denmark – Law Street

Did a Danish Inventor Kill a Female Journalist on His Homemade Submarine?

Emma Von Zeipel — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 14:34:55 +0000

Image courtesy of rml spacelab; license: (CC BY 2.0)

A story involving an inventor, a missing female journalist, and a sunken submarine has gripped the people of Scandinavia. But despite what it sounds like, it’s not a crime novel or an action movie. Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after taking a Swedish journalist, Kim Wall, out for a ride in his self-made submarine.

Early Saturday morning, Wall’s boyfriend reported her as missing, because she hadn’t returned home the night before. A search and rescue operation began, and Madsen was discovered sitting on a sinking submarine. He jumped off the sinking vessel near Copenhagen, just as rescue boats approached.

Later on Saturday, the submarine, called UC3 Nautilus, was recovered from the bottom of the sea, but no body was found inside and there’s no chance to recover any potential DNA evidence because it would have been washed away. Madsen claims technical issues sank the submarine.

Madsen also said that he dropped Wall off outside a restaurant on the mainland at 10:30 p.m. on Friday. But she hasn’t been seen since a passerby snapped a photo of the two on the submarine tower before they left the Copenhagen harbor on Thursday.

A Danish submarine inventor has been charged in the death of Kim Wall, a journalist. But her body is still missing. https://t.co/hWTvDNuCLg pic.twitter.com/1i2IKQqIge

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) August 13, 2017

Danish police believe Madsen may have accidentally killed Wall and then tried to cover his tracks by sinking the submarine. They said they still hope to find Wall alive, but that they are prepared for the worst case scenario. Madsen is denying any wrongdoing.

Wall is a 30-year-old Swedish freelance journalist who graduated from Columbia University in New York and has worked with publications like the New York Times, Vice, and Time.

According to Swedish media, Wall was in the submarine with Madsen as part of her research for an upcoming article about Madsen and his new space project. Madsen also reportedly gave a second explanation of when and where he supposedly dropped Wall off on the Friday evening, but the police have not revealed any details about that version.

Kim Wall remains missing. Please share her photo with anyone you might know in Denmark. https://t.co/ercjiTclmM

— Jenny Hollander (@_JennyHollander) August 12, 2017

Madsen is known as a “hobby engineer” with “low social skills,” who is currently attempting to build space rockets. His nickname in Denmark is Rocket Madsen, and he is currently running Rocket Madsen’s Space Laboratory, which aims to become the first non-governmental and volunteer-only organization to send humans to space.

In 2014, he started a crowd-funding page attempting to raise $50,000 for the refurbishment of the submarine. He only raised $6,170. But 10 volunteers worked on finishing the refurbishment, which actually ended in an ownership dispute. Nautilus was initially built as a hobby project by a group of enthusiasts, which included Madsen. But after the dispute, the ownership was transferred to Madsen. After that he allegedly said, “You may think that a curse is lying on Nautilus. That curse is me. There will not be peace on Nautilus for as long as I exist.” That eerie statement sounds even more harrowing today, as the search for Wall continues.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Vandalism as Activism: Protesting Whaling on the Faroe Islands

Jillian Sequeira — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 14:05:04 +0000

Image courtesy of brando.n; License: (CC BY 2.0)

The iconic Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen has taken on a new look this month: anti-whaling advocates vandalized the statue, coating it in red paint in an effort to draw attention to the endangered whales of the Faroe Islands.

Copenhagen’s famous Little Mermaid statue was vandalized…again https://t.co/8Aq7meZiMy pic.twitter.com/odfmW4UiON

— Condé Nast Traveler (@CNTraveler) June 7, 2017

For a thousand years, the people of the Faroe Islands have conducted an annual grindadráp, a drive hunt where a flotilla of small boats drive whales and dolphins into a small bay where they are killed by hand with knives. The organization Sea Shepherd has worked to end these hunts since the 1980s, but the inhabitants of the islands have pushed back, arguing that the “grind” is critical for both food and preserving the islanders’ sense of community. The enmity between environmental advocates and the Danish authorities has grown exponentially since crews of Sea Shepherd boats were detained by the Danish navy when they tried to block the 2014 grind. Whaling is illegal within the EU and Sea Shepherd has declared that Brussels must launch “infringement proceedings” against Denmark for allowing the grind. However, the Faroe Islands have a unique status–as an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, they rely on Denmark for military, judicial, and foreign affairs but have control over their own domestic issues.

Carl Christian Ebbesen, head of Copenhagen’s culture and leisure committee, was outraged by the vandalism, calling it “well out of line” and “as stupid as you can possibly get.” Despite Ebbesen’s dismissal of the red paint, this is not the first time the Little Mermaid statue has been used for political purposes. In 1964, the Situationist avant-garde group sawed off the head of the statue. She has also lost limbs and been painted numerous times by various groups. In 2004, a burqa was draped over the head of the statue as part of protest against Turkey joining the EU and the statue was clothed in a headscarf in 2007 for reasons that are unclear.

Vandalizing the statue may seem like a petty or juvenile act, but it has served its purpose–getting the grinds of the Faroe Island back in the headlines in the wake of Sea Shepherd officially requesting the European Commission punish Denmark for the grinds (Sea Shepherd has claimed no responsibility for the vandalism). Tourists visiting Copenhagen and dozens of media outlets picking up images of the statue have made the red paint stunt go viral, bringing attention to a debate that relatively few outside of Denmark have been following. By next week, the red paint will have been removed from the statue and it will return to its role as a charming backdrop in Instagram snaps for visitors from around the globe–but for the moment, it is a powerful political statement.

In the past, we’ve discussed Greenpeace’s symbolic activism as effective at drumming up sympathy and finding new allies but activism does not always have to take place on such a grandiose scale. The painting of the statue is an effective, albeit temporary, protest–the anonymous painters should consider it a job well done.

Jillian Sequeira

Jillian Sequeira was a member of the College of William and Mary Class of 2016, with a double major in Government and Italian. When she’s not blogging, she’s photographing graffiti around the world and worshiping at the altar of Elon Musk and all things Tesla. Contact Jillian at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com

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Noma: Famous Restaurant Just Named its Immigrant Dishwasher a Co-Owner

Emma Von Zeipel — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 21:44:46 +0000

"Inside Noma's Kitchen" courtesy of City Foodsters; license: (CC BY 2.0)

In a time when anti-immigrant sentiments are spreading through the western world, we don’t often get hear about good news. But here’s some: Ali Sonko is a Gambian immigrant who spent 14 years working as a dishwasher in the Michelin-starred restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, and he was just named co-owner. He will take on new duties as a host and own stakes in the company; he will share 10 percent with two other managers. The star chef and co-owner René Redzepi owns about 20 percent and the rest is divided over four business partners. But Sonko says he will still spend time by the sink and wash plates, like he is used to. “I am so happy,” he said.

Heartwarming #Gambia story as dishwasher, and Gambian immigrant, becomes part owner of Michelin star restaurant. https://t.co/zxjQ8unv9u

— Jim Wormington (@jwormington) March 3, 2017

Redzepi said he had a special connection with Sonko, as he shares a first name with Redzepi’s father, who also was a Muslim immigrant–an Albanian born in Yugoslavia. He also worked as a dishwasher when he came to Denmark in the 1970s. Of Sonko, Redzepi said: “He has spent every hour of his life at that restaurant, works hard and hardly takes a day off. He is a great example of an immigrant done good.” The restaurant recently closed its original location and is rebranding itself as an urban farm. It plans to open again in December.

Sonko is 62, has 12 children, and used to be a farmer in Gambia. He fell in love with a Danish woman when on vacation in Denmark, and moved there 34 years ago. When asked about immigration in Denmark, he said, “Everybody does their best.”

Denmark, along with many other countries in Europe, has seen a rise in far-right ideology. The right-wing Danish People’s Party has seen new success. In the middle of February, the party was criticized for handing out flyers with fake one-way tickets for immigrants to go “home,” to a destination that translates to “far away-istan.”

Ali takes down the sign pic.twitter.com/VRyL77yV0q

— Rene Redzepi (@ReneRedzepiNoma) February 26, 2017

Denmark recently passed a law that requires immigrants to hand over any jewelry or expensive personal belongings as they enter the country, to help pay for their stay. Earlier this week, right-wing politician Inger Stojberg published an opinion piece in a newspaper in which she called a Syrian immigrant family “greedy” and accused them of abusing the Danish welfare system.

When the Noma staff traveled to Britain in 2010 to receive a prize for being the world’s best restaurant, Sonko couldn’t join the team since he couldn’t go to Britain without a visa, despite having lived in Denmark for 34 years. So to show their appreciation of him, everyone from the restaurant wore a t-shirt with his portrait during the ceremony. And by the time Noma received that prize for the third time in 2012, Sonko could come along.

“Ali is the heart and soul of Noma. I don’t think people appreciate what it means to have a person like Ali in the house. He is all smiles, no matter how his 12 children fare,” Redzepi said in a recent speech to his staff.

Emma Von Zeipel

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Fertility Campaigns Fight Population Shifts but Reinforce Anti-Immigrant Sentiments

Callum Cleary — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 20:00:49 +0000

"Older Woman" Courtesy of PublicDomainPictures : License (Public Domain)

On January 27, the Spanish prime minister appointed Edelmira Barreira Diz to be the “Commissioner for the Demographic Challenge.” The “sex tsar,” as the media has dubbed her, will be responsible for addressing Spain’s depressed fertility rate and relieving the socioeconomic implications of an aging population. Spain is one of many European countries that have begun to recommend that their citizens have more children. Italy, Denmark, and Sweden have all launched fertility campaigns as well. While many have championed immigration as a means of easing Europe’s demographic dilemma, few governments can open their borders without facing backlash from an increasingly xenophobic European public. By sidestepping immigration, fertility campaigns represent an implicitly ethnocentric response to Europe’s aging populations.

A decreasing fertility rate is considered an important trait of economic development. European fertility rates have been dropping for decades and, as a consequence, the age of the average European is climbing. Many experts fear Europe’s growth-oriented economies are reaching an impasse. As retirees begin to make up a larger percentage of the overall population, there will be proportionally fewer young people to pick up the slack. The economic challenges these long-term trends potentially pose are beginning to loom large for many European officials.

While there is debate on whether or not the ratio of workers to retirees holds bearing over economic performance, governments throughout Europe are seemingly behaving as though it does. During the Euro-crisis, the continent’s aging population was often mentioned as a factor possibly hindering the recovery. The fact that the European Union and individual European states are working to reduce the average age of their respective populations is indicative of their belief that youth is key to ensuring long-term economic stability.

Immigrants are often pegged as quick and effective supplements to an aging labor force. However, with anti-immigrant sentiments are flaring, any argument in favor of immigration is bound to cause fervent controversy. By encouraging fertility, governments can address concerns about an aging population and avoid acknowledging the merits of immigration.

In doing so, fertility campaigns hark back to a time when fascist European governments demanded their citizens give more children to the state. Like campaigns of the past, modern efforts ignore the question of immigration and instead encourage the cultivation of a new generation of citizens who will one day contribute to continued economic growth. While seemingly tame, fertility campaigns are a resurgent trend that implicitly enforce nationalistic notions of who is valuable and who is not. Far right groups remain particularly concerned with fertility. They see high rates of domestic fertility as a source of national strength and the fertility of immigrants as a threat to the social fabric. Last year, Germany’s right wing party, Alternative for Germany, leaked a manifesto outlining policies that would incentivize German women to have three or more children.

European governments are unwilling or unable to address their perceived aging problem with policies that would upset the vociferous anti-immigrant faction. While these contemporary fertility campaigns are related in comparatively innocuous terms, they work to emphasize the value of citizens and minimize, or entirely ignore, the value of immigrants.

Callum Cleary

Callum is an editorial intern at Law Street. He is from Portland OR by way of the United Kingdom. He is a senior at American University double majoring in International Studies and Philosophy with a focus on social justice in Latin America. Contact Callum at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Uruguay’s Green Energy Policy: The World’s Best Kept Secret?

Jillian Sequeira — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 14:54:33 +0000

Image courtesy of [Chrishna via Flickr]

Anyone tuning into the first Democratic debate heard hopeful Bernie Sanders’ shout out to Denmark–and Hillary Clinton’s subsequent dismissal of applying standards that work in Denmark to the United States. It’s become common practice for politicians from around the world to constantly applaud Northern Europe as a set of model countries: their healthcare, their political participation, their education, and their commitment to environmental protection. On the environmental front, Northern Europe is a heavyweight that puts its money behind implementing policy that results in substantive change. Denmark, for example, has funneled time and funding into wind energy nationwide and seeks to use 100 percent renewable energies by 2035. No one is claiming that Northern Europe deserves anything less than respect for its efforts–but let’s step away from the Prom Queen of Electric Energy for a moment and talk about the wallflower making moves without attention from the global media. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s turn to Uruguay.

Uruguay is a powerhouse of hydroelectric and wind energy in Latin America, hosting dozens of projects that are pushing alternative energy to the forefront of the country’s economy. In the past fifty years, the country has transformed from an unstable agrarian community plagued by insurgency and economic instability into a thriving, stable leader in the Western hemisphere. Yet because Uruguay is located in “the Global South,” the international community rarely takes the time to applaud its commitment to green energy. Let’s take a minute to catch up on what you’ve been missing in Uruguay:

Uruguay’s Accomplishments

Uruguay, with a population of approximately 3.3 million people, is the second-smallest country on the continent. Good things come in small packages: the State Department ranks Uruguay first in Latin America for democracy, quality of living, peace, press freedom and a host of other attributes. Uruguay is a beacon for political liberty, a financial powerhouse and a force for peace both in the region and abroad (it is one of the highest contributors to UN peacekeeping forces). Plus, Uruguay has legalized marijuana, same-sex marriage, and abortion. Healthcare is both high quality and affordable, as is higher education, and Uruguay considered the safest country in Latin America. The icing on the cake is that Uruguay’s former President José Mujica, who just stepped down in March, was known as the “world’s humblest president” because he lived an extremely modest lifestyle and donated the majority of his salary to charity. Although it’s obviously not perfect, Uruguay has a lot to be proud of: particularly its commitment to alternative energy.

Uruguay and Alternative Energy

Denmark better watch its back–Uruguay is aiming to get as much as 38 percent of its national power from wind energy by 2017 and that goal appears easily within reach. In comparison, Denmark started shifting to alternative energy in the 1970s and currently gets about 30 percent of its electricity from wind power. Uruguay is aiming to hit the same energy goal in half the time–ambitious, yet seemingly plausible if wind turbine development continues at aggressive rates. Uruguay exists outside of the ongoing tug-of-war between electric energy and fossil fuels that rages in most of South America–as a nation with no significant coal, oil or gas deposits, alternative energy was a necessity. Historically, Uruguay was dependent on Argentina and Brazil for energy imports but the shift to alternative energy is granting Uruguay a path of economic self-reliance at an astounding rate. In fact, Argentina and Brazil may start importing energy from Uruguay soon.

Starting in 2005, Uruguay invested over 3 percent of its GDP each year in overhauling the energy system. This has transformed the nation into a major center for wind turbines and hydroelectric energy. Uruguay’s flat landscape makes it ideal for wind energy, which proved especially important when major droughts disrupted hydroelectricity productivity in 2014. Billions of dollars have flooded into Uruguay in recent years as UTE (the state-owned electric company) grants projects to international bidders looking to create large-scale wind farms. Uruguay has the highest clean energy growth on the continent and it has created this growth without excluding native workers. Uruguay requires that the control centers of these projects are built in Uruguay and that after the first year of operation, 80 percent of maintenance jobs go to local employees. Expanding the job market for local workers is giving the country traction on its path to energy independence. Beyond wind energy, Uruguay has two unique projects in the works: making Carrasco International Airport the world’s first sustainable airport and using electric energy to power all public transport by 2030.

Oil on the Horizon

The 2005-2030 energy plan that Uruguay has been committed to has performed incredibly so far, but national governments have to plan for worst-case scenarios. Uruguay’s worst-case scenario would be abandoning green energy for fossil fuels. Uruguay, despite its lack of on-shore resources, has been scouted for off-shore drilling to the tune of over $1.6 billion in 3 years. The current administration wants to reach a consensus before committing to oil ventures but with companies such as BP, BG Group, and Tullow Oil knocking on Uruguay’s door, the pressure is rising. Alternative energy is working for Uruguay, but the lure of oil investment is no doubt tempting for the small nation. The transition to oil would lead to a huge shift in the political culture of the country, as new lobbies and political partnerships would open the door for corruption and conflict. Uruguay has made almost unparalleled strides in energy development, yet all those efforts may crumble if the country turns to oil development.

So, Why is No One Cheering for Uruguay?

Why is Uruguay flying under the radar while Northern Europe is lauded on the world stage for its work on alternative energy? One could argue it is because of the size of Uruguay–who is keeping track of a country that small? Well, Latvia and Estonia are both smaller than Uruguay but a quick Google search will turn up a dozen listicles praising these nations’ commitment to green energy. Uruguay may have a small population but that doesn’t mean we dismiss it out of hand. Uruguay has done nothing to anger the international community, on the contrary, it has upheld essentially every possible standard of good governance. So why isn’t everyone planning to retire to Montevideo?

Instead, many suspect that it all comes back to the global North-South divide. The North (Europe, North America, Australia–“the first world”) and the South (Central and Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East–“the third world”) developed in different ways but although economic prosperity has been redistributed over recent decades, the North is still considered the ultimate authority on economic matters. We shed attention on successful European countries that already hold our attention because historically the “global South” has been years behind us in development. We like to think of Latin America in terms of coconuts and jungles rather than a diverse continent with a set of booming economies that rival our own. We are used to Northern European countries succeeding at everything they try their hand at, so watching them succeed at alternative energy implementation is par for the course. However, Uruguay’s success is all the more impressive because it didn’t come from the more stable economy of Northern Europe. Uruguay rebuilt itself after the turbulence of the 1970s–the Tupumaros Marxist guerilla movement, of which Mujica was a part, led a nation-wide insurgency for over a decade–and transformed into not only a regional leader, but to perhaps the most impressive wind development center of the hemisphere. Uruguay is overturning the stereotype of a Latin-American nation plagued by corruption and violence that lags behind the rest of the world. Hopefully, the continuing growth of wind energy in Uruguay will grant it a larger spotlight but until then, the pressure from oil investment places the fate of Uruguay’s energy plan in a vulnerable position. In order to continue creating incredible energy changes, Uruguay must receive more international attention–the media must promote the nation as an ideal location for investment. In the meantime, politicians are going to keep writing love letters to Denmark while Uruguay creeps towards being the most environmentally friendly nation in the world.

Ignoring Uruguay’s achievements is not only insulting to the country, it increases the probability that Uruguay will turn to oil dependency. A concerted effort to recognize Uruguay’s energy achievements will give the nation the public support that it needs, and deserves, to meet its energy goals.

Conclusion

Uruguay is a much-overlooked dark horse when it comes to energy independence. The country’s move toward clean energy threatens to pass its European counterparts, but it doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as European nations. While that may, in part, be because of endemic biases in the United States and Europe, it’s important to recognize the innovative technology being used in the Latin American green-energy haven.