Denmark
In Denmark a painting was seen in Copenhagen on occasion of the 150 year anniversary of the Paris Commune. The painting shows the hammer and sickle on red flag and has the slogan "Proletarians of all countries unite!"
Finland
In Finland a painting was seen on the occasion of the 150 year anniversary of the Paris Commune.
Sweden
Demonstrations against new stricter corona-restrictions were seen in the three largest cities in Sweden on the same day, hundreds of people gathered in Stockholm, around 200 in Malmö and around 70 in Gotenburg. In all the cases the police made a big presence, with the goal of blocking the demonstrations from moving, resulting in dozens of apprehensions by police in all the cities, with many charged with crimes.
Why this is particularly interesting, is not so much the demonstrations themselves, but the reactions from the state. The Swedish state is effectively outlawing demonstrations with the excuse of combating spread of coronavirus, already before the so-called corona-crisis, the Swedish state was known for suppressing demonstrations, but now they are taking it to the next level. Until recently the restrictions were more lax than in the neighbouring countries, with higher levels of deaths from coronavirus, but this does not prevent the Swedish bourgeoisie from passing up on a good excuse to discourage demonstration, with a member of Stockholm's city council stating: "Encourging people to gather in big groups in the middle of the pandemic is irresponsible. Furthermore the demonstrations encourage creating disorder and chaos.".
There is a strong parallel to other countries in Europe to begin to narrow the definition of what defines a legal demonstration, for example seen in the last few weeks in the UK and Denmark. The imperialist bourgeoisie wishes to get away with stopping any demonstrations that do not serve their imperialist interests, but in the end this will only further expose their deeply reactionary class-character to the masses.
Greenland
Yet again a new corruption scandal emerges in Greenland, now in Qaqortoq where the son of municipal council member Anders Olsen, is banned from entering a bar in a hotel, due to disorderly behavior and that he was not 18 years old. Anders Olsen and his son visited the hotel later, and when they were denied entry, the politician made a scene demanding that they could enter.
A witness at the scene reported that the politician shouted that the hotel owner might lose his alcohol license because "we are the ones in charge here".
The politician later stated that it was a misunderstanding, that it is just a private disagreement and that he only "discussed" the alcohol license, because he allowed his son to enter when he was only 17 years old. But this is hilarious, considering that he is angry exactly because the hotel owner took action against his son. Corruption is an everyday occurrence in Greenland, especially in the many small settlements, representatives of the Greenlandic administration do as they please, at the cost of the people.
Furthermore a report has been released on the state of housing in Greenland. Nuuk, by far the biggest settlement in Greenland, sees a high demand for new inhabitants. In the last five years the waiting list for public housing in Nuuk has risen 42%, from 1457 to 2076, in the same period 500 new housing units were built.
In a settlement with less than 20.000 people, more than 2000 people are on the waiting list for housing, and the average waiting time is 11 years. The public housing administration is planning to build 50 new units every year the next few years, but this in no way satisfies the demand.
Danish pension companies are looking into financing new apartments, but want more clarity on the rules for their return on investment, so there is pressure on Kommuneqarfik (Municipality) Sermersooq to change their rules, to encourage foreign investments in public housing.
