Native name | Almedalsveckan |
---|---|
English name | Almedalen Week |
Date | 25 July 1968 |
Venue | The western part of Visby town |
Location | Almedalen park |
Coordinates | 57°38′26″N18°17′27″E / 57.6406°N 18.2908°E |
Also known as | Politikerveckan i Almedalen |
Type | Political, social, business forum |
Patron(s) | Participants |
Organised by | Gotland Municipality |
Website | almedalsveckan.info |
The Almedalen Week[ needs IPA ] (Almedalsveckan, also known as Politician's Week in Almedalen, Politikerveckan i Almedalen) is an annual event taking place in week 26 in and around Almedalen, a park in the city of Visby on the Swedish island Gotland.
With speeches, seminars and other political activities, it is considered to be the most important forum in Swedish politics. During the week, representatives from the major political parties in Sweden take turns to make speeches in Almedalen.
It has inspired similar events to be held in other countries, like Suomi-Areena in Finland, Arendalsuka in Norway, Arvamusfestival in Estonia and Folkemødet at the island of Bornholm in Denmark.
The origin of the Almedalen Week was the speeches made by Olof Palme during several summers in Almedalen. He was in Visby because he and his family used to spend their summers at Fårö. It started with an improvised gathering that Palme, then education minister and candidate for the position of party leader for the Social Democratic party, and another party leader candidate, Krister Wickman had on 25 July 1968. [1] Palme made his speech from the back of a flatbed truck at Kruttornet by the Almedalen park. The audience was a couple of hundred people. [2]
Because of the origin of the Almedalen Week, Almedalen is sometimes nicknamed "Palmedalen". [3]
The first official Almedalen Week took place in 1982, when the Social Democrats started to organise economic seminars. As a response, the other political parties started to take a more active part. [2] The first time all of the major party leaders were present was in 1982. [4]
In the middle of the 1980s, the week almost ceased to be. In the summer following the assassination of Olof Palme in 1986, only the Green Party and the Left Party were present. [5] The rest of the parties expressed that political speeches in Almedalen were too associated with Palme as a person. Ingvar Carlsson, who became prime minister after Palme's death, said that he chose to hold his speeches at other locations in Visby during the following years out of respect for Palme. He only started speaking in Almedalen after having been persuaded to do so by Palme's widow, Lisbet Palme. [6]
In recent years, the event has grown larger, with hordes of journalists, lobbyists, local and national politicians, employees from local, regional and national organisations and representatives of non-governmental organizations all coming to Visby to meet, discuss politics and socialize. As of 2015, it is the biggest and most important forum in Sweden for seminars, debates and political speeches on current social issues. [7] In 2014, 3,513 activities were held, 866 journalists were accredited and over 30,000 participants were at the event. [8] One important factor is that all seminars are free of charge. The absolute majority of them are also open to everybody.
On 6 July 2022, during a speech the psychiatrist Ing-Marie Wieselgren died after being stabbed by a right-wing extremist. The stabbing occurred near to a stage where Centre Party leader Annie Lööf was about to give a press conference. After the fatal stabbing, the perpetrator was apprehended by a pensioner and shortly thereafter arrested by police.
The number of activities, participants and journalists covering the week has increased during the years. These are the official numbers: [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Year | Activities | Organizers | Accredited journalists | Participants |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 3,796 | 1,756 | 650 | 40,000 |
2015 | 3,465 | 1,645 | 800 | 35,000 |
2014* | 3,513 | 1,459 | 866 | 35,000 |
2013 | 2,285 | 1,029 | 727 | 20,000 |
2012 | 1,818 | 986 | 709 | 17,000 |
2011 | 1,476 | 767 | 560 | 14,000 |
2010* | 1,396 | 758 | 900 | 11,000 |
2009 | 1,041 | 589 | 450 | 7,500 |
2008 | 662 | 350 | 362 | 6,000 |
2007 | 440 | 225 | 318 | 5,000 |
2006* | 463 | c. 175 | c. 500 | n/a |
2005 | 250 | c. 120 | c. 200 | n/a |
2004 | 140 | n/a | c. 120 | n/a |
2003 | 110 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
2002* | 90 | n/a | c. 110 | n/a |
2001 | 52 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
* = election year |
Almedalen Week is an annual event taking place in week 27 in and around Almedalen, a park in the city of Visby. [13] It is coordinated by Gotland Municipality and the cost of the different activities is carried by the organization responsible for it. [14] Each day of the week is dedicated to one of the political parties represented in the Riksdag, on a rotating schedule. [15] In 2011, the number of days were extended to eight since there were then eight parties in the Riksdag. [8] A number of other lobbyists, organizations, companies and representatives from municipalities and countries are also present. [15]
With the increasing numbers of activities it has become more difficult for the individual participants to get noticed by spectators and the media. This has resulted in a number of spectacular actions during the years. In 2010, the spokesperson for the Feminist Initiative, Gudrun Schyman, burned SEK 100,000 during a speech about the inequality in wages for men and women. [16] In 2005, actress Kim Anderzon, artist Ernst Billgren, musician Olle Ljungström, among others, declared that a new party, the Kulturpartiet (the Cultural Party), had been created and that they were candidates for the Riksdag. It was later declared that the party had been an elaborate hoax created by the National Swedish Touring Theatre to raise awareness for cultural issues. [17]
Political scientist Maria Wendt has criticized the Almedalen Week and states that it has clarified how much politics in Sweden have become dependent on media, and now conforms to the terms and tools of the press, TV, radio and websites. Wendt says that whereas earlier media would report what went on in politics, it is presently more common to have debates taking place in the media itself. The language and messages delivered by politicians are conformed to fit in the frames provided by TV and newspapers, making comments short, powerful and lacking in nuances. The Almedalen Week is an event where such shortcomings are becoming more visible, according to Wendt. She suggested that instead of dedicating each day to one of the parties, the days should be used to highlight specific issues. [18]
During the Almedalen Week journalists, politicians and lobbyists socialize in a way that under normal circumstances would not be considered correct. This has been compared to a liminal phase, a term used in social anthropology for when normal rules cease to apply for a short while, like during carnivals, after which everything returns to normal. What has previously been taboo, is allowed for a short while. [19]
Similar events have been held in Finland, Denmark and Norway. The Finnish event is called SuomiAreena, started in 2006 in the city of Pori. The Danish event Folkemødet was started in 2011, on the Bornholm island. A Norwegian version of the week was held at Eidsvoll. The event was scheduled to take place in Arendal again in 2011, but was postponed because of the 2011 Norway attacks. The event is now back. [20] In 2007, a South Korean delegation came to Visby to study the concept of the Almedalen Week. According to political scientist Yonhyok Choe, the island of Jeju is a likely candidate for the event. [21] [22] In 2013, the Arvamusfestival in Estonia was started. [23]
Almedalen Week visitor Dennis Kucinich commented on the event:
When you see the kind of internecine conflict that happens in the United States— the partisan divide, the dichotomous thinking, the separation from each other—there is a different thing happening here in Sweden at Almedalen, which is a sense of a common bond as citizens with a common purpose for the nation. And people come together here. And the thing that impresses me is how quickly on the street you can get into the deepest discussions that have consequence. And so, that's why—you know, having been here only for two days, I've had a chance to meet people from every level of society, decision makers as well as citizens, and there's a sense that things matter in these kind of discussions, which are direct, relatively low-key, nonconfrontational, matter-of-fact. And behind it is— what animates it is a sense of commitment to each other and to the nation.
In 2014, the Almedalen Week was profiled by the US program Democracy Now! . [24]
These are the main speakers since 1968 in chronological order. [25] [26] [27] [28]
Visby is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants as of 2017. Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably the best-preserved medieval city in Scandinavia, and, since 1995, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Among the most notable historical remains are the 3.4 km (2.1 mi) long town wall that encircles the town center, and a number of church ruins. The decline as a Hanseatic city in the Late Middle Ages was the cause for many stone houses being preserved in their original medieval style.
Region Gotland, officially Gotlands kommun, is a municipality that covers the entire island of Gotland in Sweden. The city of Visby is the municipality's seat. Gotland Municipality is the 39th most populous municipality in Sweden.
Gotland, also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland, is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province/county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the north, as well as the Karlsö Islands to the west. The population is 61,001, of which about 23,600 live in Visby, the main town. Outside Visby, there are minor settlements and a mainly rural population. The island of Gotland and the other areas of the province of Gotland make up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area. The county formed by the archipelago is the second smallest by area and is the least populated in Sweden. In spite of the small size due to its narrow width, the driving distance between the furthermost points of the populated islands is about 170 kilometres (110 mi).
The Gotland Regiment is a Swedish Army armoured regiment which has been active in various forms between 1963–1994 and 2000–2005, when it was disbanded. The regiment was re-established on 1 January 2018. The regiment is based in Visby as part of the Gotland Garrison.
Carin Jämtin is a Swedish civil servant and former politician who has served as Governor of Västernorrland County since 1 September 2023.
Visby Airport, is located about 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) north of Visby, Gotland, Sweden.
Almedalen is a park in the Swedish city of Visby on the island of Gotland. It is well known in Sweden as the central site of the annual Almedalen Week.
Roma, also by proxy referred to as Romakloster, is a locality on the Swedish island of Gotland, with 936 inhabitants in 2014.
Tommy Möller is a Swedish professor of Political science at Stockholm University, and a frequent conservative political commentator in the Swedish media.
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The presence of the military on Gotland results from the Swedish island's strategic military importance in the Baltic Sea for most of the nation's history. Gotland has been fortified in stages since the 13th century.
Burs is a populated area, a socken, on the Swedish island of Gotland. It comprises the same area as the administrative Burs District, established on 1 January 2016. As of 2015, Gustaf Edman from Burs was probably Sweden's tallest man.
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Hanna Carolina Westerén is a Swedish politician and member of the Riksdag for the Swedish Social Democratic Party. She is currently taking up seat number 13 in the Riksdag for the constituency of Gotland County. Since 2018 she has been a member of the Committee on Environment and Agriculture.
Ing-Marie Birgitta Wieselgren was a Swedish psychiatrist and national coordinator for psychiatric issues in Sweden's Municipalities and Regions. She was also chief physician at Uppsala University Hospital.
In the run-up to the next Swedish general election, various organisations carry out opinion polling to gauge voting intention in Sweden. The date range for these opinion polls are from the 2022 Swedish general election, held on 11 September, to the present day. The next election is scheduled for 13 September 2026, but a snap election may be held earlier.