In a protest against the fact that the Swedish government support export of military weapon and equipment, Svenska Freds has hijacked the Internet domain namne "www.forsvarsexportmyndigheten.se". On this Internet site Svenska Freds has protested against the export of weapon and the support from FXM.
I hink that this was a brilliant move by Svenska Freds. In a very non-violent way they have made their agenda shown to the public. Thay have focused on the agency and not the people working at the agency. This in contrast to another Swedish Anti-War movement OFOG. OFOG attacked Swedish Homosexual officers attending the Stockholm Pride Festival. In this way they also attacked the individual persons and their right to attend a parade to show to the society that "gay is OK" in the Swedish Defence Forces. Last year OFOG did their best to stop a NATO exercise in northern Sweden. But they invited a russion officer to a anti-war meeting in Scotland. What is OFOG:s true agenda and where do they get their financial support? OFOG has shown that they have a very long way o go until they reach the same level of sophistication as Svenska Freds.
Unfortunately most Swedish peace organisations focus on the industry in Sweden. According to Swedish law all export of weapon are prohibited. In each case the Swedish Defence Industry must seek permission from the Swedish Governmental Agency ISP. Is it not logical that one governmental organisation Inspection for Strategic Products, ISP, do their best to limit the defence export and another, FXM, supports it? Since the export of weapon is of strategic importance to Sweden I believe that it is best done by supervision of the government. Otherwise the industry has to close down and the Swedish Defence Forces will need to import all weapons and in this way also supporting the weapon industry in countries that are not limited in the same way as the Swedish weapon industry. Guess which companies that has the biggest possibility to export to countries that will use their weapons against their own population or in aggressive attacks against their neighbors? By stopping the possibility for Swedish export the Swedish peace organisations in reality makes life easier for Defence companies in other countries. They will make money by selling weapons to both Syria AND Sweden.
The day I see OFOG or Svenska Freds in Syria protesting against the use of weapons against the civilian population they will have all my respect. Until then it is a lot of talk but no action.
Maybe Svenska Freds is even barking at the wrong tree? More worrying than the close connections between FXM and the Swedish Defence Industri is the close connections between ISP and the Defence Industry. There must always exist a balance between the controlling and the supporting agencies in Sweden.
I do not agree with Svenska Freds agenda, but I believe that they have a right to say what they believe in. However, the Swedish court does not agree with me. Svenska Freds are no longer allowed to use the domain "forsvarsexportmyndigheten.se". But that will not stop Svenska Freds. The Internet is big and a slight change of domain name will do the trick. If you want to continue to visit Svenska Freds version of FXM, then you can go to their mirror domain "www.forsvarsexport.se".
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