“We will not forget the theft of the Great Prayer Day. We want a free day – No to more war” trade union protesters on the streets of Aalborg during a protest on Friday
As we near the end of April, a cold and rainy month – in fact the wettest month in 150 years – we look forward to the boost of Vitamin D that we hope May will bring us.
And we couldn’t end April without talking about Great Prayer Day, a day that has only become widely known after it was removed as a national holiday. On Friday, April 25, trade unions staged protests around the country to remind politicians that they are still angry about losing the free day and that they will continue to fight until it is restored as a national holiday. Six parliamentary parties (SF, DD, DF, Konservative, Enhedslisten, and Alternativet) agree with the trade unions and are going into the next elections with the promise to restore the national holiday.
Besides national holidays, another heavily discussed topic in the public debate is screens in schools. There are calls to follow Sweden’s model, where screens have been banned in schools, afterschool programs, kindergartens and nurseries. The students say they are distracted by screens and teachers talk about the daily struggle to get students to take their eyes off social media and focus on the analogue teaching.
In internal affairs, we invite you for a meetup in Esbjerg on May 25th, a gathering of beauty industry entrepreneurs in Copenhagen on May 4th, a debate in English about the future of farming in Copenhagen on May 8th, and a call to join the advocacy club AMIS Copenhagen (if you want to make life better for internationals, contact local coordinator Olesea Terna).
Thank you for reading Last Week in Denmark! And remember to listen to our podcast, #VOTEHOME (a new episode has landed).
Word of the Week
Seniorrådet = Elderly Council. The members of the council are democratically elected by those over 60 years old in the municipality. All proposals that concern the elderly must be sent to the Elderly Council for consultation before they are adopted by the City Council.
