The Global Teach-In

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 19, 2024 Photo by the author. Anti-Semitism as a Displacement System for Stupidity In this essay I will address how substance, historical accountability and practical solutions are displaced by superficiality, historical amnesia, and moral posturing in the debate about Left Party anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in Swedish society. The October 2024…

Continue readingThe Clash of Mediocrity: Sweden, Anti-Semitism and the Gaza Crisis

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, October 15, 2024 Discussion between Timbro head PM Nilsson and Mikael Holmström on Swedish Television (SVT), October 15, 2024. The Debate Over How to Waste Even More Resources Today we saw a debate between two champions of Swedish militarism. One is at a right-wing think tank associated with policies hostile to…

Continue readingA New Low in Swedish Television History: The face of Uber-Militarism

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, September 22, 2024; Updated September 23, 2024 Introduction I have studied industrial policy for several decades. So I was rather disappointed to learn what Swedish journalists and most politicians have to say when it comes to Sweden’s present Northvolt crisis. The key factors supporting a coherent industrial policy can include the…

Continue readingSwedish Television, the Green Conversion and the Limits of Business Reporting

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, July 5, 2024, Updated July 6, 2024. “In a democracy you have to face the hard, difficult issues and then go out honestly and say what you think…In the international debate because of the strength of the oil companies and other reasons, the real ecological dangers of fossil fuels are very…

Continue readingReflections on Almedalen 2024: Displacement of Big Truths, Glimmers of Something Else

Dear University of Helsinki, I read with great interest about your suspension of exchanges involving Israeli students. I assume that’s in response to the great humanitarian tragedy associated with the Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza. I assume that is because of student protests. Or maybe you are concerned with the United Nations commission that…

Continue readingUniversity of Helsinki, Finland’s Import of Israeli Weapons and Boycott of Israeli Students

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, April 7, 2024; Updated April 8, 2024 Source: SVT, Agenda, April 7, 2024. Today, Swedish Television’s Agenda program had a face off on the role of the EU where Jonas Sjöstedt from the Left Party was opposed by the Christian Democrat’s top EU parliamentary candidate, Alice Teodorescu Måwe. Måwe made these key…

Continue readingAnother Left/Right Debate on Swedish Television that Misses the Point

March 17, 2024 WHAT IS THE GLOBAL TEACH-IN? The Global Teach-In is an educational and political movement that has been associated with various organizing events designed to address both topical issues and long-term concerns. On May 18th, 2020 we discussed ways to promote a more resilient and democratic alternative to the underlying institutions lying behind…

Continue readingWhat is the Global Teach-In?

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 13, 2023 The Good News: Fewer Dirty Flights A recent news story in Dagens Nyheter (DN) (February 5th) reported that “emissions from Swedes’ air travel were almost as significant as the emissions from all passenger car traffic in the country before the pandemic.” From 1990 to 2017, “the climate impact…

Continue readingFlights of Fancy: Swedish Emission Reduction Gains Will Be Eroded by NATO Membership

By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 7, 2024 Cecilia Strömberg Wallin, Philip Teir, Thella Johnson, and Bengt Kristensson Uggla at “Nya tider och nya identiteter – om Sverige, Finland och Nato,” at ABF in Stockholm, March 7, 2024. Photo by author. The Times We Live In In this essay I will try to explain how some…

Continue readingThe Displacement of Militarism as Culture: A New Role for Nordic Philosophy

By Jonathan M. Feldman, January 10, 2024; Updated January 11, 2024 Introducing the BS-sequitur The editorial above, published in Dagens Nyhter (DN, a leading Swedish newspaper), shows clearly the growing formulaic logic of what I will now call the “mis-sequitur.” It is not a just “non-sequitur,” in which b does not logically follow a. Rather,…

Continue readingHow to Read the DN Ledare Page: The Art of the BS-sequitur