Want to Clown Around? New Workshop at Smålands

A smile is a weapon of mass construction

Clown Workshop on Friday, October 8th, 5pm till 8pm

Three hours of fun, active participation and clownish experience. Everybody is welcome, no requirements, everybody is born a clown.

What can you expect?

Through selected games, improvisational exercises and sensitivity instructions, we will find the path to our inner clown. The first unit is very practical, full of laughs, fun, emotions and entertainment. It's a slow introduction to the art and philosophy of a clown with all its taboos and limitations. You might find something what you already forgot or thought you never had. It's a opportunity to meet people in a new way with different eyes and without all common measures and judgments. This kind of art can open new paths to everybody who is open to follow it.


What is a clown?
The common image of the circus clown, who is juggling, acting silly and falling on his nose every meter is a myth, which is in my eyes only practiced by people who missed the breaking free of the commercial cliché clown into a much broader spectrum. Being a clown is mostly misunderstood and gets mixed up with being “stupid” or “foolish”. Being a clown is much more. Its a lifestyle, a philosophy, a long practised art. Juggling and doing magic tricks does not make you a clown. It's only your attitude and the relation you have to your own body and mind.

The essence of clown, in the pure sense, is a combination of innocence and maturity, a free mind and wisdom.

A clown is a mirror of society, but is not accepting their taboos and rules.

A clown is
…... is never pretending to be somebody.

…...always acting with the best intentions and always newly surprised by the moment.

…..... is not funny because they're trying to be funny, rather because they're being very serious about something or her/himself.

…...is never parodying something or somebody, he/she always really wants to be like the person he/she admires.

…..to become a clown you have to go back to the time to very early childhood before “education” started.

…..we are in the need of laughing, but at most laughing about ourselves. That’s what the clown stands for.

…......aware that there is always enough space and time for failing and falling; a clown knows the art of failure.

…...also aware that when making people laugh, you make people open to receive. So people might be laughing only watching the clown, but afterwords realizing the real message they got from it. And this can be about everything.

…....an innocent rebel, opposed to the rules and taboos of the society

Bring with you: comfortable clothes, any mood, any face and a little pinch of interest.
If you want sign up for the workshop, please write an email or call the instructor:
(for cancellation please contact me as well)

e-mail: elisabethzenz@hotmail.com
mobile: 0764089255

Seriously, Sweden?

I've had a headache all day. The results of the election are in and have spelled huge loses for those who are anti-racist, feminist and socialist. Four more years of a conservative government and the extreme right-wing racist party the Sweden Democrats have entered the Riksdag.

Over the weekend we were treated to some interesting news about an SD candidate in Malmö, David von Arnold Antoni. This is a man who on September 10th went to the police and said that some men speaking an Arabic-sounding language tried to cut a swastika into his forehead. It turns out it was all made up and all evidence points to self-inflicted wounds. (Seems like they're taking a page from the rightists in America -- Sound familiar? Or maybe they just like bad movies from the US?) From the time the supposed attack happened until September 18th, when the wounds were revealed to be self-inflected, SD party leader Jimmie Åkesson used the farce to create attention for his little racist party, criticize "extreme left violence" and draw votes. Another intended effect of the farce was to spread fear and suspicion for non-white men.

What happened? How could so many people vote for a party with roots in Nazi and extreme nationalist parties, a party filled with bizarre, racist ideas about immigration? How can we put a stop to them?

I'm tired of Swedes who hear the word "immigrant" and automatically think "poor, brown and 'strange.'" I am an immigrant. I am white, I am from a Western country, in a position of privilege, but I am still an immigrant and that does not make me any less of a person. In fact, most immigrants in Sweden are from Finland. In order to fight SD, Swedes need to see the real faces of immigration. They should look a bit closer and get to know who we are, what we're doing here in Sweden (it's not living off of their dying welfare system!) and that we're not afraid to get involved in politics.

Rent Woes? Your Rights Regarding Reasonable Rent

The housing situation in Lund and many other parts of Sweden is a mess. And those who don't speak Swedish can be hit harder by higher rents and closed doors. The International Housing Office, which is supposed to look for international students' needs, charged international students 50% more in rent than Swedish students. Asylum-seekers are charged higher rent because, according to a Migration Board official, "they're not used to our civilization and they don't know how washing machines and other things work."

According to Swedish housing law, it is illegal to charge unnecessarily high rent. The court states that

in short rent shall be reasonable and that it's not reasonable if it's significantly higher than the rent for an apartment with similar usage (translated from Hyresnämnden).

Those of you in search of housing in Lund have probably been seen rooms of offer for extremely high prices. Let's see...  On Blocket you can find a it costs nearly 8,000SEK to rent an apartment that's smaller than 50 square meters. How about 7,500SEK (not including electricity!) for a two room apartment with two month's rent in advance? Just how do people get away with this? Well, the tenants don't know or don't care to exercise their rights. The International Housing Office's practice of charging non-Swedish students more than Swedish students was put to an end as soon as a student affected by this reported them to the Discrimination Ombudsman and they ended up paying back rents for a total of over 1.5 million kr. For many students, the key to lower rent answer lies not with the Discrimination Ombudsman, but with other authorities.

For those of you that feel you are paying unreasonably high rent, it's time to acquaint yourself with your best weapon: the Swedish Union of Tenants and the court system. There are two ways reasonable rents can be requested and the method depends on how you rent your residence. By filling out this form (in English), you can ask for more information from the Swedish Union of Tenants. Your query should get a response within one working day. If it is found that your rent is unreasonable, you may be eligible to have the money you overpaid returned to you.

We at Smålands can also try to help you out if you feel that you are paying an unreasonable amount in comparison to similar residences. Let's put an end to rent gouging!

Photo Exhibition at Smålands

Attention aspiring photographers - here's a message from the Smålands Photo Club!

Smålands Glorius Exhibition of Photos!
In Smålands Nation, Photo Takes YOU!

Exhibition is the 29th of October
Closing day for submissions is the 27th of October

We invite everyone with an Idea, a Vision of.. well whatever tickles your fancy really, to submit their photos to the exhibition of a lifetime!

You can submit photos in two categories, digital prints and analogue prints and you can either submit 2-3 small photos in the 20x35cm class or one really big photo in the 40x50cm class. You submit the prints with name, phone and email and the name of the prints to the Smålands office.
The date for the exhibition is the last Friday of October, the 29th, in the Pub lounge. The last day for submissions are on the 27th.

To enter the exhibition you must be a member of the Smålands Photo Club, which costs 100SEK semester and gives you access to our darkroom with free, that's right FREE, photo chemicals and can join our meetings with FREE coffee and cake.

And any theme, motto or idea fora photo is welcome, everything from "straight f/64" to heavy duty Photoshop is welcome. All we ask is that it's nothing too naughty (keep it family friendly) and that you submit your photos printed and not as a digital file - you will have to do your own printing.

If you'd like more info then you can write to Chris.

Fall in Lund and Allemansrätten

Allemansrätten, which has been translated by many as "Freedom to Roam" and literally means "every person's right," is your gateway into true Swedish nature (and free food). Everyone in Sweden has the right

access, walk, cycle, ride, ski, and camp on any land—with the exception of private gardens, the immediate vicinity of a dwelling house and land under cultivation. Restrictions apply for nature reserves and other protected areas. It also gives the right to pick wild flowers, mushrooms and berries (provided one knows they are not legally protected), but not to hunt in any way. Swimming in any lake and putting an unpowered boat on any water is permitted unless explicitly forbidden. Visiting beaches and walking by a shoreline is permitted, providing it is not a part of a garden or within the immediate vicinity of a residence (legally defined as the hemfridszon). According to legal practice this is between 100 to 300 metres from a dwelling house. To better protect access to water and the right to walk along beaches, it is since 1975 generally not permitted to build a new house near (generally 100 m) from a beach and/or shoreline.

Source: Wikipedia

There's lots of nice things to pick during the fall. In Lund, there's lots of apple trees on public land, ripe for picking (although Swedish apples tend to be a bit sour!). There's also blackberries, mushrooms and plums if you know where to look.

Here's a recipe for apple pie, Swedish-style! In America they'd call this apple crumble and not apple pie. You can also substitute blackberries, blueberries or other berries for apples.

-2 dl flour
-3 dl oatmeal (havregryn)
-1 dl brown sugar (farinsocker)
-.5 dl sugar
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (vaniljsocker)
-50 g butter/margarine
-2 large apples/3 small apples or 3 dl berries

Pre-heat oven to 175C. Mix together dry ingredients. Add margarine and work by hand until the mixture forms crumbles. Cut up apples. Sprinkle half of the crumbly mixture into the baking tin, cover with apples/berries and then sprinkle the other half on top of the apples/berries, covering them. Bake at 200C for 20-25 minutes (until the top is brown and the apples are soft). Serve with vanilla sauce (vaniljsås - it's possible to buy ready-made in the refrigerated section of the grocery store or dry packages that require the addition of milk).

Clearing Up Membership Misconceptions

As many of you know fall semester 2010 is the first semester in which it is not mandatory to join a nation or student union. This had created lots of confusion for everyone. We wanted to clear up some of the confusion surrounding Smålands.

There are two kinds of nation events: events where alcohol is served (usually clubs) and events in which no alcohol is served. For events in which no alcohol is served, everyone is always welcome at Smålands - you do not need to show a student ID or passport. You don't even have to be a student!

Because government regulations concerning the serving of alcohol apply to nations, each nation has specific rules about who can get into an event in which alcohol is being served. At Smålands, everyone with a student card and passport is welcome during these events. That includes StudentLund members!

Smålands members are not allowed into other nations with their just their Smålands membership as Smålands is not a part of StudentLund. Any student can, however, have a double membership but joining another nation of their choice. Smålands members are not restricted in this sense.

Membership at Smålands costs from 140-155SEK per semester. This does not include the student union fee (which is, of course, optional). You do not need to be a member to join the Smålands housing queue but you do need to be a member before signing a contract for a Smålands residence (usually you will have one month's notice if you are in line to receive a contract for a residence). If you would like to join Smålands you can send an email to smalands@smalands.org and the office will e-mail you a bill. As a warning, it should be noted that sometimes this bill ends up in peoples' spam filters!

Smålands members receive all the normal student discounts (including SJ, the Swedish Railways and Skånetrafiken, public transportation in Skåne) with their student card. 

Guide to Buying Veg & Green Food in Sweden

Sometimes finding veg and environmentally-friendly food can be hard in a new country. We've written a short guide to help you navigate your way through your local grocery store.

This is the symbol for Fair Trade products.

KRAV - This is the traditional symbol for organic products which will soon be replaced by the symbol below.

The leaf made of stars is the new EU symbol for organic products.  Here's more information about the introduction of this symbol

This symbol is for the EU and means that at least 95% of the ingredients are organic.

The swan label is for products which are environmentally friendly in Nordic countries. Here are the standards they use.

Sound environmental choice (bra miljöval) is the symbol from the Nature Protection Society which brands products which are less harmful to the environment. Found mostly on household products such as laundry detergent. Find more information in English here.

Okay, that's enough about eco-labels! Now for a Swedish lesson...


 

Ingredients to watch out for

anything with kött (meat)

fläskkött, griskött (pork)

fisk (fish), torsk, sill, lax

nötkött (beef)

kyckling (chicken)

kalkon (turkey)

Vegans:

smör (butter)

ägg (egg)

mjölk (milk)

grädde (cream)

ost (cheese)

And some brands to pick up...

Vegetarian food brands

 -Hälsans kök (green packaging, freezer section) - replacement meat, including fake hamburgers, hot dogs, filées, bacon, meat balls, falafel and lots more. Tastes great!

-ICA Gott Liv (freezer section) - veg minced meat, veg hot dogs and veg filées

Vegan food brands

-Veggo (meat replacement, freezer & dry sections)

-Tzai (spicy soy meat, available at ICA, freezer section)

-Vegogården (pure soy products, available at ICA Malmborgs, dry food)

-Quorn (meat replacement, freezer section)

-Oatly (dairy replacement, soy section)

-Tofutti (ice cream)

-TofuLine (ice cream)

-Carlshamn Mejeri Mjölkfritt (margarine)

-Alpro Soja (dairy replacement, soy section)

-GoGreen (dairy replacement, soy section)

-Tartex (sandwich spreads, toppings section)

-Carlshamn Soygurt (yoghurt)

-Expensive vegan cheese, mayonnaise and caviar can be found at Konsum

For more details check out (in Swedish) http://www.djurensratt.se/portal/page/portal/djurens_ratt/sidor/vegoresurser/Vegolistan%20juli%2008.pdf for more info

For super cheap fruit & veggies go to the store in the alley beside Ahléns/Dinsko

 

Got any more recommendations? Leave them in the comments section!

Finding Cheap Coursebooks

If you've gotten your list of required reading, gone to Akadamiebokhandeln and cringed at the prices (even with a student discount!) then you can turn to the internet or the local second hand university book store for much cheaper prices.

For those of you that have no money to spare, you can reserve your books at the university library (this means you have two weeks to read your books and sometimes it can take a few months of queuing to get the book at all). Or you can just read the non-loan copy at the library. Another option that requires a bit of money is sharing a copy with a course mate or copying the parts that you need.

The local secondhand university book store is called Andrahandsbokhandeln. The name is quite a mouthful and literally means "secondhand book store." You can find it on Winstrupsgatan 9, which is the street across from the city library, Stadsbibliotek.

Sometimes you can find new coursebooks at low prices online. Adlibris, Bokus and Lycknis all sell course books at decent prices. Bokfynd is a search engine that compares online prices but it's not always 100% reliable. Unfortunately these websites don't have all the functions in English but just search for the title and hopefully you can manage your way through the rest. Shipping is almost always free.

Discrimination by Banks in Lund

Are you having trouble opening a bank account in Lund? Lots of people we've talked to have been discriminated against by the banks. They're told that they can't access the internet services (including free bill pay), that they can't open an account or lots of other strange things. Why? Because, they're told, they don't speak Swedish, they don't have a Swedish ID, or they don't have a Swedish personal number. These practices are a violation of Swedish law, EU law and unethical and the banks should have to answer for their actions.

 If you were discriminated against because you're not Swedish you can take a stand by filing an application with the Discrimination Ombudsman. You do not have to speak Swedish - reports are accepted in any language (although unfortunately the downloadable PDF is only in Swedish). If you wish to discuss your experiences with the Smålands International Secretariat then send us an email and we can try to help as best we can.

There has been some press about this in Sweden (for example, this article about a Finnish student denied a bank account, in Swedish) but no serious reports seem to have been filed yet.

Map for Newcomers

We've made a Google map for newcomers to Lund. It's got secondhand stores, leftist hangouts and lots more. Check it out!

Please tell us if there's anything we're missing in the comments section.

Our Guide to Voting in Sweden

Some of you have received voting cards (röstkort) in the mail for the upcoming Swedish election. If you are an EU citizen and registered with the tax authority before August 20th  then you ARE allowed to vote in the local election. Election day is on Sunday, September 19th. Your voting area is listed on your election card. Go in to the voting location, select the card for the party you wish to vote for, vote privately in a booth but putting the card in an envelope and leave the envelope with the voting authorities.

We encourage you to vote in Sweden because we don't want Sverigedemokraterna to gain any power in Lund. We want to tell them that their racist attitudes are not welcome here. Most of all, we encourage you to go out and meet the political parties on Stortorget in Lund. Most parties have a little election hut open every day - you can actually go there and question them about their policies. Find out which party fits you best!


We've made a guide for international students to the different political parties in Lund and what the center and "left wing" parties stances are on local and regional issues. If anyone wants to add to the guide please contact me!

Some of you have received voting cards (röstkort) in the mail for the upcoming Swedish election. If you are an EU citizen and registered with the tax authority before August 20th then you ARE allowed to vote in the local election. We've prepared a little guide for those of you that may be unfamiliar with Swedish politics.

Center/Right-Wing Parties
Moderaterna (The Moderates): center-right party, current ruling party
Centerpariet (The Center Party): agrarian and farmers party
Kristdemokraterna (The Christian Democrats): influenced by Christian values mainly evangelical
Folkpartiet (The People Party): right-wing party, most EU friendly of the parties
Sverigedemokraterna (The Sweden Democrats): racist right-wing party, hostile towards immigrants

Center/Left-wing parties
Socialdemokraterna (The Social Democrats): left-center party, workers' party with ties to the trade unions
Vänsterpartiet (The Left Party): Left-wing party - feminist, socialist values
Demokratis vänster (Democratic Left) Green and Red party that only exists in Lund
Miljöpartiet (The Environment Party): Green and social liberal, emphasis on environmental issues
Piratpartiet (The Pirate Party): pushes for reform of copyright laws and making file sharing legal
Kommunistiska partiet (The Communist Party): Communist
Feministiskt initiativ (Feminist Initiative): Feminist party

Here is the guide to the Center/left wing parties stances on local issues

Kommunistiska partiet:
Kommunalval (Municipal elections)
- Free buses and trains
- Lower the salaries for the politicians to that of the average working class man or woman
- Against privatizations in Lund
- Build more cheap and environmentally sound housing in Lund
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Against private health insurance
- Against private hospitals
- Free trains and buses throughout Skåne
- Against the free hospital selection

Piratpartiet:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- High speed internet for everyone in Lund with a max fee of 200 kr
- All students at the municipal schools should receive their own computer
- All culture that is financed by taxes should be available for free in digital form whenever possible.
- All municipal documents should be available to the citizens in digital form
- The municipality should only use open software such as Open Office
- The integrity of the citizens need to be protected and camera surveillance should be restrictive

Socialdemokraterna:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- Wants to employ more teachers
- Renovate the schools in order to improve the working environment of the students
- Lower the number of children per adult in daycares
- Improve the high schools and reinvigorate the adult education system (Komvux)
- Build 900 new apartments every year
- Build 750 apartments for students over the next four years
- Make sure that the new housing is environmentally friendly
- More resources for libraries
- Lower food prices with the help of larger grocery stores in the city centers
- A mentor program for refugees and other newly arrived immigrants
Student issues
- Improve student welfare and loan
- More teacher-led time in the universities
- Create 44,000 new jobs at the universities
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Stop downsizing in the Skåne health system
- Raise the regional taxes to secure quality in the health sector
- Lower the waiting times at the emergency wards
- Health care for people under 20 should be completely free (today 300 kr per visit and a maximum of 1,000 kr per year)
- Cheaper dental care
- Build more railways
- Make it easier to get to Kastrup
- Low fares for buses and trains
- Student discount on buses should be at 30%
- All buses should be run on bio-fuel by 2015
- Make more places wheelchair accessible
- Lower the salary gap between men and women by the way of an equality pot of 100 million Swedish kr
- Full-time jobs should be a right

Miljöpartiet:
Kommunalval (Municipal election)
- Environmental and social interests should come before financial interests in the town planning
- Wants to create a new "Green Deal" for Lund with cooperation between businesses the university and environmental groups
- Lower carbon emissions in Lund
- That low energy housing should be the standard when renovating or constructing new buildings
- More nature reserves around Lund
- More resources to school health care
- Housing is a right and homelessness should be eradicated with the help of the concept "housing first" (all left wing parties agree with this).
- Encourage small local businesses
- Introduce a carbon tax that will be used to finance research into new environmentally friendly technology
- Make it easier to get out into the nature around Lund with the help of special nature buses.
- Restrict traffic in the Lund city center
- Create a student discount for the city buses.
- Build more cheap housing and student housing
- No more external shopping malls
- Make the municipality more democratic with the help of social media and more services on the municipality's website
- More money for libraries
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Free dental care before 25
- Reintroduce free health care for children
- Skåne should be climate neutral by 2016
- Lower carbon emissions in Skåne
- Remove the tax problems between Skåne and Denmark
- Wants to increase the cooperation between the region the municipality and the universities

Demokratisk Vänster:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- Build housing for all, including housing for students
- Make it easier to live outside of Lund city
- Expand the bus and train service to the villages surrounding Lund
- Introduce more internships
- Create a cultural house in Lund that can be a meeting place for all inhabitants of the municipality
- Create summer work for the students so that they don't have to live on welfare
- Make Lund more attractive for summer studies-
- Make Lund more attractive during the summer by offering more cultural as well as other summer activities.
 
Vänsterpartiet:
Kommunval (Municipal election)
- Stop the cuts in the municipal services
- Build away the housing shortage
- Better and cheaper public transportation
Landstingsval (Regional election)
- Free health care until you are 20
- De-privatize the pharmacies
- Create a maximum fee for dental care
- Introduce tariffs for heavy and polluting traffic in Skåne
- Lower the fares for train and buses and let half the fare be paid by taxes
- A student discount of 30%
- 6 hour work day for all regional employees
- Full-time jobs should be a right with part time a possibility
- The salary gap between men and women and between ethnic Swedes and non ethnic Swedes should be abolished

Happy voting!!!

Why We Oppose Fees for International Students

In Sweden, free education is self-evident and a right for everyone, regardless of income or societal position. If a party or politician would try to change this it would be political suicide. Despite this it's exactly the situation which will affect the thousands of international students which apply to Lund every year and the only response has been with meager protests from diverse student organizations.

Who are those that will be affected by the government's decision? Students from around the globe who won't be able to afford to study. Hopeful students from Africa, Asia and America who previously turned to Sweden for free education. These students have contributed to a higher quality of education as well as positively affecting the municipality's finances and cultural diversity.

Who will be studying at Lund when the fees come into effect? Probably not many. If you can afford the fees that the university has suggested then you'll probably spend your money at a more prestigious university in North America or Great Britain. Those that doubt this can take a look at Denmark and see what happened after their introduction of fees for foreign students. The fees will most likely lead to more programs being shut down due to a lack of students.

What the government should have done instead is to deal with the largest issue concerning international students: troubles obtaining residence permits after the completion of their studies. In principal, Sweden is throwing out those students who just finished an expensive education and throwing money out. Many international students wish to stay in Sweden and contribute to the country which gave them the opportunity to have a free higher education.

Smålands Nation wishes to express our opposition to new tuition fees for non-EU students. We also wish to work for a change in the present migration policy so that international students can stay in Sweden after their completed studies if they so wish.

Introducing International @ Smålands

We've started this blog because we'd like to take on issues that international students deal with in Lund. We're want to do more than just scratch the surface of life as an international student. We want everyone to know their rights and not be afraid to contribute to political life in Lund!

About us: We're international secretaries at Smålands Nation in Lund, Sweden. Smålands Nation is socialist, feminist, anti-racist and serves veg food.