Greetings from Norway!

[Ermo Kruus]

I've been a member for a while here, but I haven't gotten to introduce myself yet, so I guess now would be a good time to do so.

I'm a Norwegian from the Trøndelag region in central Norway. I'm a member of Rød Ungdom (Red Youth), which is the largest far-left youth organisation in the country. Politically, I identify with libertarian branch of the socialist movement, and especially anarcho-syndicalism.

Feel free to ask any questions! :)

[Property Is Robbery]

I guess I don;t have to welcome you since you've been here longer than me.

Have you been here? http://www.revleft.com/vb/skandinavisk-f35/index.html (http://www.revleft.com/vb/skandinavisk-f35/index.html)

[Koba1917]

Welcome comrade!


But as a question from a Libertarian Socialist perspective what is your
view in the economic and political policies in Norway?

[Le Socialiste]

Welcome!

It's always great to meet comrades from different areas/regions/countries. What's the situation like in Norway (in terms of politics, economics, social/class awareness, etc.)?

[Ermo Kruus]

I guess I don;t have to welcome you since you've been here longer than me.

Have you been here? http://www.revleft.com/vb/skandinavisk-f35/index.html (http://www.revleft.com/vb/skandinavisk-f35/index.html)Yeah, I've seen that sub-forum. Hopefully I'll help to increase the activity level there.


Welcome comrade!


But as a question from a Libertarian Socialist perspective what is your
view in the economic and political policies in Norway?Thanks!

Well, it's a more regulated form of capitalism, certainly better than the free market variant, but it's still capitalism. The social democrats have slowly been turning the state-owned companies into stock companies, and they've been advocating so-called liberalisation of the market.


Welcome!

It's always great to meet comrades from different areas/regions/countries. What's the situation like in Norway (in terms of politics, economics, social/class awareness, etc.)?
Cheers!

It's a complex question your asking, but I'll try to answer. The social democratic legacy is strongly rooted in every aspect of the Norwegian society, and there's a strong sense of egalitarian and collective thinking (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_culture#Attitudes and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_law). Class conciousness is low, mainly because of general economic equality (as you might know, this country has probably one of the biggest middle classes in the world). Economic inequality has as a result of the right turn of the Labour Party, gotten bigger the last 15 years or so.

Right now, a coalition consisting of Labour (social democrats), Socialist Left (democratic socialist) and the Centre Party (agrarianist, social liberal) is in govenment. It's pretty soft left-leaning, even though one of the ministers, Audun Lysbakken, is a self-described Marxist who now and then says that the capitalist system should be abolished and so on. The Labour Party has in the recent years lost it's traditional support from the low-income workers, who now mostly votes for the xenophobic, right-wing Progress Party.

[svenne]

Hello, dear neighbour. Great to have more scandinavians here.