Why do women feel so much safer on the streets of Sweden?

Re-post of an article written by me for ‘The Mancunion’, Manchester University’s Student Union’s newspaper. It dates back to my first month of exchange in Uppsala and was first published on the 13th of February 2013.


Streets of Manchester at night

Reclaim the Night highlights how unsafe women in Manchester can feel walking home at night alone, a huge contrast to the experience of women I’ve met on my study abroad in Uppsala, Sweden. As a student ambassador, one of the most recurrent questions from anxious parents of applicants who want to study in Manchester is “how safe is the city?” or “do you feel safe here?”. The answer for me at least is “yes”, although Manchester isn’t the safest place in the world, you have to get used to it. But when I talked to a Swede studying in the city I got quite a different answer. Patrik  studies at the University of Manchester, and goes as far as saying that Manchester is one of the places in which he feels most unsafe. Even when Patrick  traveled alone around South America he felt safer, as he could spot the ‘bad people’ from a mile. In Manchester, it’s much harder to know when you can feel safe.

Do people feel the same way in beautiful, ‘gender equal’, respectful Sweden? Beyond the world renowned stereotypes, what is the reality in everyday life? Many English exchange students commented on the way they feel safer going back home late at night here than they do back in the UK. Becky, a British University of Manchester student studying in Sweden, says that in Stockholm she has gone home late at night several times and never felt threatened. In Manchester, she says that she would never dare. When I asked her why, she told me that: “The police here are really in control of the situation, as soon as drunk people start to make some noise they would be approached immediately and asked to quieten down”.

Meg, who studies in Norwich but is on her semester abroad in Sweden, talks about a difference in culture. She explains how, even in clubs, Swedish guys’ behaviour towards women is “more respectful”. In England “episodes of semi-harassment are accepted as perfectly normal, especially if drunk”. Generally gender neutrality is considerably stronger than in England as can be seen by several customs in everyday life.

For example, when paying the bill in a restaurant, in a café or buying a drink in a club it doesn’t matter what your gender is. Everyone pays for themselves. A man would not be expected to always pay for a woman, they would take it in turns. At first I could not see how Swedes could find this normal, but speaking to Hannah from the south of Sweden,I saw how she struggles to imagine it any other way. She disagreed with “the European way of doing things”, as beyond being unfair it also puts two people on a different level, and the small “indebting” could subconsciously put a certain “pressure” on the woman.

Beyond the cultural traditions, and the almost total equality in employment rates (76. 1% women and 82% men), there is a considerable social difference between England and Sweden for example in higher employment rates, less class disparity, more people who’re highly educated (education is free from nursery to PhD level) and a more controlled ‘drinking culture’ (state monopoly on all alcoholic beverages above 3.5%). These are not necessarily determining factors, but they undoubtedly play an important role in shaping Swedish society.

Iconic picture of Uppsala at night

But it’s not perfect. Government funded studies show that statistically 85% of Swedish women “worry about being potential victims of violence walking home at night” and 56% admit having experienced some form of sexual harassment.These figures refer to the youngest part of the population (between 18 and 24) that, always according to the study, are statistically at higher risk than older members of the population. As Patrik points out, people have different ideas of safety, and although he believes Sweden is extremely safe he knows some Swedes would disagree with him. This, he says, is partly due to higher standards and expectations. Out of all the exchange students I spoke to from various parts of the world, not one of them believes they have been to a safer country than Sweden.

A month in the country is not enough to understand how things truly are, but even in the first few days I noticed the way people trust each other. The more I live here in Uppsala, the more I realise how all the ordinary precautions that we follow in England to ‘stay safe’ are not at all normal. The constraints we put on our personal freedom can only be seen clearly when you  live without those constraints. In Sweden, it is really enjoyable living in a society without having to fear the strangers on the street; for everyone, but even more so for women.

 


Article originally published in ‘The Mancunion‘, The University of Manchester’s Student Union’s weekly newspaper, on the 13th of February 2013. Here is the link to the original post.

Nya Moderaterna Answers

Nya Moderaterna (M) or the new Moderates in English, answer the 9 Political Questions asked to all major parties represented in Stora Torget, Uppsala.
Answering our questions is Moderaterna candidate for Uppsala Fredrik Hultman.

1. What are the core values your party represents?

 

The Moderate Party defines its ideology as liberal-conservative. According to the party platform, our core values are Liberty, Safety, Openness and Justice.

 

We believe in the potential of every human being to improve their own lives and the lives of others through entrepreneurship and innovation. Therefore, we want government to be limited, but the state to be strong when it is needed.

2. Where would you place your party in the Left-Right political spectrum?

The party is usually described as being centre-right.

 

3.Which are the parties you feel closest to in the European Parliament?

The Moderate Party is a member of the European People’s Party (EPP) party group, and has traditionally been rather similar to the British Conservative Party (although, they left the EPP some years ago). The Moderate Party is by far more EU positive than the British Conservatives, but we still share some core ideological tenets with them.

We also have a lot of things in common with the Finnish Kokoomus, the German CDU and the Irish Fine Gael.

 

4. Why should people vote for your party?

We are a party for the hopeful, the ambitious and the hard working. We believe in the potential of every human being to achieve great things, and want politics to reflect that. Politicians should keep out of people lives, and encourage private initiatives and entrepreneurship. But we also need a strong state, that could provide a strong safety net for those who need support, such as the sick and the elderly.

If more people work and contribute to society, we have more tax money to spend on promoting the general welfare of all people, by investing in education, health care and care for the elderly. We are not the party that makes the most extravagant promises, but we never promise more than we can deliver. We always prioritises core welfare services, such as health care, care for the elderly and education. Those services are provided at municipal and a county level.

 

5. What are the general priorities your party aims at achieving throughout Sweden?

Our main priorities in this election are reforming the benefits system, cutting taxes for low-income workers and pensioners, investing heavily in cutting waiting times in the health care system, implementing effective environmental policies and ensuring that Sweden is safe by investing in the police force to ensure the rule of law.

For the past four years we have seen a rapid rise in violent crime and sex offences. The government has been unable to address this. The number of police has dwindled due to internal issues at the police authority and poor working conditions, while too few are accepted to the Police Academy to meet the need of the Swedish police force. This has also lead to many serious criminal offences not being investigated within a reasonable time. The Moderates want to raise police salaries significantly.

 

Since the refugee crisis in 2015 it has been made abundantly clear that Sweden cannot have migration policies that greatly diverges from neighbouring countries. Therefore, we want to keep some of the fundamental parts of the temporary legislation that was enacted in 2016, and which expires in 2019. For example, we want temporary residency permits to be the general rule and demand that immigrants who bring over family member show that they will be able to support them financially. We also want improve integration policies by demanding that immigrants learn basic Swedish as a condition to earn permanent residency and citizenship.

 

Today, taxes are high while it is still possible to earn more from government handouts than by working. We want to introduce a benefit cap, to incentivise work. For the same reasons, we also want to cut taxes for low income earners. As a matter of fairness, we also want to cut taxes for pensioners, so that people who have worked their whole lives can support themselves.

 

During the past four years waiting times have risen steadily in health care. We want to invest directly in decreasing waiting times. We also want to introduce more teaching hours in primary schools, to improve results and offer more support to students who lag behind.

 

We are the only party that has presented a plan to increase defence funding so that it will be 2 % of GDP, in line with the NATO requirement, and we also want Sweden to join Nato.

 

6. Why should people vote for your party on a Local level?

 

We are the party that prioritises safety, low taxes and core welfare services. We want local government to run more efficiently and cut municipal taxes so that working families and pensioners get to keep more of the money they’ve earnt. By committing to focussing on core welfare services, we can also afford to cut taxes. The Moderate Party is the best option for those who want sound economic policies.

 

Today, the tax rate in Uppsala municipality is higher than in comparable municipalities, but the welfare services are not by any comparison better in Uppsala than in other municipalities. Out of 290 municipalities, Uppsala schools now rank in 146th place. When the Moderate Party gained power in 2006, schools ranked in 214th place. In 2014 when we lost power, Uppsala ranked in 54th place. We have improved school results before, and with our policies we will be able to do so again.

 

7. If elected, what will you do for Uppsala? And for Uppland?

 

In Uppsala we want to implement our seven-point programme for schools, by introducing qualified teacher assistants to minimise teachers’ workload, and allow them to focus more on teaching. We also want to introduce centralised corrections of test, and implement a model for developing better teaching through teacher conferences lead by qualified researchers, or teachers with an equivalent level of academic education.

We want to focus on making Uppsala safer, by introducing more camera surveillance in public places and having more security guards in public areas. It is unacceptable that many citizens are afraid to go out because of the rise in violent crime.

We want benefits for the unemployed to be tied to demands for work applications. There must always be incentives to find work. In Uppsala, everyone who is able to work, should be expected to.

We promise to immediately add funding to schools that need extra funding for children with special needs. We believe that the cuts to that funding has been irresponsible and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. We also want to improve the traffic situation, by creating more parking spaces and get rid of the bottle necks that create traffic jams.

At a regional level, we want to address the staffing needs at the Akademiska Hospital. Nurses have been resigning at a discouraging rate, to the extent that certain wards cannot remain open. We want to introduce a career system, which rewards loyalty and experience, and also conduct necessary re-organisations to improve working hours for hospital employees.

We also want to make investments collective traffic, and are open to creating a tram system, provided that it is the most feasible and economically sound alternative.

 

8. Do you have any links to further material on your party in English?

This is a brief guide to some of our main policies in this election: https://moderaterna.se/sites/default/files/page_attachments/2018-06/folder_A5_vårkampanj_2018_uppslag_ENG.pdf

 

9. Any other closing comments or remarks?

It is important to note that the Moderate Party is cooperating closely with the Alliance (Alliansen), which also consists of “Centerpartiet”, Kristdemokraterna and Liberalerna.

Therefore, we have agreed on certain sets of policies that we would like to implement together with those parties if we are able to rule as a coalition on national, regional and/or municipal level. A vote for the Moderate Party is therefore also a vote for the Alliance. We have no intention of collaborating with other political parties, especially not the Sweden Democrats. However, we have reached agreements with the Social Democrats and the Green Party on important issues in the past, such as the Energy agreement two years ago that was agreed in parliament, and we are open to more of those agreements in the future.

We governed as the Alliance on a national level, in Uppsala municipality and in the Uppsala region between 2006 and 2014. Since 2014 we have been in opposition, and are now looking forward to get back into power.

 


To read more about the Swedish 2018 Vote go to the homepage of the section.

Photos: Dante Löfstrand ©

Ghost Villages (5/5): Social and Medical Services, focus on the elderly

If Sardinian authorities centralise everything in three of four cities for the entire island, it would make life even harder for those who would like to remain in the rural communities dotted around,specifically inland.

Previously I mentioned technology as an instrument to bring services into people’s houses and make them accessible using a PC or even a smartphone, which is really important when considering bureaucratic affairs but also the health service. A non emergency helpline, chat service and extensive websites with information in Italian, Sardinian and English on different medical symptoms and first stance remedies could be of great help for the local population as a first step to take before going to the GP or a medical centre in a bigger municipality. The British NHS is a good example that offers this high standard digital/remote service. Obviously many of the elderly would not be able to navigate the system, so to complement the digital portal there should be a hotline where nurses provide initial screening and arrange for the local GP to call them and possibly book an appointment or arrange further care plans.

Another very good thing that Sardinia could learn from the NHS is the way in which Scotland distributes resources on providing localised healthcare. For some aspects parallels can be drawn between Scotland and Sardinia, both in terms of economy, historically agricultural and farming of sheep especially; victims of a failed industrial plan; trying to invest resources in tourism and services; remote communities which are difficult to access; an ageing population. Also historically they are ironically connected as the king of Scotland became king of a united Britain in the same way as the king of Sardinia became king of a united Italy nearly 300 years later.

The strong families and the admirable culture of caring for the elderly within the ‘clan’ (the network extended family plus close friends) allowed the health system to sort of take advantage of the spirit of solidarity found in these rural communities and never really developed a system designed for them.

An improved series of social services and a medical system need to be obviously accompanied by an improved public transport network, as elderly people should not be forced to drive when they do not feel comfortable in doing so and it is also dangerous for some as the golden years have slow reflexes which is not ideal for driving down country lanes.The alternative to driving would be relying on a relative to take you to the bigger centre but why should one have to do that?

With the amount of tax the average Italian citizen pays, it is outstanding to see how public services are lacking. Perhaps government believe there should be a relation tax- in order for Italy to provide a similar standard to Scandinavia or at least Britain, but this is clearly not the case.

More information about ghost villages in Sardinia and Campus Omodeo.

#Pointless or #Powerful use of Social Media within Academia Today?

Having given myself the title of ‘Social Media Manager’ in the Swedish language school I was working for this Summer #UISS2017, much to the amusement of the director and many within the school, I have earned myself the reputation of ‘social media man’ which I honestly don’t know what to make of.

I am of the ‘social media generation’ and I witnessed first hand the transition between nothingness and the digital world we live in today and if I stop to think about how much has changed in so little time I find it is almost scary.

There are two ways one can look at this revolution:

  • on the one side, one’s personal privacy is never going to be like it used to be as everything you have said or published on the net can be discovered using an elementary browser search.
  • On the other hand, debates have no limits or borders and things written can be picked up shared, commented on and ‘go viral’,capturing thousands of people around the world. Freedom of speech and openness are key in modern digital debates. Those philosophical debates a few intellectuals would once have had sitting around a table in a ‘Cafe d’Art’ in la Bella Epoque or over a millennium earlier in the public toilets in Roman times,now occur in offices, bedrooms, streets, trains, universities and anywhere an internet connection is available, thanks to online publications, blogs and forums.

Becoming a ‘digital intellectual Cafe’ is the new goal for LostinaCup which started as an exchange student’s blog, and then became a personal website with ‘Social Cultural observations and other random stuff’, to then take a step further now in 2017 and undergo a series of changes that are still taking place beginning with the passage from the .org to .com. Improvements in graphics together with the increasing number of sections available and things you will soon be able to do, make this a real ‘Cafe’. To be fair from the very beginning in February 2013 this has never been a ‘moppy woppy’ platform of narratives on ‘how lovely new friends from all over the world are’ or how ‘OMG, it is so nice to see so much snow and have Fika afterwards with all the cute Swedish pastries…’

Four years of work ‘putting myself out there’ via the blog and social media channels connected to it has not really changed things that much from the long dinner table discussions I used to have with my family while I was growing up. Now the debate extends way beyond the four walls of the dining room of my parents’ house in Sardinia and anyone can take part in it. However the reality is that only my 87 year old grandma, who lives in London, has effectively been included in the discussions to which she often contributes with comments which I really appreciate.

This just goes to show how even if you try as much as you want to create a broad debate over many years, you sometimes still lack the readership and interest from the public. It could be down to uninteresting content, bad communication and distribution or the fact I’m not a academic, journalist or politician who is able to say things with a voice of authority. Who knows? Then again, the web is often quite simple minded and this is reflected by the fact that Justin Bieber and cats playing piano are the biggest sensation on Youtube.

But if the # taught me something,it is that one does not need qualifications or electoral mandates anymore to be able to rule a country as long as they are good at Tweeting. Take Trump as an example, even before being elected admin of @POTUS he had been tweeting and hashtagging away attacking people left, right and centre in a very ‘politically incorrect’ manner or another case:- the former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi who was democratically elected as mayor of Florence and after internal political decisions within his party became the leader of a State of over 60 milion inhabitants with his charismatic touch and pungent tweets such as #staisereno (don’t worry), but no electoral mandate from the Italian people.

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a hashtag, is a good guy with a hashtag (*).

There is no escaping the fact we live in a digital era and hashtags are changing the way people think and communicate across the world. That little previously unused character on your keyboard has now become a vital connection between my 145 characters to the ones of everybody else who is covering the same topic or has taken pictures of the same location.By connecting people social media gives the user a broader perspective on a topic which is often strongly dictated by able politicians, journalists and mainstream media channels who set the agenda and have the loudest voice.

It is our duty, as students and academics to bring out our nerdy knowledge, observations and thoughts to the table as we are more able than others to connect dots and draw broad cross cultural comparisons so it is our duty not to shy away from controversial debates, but instead tackle them full on. With the use of our previous research, passive and active knowledge and writing skills it is our duty to serve the broader population and, with a respectable voice, put all the people who lie and manipulate the masses via social media back into place. Let us prove them wrong with 145 pungent characters, a little bit of sarcasm every so often and back our tweets with external content such as URL links to longer posts, articles or books without forgetting to also connect to other Tweets with a proficient use of hashtags.

If you too believe it is time to feel in a similar way, share this post and let’s make the hashtags #AnthroTaggers (Anthropological Taggers) and #AcaTag (Academic Taggers) into something viral.

This is my third day of my ten week internship in #AntroUU and I am curious to hear what the professors, admin staff and lecturers think about my call to # within Anthropology and Academia.

 

#WhyNot

——

(*) The original quote is from the head of the US National Rifle Association, Wayne Lapierre who used used the same catchphrase in 2012 to justify people carrying guns after yet another school shooting.

Ghost Villages (4/5): Incentives for Startups and Businesses to Open or Relocate

Many small industries and service based companies could easily move to more rural locations. Disused buildings and farms are abundant ,so opportunities to reconvert those spaces into office space or disused warehouses into small production centres are plenty.

 

A friend of mine who is a great believer in local and fair trade production, daydreamed about a Sardinian made clothing brand and at first I dismissed him as even I believed he was way too utopian. After thinking it over, I started to reconsider it as a viable option due to the readily available wool produced from a strong sheep herding tradition and also the ideal climate for the growth of cotton plants. Even if it is a bit utopian, I think it fits in perfectly in this series of articles as some are so utopian that they could be considered borderline science fiction. But why should it be impossible to open this business or any other one in Sardinia?

 

There is a lot of land, many people are unemployed, the island is independent energetically and located in the heart of the Mediterranean, so any sort of production could easily be shipped anywhere. Tunis for Africa, Valencia for the Iberian peninsular, Nice for France and the rest of continental Europe and Izmir or Istanbul for Turkey and the east.

 

There are some great stories of entrepreneurial genius and resilience that started big businesses on the island. An example of one in a rural setting is SardEx based in Serramanna. It is now a credit circuit with thousands of businesses which trade €31.3 million and is a business centred around promoting businesses and commerce within the island itself. Another example is telecommunications giant Tiscali, based in Cagliari, Sardinia’s capital, the most technologically advanced broadband company in Italy in the late 90s early 2000s. Tiscali was the biggest provider in Italy of internet services and had branches in several other European countries such as UK, Holland and Czech Republic.

 

The lack of creativity and energy of younger generations of Sardinians is not the problem as, on the contrary, there are a lot of very good ideas on an ‘entrance level’ . The problem is that it is hard to do anything, as new ideas and entrepreneurship is frowned upon by many locals. It is a sort of innate envy towards fellow islanders which prevents cooperation and working together for common goals. The family tradition is strong and trying to change that is not an easy process. The political situation with the main political actors who currently rule the semi-independent regional governments all being descendants or connected to the old barons who controlled the land on a local level for the last 400 years,maintain the status quo. A personal example? The regional minister for tourism, cousin of a former local Sardinian president  and connected to a big wine producing family business, has not replied to her work emails concerning these matters, in nearly 3 months.

It is not all doom and gloom, the University of Cagliari has started a course called ‘Contamination lab’ which is a place in which young university students from different study backgrounds get given the opportunity of growing professionally and learning new skills such as how to develop an entrepreneurial idea,  pitching it, finding funding (from private investors, foundations and public grants) .

These start ups could choose a location in a remote area if there were good transport connections and the technological basis of having fast broadband. After all buying housing and office space is really cheap, food is of very good quality and of local production and the community atmosphere within the villages is very strong. If you add the beautiful nature surrounding them and the strong traditions and identity which these remote communities preserve it would be a great place to work and grow a family.

If you wish to read more ideas on how to solve the ever increasing phenomena problem of ‘Ghost Villages’ in Sardinia check out the start page.

External Link:

More information on Contamination Lab (available in Italian and English) can be found on their official website.

Ghost Villages in Sardinia (2/5): Transport Connections

This part of the series on ideas to counter the increasing ‘Ghost Village’ phenomenon in many rural areas in central Sardinia, is dedicated to transport connections. As you might have figured out from many other posts on this website such as #BusNotturniCagliari campaign, I am a massive believer in public transport. For me this is the most fundamental part in countering this phenomenon and also making the roads safer and less clogged up with traffic and hence this is the longest post in this series. 
When talking about small communities the importance of good transport connections is vital. This can be the ‘make it or break it’ factor when choosing whether to stay or leave the village you grew up in. Whilst in the past the communities rarely needed to move much,now times have changed and so there is the need and wish to be in contact with the rest of the world. 
Whether to go to school, work, see a doctor or to hang out in the cool bar in the neighbouring village, it is important to provide safe roads and reliable, frequent and affordable public transport connections. 
Sardinia has two railway systems: Trenitalia and Ferrovie della Sardegna. Trenitalia is owned by the Italian state whilst Ferrovie della Sardegna is owned by the Sardinian regional authority which also is the owner of ARST, the biggest bus company on the island. The problem is that amongst the many illogical things on the island, there is no cooperation whatsoever between the two transport systems which are still ultimately subsidised by the Sardinian tax payer.
What is my idea?
The network
Well, first of all Trenitalia should run frequent express services between the big cities with very few intermediate stops. Simutaneously there should also be local ‘slow trains’ that run between the two larger stations where the express train stops,connecting those two centres to all the minor communities by stopping at every station.
Ferrovie della Sardegna should also do a similar operation and this must come with a modernisation of its fleet which is still mostly based on the ‘Litorina’ model, originally introduced under Mussolini’s regime with the most recent up-dates in 1970s/80s to most parts of the network. These modern trains with air conditioning, step free access, wifi could also potentially reach higher speeds than the current average of 50 Km/h. Most of these routes are only used in Summer for tourism purposes as the single track route offers beautiful views over the undiscovered inland heart of Sardinia. The modernisation of the fleet would also require a certain amount of maintenance to the tracks and stations adding, for example, information screens with train timetables and ticket machines (possibly available in several languages). Same as Trenitalia, there should be local trains and longer distance ones.
As most of the island ,however,is not connected by the railway network there needs to be a good bus service to integrate with the railway connections ensuring the bus arrives at the station a few minutes before the arrival of the train,and also leaving a few minutes after it departs in order to take the railway passengers onto their final destination with minimal delay. The bus fleet is modern yet really uncomfortable, has no wifi, no card readers to sell tickets onboard and very few cater for handicapped people. As if this wasn’t bad enough the buses are also large which makes it really hard for them to be driven up narrow and winding mountain or coastal roads which characterise more than 80% of the country roads in Sardinia.
To sell the entire fleet and invest in a new one is a must in my view. The waste of public money for these very good looking and modern luxury* buses seen from the outside is sickening (* ‘luxury’ by definition as they all have an espresso machine incorporated on board which has never have been used but is there just to tick the box in order to comply with the definition, this is how low Sardinian politics can get). The new buses beyond being modern (card reader, air conditioning, comfortable seating and Wifi) together with a step free access should be of two types: long and short distance. The long distance ones, which should be used only in areas that are not covered by the railway network, should have a greater capacity maybe even double deckers to maximise the number of people that can be transported by one driver, hence controlling the price of the individual ticket. These buses should run an express service, similar to the one previously mentioned for trains. The local buses should be smaller or even perhaps mini-vans which can move with fewer difficulties, more engine power and faster along the winding roads compared to the current large buses (which in most cases travel half empty). These buses would pick up passengers even from non designated bus stops like a sort of taxi service along the route and do the same for dropping people off. The local drivers, with good road knowledge of the area covered, could even offer to make small detours to accompany people to their door which could be really good for people with reduced mobility and the elderly. This sort of bus system is very popular in Eastern Europe. 
Finally it is important that the bus system must be perfectly integrated with both railway systems. This means an efficient website in several languages where tickets can be purchased online from A to B which would include local buses, trains, coaches and if necessary ferries to the smaller islands. These combined tickets should also be available for purchase via an App and in newsagents, tobacconists and supermarkets across the island. The option to buy tickets on board with a surcharge should also always be guaranteed. 
Offering free travel to all the residents of these communities over the age of 65, handicapped people, children under 16 and reduced fares for students would encourage a more proficient use of these transport networks. 
Throughout this post I have stressed the availability of free wifi but offering this service (when technically possible) would allow businessmen and students to work whilst commuting and other passengers to enjoy entertainment whilst being driven from their rural community to the bigger centres.
This may be a utopian dream but as Walt Disney said ‘all of our dreams can come true – if you have the courage to pursue them’.

Ghost Villages in Sardinia (1/5): Education

As a guy from the village of Ales, in central Sardinia, once said: ‘Studiate, perché avremo bisogno di tutta la vostra intelligenza’ / ‘Everyone should study, as we will soon be in need of all of your intelligence’ (Antonio Gramsci). Learning English properly is the key, not only in order to offer good tourist services, but also for personal enrichment to be able to make the most of opportunities that extend beyond the village and can reach the far corners of the world.

Starting from nursery schools, the English language must, in my view, be taught at all levels of schooling, ideally reaching a good enough level in high school to be able to study all` sciences 100% in English as opposed to Italian. This may seem to some as extreme globalisation, but on the contrary, having a solid basis in English would allow future university students to be able to choose to study in whichever university worldwide and also enable them to take part in global debates from their laptops and smartphones thanks to blogs, forums and social media platforms. Also, from a ‘Sardinian identity’ prospective, if English is the language spoken at school, the family could speak Sardinian at home without running the risk that their children would mix Sardinian and Italian which can be quite similar and which leads Sardinian pupils to make many grammar mistakes when writing in Italian.

If many more Sardinian youngsters were fluent in English, even university courses organised by the University of Cagliari or Sassari, the two universitie on the island, could be held in English, potentially by professors from other countries, thereby making the educational offer more interesting. Also, having courses taught in English would enable non-Italian speakers to be able to study in Sardinia, both as part of exchange programmes, but also for entire degree courses which in turn would be a great source of income for the universities and the entire island economy. Imagine if there were good courses in architecture taught in English, an English or American student who is used to paying over €10.000 / €20.000 for one year of tuition fees would pay a maximum of €3000 and would also have cheaper living costs. Not to mention the fact that the foreign students would love to have the chance of going to the beach when not in lectures and eating authentic pizzas and drinking Italian wine yet at the same time they would share with the locals part of their own traditions and culture which would benefit the island.

Distance learning courses could also be offered by the universities in Sardinia so that young people in the villages would not have to make a choice as to whether to study or continue their family business; they could do both. The knowledge given them through studying at university would empower them to improve and modernise their business in order for it ,not only to survive,but flourish in the modern world. This should not be too difficult to implement nowadays, as most articles and literature are available in PDF; the lectures could be streamed via video link and assignments uploaded to a student portal. The student would only need to go to the university to take exams and for certain seminars or events, but could still live and work in the inland village.

 

The Problem of the ‘Ghost Villages’ in Sardinia

In September there will be a one week course held in a rural community in the centre of Sardinia in which there will be lectures and discussions on the ever increasing problematic of ‘desertification’ of inland remote villages. As part of the application process the organisers asked me to write about what pushed me to sign up for the course and my answer was: will to learn and contribute to the discussion to find good ideas which could be, one day, put into practice.

The problem lies in the fact that communities are getting torn apart from the high levels of unemployment, lack of opportunities and future for the fact that many young people are leaving the villages to move to bigger cities in the island or go to the mainland or in other parts of Europe or the world. If one looks at the number of people who identify themselves as Sardinian I would guess almost half of them are not living in Sardinia. There has been a massive diaspora not due to war or persecution but due to another deadly factor: hunger. This does not merely mean hunger as in food deprivation as our land is fertile and we can be self-sufficient in terms of food production it is mainly hunger for opportunities, not living on the bread line and also getting in contact with the world which is portrayed via the internet and television. This phenomena is not necessarily a bad thing but there is the need, for the sake of preserving part of our identity, to strengthen these rural communities. Question is, how?

I think what is needed is a 5 step plan:

  1. Education
  2. Transport network improvements
  3. Technological improvements
  4. Incentives for start ups and businesses to open or relocate to one of the communities
  5. Better localised social and medical services for the population, especially the elderly.

Details of this plan will be further explained in the linked numbers or articles. Click on one of the five titles to read more about the specific idea to fight desertification of rural communities. If you like share the idea or drop a comment, having a debate and exchanging ideas in the hope that some concrete action takes place in order to reduce or maybe even reverse this phenomena.