Youth Conference on the Principles for a Free Society

February 22nd, 2012   Education | Turkey

Evelina Lorentzon on Free Enterprise

Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation in cooperation with the Turkish think-tank Association for Liberal Thinking held a youth conference on the Principles for a Free Society, February 17-19. The seminar, arranged in Ankara, Turkey, was based on Prof. Nigel Ashfords book in which he describes the fundaments for an open and democratic society.

Thomas Gür, senior advisor to JHS, moderated the conference and also led a discussion on civil society. In addition, a handful of Turkish and Swedish scholars and politicians led the discussions, as Atilla Yayla on human rights, Tanel Demirel on democracy, Bilal Sambur on freedom, Bugra Kalkan on spontaneous order, Evelina Lorentzon on free enterprise, Magnus Nilsson on property rights and Adnan Kücük on rule of law.

Young Macedonian Politicians Promote EU Membership

February 16th, 2012   Education | Macedonia | The European Union

Young politicians from Macedinia visiting the Commission in Brussels.

Macedonia is one of the current candidates for a future EU membership. More than 85 percent of the population supports a membership in both EU and NATO. But before entering either of the two organizations, the sensitive naming dispute with Greece must be resolved.

As part of the EU integration project in the Balkans, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation invited youth politicians from the party in power in Macedonia – VMRO-DPMNE – to a conference in Brussels, February 7-10, 2012.

The group of enthusiastic young politicians visited major EU Institutions such as the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

In the Parliament, they met with Anna-Maria Corazza Bildt, who described her work as a Member of Parliament. At the Commission, EU experts Willem Noë and Mark Corner summarized the history of the Union.

The participants’ key area of interest was, as is to be expected, the enlargement of the EU. The Macedonians were eager to receive information about when their country could become a member, but understandably no-one could give them anything but a general timetable for the process.

Moreover, discussions about membership were in focus during the meetings at the NATO headquarters. Due to security matters, Macedonia regards a NATO membership as even more important than a membership in the EU. In 2008 the country was ready to join the European/North American defense alliance, but was blocked by Greece.

“In our country, everyone discusses politics”, one of the participants said. 21 years have passed since declaring its independence and Macedonia is still in an extensive transition phase. However, one thing is clear: the wish to be part of Europe is one of the top priorities of the new generation.

Delegation from Kirgizstan visited Stockholm

February 6th, 2012   Eastern Europe | Education | News | Uncategorized

The delegation visited the Swedish Parliament,  and met with MP:s Gustav Blix, Kristina Hulting and Christian Holm from the Moderate Party, Liselott Hagberg from the Liberal Party and Carin Runeson from the Social Democratic Party. The participants were particularly interested in the structure and the political division of the Swedish Parliament. They were also curious about the different procedures for decision-making.

Moreover, the group was invited to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs where a roundtable discussion was held with well known Swedish Central Asia experts – among them Malena Mård, Head of Department for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The role of Kirgizstan as a relatively new state, the relationship with EU and the measures taken to fight corruption in order to attract foreign investments in the country were topics brought up.

Education Against the Dictatorship in Azerbaijan

February 1st, 2012   Azerbaijan | Education | News

Swedish MP Elisabeth Bjornsdotter Rahm in Baku

On January 27-29, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation in cooperation with the National Independence Party of Azerbaijan, NIPA, arranged two conferences in the Azeri capital Baku. NIPA is a democratic opposition party against the country’s dictatorship.Friday 27, a conference for female politicians took place and was opened by the Swedish MP Elisabeth Björnsdotter Rahm, who held a speech on “International Cooperation and the Importance of Women in Politics.” Jeyran Ansar, from NIPA’s political council spoke on the future of NIPA’s women’s organization. Gustaf Stenlund and Clara Wahren, both working as press staff at the Swedish Moderate party participated as well.

During the week-end, youth politicians met to discuss forms and methods of youth involvement in Azeri politics. The discussions focused on how to reach out in social media and how to organize a youth organization efficiently. The Azeri participants witnessed on the difficulties and risks that faces many young political activists in their country.

Azeri visit to Brussels

November 25th, 2011   Azerbaijan | Education | News

On 21-24 November, the leadership of the oppositional National Independance Party of Azerbaijan visited Brussels, to build contacts, knowledge and exchange.

The visit program included meetings with Moderate Party members of the European Parliament, the Swedish Ambassador to the EU, deputy secretary general of the European People’s Party and the European External Action Service’s expert on  Azerbaijan. Some of the issues on the agenda were the challenges regarding democratic development and freedom of the media in  Azerbaijan,and the conflict over Nagorno-Karabach.

Politicians from Ghana visited Sweden

September 26th, 2011   Education | Ghana @en

September 19-23, a delegation from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Ghana visited Stockholm. The delegation consisted of ten politically active women from the NPP, the Foundation’s cooperation partner in Ghana, who will be running for parliament in the 2012 election.

During the visit the delegation met with a number of Swedish politicians, among them Members of Parliament Cecilia Brinck, Cecilia Widegren and Walburga Habsburg Douglas, who in addition is Chairman of the International Women’s Democrat Union (IWDU) and Board Member of the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, Sofia Arkelsten, Secretary General of the Moderate Party, Eva Solberg, Chair of the Stockholm Moderate Women, Kristoffer Tamsons, Chief of Planning at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Gunnar Oom, State Secretary to the Minister for Trade. Hedvig Anderson, head of Communication at the Moderate Party, also met with them to share her experiences from the party’s successful election campaign in 2010. Furthermore, the program included study visits to an elementary school in Solna and to several social work organizations. The New Patriotic Party is the second largest political party in Ghana and is currently in opposition. The NPP holds 107 of 230 seats in Parliament.

Azeri Visit to Sweden

August 6th, 2011   Azerbaijan | Education

September 5-9, 2011 a delegation from the Azeri opposition party NIPA is visiting Stockholm, Sweden. The program – organized by the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation – includes meetings at various levels within the Moderate Party, the Foreign Ministry and the Municipality of Haninge.

The Azeri web based  political magazine Pozisiya.com describsd the visit as follows:

“After an invitation from the ruling party Conservatives, has AMIPs Chairman Yusif Baðýrzadə, party secretary Arzuxan Əlizadə, international secretary Elþən Mustafayev and member of the party executive Sadiq Həmzəyev, started a five-day official trip to Sweden. According to the AMIP’s press office to” Pozisiya.com “the party leadership that during this official visit, which lasts between 5 and 9 September, to coincide with the Moderates’ party secretary. during the trip, they will also have meetings with the Swedish foreign minister’s adviser, Vice-President, members of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee as well as in our country renowned Goran Lennmarker, former chairman of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh and other executives.

Translation: Thomas Gür

Read Pozisiya’s article on the visit

Ideology School in Turkey

June 21st, 2011   Education | Turkey

A Summer School on the Principles for a Free Society was held on 16-19 June in Trabzon, northeastern Turkey, in cooperation with the Turkish liberal think-tank the Association for Liberal Thinking. It was the first JHS Summer School to be held in Turkey, and the first jointly organized alumni conference.

Close to 200 students have participated in previous JHS and ALT seminars on the Principles for a Free Society. The twenty-two Summer School participants were students in political science, law and international relations. Among the seminar topics were toleration and freedom of the press, human rights, the fundamental values of the European Union, globalization, free enterprise and environmental protection.

Road Blocks Stopped Conference Participants

April 18th, 2011   Azerbaijan | Education

Three conferences were held in cooperation with the National Independence Party of Azerbaijan (NIPA) in the Azeri capital Baku on 15-17 April. The overall topic was the post-election situation in Azerbaijan.

The participants were party members of the NIPA; from the regions on the conference’s first day, from the Youth Organization on the second and party members from Baku on the third. (more…)

Georgian Youth: Great Interest in the EU

April 4th, 2011   Education | Georgia | The European Union

On March 28-31, participants from the youth organization of Georgia’s governing party, the United National Movement’s (UNM) made a study visit to Brussels. The four-day program arranged by the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation included visits to the European People’s Party’s headquarters, European Commission, NATO headquarters, Embassy of Georgia and European Parliament.

The purpose of the visit was primarily to raise awareness about the European Union and understanding of the membership process in  the next generation of Georgian politicians. The participant also had time to network and made important contacts for the future.

A EU- and NATO-membership is of highest interest for the UNM youths. The main topic of discussion during the study visit was Georgia’s European integration but also the NATO enlargement process.

Election Campaign in the Seychelles

March 25th, 2011   Education | The Seychelles

Women and youth from the New Democratic Party met on March 18-20, on Mahe Island, Seychelles, for a conference on campaign. The conference was arranged in cooperation with the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation

The New Democratic Party’s candidate is running for president in the up-coming election in May. The newly elected women’s and youth’s committees will play an active part in the presidential campaign.

The conference started with a follow-up of the New Democratic Party’s progress since the previous conference in late 2010 and a presentation by party leader Ralph Volcere of the party’s priorities in the presidential election. (more…)

Ideology classes in Turkey

March 1st, 2011   Education | Turkey

In cooperation with the Association for Liberal Thinking (ALT) a three-day conference based on the study guide <i>Principles for a Free Society</i>, was organized in Ankara February 18-20.

More than 30 Turkish youths, from different parts of the country, attended the conference. All of them are students, mostly studying political science and international relations. The participants were very active in discussions on both topics specific for Turkey and ideology in general.

The speakers who lectured on the basis of the book <i>Principles for a Free Society</i> were Swedish and Turkish; Thomas Gür, Frederick Saweståhl and Klas Hjort from Sweden. The Turkish speakers were: Özlem cagla Yýlmaz, President of ALT, Dr. Bican Sahin, President of ALT, Dr. Cennet Uslu, Director of Studies in Human Rights at ALT, and Dr. Bahadýr Akýn who is a professor at Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey University.

Photo: Thomas Gür lecturing in Ankara.

Training for Belarus Youth

February 28th, 2011   Belarus | Education

The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organized a seminar for Belarusian Youth. The seminar was the second of two in a series targeting young trainers. At the seminar, the participants practiced using structure in their training sessions and to be in charge of different sorts of exercises.

Since the first seminar, arranged last summer, the young politicians have managed trainings in their respective organizations and a section of the seminar was spent discussing experience gained from these sessions.

In connection with this second seminar, a new group attended their first seminar.

SDA from Bosnia visited EU

January 29th, 2011   Bosnia and Herzegovina | Education | The European Union

January 25-28 the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organized a study trip to Brussels for a group of young politicians from the Party for Democratic Action, SDA, from Bosnia.

The program included visits to the European Commission, European Parliament, European People’s Party and NATO. Participants also had the opportunity to meet and talk  the to the Bosnian Ambassador to the EU. In the European Parliament the group met with the Swedish MP’s Anna Ibrisagic and Christopher Fjellner, who both spoke about various aspects of their work in Brussels and their home regions. The participants were happy with the visit and explained that it is of great importance to gain a deeper understanding of, as well as the opportunity to discuss, Bosnia’s relations with the European Union and NATO.

In the photo: Christofer Fjellner, MP, when meeting with the SDA representatives.

Spring School on the Principles for a Free Society

May 20th, 2010   Azerbaijan | Belarus | Education | Georgia | Ukraine

On May 7, 2010 the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation arranged Spring School, i.e. a youth conference on ideology based on the book “Principles for a free society” by Dr. Nigel Ashford. The participants came from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia and Sweden. The conference took place on the island of Muskö in the Stockholm Archipelago.

Dr. Nigel Ashford spoke on the subject of freedom and democracy. Guest speakers from the Moderate Party ran sessions based on further chapters in Dr. Ashford’s book. Gustav Blix and Walburga Habsburg Douglas, both Members of Parliament from the Moderate Party, spoke with reference to globalization and the Eastern Partnership.

The participants were very engaged in the discussions – topics ranging from tolerance and human rights to free enterprise – and were also in charge of presentations of the political situation in their own countries. The participants agreed that they learned a lot from the classes at the conference, and expressed appreciation regarding the possibility to make friends with people from the other countries.

The Master of Ideology

April 30th, 2009   Articles | Countries and Regions | Education | Ideology | Theme: Principles

”I love to speak to young people. Older politicians are often already fixed in their ways. Young people are much more open-minded and ready to change their opinions, when faced with good arguments.” says Nigel Ashford, the author of “Principles for a Free Society”, a study guide on ideology.

Nigel Ashford passionately tells about all the young participants in the JHF courses on his book “Principles for a Free Society”, a study guide to twelve principles needed to build a free and democratic society. Translated from English into several languages including Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Azeri, Lithuanian, Turkish and, soon, Albanian, the book is frequently used as study material for the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation’s seminars on ideology and political principles. Several times a year, Nigel Ashford himself crosses the Atlantic Ocean to chair seminars in Sweden. While the participants in the Swedish seminars primarily come from the Balkans or the former Soviet Union, the book is also used in Turkey, Latin America and Africa. Over the years, around 2500 young people have participated in this JHF programme. (more…)