Björnjakt

 

"But leaden death is at his heart, / Vain all the strength he plies. 

And, spouting blood from every part, / He reels, and sinks, and dies." [1]

 

 

The ancient peoples of Northern Europe revered the brown bear for its strength and some regarded it as the animal ancestor of mankind; others believed that bears formed a bridge between the natural world and that of the gods (Odin and Thor were both said to take the form of a bear when visiting Midgard).

 

Even in modern times, the name Björn - meaning bear - is still common and respected across Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden,  a nation whose penal code makes cruelty to animals - be it intentional or due to gross carelessness - a criminal offence punishable with a large fine and/or imprisonment. 

 

Protection is thus afforded to all animals capable of suffering, including bears ...

 

And so it was surprising as well as distressing to read this morning in The Guardian [2] that Swedish hunters have already slaughtered 150 brown bears in the opening two of days of the annual bear hunt and that the government has authorised the shooting of a further 336 bears, thereby reducing the overall population by 20%, and placing the future of the animal in serious jeopardy.

 

Obviously, this annual bear hunt is a controversial event and has attracted opposition: but still it continues, with the hunters afforded full police protection, and still these magnificent beasts are killed for no reason other than to satisfy the blood-lust of a few individuals who call what they do sport and insist it's part of their cultural heritage. 

 

Last year saw a record-breaking cull of 722 bears (and let's not mention the fact that large numbers of wolves and lynx are also killed in similar authorised hunts). 

 

This is further depressing due to the fact that brown bears were only recently brought back from the edge of extinction in Sweden; their numbers recovering to a peak of 3,300 in 2008. Since then, thanks to the licensed annual hunts, that number has been reduced by 30% to around 2,400. 

 

At this rate, it won't be long before the number of bears is once again believed to be too small to maintain a viable population, not just in Sweden, but in neighbouring regions across the border with Norway. Appeals by the Norwegians to rethink the number being killed fell on deaf Swedish ears, however.   

Where, one wonders, are the EU officials who are supposed to ensure that the EU directive prohibiting the hunting or killing of a strictly protected species (such as the brown bear) is adhered to? Why are they turning a blind eye to the hunting of large carnivores, not just in Sweden, but in other European countries, including Romania and Germany, for example? 

 

Could it be because the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen - and note the cruel irony of her first name (meaning she-bear) - wants to appease the powerful farming lobby and has had it in for wild beasts ever since a wolf killed her pet pony in 2022 ...? [3]

 

 

Notes 

[1] Abraham Lincoln, 'The Bear Hunt', in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. I, ed. Roy P. Basler, Marion Dolores Pratt, and Lloyd A. Dunlap (Rutgers University Press, 1953), pp. 386-89. Click here to read on the Poetry Foundation website.

 

[2] See Beata Furstenberg, 'Swedish hunters kill more than 150 brown bears in first days of annual cull', The Guardian (23 August, 2024): click here. I'm grateful to the author of this article for many of the details in this post.

 

[3] See Louise Guillot, 'Von der Leyen is campaigning hard - against the wolf', on politico.eu (6 June, 2024): click here. 

 

Readers who are concerned about what's happening in Sweden might like to visit the website of Sweden's Big Five - a carnivore protection project that provides information and images on resident populations of lynx, wolf, bear, wolverine, and human being: click here. 

 

Simian Aesthetics 2: The Case of Pierre Brassau

Pierre Brassau (aka Peter the Chimp) 
seen here in his studio

Having discussed the case of Congo in the first post in this two-part series on simian aesthetics, I'd like here to say something on the amusing tale of Pierre Brassau - aka Peter the Chimp - and his fraudulent foray into the art world ...  

Peter, a four-year-old West African chimpanzee who resided at a zoo in Sweden, was at the centre of a 1964 hoax perpetrated on the art world by the tabloid journalist Åke Axelsson, who came up with the idea of exhibiting a series of paintings made by a monkey under the pretence that they were by a previously undiscovered (human) artist called Pierre Brassau.

Axelsson sought to demonstrate that contemporary art critics were full of shit and wouldn't be able to tell the difference between canvases daubed with paint by a great ape and those produced by leading members of the avant-garde.

(Axelsson, of course, thereby betrays his own prejudices: he's a sneering reactionary who dislikes (because he doesn't understand) modern art and he's full of anthropocentric conceit in that he doesn't for one moment consider the possibility that a chimp might be able to produce art that is of genuine interest and value.)

Having enlisted the help of his keeper, Axelsson gave Peter painting materials and encouraged him to express himself. Unfortunately, at first Peter seemed to prefer eating the oil paints - particularly the cobalt blue - rather than using them to decorate a canvas. However, he eventually got the hang of it and produced a number of abstract works. 

Axelsson then selected what he believed to be the four best and arranged for their exhibition at a gallery in Gothenburg, alongside works by an international array of artists.

Praise for Brassau's work was almost unanimous, with one critic, Rolf Anderberg, writing that whilst most of the canvases on display were ponderous, those of Brassau were painted with powerful strokes that twisted with furious fastidiousness and determination. Brassau, concluded Anderberg, "is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer".

After the hoax was revealed, Anderberg - to his credit - refused to change his opinion and insisted that, ape or not, Peter's work was still by far the best at the exhibition. A private collector, Bertil Eklöt, seemed to agree and purchased one of the works (albeit at the bargain price of just $90).

As for what happened to Peter once his brief career as an artist came to an end, I don't know. He was transferred to Chester Zoo, in 1969, and, presumably, he lived out the rest of his life happily eating bananas in anonymity.


For more detail and images, visit the Museum of Hoaxes website: click here.

For the first post in this two-part series on simian aesthetics, click here.

A Pierre Brassau original 

(untitled, 1964, oil on canvas)

Sweden: Vad Fan Gör Du?

I.

Sweden is a country about which I know very little and were it not for ABBA and the cinematic charms of Britt Ekland, I'd probably care even less.

However, as even left-leaning Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, was on the radio this week telling everyone how angry he was with what's happening in his country and promising to get tough, I suppose I should say something ... 

II.

Until recently, Sweden was inhabited almost exclusively by Germanic peoples and therefore enjoyed a high level of ethno-cultural homogeneity. It may not have been the most exciting place on Earth, but there are worse things than living in a happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous country eating meatballs, surrounded by forests and beautiful landscapes, but with easy access to an IKEA.

In the past few years, however, Sweden has become a more diverse nation due to immigration from Africa and the Middle East. A significant number of the population now have a non-Nordic background and this has resulted in a number of what government officials and the mainstream media like to call social challenges.   

Proponents of mass immigration continue to argue that, despite these challenges and the establishment of so-called vulnerable areas in numerous towns and cities, there have been important economic and cultural benefits and people should just relax a little [tagga ned] when considering the newcomers. 

Opponents, meanwhile, can't see beyond the shocking crime statistics and growing civil unrest; from gang violence, rape, and arson attacks at one end of the scale; to young Muslim women refusing to shake hands on the other. For them, the cow is very much on the ice, so to speak.

Sadly, it does seem as if the prolonged period of Scandinavian serenity enjoyed by the Swedes is about to end. Which is a pity - but who's to blame for this other than the super-liberal Swedes themselves? Especially, of course, those in positions of political power, including Herr Löfven.

Ultimately, what Douglas Murray refers to as the strange death of Europe is both an act of self-negation and an act of faith carried out in the name of moral-idealism ...  

See: Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe (Bloomsbury, 2017). 

On How Not to Be a Feminist - A Guest Post by Maria Thanassa

Spot the difference: Sweden's Minister for EU Affairs and Trade 
and Iran's Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, 
modestly sign a deal in Tehran, 11 Feb 2017
 Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi / AP

It takes so much more than a grand statement of intent on a web page to pursue a feminist foreign policy ...

The Swedish government's decision to suspend its own principles in Tehran because it wasn't the right opportunity to take a stand, is sadly not the first instance of the West failing to put its money where its mouth is; nor will it be the last (especially when its economic interests are threatened).

Disappointing as it may be, the failure of Sweden's government to acknowledge the rank hypocrisy of its actions is therefore hardly surprising. Nor is it any wonder that the mayor of London - all too willing to march in protest against gender inequality in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration - saw no incongruity in an EU member state signing trade deals with a theocratic regime that systematically persecutes gays and violates the freedom of expression for women.

I suppose it's far easier - and far less dangerous - for western politicians to condemn the pussy-grabbing sexism of the US administration or the burkini ban in France, than the murderous, state-approved violence against women of Islamic cultures. The question arises, however, why so few feminists dare criticise Islam when criticism is patently due.

Consider, for example, The Women's March on London: the organisers stated that the march was "for the protection of fundamental rights and for the safeguarding of freedoms threatened by recent political events". They further declared that the event would "send a bold message to the world that women’s rights are human rights ... that an attack on one group is an attack on us all." Complacency, they insisted is not an option.

One might reasonably expect, therefore, that images of female Swedish politicians deferentially veiled during an official trip to Iran, would attract some attention and some anger amongst at least some of the self-appointed champions of liberal values. To paraphrase Iranian feminist Azadeh Davachi, if western women are concerned about Donald Trump's cabinet and his views toward women, surely it follows that they have to consider women's rights in Iran.

But no, hardly a word on the matter. Regrettably, one is led to conclude that western feminists are so obsessed with dismantling capitalist patriarchy and swatting WASPs, that they are blind to female oppression within Muslim communities - including those established in towns and cities across the West.

This is the kind of partisan feminism that sees the speck of sawdust in its brother's eye, but fails to spot the beam in its own ...


Athens-born Maria Thanassa is a teacher of Greek language, literature, and film. She has a Ph.D. from Kings College, London and is the founder and director of EKON Arts. She also writes a blog that combines her love of baking, photography and poetry: Moonshine and Lemon.

Maria appears here as part of the Torpedo the Ark Gastautoren Programm and I am very grateful for her contribution and her kind permission to edit and revise this post.