Drunken introduction!

[Olentzero]

Well hello there! Name's Olentzero, I'm an 18-year veteran of the International Socialist Organization in the US, and a 2-year member of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna here in Sweden.

First joined the ISO in 1989 in Iowa City, then rejoined in 1994 in Washington DC, where I remained until 2007. Spent a year in Turkey where I had contact with the SDP, then came here to Sweden where I found the RS after searching Wikipedia for a bit and figuring out they were the best presence on the left around here. (Any DC ISO around? By now you should know who I am!)

The scene here is good, plenty of leftist activists and parties organizing around issues like immigration, budget cutbacks, troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and privatization of formerly public services like health care. Last September we had a nasty slap in the face much akin to the Republican 'shellacking' back in the US, but it hasn't translated into a whole lot of action just yet. Here's hoping!

[Reznov]

18 years? Dam fine, mate!

Looking forward to hearing your opinions and takes on current activities.

[Arilou Lalee'lay]

Drunken introductions are the best kind! Much better than high introductions. Those usually aren't much different than normal introductions, except that they take two hours to write.

Welcome to the forum!

[Olentzero]

Thank you both! I'm sure it's gonna be a fun time looking around here.

[Kuppo Shakur]

Well met!

[Sentinel]

Welcome comrade, nice to see that you have arrived. :)

[Olentzero]

Thanks for tipping me off about this place! I'd been looking for a forum to hang out on for a while now since the last one I was on annoyed the hell out of me. Not that it was a bad place, just having to argue Marxism with the same old crowd of libertarians and other political knuckleheads got tiresome.

[Iraultzaile Ezkerreko]

Welcome to the forum! If you don't mind my asking, what took you to Turkey and Sweden?

[Olentzero]

Personal stuff, mostly. Got a job teaching English in Ankara, then reconnected with an old love interest in Sweden.

[Iraultzaile Ezkerreko]

Sounds like a good reason!

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Great to have a "veteran" on the boards :)
Iowa City? Good place, parties, etc. :cool: But wow, it's cool you've been all around the place. It would be cool to hear more of your political thoughts, but I'm assuming you're a Trotskyist, considering the ISO and a quick wiki search says the Socialist Justice Party is trotty as well.
I'm always interested in hearing people's thoughts on S.A.C. because hearing about them outside of Sweden seems to be rare (darn you, Swedish language) despite being one of the larger/prominent A-S unions.

Anyway, glad to have you here!

[Olentzero]

Hey, NoOne - thanks for the welcome. I am indeed a Trotskyist; I joined the tendency here on the boards but the mod hasn't approved me yet. (I remember one huge party outside Kurt Vonnegut's house in IC - man, that was some wild stuff.)

I have to admit I'm not too familiar with the SAC; I've only been in Sweden two years and am still really working on getting the political lay of the land. I have seen transit workers on duty wearing their SAC buttons, which is definitely a lovely sight - try getting away with that in the US!

[WeAreReborn]

Welcome comrade! Hopefully you can learn as well as shed some insight on topics.

[ellipsis]

Welcome! Glad you to have a veteran comrade like yourself on the forum.

[DDR]

Olentzero, what will you bring us these Xmas?

[Olentzero]

Worldwide fightback, if it'll fit in my bag...

[SacRedMan]

Hello there :laugh:

[YorkshireAntifa]

Props for going with your drunken instincts and joining this forum. I'm new, myself, and there's a lot of intellectual conversations going on here. Pretty exciting.

Welcome, my friend!