The Martin Luther King Day
in Sweden
Since 2003 the Martin Luther King-day is celebrated in Sweden.
The third Monday in January is King-day and in the USA it is a national holiday.
On the initiative of the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR, www.swefor.org)
and the Swedish Baptist church (www.baptist.se)
the King-day is now also celebrated in Sweden.
In connection to the celebrations of the Martin Luther King-day 2004 Joe Frans,
member of the Swedish parliament, inaugurated a Martin Luther King-prize.
The first Swedish Martin Luther King-prize was handed out on the 17th of January
2005 in the Swedish parliament.
Martin Luther King's strong conviction was that peace, freedom and justice
is possible for all. Not only for the oppressed black in the USA, but for
all people in all countries in the world. Segregation, poverty and war are
humanity's greatest problems according to King. It was true in the 1960s and
it is still true today. Can we do anything about it? Is it even worth trying?
The answer is yes. With inspiration and knowledge from the life of Martin
Luther King and his work we can see that even the most difficult situations
and problems can be solved. If we do it together, if we do one piece at a
time and if we have a vision then the dream can turn into reality.
We want to encourage parishes, schools, organizations and individuals to use
the Martin Luther King-day as an opportunity to start to change the world
for the better. Maybe you can invite school classes, organize a peace meeting,
a church service for peace, a lecture or a study circle. The possibilities
are many when the creativity is flowing. For inspiration and suggestions see
www.martinlutherking.se
(in Swedish) and www.thekingcenter.org
(in English).
King is most famous for his resistance against racism
and his commitment for a society were black and white live in peace and equality
together. No country in the world can yet say that is does not have the scourge
of racism. We hardly want to admit it, but all of us harbor prejudices against
people of other color. But we can work with ourselves to slowly get rid of
them. We can also work actively with breaking down the racism in the structures
of our own society. The way that King prescribed for this work was active
nonviolence. The prescription works today in Sweden as well as it worked in
the U.S. in the 1950-60s. We just have to have the courage to actively challenge
the bad thing in ourselves and in our society. The purpose is not to be "nice"
to the immigrants, it is to create a vibrant and fair democracy or in the
words of Dr. Martin Luther King: "If democracy is to live, segregation
must die."
tillbaka
