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Stein Arne Brekke

@brekke@eupolicy.social

mastodon 4.6.9

Norwegian political scientist with a professional interest in European integration. Passionate about human rights and wealth distribution. Believer in degrowth and solidarity.

286 Followers

417 Following

8 Posts

Joined November 18, 2022

Web:

https://brekke.it

Work:

University of Copenhagen

What?:

Postdoctoral researcher in political science

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 3mo ago

RE: https://curia.social-network.europa.eu/@Curia/116730408835298643 Good news for the Europeans out there still working to defend international law and human rights: The #CJEU just ruled that being on an American sanctions list is not sufficient reason for banks to refuse people from opening accounts. People on said sanctions list includes high-ranking officers of the International Criminal Court.

curia.social-network.europa.eu

Court of Justice of the EU: "#CJEU | #Banking services: being listed on a U.S.…" - Mastodon

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

If a) public discourse and democratic participation is happening online, and b) age verification is necessary to be allowed to participate in this discourse, then the app proposed here is actively gatekeeping democratic participation. You could go as far as to say that those who cannot use this app would no longer be full citizens. Even if this only badly affected 0.1% of Europeans, that would be something like 400 000 people degraded to second-class citizens. @ErikJonker @soulsource @pojntfx

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 6mo ago

It is not entirely invisible in Copenhagen either. I have highly educated British friends with work contracts and long-term partners in Denmark who were nevertheless given an incredibly hard time to get a visa. At the university English language courses are discouraged and silent rooms are being removed because Muslim students used then to pray. When the department of law "had to" fire six permanent staff this happened almost exclusively from the tiny pool of international employees. @Pepijn@mastodon.online

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 5mo ago

Yes!

The instance with the highest density of social scientists is probably sciences.social: https://sciences.social/public/local
@ced@mapstodon.space

sciences.social

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 6mo ago

Speaking of children, I've lost count on the amount of resourceful single expat mothers I know in Copenhagen who would like to leave Denmark and go home, but are unable to do so because their children would be taken away from them even though their husbands play no role in parenting, sometimes having been proven unfit to do so.

They are kept hostage in Denmark because it is, apparently, always "the best interest of the child". And the glass ceiling for foreign women seems bulletproof. @Pepijn@mastodon.online

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Absolutely. It's far from obvious that kids should be banned from online participation in the first place. I'd argue their right to political participation kicks in way before their right to vote, and there are plenty of online spaces that do good things for kids that might otherwise have a hard time. As @ErikJonker agreed that it's questionable whether this app could actually serve a worthy purpose, I started my post in the thought experiment that it could. @MeneerDeBruin @soulsource @pojntfx

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 7mo ago

Replying to

I guess a lot of this is because they have the infrastructure in place already? After hearing Brits complaining I was surprised by how easy it was to travel by train in the UK, but it's probably true that parts of the experience has gotten worse compared to how good it used to be. It's just way ahead of countries that never made the investment in the first place. Germany seems to me to be in a similar situation. @jon@gruene.social @gwentlarry@mastodon.social @europeanspodcast@mastodon.social

Stein Arne Brekke @brekke@eupolicy.social

· 8mo ago

Replying to

On the plus side, I just heard of @propublicaguild@union.place in this post and am thrilled to see there's such a well organized union at @ProPublica@newsie.social. That makes me feel better, not worse, about my subscription. :) @ohmu@social.seattle.wa.us @hacks4pancakes@infosec.exchange