Swedish Journalist Covers 2016 U.S. Election

Captions: 1. Nivette Dawod, Swedish journalist for Aftonbladet and fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is here to study the 2016 U.S. election. 2. Ann F. Christenson, co-founder of 100Grannies.0rg and long-time activist, hosted Nivette Dawod at her house. 3. Becky Hall, also a member of 100Grannies.org, was arrested for protesting the Dakota Access pipeline at the Mississippi Stand, along with Ann Christenson.

On October 12th, 2016 a small gathering of 100 Grannies (100Grannies.org) met with Swedish journalist Nivette Dawod (pronounced “Dah-VOOD”; it means David in Arabic) in 100 Grannies co-founder Ann Christenson’s house in Iowa City. There were just the three of us: Ann, Becky Hall, and new member Maria Houser Conzemius, who joined that same day. Actually there are well over 100 grannies, but not all were present.

Nivette Dawod is a Swedish journalist who reports for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, a daily newspaper and the largest newspaper in Sweden. Daily circulation is 3.5 million. It used to be the largest newspaper in Scandinavia. At present, Nivette is here as a fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C., to focus on policy studies. They have a network of trans-Atlantic journalists to study the U.S. elections.

Nivette wants to meet with different groups not usually covered, including women and minorities.

We couldn’t help but tell her how embarrassed we are by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s character and campaign, even though none of us would dream of voting for him. Nivette said our embarrassment was a common response. Even customs staff told her they were embarrassed when she passed through customs and stated her purpose for entering the United States.

Ann Christenson got Nivette’s attention when she told Nivette her 80th birthday present to herself was getting arrested October 5th, 2016. She was arrested while protesting the Dakota Access pipeline at the Mississippi Stand near the Mississippi River. The privately owned oil pipeline plans to put the pipeline under both the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers. The Iowa Utility Board, packed by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, has given the privately owned pipeline permission to take farmers’ land by eminent domain law across Iowa for the “public good.”

State troopers and local law enforcement have allowed construction workers working for the oil pipeline to violate the Dakota Access pipeline’s agreement not to dig in farmers’ fields when it’s very wet. Consequently, farmers’ land is being left behind in poor condition and Iowa law enforcement is not enforcing law in favor of the farmers, only in favor of the pipeline’s “rights” to do what they want without consequences.

Protesters are being arrested for trespassing, even though they are parked or standing on land they have been given permission to park and stand on by private landowners. Apparently, oilmen in Texas have more rights than Iowa property owners and Iowans protesting the misuse of their land.

When Nivette asked Ann Christenson specifically what the mission of the 100 Grannies is, she simply said, “our mission is to preserve our environment for our children and grandchildren.”

Becky Hall shared that she has been working on trying to get a solar tree in the Ped Mall so that college students and others can charge their cell phones and other electronic devices by solar power, a renewable fuel source. However, high rises have blocked the sun and cast too much shade for a solar tree to work properly, so she turned to the University of Iowa.

A UI engineering professor is fired up about solar power. Ude (pronounced “Uday”) wants a solar tree whose “leaves” can change color with the seasons and move with the sun, but the powers that be at the University of Iowa are less enthusiastic, so Becky said she’s “about to give up.”

It’s too bad. You’d think that a university community with wind power as inspiration would be enthusiastic about solar power, but apparently not.

Ann or Becky mentioned James Hansen, the climate scientist at NASA, and his granddaughter Sophie’s lawsuit through the Children’s Trust. It’s a federal lawsuit.

As Nivette wound up her interview, she asked where she could find some Republicans. We sent her south on 218 to Washington County. She won’t have to drive far.