This political party was formed in the mid 00’s by those who thought that Sweden wasn’t moving as quickly as it should when it came to women’s rights. So far, they haven’t had much success in neither local, national nor European elections and are not in parliament. There have been a couple of interesting schisms along the way, perhaps most notably when one of the founding members, Susanne Linde, resigned. She claimed that one of the other members of the executive committee, Tiina Rosenberg, had called her a “middle class hag” who was a “gender traitor” for having sex with men instead of being homosexual.
Some claim that left-wing extremists have hijacked the party and their current leader, Gudrun Schyman, is the former leader of the communist Left Party. They are also famous for burning 13000 dollars (!) in a publicity stunt, aimed at highlighting the differences between men and women’s pay. This made some onlookers wonder if women really should be allowed to handle any money at all. Want to see what it looks like when you burn more than ten thousand dollars? Go right ahead.
Fredrik Federley is a politician for the Swedish Center party and a member of parliament. He was the first openly homosexual man to lead a Swedish youth party. His controversial views have brought him into the spotlight on several occasions, like the time he was the only person to vote for legalizing prostitution. Kind of like Ron Paul, only younger and with a female alter ego that sometimes comes out to play.
In 2010 Federley was treated to a luxurious cruise by private companies, something his opponents called a bribe. He dismissed the criticism by saying that it was his drag personality Ursula who had been invited to go, so that she could write about the trip for the gay website Hanky. I think that is one of my all-time favorite excuses and have tried to use something similar in my own life when caught, but to no avail. He has been threatened by several different groups, has a more advanced security detail than other politicians and was assaulted outside his home in 2010. In 2011 he got his own radio show on the country’s first commercial talk radio station (see “Radio Ett”).
You (and the rest of the world) might know them as crocs, or “those ugly ass slippers”.
In Sweden, however, they are named after the genius that saw how popular they were in the US and decided to import them to his home country, where they were quickly named “Forsberg slippers” in his honor. Who is this brilliant mind, you might ask? Peter “Foppa” Forsberg, the hockey player, who wore the slippers while recuperating from an injury. I wonder what will last longer – his legacy as an athlete or the slippers?
Flashback is an online forum where (almost) nothing is off-topic or illegal. The topics open for discussion range on everything from celebrity gossip to drug advice and porn. However, the site might be best known for its users’ detective skills, having solved a lot of mysteries and crimes through collective reasoning.
When a young woman murdered two young kids and their mother, for example, they were able to bring forth evidence that had previously not been discovered by the police. Interested citizens from all over the country, all with different areas of expertise, contributed to the discussion and helped form a comprehensive picture of what had happened (see “Arbogamorden”). Because of Swedish laws that forbid the media from naming those accused of crimes (except for in extreme cases), Flashback has also become popular as the place to go if you want to find out what celebrity has been accused of what crime.
Where to start? They have become a stable of Swedish pop culture, despite running a recent campaign against said entity. Starting out as journalists, they made a couple of unorthodox TV-shows and now they are more or less the golden boys of the Swedish entertainment industry. Their weekly podcast tops the charts and they have more or less been given carte blanche to create new ideas. Very infatuated with everything (eh, more or less) American, they have also done a couple of shows set in the US, interviewing, amongst others, Fabio and that guy in 90210 with the receding hairline.
It is hard to recommend just one of their videos, since they have done a lot of good television, but I think this clip from “Hundra Höjdare” is a good introduction. The premise of the show is that they present the top 100 moments in Swedish history. Visit their own website for more info:
