Since 1536, Norway and its territories (Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands) had been under Danish rule. During the Napoleonic War, in the Treaty of Kiel, Denmark was forced to surrender Norway to Swedish rule (while retaining sovereignty over the Norwegian territories). Then Danish viceroy of Norway, Prince Christian Frederik saw this as an opportunity for Norwegian independence and led an insurrection that resulted in the signing of a constitution on May 16, 1814. The following day, the constitutional convention elected Frederik king, and this day has been celebrated as Constitution Day ever since.
Sweden refused to acknowledge Norwegian independence, and following the signing of their constitution, a brief war broke out with invading Swedish forces. A cease-fire was implemented on August 14 at the Convention of Moss. Despite the popular longing for sovereignty, King Frederik recognized that the political climates in Norway and abroad were not yet ripe for an independent Norway. On October 10, Christian Fredrik abdicated his claim to the Norwegian throne. Ten days later, the new Norwegian parliament voted to enter into a personal union with Sweden, who agreed to honor an amended Norwegian constitution.
Throughout the remainder of the 1800’s, Norwegian and Swedish relations became strained. In particular, Norwegians felt as though their interests abroad were not adequately represented by the Swedish ministry. Shortly after the turn of the century, Prime Minister Christian Michelsen led a movement in the Norwegian parliament to establish its own consular offices abroad. When Sweden’s King Oscar II refused to honor the movement, a de facto declaration of Norwegian Independence was issued on June 7, 1905, now considered the date of total independence.
That Summer, war nearly broke out again as Norway and Sweden negotiated the dissolution of their union. Whereas the Norwegian independence movement lacked adequate support in 1814, the political climate had now shifted in Norway’s favor. On October 26, in the interest of maintaining friendly ties with its “brother country,” Oscar II recognized Norway’s independence and renounced any claim to the Norwegian throne. In November, Norwegians voted to retain a constitutional monarchy instead of forming a republic, and they popularly elected to offer Prince Carl of Denmark a mandate to the throne. Prince Carl accepted and changed his name to King Haakon VII, and his son Alexander was renamed to Crown Prince Olav. On November 27, 1905, Haakon VII was sworn in as the first modern king of an independent Norway.
Thirty-five years later, following the invasion of Nazi forces, King Haakon VII led the Norwegian resistance movement from his exile in London. Norway was freed on May 8, 1945, and while that date is now observed as flag day, liberation added that much more significance to the celebration of Constitution Day on May 17. King Haakon VII and the royal family returned to cheering crowds in Oslo on the symbolic date of June 7, 1945.
Shortly after its struggle for political sovereignty, Norway achieved economic independence with the discovery of large oil deposits in the North and Norwegian Seas. During the second half of the twentieth century, what had long been a poor fishing country was transformed into one of the world’s wealthiest. That fact is emphasized by the current economic recession, which has affected Norway perhaps least of all, thanks to its government’s frugality. Today, with their flag-waving parades of singing school children, Norwegians celebrate not only their independence, but a modest way of life and a bright future for the next generation.
I just watched President Obama deliver an impressive and inspiring speech in Strasbourg, France as part of his G20/NATO itinerary in Europe this week. I haven’t been able to locate a video of the town hall meeting on the internet yet, but if you are waking up to the morning news in the States, I recommend trying to find a rebroadcast of the entire event.
Update: A video of the speech has now been uploaded to the president’s official White House channel on Vimeo:
Last July, I signed up with the Pickens Plan, a grass roots movement headed by former oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens. The purpose of the organization is to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil. The proposed solution is utilizing a combination of domestic natural gas and wind power to fuel automobiles (especially diesel semi-trucks) and to supply electricity. It is a plan that is actionable now with the help of lawmakers, and today is day two of a three-day “virtual march” intended to make the millions of Pickens Plan voices heard in Washington.
Not only are these goals a strategic move to eliminate the vulnerability of importing oil from places like Venezuela and the Middle East, they are also a step in the right direction toward developing alternative energy sources, like wind power. While the Pickens Plan can sometimes seem more about Pickens than his plan, there is no denying the weight his name carries when it comes to influencing legislation, like the bipartisan NAT GAS Act of 2009. During this virtual march in support of that act, his website makes it very easy to contact the appropriate policy makers: by simply entering your name and address, you can dispatch an automatically generated email (or modified, if you choose) to both the president and your congressional representatives. Those interested in learning more and joining the march this week can do so on the Pickens Plan website.
While northern Europe usually keeps itself tucked away from the international spotlight, the past month has produced a few noteworthy news stories:
When Israel was cracking down in Gaza, Oslo and other Scandinavian cities were the scenes of violent demonstrations. Islam in Europe provides video with a press article and a compelling rescue story. Norway is largely sympathetic toward the Palestinian cause as the only active western supporter of Hamas, and most of the outnumbered pro-Israel demonstrators were elderly.
Protests of another kind have been occurring in Iceland for months, as the economy there lives up to the country’s name. Its citizens have lost confidence in their government, and their voices were finally heard this past week when Prime Minister Geir Haarde and his Cabinet resigned, making way for the world’s first (if only temporary) lesbian head of state.
Following up on actions taken after the Danish cartoon incident of 2005, a longstanding but largely ignored law against blasphemy is now finding renewed support in the Norwegian parliament in order to make “qualified attacks” on religion a punishable crime. Incidentally, while in Århus last summer, I got to see the headquarters of Jyllands-Posten, which first published the cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed and received subsequent bomb threats. The Norwegian sentiment behind the existing legislation against blasphemy was exemplified in 1979 when Monty Python’s Life of Brian was initially banned here.
In local news, we have been enduring another sunny cold spell with a remarkably powerful inversion. I thought I had left my icy windows behind in Wisconsin. To the contrary, I have been waking up all week to temperatures in the negative teens with ice behind my curtains. If I take the ski lift up the mountain, however, the thermometer approaches the freezing point before I even get to the top. After working Saturday and Sunday, I took my camera out on Monday for a perfect day on the slopes. I combined my footage with some that Eskil shot over the weekend to produce another video for the website.
John McCain created a buzz at the University of Idaho when he picked a Vandal to be his vice-presidential candidate. In case the school needs some press to get them beyond that embarrassment, UI alum and former Vandal head coach Tom Cable just secured his first NFL win as the Raiders interim head coach. His victory came against the Jets, a team led by – you guessed it – Brett Favre, the legendary former quarterback for Wisconsin’s Green Bay Packers. Incidentally, the Packers crushed the Colts today, 34-14. Unfortunately, the press can do nothing about the embarrassing Vandal football record, which is approaching a decade of consecutive losing seasons, four of which belonged to Cable.
Filed under: Politics
In light of Palin’s relentless attacks on Obama’s radical record, we have issued a commemorative quarter in her honor.
Filed under: Politics
The mistakes by the media in getting Obama’s name right have now made their way to the ballot. At least if he went by his middle name, nobody would get it confused.
It was surprising and encouraging to learn that the state taking the most initiative in efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions is California. While Schwarzenegger’s record isn’t perfect, he is forging ahead while the issue is largely pushed aside at the national level. Although the economic crisis is affecting California as much as anyone else, they are setting the example that other states will need to follow in order to make climate change a federal priority.
Mankind was charged to fill the earth and subdue it. Given that our number has tripled from two to six billion in the past century, we have no problem with the former. The trouble comes with the latter in addressing the impact of an unprecedented population increase, manifested chiefly in the emerging crisis of climate change.
While “global warming” has become a familiar phrase in mainstream vocabulary, it remains an uphill battle to convince the majority of voters that we must do something about it. There are those who still doubt that unchecked global warming will have any measurable affect on everyday American life. Indeed, most of the devastation of global warming is not affecting voters yet – a reverse take on pie in the sky, if you will.
But global warming is the most important election issue for a number of reasons. Here are three: First, it is time critical. While that alone does not distinguish it from many other issues, the longer we put it off, the worse it gets and the more irreversible it becomes. Wasted time affects this issue more severely than any other. Second, climate change affects the greatest number of people. By focusing on global warming now, Americans can significantly improve the lives of the nine billion people who will otherwise be dealing with the growing consequences (especially in Africa) just one generation from now. Third, an effective solution to this problem will have positive ramifications on a wide range of other important issues, including the turbulence in the Middle East, the struggling world economy, and the enormous health problems that result from environmental pollution and which would accompany rising temperatures.
Unfortunately, this topic is not scheduled into the agenda of any of the presidential debates. This Tuesday may be the only chance the candidates will get to discuss global warming at length. In case they do not, these are the facts on their energy plans:
Grist has an article here that comes with a handy chart and candidate interviews. The audio clip of the interview with McCain is particularly interesting.
Here is a program from Earthbeat featuring the opinions of two experts on climate change, who compare the positions of McCain and Obama and explain some of the hot-button issues, such as carbon offsets and clean coal. (The interview takes up only the first half of the program.)
Here are speeches made by the candidates themselves:
Finally, on a lighter note, Letterman’s take hasn’t changed in eight years: “We’re screwed!”
The failure on Wall Street means the black suits and politicians can now get paid to ride their bikes to work. If only.
