Trip to Norway - for an Advanced Planning Visit within a Youth Exchange "Future of Europe" (EU Program "Youth in Action) - provoked some comparisons between this northern Kingdom, the United States and my native Ukraine.
First time I was struck with the concept of fence-less community when in February 2012 during the Open World Program visit to Atlanta, Georgia, my host family mentioned that in their neighborhood one could not build fences, and that was considered normal.
In Ukraine, on the opposite, everyone was trying to build a wall the higher the better - to separate his land from all others, especially from the vegabonds who would come to steal something. This trend ended up in "poor" civil servants stealing huge pieces of land on river banks, building palaces and cutting local residents from any access to water - although this is explicitly forbidden by law.
In Norway - in suburbs of the city of Drammen, south-west of Oslo, I saw no fences, even there where they would naturally fit - according to Ukrainian stereotypes. You could walk into any house's garden - the whole entourage was even inviting to do so.
In Olso, I noticed that access to the Royal Palace in Norway was open - I almost walked in (thinking that tours were available inside), when the guard simply waved to me not to enter. This contrasted greatly with the wall our President built around his Mezhygirya palace - said to be 6,5 meters high, so that noone can see what is going on there in reality. Staged shows demonstrate instead, how modest his life is, while political activists storm the wall to take pictures of absurd luxury, paid for by Ukrainian taxpayers - and registered in off-shores.
Back in Drammen, I asked the leader of host organization about Statoil - and was told that this company is remarkable, as its profits go to the Norwegian state, and that it is closely watched by the public - and if any corruption is surfaced in the press, those involved are history. I had to remark, with sarcasm, that a reputation of a corrupt person in Ukraine, only works for one's promotion to higher positions - as powerful people know that they can solve their business problems with this person.
I did not mention, that most of the Ukrainian companies' profit goes to off-shores, and almost nobody pays taxes - except for private entrepreneurs and small and medium sized enterprises - who were promised multi-year tax holidays by Yanukovich, when he was running for presidency. I wonder, whether a Norwegian mind can accomodate a thought that businesses and whole industries can be taken away - to feed only one Family's growing appetite.
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