This morning, before focusing on two really interesting articles about the legislation on the rights of people with disabilities that I had to read for a seminar next week, I watched a debate from the parliament that was being broadcasted on public service – television. At that point those debating were Ulla Andersson (from the Left party) and Stefan Attefall (Christian Democrats). For those who don’t know, the Swedish government consists of four right wing parties. What I found really interesting was the rhetorics and what words they chose to use. While Andersson talked about increasing poverty in Sweden, due to the government’s politics, especially among single mothers, Attefall instead chose to call it people having small margins. Me, not being a fan of the government and their politics, at that point wanted to throw the remote control at the telly and yell at him “Small margins?? What about having no margins at all? What about those who can’t afford an unexpected cost, like if they get ill? I didn’t do that, but instead I got annoyed and amused at the same time when Attefall, typically for the government, instead of answering Andersson’s criticism on their politics chose to talk about the failures of the previous social-democratic government.. Please, you’ve been in government for almost four years now; try to take some responsibility for your own decisions! I can mention that the Minister for Finance also played the “blame-game” later on in the debate. I realised then that if I were to be able to focus on the articles I had to turn the telly of, I just couldn’t not listen to debate and get emotionally and intellectually involved in what was being said…

The upcoming election in September is going to be so important: will Sweden continue on the neo-liberal path that the government has begun or will we return to a left-wing government that must try to repair the damages done to the society I grew up in? The polls right now show that we are going to get a new government but that can change, and it’s going to be very interesting to see the next poll as the government just presented their budget proposal and that could change things.

My hope and prayer is that the government is going to be kicked out of office because I think what they have done is unforgivable. When I walk the streets of my hometown, Stockholm, I see that some people look wealthier and better off than when I lived there. And that’s nice for them of course. But I also see that those who were poor when this government came into office look poorer and there are more of them on the streets of Stockholm now than when I lived there. That is what I find unforgivable; to make some people wealthier at the expense of others. To make the rich richer while making the poor poorer. And this is not just my interpretation, investigations have shown that indeed the gaps between the rich and the poor in Sweden have grown during the governments time in office.

And I choose to use the word poor, not “having small margins”, eventhough it might be uncomfortable for Attefall and the government.

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