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Kajsa Ekis Ekman

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Kajsa Ekis Ekman in 2023

Kajsa "Ekis" Ekman is a Swedish author and journalist. She has written several books on prostitution, surrogacy, the Eurocrisis, the Greek economy and capitalism. She lectures worldwide on topics such as trafficking and capitalism. She writes for the Swedish major daily Aftonbladet's culture page where she is a literary critic as well as for the Norwegian daily Klassekampen. She has also written in Le Monde Diplomatique about illegal adoptions and child trafficking between Sweden and Chile.

She is one of the directors of the Swedish Observatory for Human Rights and has founded various activist groups such as Klimax, Swedish Feminist No to Surrogacy and the "Nätverket för Grekland" (Network of Solidarity with Greece.)

She was awarded the Lenin Prize in 2020. In his speech at the prize ceremony, author Göran Therborn stated: "today we celebrate the new left-wing generation’s foremost intellectual representative, Kajsa Ekis Ekman. Kajsa has a combination of empirical overview and intellectual sharpness and depth that I think is unique in Sweden today. The only comparisons I can think of are the slightly older international sisters Naomi Klein and Arundhati Roy."

Books

Her book Being and Being Bought, compares the sex industry and the surrogacy industry, and how they both commodify women's bodies. It argues that both industries are at the intersection between capitalism and patriarchy. It criticizes the notion of sex work as being an unholy alliance between the neoliberal right and the postmodern left, used to legitimize the sex industry. After two years of investigating so-called "trade unions for sex workers" in Europe, often undercover, she notices that they in many cases are funded by pimps, states, and academics, and have very little to do with labor struggle. The book has been translated into French, English, Spanish, and German.

Her book Stolen Spring describes the eurocrisis as seen from Athens, and the way in which it affected the Greek economy. Ekman criticizes the view that the eurocrisis was caused by the Greek workers, and instead traces it back to changes in capitalism and the construction of the euro as a currency that does not benefit economies of southern Europe. She was given the prize "Swedish-Greek of the Year" 2016 for her solidarity with Greece.

Her book "On the Meaning of Sex - Thoughts on the new Definition of Woman" (Spinifex Press, 2022) analyzes the "new discourse around gender" which according to Ekman is idealist as opposed to a dialectical-materialist view on sex. She there delves into the consequences the new discourse around sex has, and compares it to the "one-sex model" of Greek antiquity.

The book generated much debate in Sweden. According to the review in Svenska Dagbladet, it "raised the level considerably of the previous year's debate." By the reviewer in Göteborgs-Posten, it was criticized for using a far-right "fake news source" and depicting trans women as a threat. Morgenbladet described the book's anti-trans rhetoric as "abhorrent" and said that it "it is debatable whether this book deserves any discussion at all." Maria Horvei wrote that Ekman's "onesided" book argues against strawmen. The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights published a book titled 100 fel i 'Om könets existens' that argued that her book contained numerous inaccuracies and dubious sources. Ekman replied to RFSL claiming that the organization itself was criticised in the book and that this was an attempt to deflect attention from that, and stated that what the RFSL called errors were differences in opinion on how sex and gender should be defined.

In February 2018 a talk she was scheduled to give on prostitution and trafficking was cancelled by the National Organisation for Women’s Shelters and Young Women's Shelters in Sweden (Roks), in response to her article "Könet i knoppen" in which Ekman questioned what the role of biology versus culture played in the new definition of sex/gender, which Roks declared inconsistent with their beliefs and mission to serve "all those who identity as women and girls." Maria Ramnehill argued that Ekman spreads scaremongering propaganda about trans women, while feminist Tiina Rosenberg wrote that the result of Ekman's views is oppression. In 2020 Ekman gave a lecture at a seminar for the feminist group Women's Declaration International (WDI). She has also appeared in WDI's "Feminist Question Time" podcast.

In an article in Dagens Nyheter she was described by critics as a "leading figure in the new transphobic movement." Ekman complained over the article, resulting in the article being sentenced from an ethics body over the fact that she was not offered the opportunity to comment on the criticism of her.

Pro-Palestine activism

She was a participant in the 2015 Free Gaza Flottilla whose aim was to break the siege of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. She, along with Dror Feiler, was imprisoned by the Israeli military for a week. She considers Israel to be a country based on "ethnic cleansing and apartheid".

Other topics

Ekman was one of the speakers at the 2014 Festival of Dangerous Ideas, where she spoke on surrogacy as baby trade. In her Ted Talk, "Everybody talks about Capitalism, but what is it?", she speaks about the free market as a useful tool, but capitalism as a force unable of moral responsibility, and plan for the climate, the country, and the world. She suggests regulation of the finance sector to avoid crises, and suggests "democracy in all sectors of society, also in the working place".

Dagens ETC and Arbetaren

Between 2014 and 2022 Ekman was an op-ed writer at the left-wing daily Dagens ETC. In 2022 Dagens ETC ceased publication of her articles after having written an op-ed about the newspaper Kyiv Independent where she revealed that their funding came from USAID and several European governments. The editor then claimed he would cease publication of her articles. ETC's editor said she had "whitewashed RT and what they are up to in the world."

Later in 2022 she was hired as editor of the small anarcho-syndicalist newspaper Arbetaren, but fired shortly afterwards after the other staff protested against the CEO sidestepping them in the process.

Awards

References

  1. ""Coronakrisens utfall ligger i våra händer"". Aftonbladet (in Swahili). Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  2. ""Landet som aldri glemmer"". Klassekampen (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  3. ""Errements de l'adoption internationale"". Le Monde Diplo (in French). Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  4. "Kajsa Ekis Ekman | SOHRI — Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information (SOHRI)". Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information (SOHRI). Retrieved 2023-05-14.
  5. "Nätverket För Grekland, Verksamhetsberättelse 2013-14, 2014
  6. "Göran Therborn's speech to Kajsa Ekis Ekman". Leninpriset. Retrieved 2023-05-13.
  7. Ekman, Kajsa Ekis: Being and Being Bought - Prostitution, Surrogacy and the Split Self. Melbourne: Spinifex Press, 2013
  8. Ekman, Kajsa Ekis: Κλεμμένη Ανοιξη Athens: Kedros Publishers, 2014
  9. ""Sverige och Grekland har mycket gemensamt"". Dagens ETC (in Swedish). Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  10. Samuelsson, Sanna (28 April 2021). "Recension: Fake news-källor i Ekis Ekmans nya bok" [Review: Fake news sources in Ekis Ekman's new book]. Göteborgs-Posten.
  11. Sandberg, Linn. "Om transkvinnan som hot" [On trans women as a threat]. Respons. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  12. "Kan diskuteres om boken i det hele tatt fortjener omtale" [It is debatable whether this book deserves any discussion at all]. Morgenbladet. 16 July 2021.
  13. Horvei, Maria (10 September 2021). "Å vere eller ikkje få vere". Vinduet.
  14. "100 fel i "Om könets existens"". RFSL. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  15. "Uttalande angående Kajsa Ekis Ekmans deltagande på Roks konferens 20 februari". Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  16. Ramnehill, Maria. "Ekis Ekman sprider skrämselpropaganda om transkvinnor" [Ekis Ekman spreads scaremongering propaganda about trans women]. Göteborgs-Posten. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  17. Rosenberg, Tiina. "Kajsa Ekis Ekmans feminism blir till förtryck". Expressen. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  18. "Swedish Launch of the Declaration of Women's Human Rights Campaign". Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  19. "Feminist Question Time". WDI. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  20. ^ "Därför stormar det på tidningen Arbetaren igen". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  21. DN klandras för kränkande omdöme om Ekis Ekman
  22. "Elvander saknar exempel på antisemitism inom vänstern". Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  23. Everybody talks about capitalism -- but what is it? | Kajsa Ekis Ekman | TEDxAthens, retrieved 2022-06-21
  24. "Ekis Ekman om ETC: Utkastad efter tio år". Skånska Dagbladet. 12 April 2022.
  25. Carlsson Tenitskaja, Alexandra (11 April 2022). "Dagens ETC avslutar samarbete med Kajsa Ekis Ekman". Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  26. "Köper man rysk propaganda ställer man sig på fel sida". Ttela. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  27. Dagens ETC bryter med Ekis Ekman
  28. ”Fejden är ett tragikomiskt offentligt sammanbrott”
  29. Ekis Ekman sparkas från Arbetaren – efter kritiken (
  30. "The Lenin Award". Retrieved 22 March 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. "Leninprisen til Kajsa Ekis Ekman". Steigan.no. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

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