op i vor tid. I det ene, Mariaevangeliet, forsøger Peter at diskvalificere hende: http://www.poulblak.dk/avis14.htm Og måske blev hun endnu mere nedgjort: http://www.magdalene.org/fourthgospel.php (der er flere der nu argumenterer for denne opfattelse).
Det skulle tage hen mod 2000 år, at får disse ting frem i lyset. Et uundgåeligt spørgsmål bliver: Hvad havde alle disse mænd imod specielt hende, men også kvinder i det hele taget? Og imod forholdet mellem MM og J?
Lars nämner ex-muslimen Mina Ahadi. En del här kanske glömt att hon var med i panelen tillsammans med Lars på mötet med humanisterna och ex-muslimerna.
http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=147&a=694406
http://www.ex-muslime.com/Sweden/seminarium/video%20klipp.htm
Dawkins Says Women Will Defeat Militant Islam
Richard Dawkins says that it is “the awakening of women” that will solve the problem of “the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression”. His remarks came while praising the winner of this year’s Secularist of the Year award from the National Secular Society.
The £5,000 prize went to *Mina Ahadi* , an Iranian woman who was forced to flee her native country after leading a campaign against the compulsory veiling of women. Because of her resistance to the clerical regime, her husband and four of her colleagues were executed, and she only narrowly escaped the same fate.
She now lives in Germany and has founded the Committee of Ex-Muslims, a movement that is rapidly spreading across Europe. She has also founded the Committee Against Stoning, which now has 200 branches worldwide.
Richard Dawkins said: “I have long felt that the key to solving the worldwide menace of Islamic terrorism and oppression would eventually be the awakening of women, and Mina Ahadi is a charismatic leader working to that end. The brutal suppression of the rights of women in many countries throughout the Islamic world is an obvious outrage.
”Slightly less obvious, but just as outrageous, is the supine willingness of Western liberals to go along with it. It is worse than supine, it is patronising and condescending: ”Wife-beating is part of ’their’ culture. Who are we to condemn their traditions?” A religion so insecure as to mandate the death penalty for apostasy is not to be trifled with, and ex-Muslims who stand up and fight deserve our huge admiration and gratitude for their courage.
”Right out in front of this honourable band is Mina Ahadi. I salute her and congratulate her on this well-deserved award as Secularist of the Year.”
Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: “We are proud to have been able to give Mina this honour – she is a woman of incredible courage and tenacity. The suffering she has endured has not dimmed her determination to improve the lot of women oppressed by Islam and other religious traditions.”
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society, introduced Ms Ahadi at the presentation: “What can the National Secular Society say about the winner of this year’s Secularist of the Year award – other than to affirm our deepest admiration for Mina Ahadi’s courage and commitment?
“Mina Ahadi started her serious political activities when she was 16 and living in Iran. She was at university in 1979 in Tabriz at the time of the Iranian revolution and she began immediately to organise demonstrations and meetings to oppose the compulsory veiling of women. This courageous dissent got her noticed by the Islamic regime’s authorities and soon she had to go underground to avoid retribution.
“At the end of 1980 her house was raided by the police, and her husband and 4 of their comrades arrested. Mina escaped only because she wasn’t at home at the time.
“Her husband and the 4 arrested were all executed by firing squad soon after. She lived underground for some time and then fled to Iranian Kurdistan in 1982, where she continued to struggle against the Islamic regime for the next ten years. In 1990 she went to Vienna. She moved to Germany in 1996 and has lived in Europe since then.
“In all that time, Mina Ahadi has struggled mightily for the rights of women. She founded the International Committee against Stoning – which now has over 200 branches throughout the world. She also heads the International Committee against Executions and is the spokesperson for the newly formed women’s rights organisation, Equal Rights. She formed the Central Council of ex-Muslims in Germany early this year to help people renounce Islam and religion should they so wish.
“This brilliant Human Rights initiative has now been replicated in several other European countries, including in Britain by our own Maryam Namazie.
“Undeterred by the inevitable death threats, Mina has pressed on, determined as ever to protect women from the ravages of Islam.
“Apostasy, of course, is forbidden in Islam and in some Islamist states it carries the death penalty – including in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and Mauritania.
“She calls such states “Islam-stricken” and her own experience of living and suffering under such regimes has made her ever more determined to rescue others from their clutches.
“I cannot tell you how proud the National Secular Society is to honour this wonderful, compassionate, kindly but strong-as-steel woman.”
October 22nd 2007
©2005 National Secular Society; http://www.secularism.org.uk
In – tack!
Detta är något alla borde läsa. T ex:
“Slightly less obvious, but just as outrageous, is the supine willingness of Western liberals to go along with it. It is worse than supine, it is patronising and condescending: “Wife-beating is part of ‘their’ culture. Who are we to condemn their traditions?” A religion so insecure as to mandate the death penalty for apostasy is not to be trifled with, and ex-Muslims who stand up and fight deserve our huge admiration and gratitude for their courage.
Jag har funderat lite över debatten här.
Ibland så kan en del inte se humor och givna ”sarkasmer”. Utan tar det som är en hejdundrande drift med åsikter, på allvar.
Vilket säger mer om dem själva än det de skriver – alltså det de själv vill framhålla det som ”Detta är jag”.
Jag tycker det är höjdarbra att välja ett bra intellektuellt förhållningssätt. Det är liksom första steget.
Om sedan man kan lära sig att vara trygg i sina åsikter, i sin medmänsklighet, så tar man steget vidare – att införliva sina åsikter med sin ”ryggrad”.
Oj då. Nu ser allt annorlunda ut. Fast kanske inte…?
Alla vill så förtvivlat vara speciella. Eller omtyckta. Eller kloka. Eller begåvade. Eller schyssta. Eller helst allt-i-ett.
Att sticka ut nacken (undrar vad som födde det uttrycket) – är att tänka annorlunda och våga delge det.
Gerd – tack för din tidsbeskrivning. Väldigt precist beskrivet.
Christer Eriksson – ledsen för att jag flummar lite igen :-).
Men som jag skrivit tidigare – är inte alltid så intresserad av tydlighet.
Mer intresserad av att människor kan tänka själv. Och då måste man väl retas lite.
Eller så är jag bara lat…
Chicago Sun-Times April 18, 1996:
Pg. 30:
”Global
Here are some sites from around the world:
Take a virtual sightseeing tour through some of the architectural masterpieces of the Arab world at Architecture of Islam. This Australian site features detailed photographs of sites from Egypt to Spain. Egyptian sites include the Cairo Madrasah of Sultan Hassan and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. In Morocco, visit the Fez Madrasah al-Attarin, and in Spain look at the Granada Alhambra (don’t miss the Court of Lions).
A Swede named Lars Vilks started working on ”Nimis,” a construction of driftwood and rocks, in 1980 with only a vague idea of the finished project in mind. By 1996, he had created a huge, spindly tower at the Kullaberg Nature Reserve. Despite lawsuits, fines and general hostility from the Swedish government, ”Nimis” (meaning ”too much”) still stands. New York artist Christo is the new owner of the strange tower. Next to Nimis is a concrete and stone companion, Arx (”fortress”). Visit both of these enigmatic works of art (hauntingly photographed) at Nimis and Arx, a Swedish site.
GRAPHIC: The Architecture of Islam includes the Mosque of Sultan Hassan in Cairo, Egypt.”
Sunday Times May 14, 2000, Sunday:
”Sweden’s new draw bridge
When the Oresund Bridge opens in July, Sweden’s fairy-tale castles and caster-sugar beaches will be an easy drive – even from Britain.
From July 1, Sweden will become officially attached to Western Europe, and its people able to travel by road and rail across the new Oresund Bridge to Copenhagen. But the opening of the bridge is not only momentous for the two countries concerned, it’s also good news for British visitors, for whom the relatively unexplored delights of southwest Sweden will be considerably easier – and cheaper – to access.
Several airlines have budget flights to Copenhagen, where you can rent a car and drive to Malmo. Within an hour, you could be enjoying a range of surprising holiday experiences – from frolicking on the deserted caster-sugar beaches of Skane to strolling the higgledy-piggledy medieval streets of Ystad.
MALMO
For centuries Denmark’s second city, 800-year-old Malmo is now Sweden’s third (after the capital and Gothenburg), and is where the new bridge touches base. The city’s 15th-century castle, Malmohus, once home to the Danish mint, is today surrounded by glorious swathes of interconnecting parks, jewelled with rhododendrons in May and June. But it’s on the squares that the laid-back crowds of black- and beige-clad Malmoites converge after a day’s bronzing on the city’s beaches (herrings once swam so thickly along the coast here, they were reputed to be scoopable in pewter-grey trowelfuls). Stortorget (Big Square) is hemmed with four centuries of intricate architecture, while Lilla Torg (Little Square) creaks with half-timbered houses containing cafe-bars and restaurants galore.
Tourists and more mainstream locals rarely venture beyond the perimeters of the canals encompassing the bustling centre and the moated castle. Yet 10 minutes on foot south down Amiralsgatan, past the domed Moorish synagogue on Foreningsgatan, is the un-
Swedish enclave of Mollevangen, where Asian, Oriental and Balkan emigre communities have found a haven in this working-class heartland. The result is exotically seedy – quite an aphrodisiac quality in this country known for its clunk-click safety and cleanliness. All around here, grand apartments twitching with art-nouveau detail are being snapped up by Malmo’s middle-class trendies, still too Swedishly cautious actually to move in. There’s a terrific contemporary art gallery close by at St Johannesgatan, and heading back to the centre, some charming streets looming with National Romantic-style buildings like old, forgotten duchesses, waiting in vain to be asked to dance.
You’ll find great antique stores around Karleksgatan, and look up at 10 Regementsgatan to see the home of Sweden’s prime minister, the first to refuse to live in the capital. LUND
Known as Sweden’s Oxford (Cambridge is usually likened to Uppsala), the ancient city of Lund is dominated by the moody presence of its glorious romanesque cathedral.
Just 15 minutes by train from Malmo, the cobbled, charismatic streets exude a charm as ethereal as Malmo is down to earth. Lund is made for wandering, staring, absorbing.
There are so many museums, the choice is dazzling, but don’t miss Kulturen, an open-air town-within-a-city of perfectly preserved cottages, churches, farms and homes, brought here from all around the country. Another treat is the Skissernas Museum (Sketches Museum) – original maquettes and drawings of sculpture and paintings by the likes of Matisse, Miro, Moore and Picasso.
The Botanical Gardens are worth a wander, too, the most common summertime bloomings being students picnicking and flirting beneath Far Eastern paper mulberry trees.
Nightlife is less apparent and varied than in Malmo, but head
for Mejeriet (end of Stora Sodergatan), a ”cultural dairy” built out of a dairy, with an arts
cinema, a great cafe and a concert hall featuring anything from Iggy Pop to a Bulgarian women’s choir. HELSINGBORG
Until the Oresund Bridge was built, the ceaseless ferry run between Helsingborg and Helsingor (Hamlet’s Elsinore, clearly visible across the water) was a popular floating bar for Swedes in search of nightlife.
This is a winning little city with lots to do. Only the austere 12th-century castle keep (Karnen) survived the centuries-
long volley of attacks between Danes and Swedes (Sweden finally won it in 1710), but 19th-
century industry saw new prosperity, evidenced in the grand old mansions north of the city.
A day in Helsingborg could start with a glimpse inside the gothic and medieval extravagance of the town hall,
followed by an exploration of the ancient keep and its
baroque rose garden, before adjusting to the darkness of the 12th-century St Maria Church, with its gilded reredos.
Nearby, a 92-step climb
leads up to a windmill and some exquisite 18th-century peasant cottages, their interiors heavy with rustic carved
furnishings and earthy fabrics. One of these will sell you the best-ever home-made waffles, made here since 1912.
A short bus ride north leads to Sofiero Castle, a bit like a pretty train station to look at, but the gardens are tremendous. They were designed by Crown Princess Marghareta – a granddaughter of Queen Victoria – in 1905, and have a distinctly English feel to them.
Or venture south to Raa, where the harbour is a mass
of bobbing masts, and salty
mariners perform the stomach-churning sight of ”eel sorting” – the squirming creatures are slopped into coffin-shaped boxes with trap doors snapping open and shut to separate them by size. Ferries leave from here
to the pretty island of Ven, where the revered but irascible astronomer Tycho Brahe built his 16th-century observatory. His sculptured likeness has a nose tipped in gold, as did the original after his own was sliced off in a dual.
Back in town, there are some terrific cafes, but don’t miss Ebba’s Fik, its authentic 1950s atmosphere advertised by the mambo, Dixie and jive seeping into the street from the jukebox.
As evening draws on, the place to be is the twinkling North Harbour, which was transformed last spring when some of the country’s best architects and designers schemed a sweep of modish apartment blocks, the ground floor of each boasting ever more appealing restaurant-bars, luxuriating with the steel, bronze and subtle woods of designer industrialism. COASTAL CLIFFS
The Kullen Peninsula is little more than an hour north of Skane, and provides welcome relief from the flat horizons of the south. Here you will find craggy cliffs, with picture-
perfect fishing villages sheltering beneath, and a sensational, enormous shoreline sculpture. This is Nimis, a fantastical creation with a tower, corridors and stairs all made out of driftwood, which sits beneath the cliffs and shoulders its way into the sea. Built by the inspired eccentric Lars Vilks, a professor of art at Oslo University, this remarkable structure is reached by a long and steep scramble to the coast, following simple yellow ”N” markings painted on trees. The apparent ruin of a medieval castle rising from the waters just beyond is another of Vilks’s creations – a stone ”book”. It looks like nothing of the sort, but each boulder is numbered as a page.
Both are at the centre of intense legal wrangling. Sweden’s conservationists argue that the sculptures are in fact buildings and, because they have been constructed in a
protected area, should be
taken down again. Vilks retorts that they are not buildings, but natural art forms that enhance the rugged beauty of Kullen. It’s hard not to agree with him. Beyond Molle, a surprisingly large settlement with stately hotels and lots of places to sample local seafood, the tip of the peninsula is cloaked in foliage and makes for fine hiking towards the isolated lighthouse at its tip. SOUTHWESTERN SKANE
The Naset peninsula, a golf-club-shaped stretch of land at the southwestern tip of Sweden, grows each year as sand deposits enlarge the country. You’ll need a car to get about, unless you cycle down from Malmo – and Skane is as flat as Cheshire, so it’s not hard.
Skanor and Falsterbo are ancient, sleepy little towns, the vacation targets of rich Malmoites before cars and planes took them to playtime pastures new. Skanor’s wealth is apparent from the gleaming Jags and Saabs outside its lovely new harbour restaurant, Fiskroken (try hot smoked salmon and herring roe marinated in rum) – but everyone is stripped of their assets on the serene nudist beaches.
Sweden’s oldest nature reserve, Nabben, is close by, and stone-age reindeer horn can be found here. It’s all off limits to humans during the winter months (when you wouldn’t want to be here anyway), to protect seals and the feathered frenzy of migratory birds that catch their breath here.
Also close by, Foteviken makes for a remarkable hour or three’s revelation. On the site of a bloody battle in June 1134, a near self-sufficient commune has been created for the surprising number of people from all over Europe convinced they are true Vikings. Here, a sort of 12th-century hippie existence is in full swing: men and women dressed entirely in clothes they’ve dyed (mostly grass-green) and woven themselves, eating food they’ve caught, cooked in cauldrons they’ve made from clay, and sleeping beneath furs and skins they’ve cured themselves. Visitors are welcome to watch as they build a Viking ship from the designs of a local wreck (they hope to sail to China on an ancient trade route in about 2003), or they can learn how to make bronze buckles or stitch the pelts of locally caught mink – memorable, if not everyone’s cup of mead.
Just a few minutes’ drive on, at Kampinge, Leif Brost runs a remarkable amber museum and workshop, where the makers of Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World, came to study dinosaur DNA caught in the primeval honey-coloured sap. After a storm, you can often find nuggets of Baltic amber on the shores close by, though the chances of finding a piece encasing a couple of 10-million-year-old insects caught in the sexual act – as Brost did – are very slim.
Skane is known for its gastgifvaregards – inns of medieval origin serving sensationally good local produce. One of
the best is at nearby Vellinge, where you can try local duck in port, deer chops with prunes and Skanian egg pancakes with lingonberry jam.
YSTAD
The medieval town of Ystad
– with its higgledy-piggledy cobbled streets and leaning wooden houses, brightly painted and gorgeously preserved – is exactly one hour from Malmo by the local, lilac-coloured Pagatag trains. This is a splendid base for a day or so, but you probably wouldn’t want to stay longer if you value your sleep. Every night between 9.15pm and 3am, a melancholic bugle sounds every 15 minutes from the watchtower on the main square. Night watchmen have performed this service for three centuries, since fire swept through the town. It serves as a reassurance that the watchman is still awake – until the late 19th century, falling asleep on duty resulted in execution.
During your stay, be sure to visit the English Book Cafe, on tiny, cobbled Grasegrand. Looking onto wondrously preserved 18th-century gardens, the steeply leaning house contains a library of English fiction to read while scoffing scones made every day by a gently eccentric survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, who settled here from Hampstead after
falling in love with a Swede.
In 1999, she set up Galleri Z, an exceptional, light-flooded contemporary art gallery showing international artists, above her husband’s furniture boutique. The 15th-century St Maria Church is also worth a visit for the fearsome figure of Christ opposite the baroque pulpit: an Ystad local tore off his own hair to supply its
frenziedly authentic mop.
Ystad is also a fine base for the sensational beaches curving eastwards into the majestically beautiful region of Osterlen – but that would take over an hour from the Oresund Bridge.
SKANE’S CASTLES
The word for castle in Swedish is slott. I learnt this when, in answer to my question ”Is there anything else of interest round here?”, the formerly polite tourist office assistant said something that sounded like ”Bugger off, slut”. After a moment’s
confusion, I discovered that she was referring to a building called Borgehof Slott.
Don’t imagine Swedish castles are all castellated piles with Rapunzels leaning out of windows, however. They range from French-chateau-style edifices to Renaissance mansions, bowing beneath the weight of their decoration. Many are privately owned, but within an hour of the Oresund Bridge there are plenty to satisfy any crenellation cravings. Best of all, owners are often happy for you to stroll through the gardens (having checked with them first), and there’s not an ounce of commercialisation.
You could start by cutting inland down a fine avenue off Road 101, west of Ystad, to Charlottenlund, a splendid house crowned with pinnacles. It’s set in an emerald icing of lawns and is still run as a sugar-beet farm, producing malt exported to Scotland for whisky. Or, within a five-minute drive, the sumptuous Marvensholm Castle is the best Renaissance pile in southern Sweden, built in the middle of a lake. Its lavish details are reflected in the lily-studded waters. Come in July or August for opera and theatrical performances.
It’s only a short ride northeast to a chain of lakes on which stand a series of ever more different castles. Snogeholms Slott was built by a knight on an island in the middle of Snogeholm Lake. Today, the island is a dense, veridian vapour of foliage, and it was here that Kaiser Wilhelm hunted, and sent secret messages to Germany from a telegraphy system hidden in an outhouse. The Slott is now run as a hotel, and peering through rainstorms of glittering chandeliers, the heads of boars, owls, ferrets and deer make for a splendid yet rather grotesque interior.
One lake on, Sovdeborg Slott has a fairy-tale medieval facade. It was owned in the 1640s by one Otte Thott, whose two wives were a Miss Gyllenstierne and a Miss Rosenkrantz – members of Denmark’s richest families, whose names had already been made familiar across the English-speaking world by a certain playwright and poet. He never came here, by the way.
Ystad’s tourist office can arrange visits to see the magnificent German baroque gilded-oak ceilings, though you don’t need any permission to stroll
in the gorgeous grounds.
Better still, knock on the door, in the attached hamlet of Sovde, of Sovde Musteri, once a dairy and the smallest of Sweden’s six remaining apple presses. The friendly owner produces the headily perfumed Sovde Glogg here, a blend of Skanian apples, cloves, cardamom and ginger. Ambrosia.
Neil Roland is the author of The Rough Guide to Sweden, the new edition of which will be published on May 25 TRAVEL BRIEF
GETTING THERE
Stena (0990 707070; http://www.stenaline.co.uk) has ferry crossings from Harwich to the Hook of Holland from Pounds 249 return for a car and up to five passengers in July. You can then drive to Copenhagen and cross the bridge to Malmo. Ryanair (0541 569569; http://www.ryanair.com) launches daily flights from Stansted to Malmo on July 1, from Pounds 49 return. Braathens/Malmo Aviation (020 8668 4569) also flies to Malmo from London City twice daily during the week, from Pounds 95. Or fly to Copenhagen with SAS (0845 6072 7727; http://www.sas.se) from London or Manchester. Flights from London are also available from BA (08457 222111; http://www.britishairways.co.uk) and Go (0845 605 4321; http://www.go-fly.com), which has returns from Pounds 78.
Train journeys over Oresund Bridge begin from July. For bookings, call 0870 243 5363. Fares about Pounds 10. By car, the toll on the bridge is Pounds 20.
GETTING AROUND
Holiday Autos (01276 413844) can arrange car hire for a week from Pounds 269. Other companies include Avis (0870 606 0100), Hertz (0870 599 6699), Pelican (01625 586666) and Suncars (0990 335588). The train service around Skane is good, comfortable and frequent.
WHERE TO STAY
Expect to pay about Pounds 55 a night for a good hotel, Pounds 20pp for a decent B&B. Try the Strand Hotel at Arild (00 46 42 346100); in Helsingborg, the Hotel Viking (42 144420); in Ystad, the family-run Hotel Sekelgarden (41 173900), which dates from the 1790s and incorporates an old tannery enclosing a garden courtyard; in Malmo, the Tuneln
(40 101620), which is central, small and elegant; in Lund, the Grand (46 280 6100), which is the same but without any pomp; and Snogeholms Slott (41 616200) on Snogeholms Lake, north of Ystad, which is a sumptuous, individual place with fine food.
WHEN TO GO
July and August are the only times to bask on the beaches. May, June and September are good for touring, with few other people about, but the weather can be changeable.
IS IT STILL EXPENSIVE?
The strong pound means Sweden is better value these days, a decent lunch costs about Pounds 5, two-course dinner, Pounds 15. But drinks remain pricey, beer costs about Pounds 3 and a bottle of wine at least Pounds 15.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Swedish Travel and Tourism Council (020 7870 5600; http://www.visit-sweden.com).”
Intressant. Här talas det öppet om religion som politik.
http://www.radioislam.org/koestler/sve.htm”
”Judaiseringen av kazarerna var alltså en successiv process som inleddes därför att den var politiskt läglig och som långsamt trängde in i tänkandet.”
Lite lustigt är väl ändå ”tvärtom-syndromet”? 🙂
Fast ju helt PK.
Stefan Peterson
”ALLA relogioner har sina förkunnare, ledare, profeter och religiösa skrifter.”
Just därför behöver vi också en kritisk röst som ifrågasätter deras förkunnelse, som Humanisterna.
Religionskritik är en del av yttrandefriheten, som i sin tur är grundstommen i demokratin!
Cecilia
Jag har insett mitt felsteg för länge sedan och tänker inte plåga dig mer:)
Och alla röster är ju en del av demokratin – hur dum man än kan tycka att andra är.
Alla förkunnare, ledare, profeter och heliga skrifter – hör ju också dit.
Såväl som alla de som kritiserar. Tack och lov!
Ska vi börja ”tulla” på det? Jag tror att de som förspråkar ”tullning”, inte riktigt vet vad det innebär.
Utan leds bara av en naiv inställning av att deras tillvaro är ”säker”. För att den är ”bäst”. Oantastbar alltså…”omvänd rasism” igen, kanske?
Önskar att alla hade fått känna på lite kniven-mot-strupen. Lite verkligt skört liv.
Tack, tack Christer!
Och… du gav mig ändå en tankeställare ;-).
”“Yttrandefrihetskämpen” Fredrikzon klagar över att han blir “censurerad” på vilk.net!”
Hörrudu, ellin/Islamofob eller vilket alias du finner för gott att använda för dagen:
Jag har sagt det förr och jag säger det igen. Läs innan du börjar spotta och fräsa! Om du hade gjort det, hade du fattat att det inte var mina inlägg som hade försvunnit, utan DINA! Just det, jag bekymrade mig för att DINA kommentarer hade försvunnit!
Bläddra tillbaka, läs och be mig sedan om ursäkt.
Ödmjukast, Fredrikzon