Amanda Sofia Margareta Lind (née ''Johansson''; born 2 August 1980) is a politician for the Swedish

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

. From 2019 to 2021, she was the Minister for Culture and Democracy, with responsibility for sport and national minorities in the cabinet of Prime Minister

Stefan Löfven Kjell Stefan Löfven (; officially ''Löfvén''; born 21 July 1957) is a Swedish politician who serves as the President of European Socialists since October 2022. He previously served as Prime Minister of Sweden from October 2014 to November 20 ...

Early life and education

From the age of three, Lind grew up in Luleå where her father Erik Hugo Johansson was a pastor and her mother Eva Bask Johansson was a pharmacist. Having studied at

Umeå University Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami: ) is a public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present borders. As of 2 ...

, she received her master's degree in psychology in 2009.

Career

Lind became a member of ''Miljöpartiet de gröna'', the Swedish Green Party, in 1999 and was a member of the Umeå municipal council from 2002 to 2004. Lind worked as a child and adolescent psychologist for

Västernorrland County Västernorrland County ( sv, Västernorrlands län) is a county ('' län'') in the north of Sweden. It is bordered by the counties of Gävleborg, Jämtland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name ''Västernorrland'' means "Western ...

council from 2009 to 2011. In 2010, she was appointed spokesperson for the

Härnösand Härnösand () is a locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 17,556 inhabitants in 2010. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just a few miles north of H ...

social affairs agency and in 2012 as spokesperson for Västernorrland. Between 2011 and 2014, she chaired the social affairs committee in the municipality of Härnösand with responsibility for cultural, environmental, planning and recreational issues.''Sveriges nya kulturminister Amanda Lind (MP) brinner för frågorna: ‘Jag är resultatinriktad’''
("Sweden’s new Culture Minister Amanda Lind is afire with questions: ‘I am results-oriented”.”), 21 January 2019, ''Sundsvalls Tidning''. Retrieved 29 July 2019. Lind was municipal councillor and first vice-chair of the municipal council in Härnösand from 2014 to 2018. She became the Green Party secretary in 2016, succeeding Anders Wallner.''Amanda Lind valdes till partisekreterare för Miljöpartiet''
(“Amanda Lind elected party secretary for Green Party"), 15 May 2016, ''Sveriges Radio''. Retrieved 29 July 2019. In January 2019, she became the Swedish Minister for Culture and Democracy, with responsibility also for sport and national minorities. In November 2021, when the Green Party left the government, she was succeeded as minister by

Jeanette Gustafsdotter Eva Jeanette Gustafsdotter (born 24 December 1965) is a Swedish politician for the Social Democratic party. Since 30 November 2021 she is the Minister of Culture in Magdalena Andersson Eva Magdalena Andersson (born 23 January 1967) is a Swe ...

Controversy

In 2019, the Chinese ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou threatened Lind with a ban on entering his country when she attended Svenska PEN’s Tucholsky Prize ceremony in honor of

Gui Minhai Gui Minhai (, formerly ; born 5 May 1964), also known as Michael Gui, is a Chinese-born Swedish book publisher and writer. He is an author of many books related to Chinese politics and Chinese political figures; Gui authored around 200 books ...

, a book publisher detained in China. In 2021, Lind as the Swedish culture minister stated that

Elfdalian Elfdalian or Övdalian ( or , pronounced in Elfdalian, or in Swedish) is a North Germanic language spoken by up to 3,000 people who live or have grown up in the locality of Älvdalen ('), which is located in the southeastern part of Älvdale ...

would remain judged as a dialect by the Swedish government, after an inquiry by Swedish MP Peter Helander as to why the government hadn't investigated whether Elfdalian should be classified as a language, as the Council of Europe had proposed.

Personal life

Lind is married to filmmaker Björn Ola Lind. The couple have three children together. In her spare time she devotes herself to historical re-creation,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

Lind and the Esperanto language

Lind speaks Esperanto and addressed the 104th

World Esperanto Congress The World Esperanto Congress ( eo, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 113 years. The congresses have be ...

in fluent Esperanto. The Congress took place in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, Finland from 20 to 27 July 2019. Here is the Esperanto message, with an English translation on the right: “Saluton, estimataj kongresanoj! “Mi estas Amanda Lind, sveda ministro pri kulturo, demokratio, sporto kaj naciaj minoritatoj. Kiel ano de Miljöpartiet (la sveda verda partio) kaj la tutmonda verda movado, kaj vivanta naturo kaj floranta kulturo estas valoroj tre proksimaj al mia koro. “Elkorajn bondezirojn mi sendas al la Universala kongreso. Renkontiĝoj kaj babilado inter homoj estas fundamento por vigla demokrata evoluo. Dankon al vi ĉiuj en la Esperanto-movado pro viaj kontribuoj por instigi komunikadon trans lingvaj kaj naciaj limoj. Ni estu unu homaro sur ĉi-unu terglobo! “Amike.” “Hello, esteemed congress delegates! “I am Amanda Lind, Swedish Minister for Culture, Democracy, Sport and National Minorities. As a member of the Miljöpartiet (the Swedish Green Party) and the global Green movement, both living nature and flowering culture are values very close to my heart. “I am delighted to send out my cordial good wishes to the World Congress. Meetings and conversations among people are the foundation for vibrant democratic development. Thank you all in the Esperanto movement for your contributions to encourage communication across language and national borders. Let's be one humanity on this one globe! “In friendship.”

References

External links

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The film of her short talk in Esperanto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lind, Amanda Living people 1980 births Women government ministers of Sweden Swedish Ministers for Culture Umeå University alumni People from Luleå Swedish Esperantists 21st-century Swedish women politicians Swedish psychologists Members of the Riksdag 2022–2026 Members of the Riksdag from the Green Party Green Party (Sweden) politicians Women members of the Riksdag