Olof Palme died 20 years ago
I want to tell you a story. I was first going to write this in Swedish, but it is necessary that everyone who can read it from my leftist friends around the globe do so. Twenty years ago Olof Palme was shot to death, his murder is still not solved.
He represented perhaps one of the last radical social democrats to hold actual power. With his commitment to the rest of the world, with his anti-imperialism and his great courage in foreign affairs. His christmas speech, denouncing the bombings of Hanoi by the United States is a great example of this. He made progressive changes in Sweden for a better nation and he held true to the democratic social ideals. I tell you now, if others had then we would have found ourselves in a far better seat than we are.
He represents a moral hope, and a hope that politics can be effective and that not all politicians are dishonest. He was loathed by the right wing who were always sort of out of touch with reality. Blamed for being anti-american when really, his stance was not against the USA (and being against the USA is a ridiculous notion - try imagining what being against Italy or Norway is like, it makes no sense at all) but against imperialism. Whether it was the Bolsheviks (who don't really deserve the name of 'Soviet Union' as the soviets had lost all power) or the americans.
To me, he remains a champion for justice and the ability for us to make changes. That a small nation must sometimes stand up and speak out when great injustices are done. We have a moral obligation to our fellow man, and an international calling is the only way to ever uphold that and ever to be effective as a socialist. I do wish, firmly, that we hold his person in regard as we consider what we should do. As a radical he was a far better figure than Lenin or Che. But I hope that one day the Social Democrats will awaken and find themselves as Socialists of the form that were the heroes of my nation: Palme, Per Albin Hansson and so many others. And I hope that we around the world can follow his example.
Another world is necessary!
He represented perhaps one of the last radical social democrats to hold actual power. With his commitment to the rest of the world, with his anti-imperialism and his great courage in foreign affairs. His christmas speech, denouncing the bombings of Hanoi by the United States is a great example of this. He made progressive changes in Sweden for a better nation and he held true to the democratic social ideals. I tell you now, if others had then we would have found ourselves in a far better seat than we are.
He represents a moral hope, and a hope that politics can be effective and that not all politicians are dishonest. He was loathed by the right wing who were always sort of out of touch with reality. Blamed for being anti-american when really, his stance was not against the USA (and being against the USA is a ridiculous notion - try imagining what being against Italy or Norway is like, it makes no sense at all) but against imperialism. Whether it was the Bolsheviks (who don't really deserve the name of 'Soviet Union' as the soviets had lost all power) or the americans.
To me, he remains a champion for justice and the ability for us to make changes. That a small nation must sometimes stand up and speak out when great injustices are done. We have a moral obligation to our fellow man, and an international calling is the only way to ever uphold that and ever to be effective as a socialist. I do wish, firmly, that we hold his person in regard as we consider what we should do. As a radical he was a far better figure than Lenin or Che. But I hope that one day the Social Democrats will awaken and find themselves as Socialists of the form that were the heroes of my nation: Palme, Per Albin Hansson and so many others. And I hope that we around the world can follow his example.
Another world is necessary!
posted by Björn at 9:34 PM
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