Catfight in cowboys’ land

Argentina is since long a mourning country desperately seeking in its past after the pride and strength necessary to conquer a better place in a tough, modern world. But the search has not been easy or even rewarding because the country’s past is a revolving amalgamation of giant lies, dark myths and huge frustration.  

And most of the Argentinean society resembles today to and old, sad lady refusing to accept her youth’s exquisiteness and beauty are gone for ever and that not even a blind prince is going to knock on her door.  

That’s why it is interesting to see what happens next Sunday when two women will be fighting for the presidential post. One is Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the wife of the leaving leftist president, and the other is Elisa Carrió who is said to endorse centre-left views.  

Maybe Deputy Carlos Kunkel is right when he says to El Clarin that the time has come to make a real revolution à la Peron which brings social changes and stronger institutions.  

Argentina will nevertheless need a strong president capable to solve the upcoming problems in the economy, health care and education, the very same problems that almost made the state and the country collapse in 2001.  I hope the winner, despite its gender, really is fit for the job and does it well. The world wants to stop crying for Argentina.  

Is Sweden ready for a non-white governor?

Al Jazeera brings me this morning the news about the victory of Bobby Jindal, the first Indian-American to be elected governor of a US state. By promising to stop political corruption, cut taxes and improve schools he won a primary election to lead Lousiana.

Being immigrant and conservative is endeed becoming a successful combination around the world. The darkest skin you have and the darkest blue ideology you profess, the better the Political Establishment will like you, such is the example of Ms Nyamko Sabuni, who enjoyed the top and a post at the right goverment by hunting and demonizing immigrants at the same time she claims her vision of Sweden is “of a tolerant, humane society, rich in diversity and characterised by respect for the basic freedoms and rights of the individual“.  

In contrast to America, in Sweden governors are not elected by the people. They are nominated by the central government and they do not have that much to say. I would like to have it the American way and I would like to pilot the County of Östergötland into a new modern era.

But I wonder if I really could be successful in such an election campaign. Here, and in most of Scandinavia, being an immigrant is often met with disapproval, and that circumstance in combination with “antilagom”-leftist convictions is hardly going to earn you the masses’ support.

But, who knows, if Mr Bobby “Piyush” Jindal could became the first non-white Louisiana governor since the 1870s, why could I not become the first “svartskalle” (the Swedish ethnophaulism used as a slur to refer to foreigners with black hair) serving as “landshövding” (the Swedish word for governor) and help to brake down the psychological status of exclusion and the racist structure of the Swedish society?

I’m definitely equipped to substitute Mr Björn Eriksson, so he can enjoy life as a pensioner and get more time (he needs it) to improve his blogging skills at the Swedish daily Expressen.

I would certainly use better all the rooms in the Castle of Linköping. I have far more children than him and all of them demand a lot of space. And I would not only talk affectionately about integrating immigrants in our multicultural society, I would transform most of the castle into a safe haven for hundreds of immigrant families hiding in Östergötland. So, my friends, would you vote for me?