Monday, September 29, 2014

From Stockholm

Stockholm Syndrome

I am generally very fond of summers, but this year has been exceptionally good, thanks to the number of windows in my apartment. The attic is my bedroom and it has two slant roof windows, one facing east and the other west. And I never draw the curtains. So, I was filled with childlike enthusiasm on the eve of the summer solstice this year. I had had a rather long day at work, but could not sleep – I was very curious to see when the last ray of the Sun disappears. It was at about 00:40. My curiosity about how long it would be before sunrise got the better of my sleep. The first sunrays appeared at about 03:15. I could finally get some sleep, but only for about two hours. The adrenalin kept me in good spirits the next day nonetheless.

The trouble however is that adrenalin takes you only so far. I sleep so little during the summers that by August, I tend to get cranky. Last year, I suffered a minor burnout and slept over 120 hours in the first week of my holidays! Somehow, I still do not draw the curtains, and Joline actually wears a sleeping mask when she sleeps over.

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Finally at Maria’s

My friend Maria had invited me to visit her since 2010, when I first arrived in Europe, but I did not have enough money to make the trip. Four year since, I finally have enough time and some money to travel. So here I am in Stockholm.

At first the city seemed a lot like Vienna, but only quieter and cleaner. The language bears some similarities to Dutch (I am told that the Swedish and Dutch share about 10% of their words), but still sounded quite foreign. I was given a lift by my co-passenger Johan’s girlfriend from the airport to the city center where Maria and I were supposed to meet, so the people seemed quite friendly. I have wanted to visit Stockholm, ever since I learned about the Swedish tax system of redistribution, which raised my curiosity about this egalitarian society. But unlike the buzzing city of Berlin – the first large city I visited in Europe – Stockholm did not immediately catch my fancy. For the first three of days, I was not quite sure what to make of it, and the only human impression it made was that a lot of women were pregnant! Maria and I went to a Monica Zetterlund memorial Jazz concert, and the first two lady singers – Viktoria Tolstoy and another – were also pregnant!  Maria told me that it was a typical pregnancy time for many Swedish women who had enjoyed their summer holidays.

But it took those three days for the work fatigue to wear off and the city soon made more impressions than just pregnant women.

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Left-Right, Left-Right

Yesterday, Maria and I went to the Dansens Hus to watch a triple bill performance by the Netherlands Dance Theater 2. One piece, choreographed by Alexander Ekman, was called Left Right Left Right. We enjoyed it very much, but what I am writing has no more to do with the dance. The left-right, left-right I am writing about has more ideological leanings.

I think the expressions left and right are perilously general, and relative. For example, I often get the impression that in the US, one must choose between right and right. So, let me be clear. I subscribe to the ideology of liberty. Now this is another dangerously relative expression. I should be clearer. To my mind, liberty includes the freedom to find one’s calling, and the right to be supported by an egalitarian society, which provides sustenance to its members with decent education, food, clothing and shelter, until they find their calling, or until the calling is self-sustainable.

Highly progressive, redistributive tax systems, like those in Sweden and the Netherlands[1] are central to the conservation of liberty. Or are they?

As you may already have noticed, I lean left, but I have continuously been re-evaluating my leanings over the past few years. And Stockholm made me seriously rethink my ideological subscriptions.

I needed to purchase red wine to prepare a dish I cooked for Maria and her family, but could find none at the super market! I was surprised to learn about the state monopoly for the importation and sale of alcoholic beverages through the Systembolaget. How could this be in compliance with the fundamental EU freedom of movement of goods? I looked it up and found that the EU had approved of Sweden’s state monopoly when it became a member state. This was approved on the ground that the policy was to protect the public health from the harmful effects of alcohol. Legal technicalities aside, I faced of two ideological issues with what seemed like a paternalistic system:
     -        does such a paternalistic monopoly not abridge liberty; and 
     -     was the redistributive tax system also not paternalistic, which made citizens overly dependent, thus abridging liberty?

The first issue was not too difficult to resolve. The Systembolaget is a democratic choice the people of Sweden have made. At the same time, it is not a majoritarian law, oppressing on any minority, as it does not prohibit alcohol consumption but merely regulates its sale within Sweden. Therefore, as decided by the ECJ,[2] a Swede can always buy alcohol abroad – outside the Systembolaget – and bring it within the country for the purposes of personal consumption. I also found that most people in the country agree with the law, and have no issues with it.

The second issue, which also arises in the context of the Netherlands, is probably more difficult to reconcile with. I have often also felt it in the Netherlands where a number of people take social security for granted, and remain voluntarily unemployed. Another side effect of the paternalistic socialism is when people stop challenging themselves from achieving their full potential, and limit themselves to what they perceives they ought to do in society. Can a system that inhibits the natural drive to finding the outer limits of one’s potential be said to be conducive to liberty? I do think that these are real demerits of a socialistic system.

Despite its demerits, I have a preference for the socialistic system. Voluntary unemployment is a problem not exclusive to socialism. Sons and daughters of the wealthy in a non-socialist system are often known to remain quite voluntarily unemployed – and are the only ones who can unequally choose to remain so. Besides, even from those who are inspired to occupy themselves with their callings, a non-socialistic system unfairly rewards the lucky few, whose calling is in demand at that moment in time. The rest must face the apathy and a sense of failure that comes by occupying themselves with jobs that they feel nothing for. A non-socialistic system is the key, to my mind, to widening the gap between the haves and have-nots – not only materially, but also in terms of the opportunities to realise one’s self. Of course, the so-called paternalistic system has its demerits, but is the lesser of two evils; and to my mind, conserves liberty more equally.

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Left-Right, Left-Right – II

(I am now writing on my flight back to Schiphol.)

Undoubtedly, the most profound memory from my stay in Stockholm is of my interaction with the 11-year-old students of class VI of the school in which Maria teaches. The idea was to talk to them about India, and given how diverse India is, I wanted to highlight that there was no one India and the presentation was called `My roots in India´. I began by asking a question: Are you excited to know more about India? And two or three students replied rather honestly: Not sure; 50-50; we will know after the class! At once, I knew they were going to be proactive!

The students raised their hands as and when questions or comments arose in their minds, and some of them I had least expected. On learning about the very wide economic disparities in India one student asked: what is the individual income tax rate in India? And we had a discussion about what a fair rate of tax should be. That discussion was unexpected, but the next question stunned me! The discussion was now about elections – both India and Sweden had their general elections this year - and I was asked: How do you think a country should be ruled? I said “democratically”; but diplomatic answers did not impress these students. Brushing my answer aside, the student asked me whether I supported “right or left”! He seemed very pleased to hear my answer.

“What kind of music did Indians listen to”, asked one student. “Bollywood” prompted another. But I did not have a simple answer for this one either. Like the languages, beliefs, customs, costumes and cuisines, the taste in music was also quite diverse in India. I told them about the two broad schools of Indian classical music – Hindustani and Carnatic – and how a lot of people in India are experimenting with traditional sounds and western music. The talk concluded with me playing them two pieces of music. `Thaaye Yashoda´ – a Carnatic-Pop fusion song from the movie Morning Raga – and `It’s The Time to Disco´ – a Bollywood song from the movie Kal Ho Na Ho. And they loved them both!

The kids' inspired engagement during class was so inspiring for me that I think I might teach children every now and then! Each one felt free to express oneself without inhibition. In that moment, I remembered being beaten or scolded for asking “too many questions” in school. At the same time, talking to these kids was vindicating to that little child in me, who had felt worthless decades ago. 

I would like to end by quoting an excerpt from the poem `Our Greatest Fear´ by Marianne Williamson:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant,
Actually, who are you not to be?

Our playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people around us won’t feel insecure around us.

It is not just in some of us; 
It is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.





[1] Some people may call these communist systems – the alleged antithesis to liberty – but these two countries are the original free market economies of the world.
[2] Case No. C-170/04.

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