Northern Exposure
IMAGO/TT
After winning over 11 percent of the vote, and two mandates, in June’s European Parliament elections, the Swedish Left Party Vänsterpartiet is celebrating its best election results in twenty years. The historic result brought the party a step closer to fulfilling large parts of its main strategy, something it has been working towards for more than a decade. How this outcome is to be interpreted – whether as a direct result of this strategy, or a widening of it – is now up for debate.
The European election also took place mere...
read more "Sweden’s Left Party celebrates its biggest win in 20 year"
read more "Sweden’s Left Party celebrates its biggest win in 20 year"
IMAGO/Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg
Record results for (Centre-)Left parties in the Nordic countries, with far-right parties losing ground. Denmark, Finland and Sweden surprised during the European elections with results that seemed to contradict the political drift in much of the rest of Europe. While this is a ‘ray of hope’ to many on the progressive spectrum, do these results really signify the development of a countertrend? And what might be the implications in the mid-term? The Rosa-Luxemburg’s Foundation’s Ada Regelmann gives a sober...
read more "More than just an electoral upwind? Nordic left-wing parties after the EU elections"
read more "More than just an electoral upwind? Nordic left-wing parties after the EU elections"
IMAGO/Lehtikuva
As the European Parliament elections this June draw nearer, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is conducting a series of interviews with left-wing parties and candidates from across the EU on the election campaign, their political programmes, and the challenges facing left-wing forces domestically and at a European level. The foundation’s Duroyan Fertl spoke to Li Andersson, leader of the Finnish Left Alliance, Vasemmistoliitto, about her party’s priorities in this super election year.
read more "Opposing Finland’s Thatcherist Turn"
read more "Opposing Finland’s Thatcherist Turn"
Quentin Bruno / The Left
As the European Parliament elections this June draw nearer, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is conducting a series of interviews with left-wing parties and candidates from across the EU on the election campaign, their political programmes, and the challenges facing left-wing forces domestically and at a European level. The foundation’s Duroyan Fertl spoke to Frederikke Hellemann, second on the list for Danish Left-Green Alliance, or Enhedslisten, about the Danish Left’s priorities in this super election year.
read more "“Back to Basics”"
read more "“Back to Basics”"
Agnes Stuber
An interview with Hanna Gedin from the Swedish Left Party Vänsterpartiet on the priorities and challenges of the Swedish Left ahead of the European elections.
In the lead up to the 2024 European Parliament elections this June, the Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung is conducting a series of interviews with parties and candidates from across the EU on the election campaign, their political demands, and the challenges for left forces domestically and at a European level. Duroyan Fertl spoke to Hanna Gedin, second on the list for Swedish left party ...
read more "”We need to give people hope”"
read more "”We need to give people hope”"
imago / Lehtikuva
The Finnish government was sent into upheaval almost as soon as it was formed in June last year, as multiple revelations of racist statements and memes emerged concerning one of the new coalition’s two main parties – The Finns, a far-right nationalist anti-immigration party. The crisis almost brought the government down before it had begun, but while the political stain is permanent, it may not be enough to prevent a fusion of the Finns party’s ultra-nationalism and the neoliberal agenda being pushed by their centre-right government ...
read more "Finland’s far right: between scandal and mainstream"
read more "Finland’s far right: between scandal and mainstream"
IMAGO / Ritzau Scanpix
The MeToo movement got off to a slow start in Denmark, with the initial conversation focusing as much on the movement’s legitimacy as on understanding and tackling the problem. Only when the public’s TV darling Sofie Linde shared her own experiences, and a substantial number of media professionals and young politicians teamed up, did the movement gain strength.
A handful of prominent cases has since led to contract terminations for male individuals and to in-depth scrutiny internally in numerous companies and work branches, to ...
read more "#OneOfUs – MeToo and the myth of gender-equal Denmark"
read more "#OneOfUs – MeToo and the myth of gender-equal Denmark"
We hear it regularly: the story that Denmark is a frontrunner in the green transition. But many facts tell another story. Looking at the small Scandinavian nation from the agricultural, industrial, fisheries or biomass point of view, the overall picture is not exactly green. Instead, we see a country that has specialised in projecting a green image and talking about its climate-goals and ambitions, while neither meeting those goals, nor living up to those ambitions. Here’s a walk-through.
In April 2023, Danish media revealed that officials from ...
read more "Denmark: the pig empire with the ruined sea"
read more "Denmark: the pig empire with the ruined sea"
For many, Scandinavia is synonymous with social democracy, high union density, public ownership, and progressive governments inclined to climate action and sustainable policies. A recent study tour to Norway and Denmark, hosted by Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s New York and Brussels offices, found that both countries still struggle with entrenched interests – local and international – holding back a genuine “just transition”.
The five-day study tour in October brought ten experts – legislators, researchers, and activists – ...
read more "Northern Lights? Nordic lessons for the just transition"
read more "Northern Lights? Nordic lessons for the just transition"
For the first time in a century, Norway’s Labour Party failed to top the country’s local and regional elections, pipped to the post by the centre-right conservatives. Ingrid Wergeland looks at the election, and the political trends behind the result.
A dark blue wind
A dark blue wind has blown across Norway in the municipal elections held on September 11. Høyre (the Conservative Party, 25.9 percent, +5.8) and the right-populist Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party, 11.3 percent, +3.1) have gained power in a majority of cities....
read more "In Norway local elections herald a shift to the right"
read more "In Norway local elections herald a shift to the right"