This thread is allegedly about Sweden. In wich way do the Swedish have any complexes due their past colonies as Phos claims? Or their role in the world wars? It's honestly just drivel...

Patronizing attitude, you mean? I think it is worse than benevolent gestures. You can go far.. Swedes ripped us all they could fing on their way up after the 30yr war. Habsburgs and Prussians were treating as as doormats, disallowing even local, native language. In Munich our "adoptive parents" sold us to Germans to apease them for a tiny bit, just to pawn us over to Russians to have us die in gulags and rip off all our economy and spirit. You cannot see it simply as a jovial treatment one directs towards children...you can see us as just an amuse-bouche that got ripped off funds and support and who still does not have the egality many pacts promised. There is no trust on EE's side and that's something to think about, not analyse why perhaps we do not care much for pc-ness when it translates into yet another trickery.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Xenophobic popularism's on the march in EE Democracies. Who‘s tricking who?

I agree that cultures do change.

Major drivers were radio, TV & pop music and now are internet and social media.
Some of the drivers are quite subtle from bottles of domestic cleaning fluids labelled "on" and "off" to quite complex instructions for electronic devices only available in English.

Some may wish to go back and reestablish older cultures but it will never happen. What is gone is gone.
If Governments try to force it then they will face a big push back.

In previous satellites of the ex-USSR there is a huge generational divide between those who grew up under the Soviet Union and those who did not. And who is still around to hand down to the current generation the pre-Second World War customs and etiquette if countries now want to return to an older culture?

I think you misunderstand the level of resetment there always was against the Soviets. Local cultures and ways did survive, sometimes out of pure bloody mindedness, sometimes out of defiance. Under Soviet rule, EE people learnt to survive by saying one thing and thinking another. Everybody did it. Ask anybody in EE and they'll be sharing their anecdotes with you till the cows come home.

I think the Americans were far more succesful at making people give up the old was by tempting them with things such as pop culture.

If the local cultures did survive then why are people posting here about "try to go back and try to regain some of their own cultural identity".
Does not make sense?

You are assuming that everybody besides you is in total agreement.

when EE countries want to "go back" I interpret that as going back to having more autonomy and doing their own thing rather than just executing orders from Brussels and Berlin.

I hope they did not lose those skills. Poland is in the process of outlawing any connection between the holocaust and Polish culture. Two years in prison if you say the truth that there were a lot of polish antisemites, collaborators and even their very own massacres... we are beyond "populism" now and in deep revisionist territory.

How do you know that? Because you've read it in a newspaper?
So last fall there was independence day in Poland and a handful of idiots waved some flags among ten of thousands of peaceful participants, but mind you, not really any significant group of it, and the media made a big halo out of it.

Now move to Germany, where there are many, many well frequented neo national socialists demonstrations, e.g. hailing Hess death anniversary with huge banners saying
"ich bereue nichts" (no regrets), and they stay just some local German news, and nobody is saying the country be on the brink of getting back to business of industrialized extermination of Undermenschen.

It is not xenophobic. We have minorities, those who contribute (whether minority or not) are extremely well accepted, too well. So well that new comers are all the rage. So hip.

Alas. Look at this: Merkel telling us that "You have to again welcome back somebody who does not want to be in your country and you must deal with the consequences of their unwillingness, esp if we don't let them in Germany/France/UK/Sweden". Xenophobia on who's end...German?

The reaction back home is not xenophobic. We could also think that the people who simply want to use us as a transit area are xenophobic towards our amazing hospitality and complete lack of religious prejudice. I know from inner sources that our expensive departments for integration - schools, language depts., sp. couches and occupational and soc. workers got called off, for lack of demand. So the current political push to mop up after EU messed up migrant crisis looks very charitable and noble, but it is something that has been poorly managed from the start. Merkel has bullied by sheer volume and short time it took to overflow her reserves unnoticed, while she was hoping she will manage to offload before it explodes. Literally. She did not count on people wanting to joint large communities only and she was not counting on large numbers not wanting to integrate, while wanting handouts.

I think Swedish politicians have made the same mistake, instead of calculating how their reserves will actually cope.

Right now, I think it is relatively ok but only if crisis management teams start processing the changes in social strata and what newcomers need to accept. Inactivity and lax attitude, rewriting the news while placing bans and moratorium on certain stats and frank diagnosis, acting like all is good hoping both locals and new comers will adjust and quietten...is probably the worse MO. But, the West can again feel like one blend happy global village. Looks good on paper.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Yeah, sure. It's the German xenophobia of accepting a million refugees and asking other countries to do at least a bit.

And Slovakia categorically rejecting Muslim refugees no matter what is in your eyes not even a bit racist? Because for me are human rights not negotiable and certainly not depending on what flavor of Bronze Age myths you identify yourself with.

My mate Barry down the pub told me. Oh, and it‘s the trend. Where do you get information? Don‘t listen to Barry when it comes to women, though, he hasn‘t a clue.

Well except the Roma, and refugees. But yeah, maybe just far right. Don't feel victimised - that‘s Russia's excuse - it‘s happening here in Switzerland too.

"refugees"

The ones we taught for free? I enjoyed it. Or those our community gave 18 free appartments in a row because these nomadic souls kept burning the flats down. Indeed, our soviet brothers' fault - it was their genious idea about ghettos and placements. They did burn villages down too, where they used to live before being placed. Their own selfmoderation and selfregulation (strict gipsy punishments issued by elders) and honesty system died out with misplacement.

We kept quiet...afraid of being called names by Westerners. People don't care about our hypocritical critics any longer. Stuff is made look certain way, no matter what.

It is an economical decision, just like Merkel's decision to not accept them anymore. Bronze Age had currency, too. Autonomy was expensive. You can give it any label you want - it will not change the nature of the problem.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

What? All of them? The Czech Republic, for example, commited systematic discrimination against Roma kids. No wonder there are dirty protests. Please keep blaming others, it certainly fits the likes of Zeman's world view.

Again, "systematic discrimination" is a system of special schools ran by very poor teachers/enthusiasts, I know many amazing teachers who are paid nothing in fact to keep the special schools system alive. It helps the non Czech speaking Roma kids start reading and writing, often one on one. It also provides health and nutrition watch.The fact that the Roma web sees it as discriminatory is unfortunate, it is strengthening. They started closing down the schools despite the recent research local teachers are very well aware of, which shown better cognitive skills when supported by mother tongue strengthening. Roma teachers are prefered, just like Roma cops in ghettos are preferred. The fact that you and the rest of the world sees it as discrimination - when it is in fact a humanitarian deed, is unfortunate. Basing your opinion on Western philosophy, not seeing that the Czechs supplemented for a system that was not sufficient, out of their own personal pockets...is symptomatic. They pointed out that certain group needs more help and did it. I was there and I was trained in special ed after my reg classes, for this entire reason: smart kids, neglected by their own family environment = hard to integrate, problems start piling up and not just integrative. It was not so difficult, most of the time they needed just real books and attention and constant heavy encouragement, lot of space they wouldn't have in a reg class of 36 kids, they had no books at home, most grown ups were drunk. They often had to replace their parents in parenting, and those kids were small themselves. Special school helped them bounce back. Invest in themselves and integrate. EU criticizes this as the opposite of inclusion while it is in fact more integrative and efficient, overall. They mention zero details in HRW how we differ, on purpose. Another implementation of EU "standards" that make things actually less efficient, locally. V4 is getting sick of this.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Well, I bow to your efforts to improve things but saying the EU information - as well as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty etc - are telling the World a lie based on ideology sounds remarkably Orwellian, or Pravda, can‘t decide. Can‘t refute your anecdotal stories but can‘t really accept Soros et al is to blame.

Maybe it‘s just Eastern Europeans like autocratic government? It‘s pretty much all living history bar the recent generation has known.

EEs are going against EU autocratic gov. Since EU notoriously prescribes measures that are late, inefficient and anti-integrative for the local problems that are already present. After it explodes they inefficiently bandaid it by cash. Which very well explains why EE resists managing the situation under EU dictate, until the current conditions improve.

Soros, HRW, Amnesty produce report on every country. If you actually read the HRW Roma report you yourself linked - there were conveniently no details on CZ. It was namecalling and I am glad I can provide a real experience from local terrain, it is ok to reduce it to "anecdotal". This whole thread is full of "anecdotal" Swedish reports from locals and they sound quite solid.

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"L'homme ne peut pas remplacer son coeur avec sa tete, ni sa tete avec ses mains." J.H. Pestalozzi

“The only difference between a rut and a grave is a matter of depth.” S.P. Cadman

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." A. Einstein

Lol at Brits lecturing others on human rights.

Interesting how Britain is one of the few places on the planet drastically moving away from far right attitudes. It‘s a bumpy road but maybe there‘s a destination after all. It‘d be interesting if people really were trapped in their thinking based on nationality. Thank goodness they‘re not! Although I appreciate how it could bring comfort to the lonely, holding onto some form of identity in a changing world.