Harvey Milk

Previous lesson we watched the American biographic film ”Harvey Milk.” (You may watch the trailer here!)The film is about a man by the same name who fought for the rights of the gay in America in the 60s and 70s. Early in the film, Harvey Milk and his boyfriend Scott Smith move to San Francisco, which is the only city in the US where gays can be more or less open about their sexuality. They buy a shop in which they in addition to running a business in engage homosexuals in different campaigns. In line of other accomplishments, the gays manage to boycott the beer label Coors and the gays are hired to do other types of campaigning as well. As the gays manage to get their voice heard through leading boycotts Milk realises he can expand his little gay community. He wants the acceptance for homosexuals to sweep the nation. As persistent as he is, he starts with the Castro Street where his shop is. He runs to for an election to be a supervisor for his constituency. His well-known statement: “It’s not just about winning” was important, as he did not win until the third time he ran for an election. Harvey Milk became a supervisor of San Francisco in 1977 and showed the US that homosexuals are well capable of running politics.

I have watched “Harvey Milk” twice and I really like this film. It shows us how it is possible to make a difference. As opposed to other films, “Harvey Milk” emphasises the difficulties and antagonism of trying to reach out in politics. This makes the film different to former films I have watched about making a difference. For Harvey Milk it was a long way to political importance but his activism never faded. This film can definitely be an inspiration and encourage people who wish to spread their opinion. Harvey Milk put down a lot of work and effort to reach the success he finally had which paid off for so many people other than himself. In my opinion, the most important message in “Harvey Milk” is that the people are the ones with the power to reform a society. You cannot expect the government to be rational. If you as a part of a minority feel as if you are treated unfairly, YOU are the person who has to do something!

The British Electoral System: First-past-the-post

Today we learned about British politics. In addition to reading about the English legal system we watched two films. One was merely a joke about a man who wanted to be a dictator and the other one described the English voting system thoroughly. What really interested me was how the constituencies and allocation of mandates worked.


As opposed to Norway, which has a proportional representation of members in their legislative branch (Stortinget) United Kingdom has a first-past-the-post system. This means that United Kingdom is divided into 646 constituencies, each with the right to one seat in the House of Commons. The sitting Prime Minister can hold elections whenever he wants within a period of five years. If he is very popular in one period, he might run an election because he expects to be chosen for another five-year period. When there is an election, parties campaign in each constituency. Through the country 646 elections are held. In each constituency, the representative with the most votes wins. This means that the total of representatives does not necessarily reflect the votes of the British people.


There are both positive and negative sides to this. Firstly, on the positive side, the representative who wins can perform a more accurate and targeted policy. They do not need to compromise to meet the other parties’ demands. Many people view proportional representation as a betrayal because the voters do not get what the majority voted for. They get a coalition between several parties instead. This makes the first-past-the-post representation strong-handed, especially because the representatives do not need to spend time compromising their political views.


There are some negative aspects to the first-past-the-post representation as well. As I have said already, this type of electoral system does not benefit the minority as well as in a proportional representation. When the first representative is past the post it does not matter how close behind the other candidates were. In a way you could say that those votes are wasted. Another problem with this electoral system is that there are more difficult for smaller parties to be represented. People tend to vote for the bigger parties they know have a chance of winning. The minor parties do not have a chance of winning and therefore it is hard for new parties to get a say in the British politics.

Cross-country skiing!

It is a common myth that Norwegians are born with skis on. Believe it or not, this is not true. However, most parents introduce their children to their first cross-country skis when they are very young- even before their balance is fully developed. Nevertheless, most Norwegians never get to the level of becoming professionals although we do have famous skiers such as Bjørn Dæhlie, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Marit Bjørgen.

Most of us are satisfied when we get to a level in which we are capable of using our skiing skills for being as typical a Norwegian you could possibly be. This includes packing a rucksack with dry mittens, toilet paper, a chocolate bar called Kvikk Lunsj (quick lunch), juice and matches and everything else you might need during a skiing trip. In most cases, Norwegians go cross-country skiing with their family, even if the age and speed varies. It is nearly a written rule that either the skis are to clingy or they are too slippery. The wax is never perfect. Your hands are always cold and your parents are always annoyingly thrilled that the whole family does something as idyllic as this.

These are the rules of the Norwegian cross-country skiing, if you are not performing on a professional level of course. In spite of the fashion changes in ski outfits and ski-waxes, the rules have persisted and probably will exist for as long as the Norwegians and the myth that we are born with skis on does.