Voting rights, literature and round about dogs

In 1921, women were allowed to vote for governmental elections for the first time in Sweden. We were given rights to vote a little later than other Nordic countries. Finland 🇫🇮1906, Danmark 🇩🇰1915 and Iceland 🇮🇸1915 (part of Denmark). And in 1907, a lot of Norwegian 🇳🇴 women were allowed to vote. That was a century ago and it is hard to understand since it feels so close. It deserves to be mentioned since it means a lot for women in general. The world has changed and Nordic women have the same political citizenship as Nordic men.

It is not only women struggeling for the possibility to stand on an equal human platform. This year´s Noble Price in Literature is putting focus on the colonialism in Africa. The novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded;

“for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”

(The Nobel Prize in Literature 2021. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sat. 9 Oct 2021)

Gurnah was born in Zanzibar and is active in England. Zanzibar is a lovely island and I have been lucky to go there for vacation. I learnt a lot about spices that I use for daily cooking. Wonderful to watch them growing in real. It definetly is the spice island! Moreover, I learnt to forget about time. Malaria is like getting a cold in Europe. Ebb and flow – the phased of the tide. Such a starry sky Africa, or Tanzania has! Dolphins. Cute turtles. I am looking forward to read Gurnah. However, right now I have “The bookseller in Kabul” by Åsne Seierstad on my table waiting to be read.

Ending this week´s writing by mentioning the tragic passing away of Lars Vilks. He was best known for his 2007 portrayal of the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog. The publication drew protests from Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, as well as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which called for “punitive actions” against Vilks. Previous Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt then had to meet ambassadors from 22 muslim countries to try to defuse the situation, according to the Guardian.

Sharing a song released decades ago, but still a very nice tune: “Africa” by Toto.