Till minne av Anna Lindh

[libertango]

So, like darkmane, I spotted the story about the de-listing of the "Storsjöodjur", or Great Lake Monster, as an endangered species, although in my case I picked it up from Raymond Chen. (Sez Raymond, "I find the Swedish word odjur somewhat poetic. It translates as "monster" but literally means "un-animal".")

This got me to thinking about things Swedlish. Like, Karlskoga (akirlu's childhood town) is just to the north of Lake Möckeln. Is there a Möckelnodjur?

How are things in Nora, probably my favorite little town in Sweden (to date)?

Hm. What's happening in Sweden generally? I seem to remember the Foreign Ministry had a bunch of pages in English...

{beat}

Oh.

Anna Lindh was stabbed a year ago today. She died a year ago tomorrow.

Oh.

I forgot it was 9/11 -- albeit 2003, not 2001.

As I've said before (and said again), I'm not sure why Anna's senseless death affects me so... But, it does. I cued up Afro-Celt Sound System's song, "Release", which I associate very strongly with her death:

Don't argue amongst yourselves
Because of the loss of me
I'm sitting amongst yourselves
Don't think you can't see me

Don't argue amongst yourselves
Because of the loss of me
I haven't gone anywhere
but out of my body

Reach out and you'll touch me
Make effort to speak to me
Call out and you'll hear me
Be happy for me

Yeah. Not unlike Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Fly from Heaven", it's probably an allegory about Christ, but... Yeah.

Anyway, as it turns out, there is now Anna Lindhs Minnesfond -- which is to say, a Memorial Fund. They're sponsoring an Annual Prize:

"The Anna Lindh Memorial Fund supports primarily women and young people who work in the spirit of Anna Lindh. They are people, who in their daily lives have the courage to fight indifference, prejudice, oppression and injustices in order to promote a good life for all people in an environment marked by respect for human rights.

The Anna Lindh Prize can go to an individual, organisation or project active in Sweden or abroad."

The first recipient has been named, Amira Hass, a columnist for Ha'aretz who lives in the Israeli-occupied territories.

I think it's a good start.

I miss Anna. The more I learn about her, the more I wish she were still with us, a humane, vigorous voice for Sweden, Europe, and the World.

And it's spooky that, like a salmon swimming home, I ended up stumbling across these references to her on the anniversary itself. I'm generally not superstitious, but I'm glad it worked out this way.

And tomorrow is... That Day.

I'll write about it tomorrow. Not much -- I wasn't touched that directly. But so many dear to me were, that I cannot avoid saying some damn thing.

To leave, some images:

Anna's official ministerial portrait, 2003


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Anna skating at home in Dalarna, 1997


*^*^*^*^*

Anna and Olof Palme, Sweden's other martyr, in 1984


Be well.

Comments

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

It still seems like such a shameful waste.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I want to go visit akirlu's hometown now. What a charming web page.

It's interesting how a particular senseless act of violence will suddenly crystalize into a personal touchstone for what one most abhors about needlessly taking lives. It's even more interesting to see what that touchstone is for others. Thank you for introducing me to Anna Lindh.