Black Friday created a debate about climate colonialism and poverty

Is climate colonialism behind Swedes' consumption? Or is it in fact poverty that causes emissions? These are issues that have been debated in connection with Black Friday and the UN climate summit in Madrid. In addition, Sweden's military efforts in Iraq and the new EU Commission have been discussed.

Last week, a report was released from Statistics Sweden showing that Swedish consumption makes a strong contribution to emissions in other countries. The debaters Max Jonsson and Linda Boodh believe that it is an expression of colonialism when emission-intensive countries are blamed for emissions caused by consumption in the Western world.

“Swedish consumption-based emissions are much higher than territorial emissions. This makes it difficult to maintain the image of the well-developed, green and clean vest, which likes to paint black countries like China and India ", write Max Jonsson and Linda Boodh in ETC.

On the contrary, Svenska Dagbladet's guest writer Jonas Hellman thinks that poverty is the root cause of pollution from countries rich in emissions.

"Many of the environmental problems can be linked to economic growth, but it is poverty that leads to health and the environment not being prioritized," writes Hellman.

Unlike the climate activists who demonstrated against consumption on Black Friday, Eva Franchell writes in Aftonbladet that the climate issue is in the hands of the world's political leaders. Therefore, the individual who wants to buy a cheap sweater should avoid climate anxiety.

The revelation that the Iraqi Minister of Defense, Najah al-Shammari, is suspected of subsidy violations and population registration violations in Sweden has created a debate about Sweden's military efforts in Iraq. Sydsvenskan's editorial board writes that the government is on the right track and believes that there are only negative consequences with a Swedish withdrawal.

Political scientist Samar Alak, on the other hand, is disappointed with the government's actions towards Iraq.

"The least Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Löfven can do is to speak out about the uprising in Iraq and to condemn the murder of these young people who took to the streets to demonstrate peacefully," writes Alak in Dagens ETC.

This week, a new EU commission was also elected under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen. In Göteborgs-Posten, four moderate MEPs are positive about Von der Leyen's program, but demand that the intentions be put into practice. In contrast, Malin Björk, Member of the European Parliament for the Left Party, writes in Aftonbladet that the Commission is characterized by low climate ambitions, abortion resistance and right-wing nationalism.

A selection of the last week's editorial and debate articles about Sweden's role in the world: