Sweden: Government wants a “cultural canon” – culture doesn’t

 Sweden: Government wants a “cultural canon” – culture doesn’t

The new center-right government in Sweden wants to create a “cultural canon” – under pressure from the far-right Sweden Democrats. The cultural scene has something against the project. One fears too much influence.

Pippi Longstocking should be on the list. Just like the children from Bullerbü. ABBA certainly too. And probably Håkan Nesser’s crime novels too.

All cultural works and cultural workers Swedenwho might end up in a “cultural canon”. The country’s new government wants to create one. This is intended to define which cultural works in the country are important – or not.

“Cultural canons” already exist in other countries. Denmark and Hungary do they have.

Expert committees are to make proposals for a “cultural canon”.

Ulf Kristerssonthe new Conservative Prime Minister, said at a government statement in October before the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm: “Culture and its practitioners are an indispensable part of civil society and keep democratic discourse alive.” The culture and “our common history form the basis of our common identity”. It creates cohesion and improves understanding for one another.

Therefore, the government – consisting of liberals, conservative moderates and Christian Democrats – wants, among other things, the Possibilities encourage everyone to experience culture. She wants to promote a living cultural heritage that is “preserved, used and further developed”. And she wants a “cultural canon.” Independent expert committees are to draw up proposals for this.

But that’s what bothers the cultural scene.

picture book

Abba – like you’ve never seen the group

The problem with the “arm’s length distance”

Anna Troberg, chairwoman of the cultural association DIK, said in an article in the daily newspaper “Svenska Dagbladet”that the government must clarify its intentions in the field of culture. “Sweden does not need a cultural canon. Sweden needs a vibrant cultural school, well-stocked school libraries and a strengthened and well-funded cultural sector.”

From their point of view, the “cultural canon” is not compatible with the long-standing principle of “arm’s length”. This provides that politics stays out of culture. In his speech, Kristersson emphasized that the “arm’s length distance” frees the “cultural sector from politicization and undue influence”.

It is good that the importance of this arm length was emphasized, said Troberg in one Message. “At the same time, they govern with the support of the Sweden Democrats, a party with an ideologically instrumental view of culture, which of course creates a certain amount of uncertainty. This also puts pressure on the new culture minister to really work for free culture and this ‘arm’s length’.”

ABBA is celebrating a comeback after a 40-year break - the planned tour will be special

Fear of the influence of the Sweden Democrats

The proposal to develop a Swedish “cultural canon” harbors “in the worst case the risk of reducing arm length and in the best case it is a shot in the dark.” Culture should be “free from the confines of a narrow path”.

With the “ideologically instrumental conception of culture” of the Sweden Democrats, Troberg refers to their cultural policy. in the policy The party, for example, has sentences like: “We do not consider cultural impulses planted in Swedish society by those in power or groups who do not see themselves as Swedish as part of Swedish culture, but rather as a form of cultural imperialism, without they are adapted to Swedish conditions.”

Or: “It is clear that some cultures uphold basic human rights, democracy and material prosperity, good health care, a high level of education and equality before the law better than others.”

Kristersson’s centre-right government needs the support of the Sweden Democrats in parliament to secure a majority. This gives the party strong influence over the government and its policies.

Criticism of “Drag Queen Story Hour” in Sweden

“The SD (Sweden Democrats) will have an impact on cultural policy, that much is clear,” says Andreas Johansson Heinö of the Timbro think tank in the union newspaper “Working World”. It is conceivable that the Sweden Democrats would approve government laws – in return for their approval of their cultural policies.

The Sweden Democrats give cultural policy a much higher priority, relatively speaking, according to Heinö. Cultural issues are an important part of the party’s vision for Swedish society. Political scientist Niklas Bolin told Arbetsvärlden that the Sweden Democrats see culture as a way of “consolidating enduring and far-reaching values ​​that we should live up to in society”.

Politicians from the Sweden Democrats are already putting pressure on culture – albeit at a local level. This is how the LGBTQ medium reported “QX”that a local SD party politician called a “Drag Queen Story Hour” in November in the city of Kalmar “disgusting” and   “perverted” designated. With these events drag queens tour libraries and read books to children.

Much unclear about “cultural canon”

After the attack, libraries in southern Sweden that had booked the storytellers were met with hatred and threats, as “QX” further reported.

Said SD local politician is Jonathan Sager from Kalmar. He called for the content of Kalmar Municipality’s libraries and preschools to be reviewed. He believes that money is being spent on inappropriate and offensive content for children, he said in an interview on the radio station P4 Squid. Sager has often criticized “drag queen story hours” like his Twitter profile shows.

Whether this case is a harbinger of the influence of the Sweden Democrats on the country’s culture or just a local political dispute is difficult to say. It is also unclear when the “cultural canon” that independent expert committees are supposed to create will come. Or where it should be used.

Ideas for the cultural canon: ABBA and the Stockholm Mosque

A first cultural institution is already standing in the way. The Swedish Academy, whose job it is to promote Swedish language and literature, does not want to be involved in the canon, its permanent secretary Mats Malm told the newspaper “Dagen’s Nyheter”. The “cultural canon” is “a concept that is permeated by power and the exercise of power”.

Torbjörn Forslid from Lund University is more positive. “Since many people are not aware of the informal canon that exists in Sweden anyway, a formal list could lead to democratization,” he said “Dagen’s Nyheter”. However, he pleads for several canons. For example one for elementary schools, one for universities, one with international works.

And what could be in this “cultural canon”? The News Page “Dagen’s Arena” from Sweden has a few ideas:

“Waterloo” by ABBA

“Mozart Brothers” by Suzanne Osten

“Jerusalem” by Selma Lagerlof

The Stockholm Mosque

The Great Synagogue in Stockholm by Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander

And of course: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

Sources: Government statement Kristersson, Government of Sweden, DIK, “Svenska Dagbladet”, SVT, Sveriges Radio, “Dagens Arena”, “Dagens Nyheter”, “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Library Bladet”, “Gothenburg’s Post”Twitter Jonathan Sager, Drag Story HourQX, “Arbetsvärlden”, basic program of the Sweden Democrats

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Source link

https://newsingermany.com/sweden-government-wants-a-cultural-canon-culture-doesnt/

https://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/schweden--regierung-will-einen--kulturkanon--