”Ivestiya” on Contra
Older readers of Contra certainly do remeber the name of the newspaper Izvestiya, the official organ of the Soviet government. Izvestiya is still alive, though the circulation is not in the millions, but only somewhat over 200 000. Today the newspaper is owned by an ”oligarch” (Juriy Kovaltshuk), but during the years 2005–2008 the paper was controlled by Kreml via the Putin linked gas company Gazprom. In October this year an article in Izvetsiya reported on an ongoing trial in Archangelsk in northern Russia. History professor Mikhail Suprun (see Contra # 3 2011) and police major Alexander Dudarev are prosecuted for publishing a book on Gulag victims in the Archangelsk area. People linked to Contra has picketed outside the Russian Embassy in Stockholm and Izvestiya reported on that October 19 2011.
Wind power threatening the countryside
by Tommy Hansson
As more windmills are built resistance grows. One of the centres of resistance is Föreningen Svenskt Landskapsskydd (The Association for the Protection of the Swedish Landscape), FSL. FSL stresses the fact that important areas in the Swedish countryside are ruined by gigantic windmills (often 500 feet tall). The entreprenuers often promises new jobs, lower price on electricity and higher real estate values. But all these promises are taken out of thin air. Wind power is significantly more expensive than hydropower and nuclear power, which are the alternatives. Employment is concentrated to windmill manufacturers plants and construction workers moving around. Very few jobs are offered to local people. And real estate prices are, history shows, falling close to windmill developments.
Who can afford a windmill
by C G Holm
In Contra # 3 2011 we told about ”certificates” that are used to forward subsidies from efficient hydropower and nuclear power to inefficient energy producers, like wind power and solar power. By directing subsidies from one type of companies directly to other companies, the subsiies are excluded from the government budget and no decisions need to be taken on giving subsidies to inefficient producers. They are coming automatically. In addition there is no transparency, the public does not know the size of the subsidies (nor does the government!) and previous specifications of ”certicate fees” have been taken away from power bills. Per Nilsson reports on the development in a new book.
Are there moslem feminists?
by Isak Nygren
Some moslem women claim that they are feminists and they say that they are inspired by the ”golden era of islam” a thousand years ago. But that is not the case . Is it really possible with feminism in a religion where the woman is definitely placed below the man?
The new leader of the Leftist Party
by Fredrik Runebert
After still another election with lower polls criticism within the Leftist (formerly the Communist) Party forced party leader Lars Ohly to resign. One reason for his resignation was the lowering figures in the opinion polls. A successor will be elected at a party Congress in January 2012. And this time the election is open and there are four candidates for the chairmanship. The candidates are scrutinized by Fredrik Runebert.
The Crimes of Communism
A new site on the internet deals with the crimes of Communism. The site will hopefully grow in the future. Now it gives information on the formerly occupied countries, on the Gulag, on the KGB and so forth. URL: http://www.kommunismensbrott.se
”The bitter fate of the ”Kiruna Swedes”
– a private bill by Gunnar Andrén (MP)
”The Kiruna Swedes” is a term used for Communists from the northern mining town (beyond the Polar Circle) of Kiruna, who moved to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and the 1930s. Most of them settled in the Karelian Soviet Republic. In spite of the fact that most were believing Communists, many of them were put into the Gulag camps and others were executed. A few succeeded in getting back to Sweden and here they faced new persecutuoion by Swedish Communists who thought they were betraying ”the land of the future”. Journalist Kaa Eneberg has written three books on the ”Kiruna Swedes”. And this year there is a private bill in parliament, written by Liberal MP Gunnar Andrén, who asks for more research on the fate of the ”Kiruna Swedes”. The bill is as detailed and informative as any Contra article and thus the bill is reprinted in the magazine.
Swedish vicar worked for the Stasi
by C G Holm
Professor Birgitta Almgren has recently published her second book on the East German secret police, Stasi and its relations with Sweden. After her first book professor Almgren asked for access to Swedish Secret Police files, the files that included information on agents found in code in the German archives and with the key rescued by the CIA, called the Rosenholz files for the SIRA archives. She was denied access to the Swedish files, but succesfully appealed using the Swedish Freedom of Information Act. She got a very restricted access to the files and her main conclusion is that the Swedish Secret Police didn’t do any sincere efforts to prosecute those that were revealed as agents or spies. The had ”interviews” with them and when they denied the Swedish police accepted their denials, without checking with German archives. Professor Almgren has checked! But she is denied to give the proper name of the Stasi people. But Contra can tell that one of them is a vicar in a small community in Northern Sweden.
Is there any future for jews in the city of Malmö?
by Tommy Hansson
Jews in the Southern Swedish city of Malmö have been more and more restricted in their own city. Many moving from Malmö to Stockholm, Israel or other parts of the world. The reason being a massive influx of arab moslems that harass the jews in the city.
Iranian theocracy
By Fredrik Runebert
Iran is totalitarian theocracy. The system gives the people cetain possibilities to influence the choice of their leaders, but as the Guardian Council has the supreme power on which people are allowed to stand in an election it’s a sham democracy. A democratic constitution protects the minority against majority oppression, but in Iran even the majority is oppressed with reference to the will of Allah, as interpreted by the clergy and the Guardian Council.