From: "Anders Hultman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Stan Halpin: > >Right. But If I say Aland, who but you and Anders would know what/where > >that is? If I just say Sweden, I am insulting Aland. > > I'd think that would be more insulting to Finland than to �land, > actually, since �land formally is part of Finland and not Sweden, > even though historically �land has had closer ties to Sweden. > > Sometime in the early 1900's, a referendum was held on the island, > where the inhabitants voted to belong to Sweden, but Finland claimed > it anyway.
Yes, in fact I may be the world's foremost expert on this "Aland Islands Question". > Lasse, what is the current status on that? What do you �l�nningar > think nowadays? Well, since you asked... In the October elections for out local parliament I ran for the newly founded independence party, �lands Framtid. Personally I didn't get elected, but we won two seats of the 30 seat parliament and were declared one of the two winning parties of the elections. Generally I'd say that if the alanders were certain that it was economically safe, I think a majority would opt for independence. As it stands there is about 10-20% support for independence now. This number will rise till the next elections in four years. Lasse
