Välkommen till Let’s Change The Rules!
Konsertprogrammet Let’s Change The Rules! består av femton låtar, skrivna av kompositörer från olika länder.
Bakgrund
Människan har utvecklat enormt kraftfulla redskap för att göra ingrepp i naturen. Denna styrka har idag utvecklats till hot mot ekosystemen, och därmed även mot oss själva.
För att skydda människorna behöver vi skydda naturen.
För att säkerställa fortsatt mänskligt liv på jorden måste vi reglera människans framfart.
Choirs for Ecocide Law
Det internationella körkonsertprojektet Choirs for Ecocide Law startades i augusti 2021 av Peder Karlsson, Merzi Rajala och Kirsi Kaunismäki-Suhonen.
🎵 Körkonserten Let’s Change The Rules! lanserades 2023 på World Symposium on Choral Music (WSCM) i Istanbul. Sedan dess har detta konsertprogram uppförts i tio europeiska länder, och framförts av mer än tiotusen körsångare.
Huvudsyftet med Let’s Change The Rules! är att öka medvetenheten om de möjligheter som uppstår när storskalig miljöförstöring (ekocid) blir ett internationellt brott.
Choirs for Ecocide Law stöds av International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM), European Choral Association (ECA), Sveriges Körförbund, Stop Ecocide International och End Ecocide Sverige. Finlands president Tarja Halonen är projektets beskyddare.
Vad händer härnäst?
Efter denna konsert i Stockholm och konserten i Umeå den 10:e maj går stafettpinnen vidare till andra städer i Sverige, och till Macao, Kina, sedan till Nairobi, Kenya och till Maputo, Moçambique, och därefter till…
Se vidare nedan under Kalendarium.
Med gemensamma krafter
Varje konsertbiljett ger ekocidlagen en skjuts i rätt riktning.
Överskottet från den här konserten går till den ideella föreningen Choirs for Ecocide Law, till fördjupad dialog med lokala körer och med nationella ekocidlags-team över allt större delar av världen.
Tillsammans hjälps vi åt att bedriva detta internationella arbete.
🌍 Stort tack för ditt bidrag!
– Pia Björstrand, Ryan Carolan, Peder Karlsson, Annika Laurén, Sara Varda St Vincent och Shawn Westcott – styrelsen för End Ecocide Sverige
Om ekocidlagen
Choirs for Ecocide Law
Vill du vara med?
Vill du gå med i föreningen End Ecocide Sverige, eller stödja vårt arbete på annat sätt?
Vi får många frågor om vilka konkreta insatser en kan bidra med.
Här kan du läsa några förslag.
Ecocide Law Alliance
För dig som är särskilt intresserad av näringslivs- och ledarskapsfrågor kring ekocidlagen – håll utkik på hemsidan till Ecocide Law Alliance.
Prata med varandra om ekocidlagen
Här kan du hämta inspiration till samtal med vänner, familj eller kolleger, eller till diskussioner i dina yrkesmässiga nätverk mm – om ekocidlagen och besläktade ämnen.
Citat ur sången “The Rules”
av Chris Hutchings
“If the Amazon becomes impossible to save,
will we blame it on the axe that cut down the last tree?
Or on the man who swung the axe?
Or the boss who gave the order?
Or the people who bought the products and drove the profits?
Or the laws that encouraged the corporations to make a profit at all costs?
Or the governments that didn’t make any rules to stop them?
All the rules say that it doesn’t really matter if the last tree dies.
All the rules say it’s okay to poison rivers if your profits rise.
When the fish are dead and the streams won’t flow,
the polluters shrug and say: ‘well, you know, it’s within the rules.’
Do they take us all for fools?
It’s in the rules. It’s in the rules!”
Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, den 12:e april 2026
Medverkande i Berwaldhallen
Kortfattat om sångerna
Eanan Eadni
av Simon Issát Marainen
Skydda moder Jord, skydda all mark
Simon Issát Marainen
Creation
av Kevin Fox och Astrid Vang-Pedersen
”Vatten, eld, jord och luft – en så sällsam kombination.
Denna planet, som är vårt hem – hur föddes detta mysterium som vi kallar planeten Jorden?”
Kevin Fox
Astrid Vang-Pedersen
Song of Desperation
av Genevieve Andersen
”Jag ser eld på berget, det är bäst att du springer, det är bäst att du springer, det är bäst att du springer.”
Genevieve Andersen är en singer-songwriter från Kalifornien. Låten handlar om bränderna där som pågått i flera år, och hur detta påverkar människorna som bor där.
Genevieve Andersen
Sångtexter
Eanan Eadni
Suddjet várjal eanan eatni
Suddjet várjal eatnamii
– Simon Issát Marainen
Creation
So I asked the lake how it came to be. It answered,
”Swim, and sail and drink from me, and let my secret be.”
So I asked the sky how it came to be. It responded,
”Enjoy my beauty, breathe my air; I am a mystery.”
Water, fire, earth and air, a combination so very rare,
this planet, all alone, you let us call you Home.
And I asked the trees how they came to be.
They whispered, ”We are rooted in the ground; we hold your memory.”
When I asked all the animals just how they came to be, they sang a full and strong reply:
”We are your ancestry.”
Water, fire, earth and air, a combination so very rare,
This planet, all alone, you let us call you Home.
– Kevin Fox och Astrid Vang-Pedersen
Song of Desperation
I’ve seen fire on the mountain, you better run.
And now it’s freezing down in Texas, they’re sayin’ the end of the world has begun.
While way out West, in California, all the wells are running dry
I can’t drink the ashes and the dust, we can’t fill our bellies with the sky.
No!
Along the coast of Carolina – just say how fast can you learn how to swim,
and in the heat of Arizona, oh you can’t hide from the haze in the wind.
While all the farms and the fields, they start to strangle and whither in the sun
Oh, the world is burning, there’s nowhere left to run.
In the ice of Dakota we came to make a stand, our families and futures and placards in hands
We spoke for the earth, we had simple demands, where the water runs black and cold.
With their well-oiled tongues, they swear they stand on our side, so green when election time comes
But promises and papers are so quickly denied, if the water turns black with gold.
And the spotless corporations swear that we’re the ones to blame.
Collect some bottles, take the bus, I’m sick and tired of these games!
Do I bend until I break, or do I turn the other way? When do we see real change?
Raised fists and pointed fingers, can’t make it right, don’t make it right, won’t make it right.
But I’m fighting for the children, so I can’t, and I won’t give up the fight.
They’d fill the veins of Mississippi with tarblack sand, and slurries pumping through New Mexico, and think it no bother to poison the land.
If the water runs black with coal.
All the preaching politicians say they know what is right – hold your peace and hold your job, it’s not for you to decide
But we can’t drink oil, and we can’t breathe smoke
And we can’t build homes, in the mouth of the ever-rising tide.
I’ve seen fire on the mountain.
– Genevieve Andersen
The Rules
The Amazon impacts and cools the climate of the entire world.
It has between two hundred billion and four hundred billion trees.
Every day, about ten thousand acres are cut down.
Every year, about a billion trees are lost.
It’s estimated that the Amazon cannot possibly survive if it loses twenty-five percent of its trees.
But it might be less than that.
We don’t know where the tipping point is.
If the Amazon becomes impossible to save,
will we blame it on the axe that cut down the last tree?
Or on the man who swung the axe?
Or the boss who gave the order?
Or the people who bought the products and drove the profits? Or the laws that encouraged
the corporations?
…to make a profit at all costs? Or the governments that didn’t make any rules to stop them?
All the rules say that it doesn’t really matter if the last tree dies.
All the rules say it’s okay to poison rivers if your profits rise.
When the fish are dead and the streams won’t flow,
the polluters shrug and say: ”well, you know, it’s within the rules.”
Do they take us all for fools?
When the last drop of water’s gone and the crops and the harvest fail, who’s to blame?
When the last living tree is felled, and we see that the forest gone, is the axe to blame?
Or the man who wields the axe? Or the man who owns the land?
Or the man who sold the tree? Or the man who bought the logs?
But it’s all with-in the law that says: ”it’s okay, profit’s good, chop the tree,
sell the wood, plough the land, feed the cows, eat the steak, enjoy it now, now, now, now!”
All the rules say you can keep on taking water till the well runs dry.
If the rules say, there ́s a fine, you can pay it when your stocks get high.
If there ́s profit made for a corporation, then the boss won’t care ’bout deforestation.
And we know they’re fools but it’s not against the rules.
Oh, it’s in the rules! Oh, it’s in the rules!
Under the North Sea there is an oil field and if the sale of drill-ing rights goes through,
it ’ll make a twenty billion dollar profit and about a billion tons of CO2
When the atmosphere traps the heat, when the ice on the mountain melts, who’s to blame?
When the water begins to rise, when the ci-ties be-gin to flood, is the sea to blame?
Or the heat that melts the ice? Or the gas that traps the heat?
Or the car that burns the fuel? Or the men who drilled the well.
But it ́s all within the law that says it ́s ok, drill the well, take the oil, buy and sell,
just a little CO2, one degree or maybe two, three, four, five….
All the Rules say, you can keep on burning oil until the sky’s aflame,
All the Rules say that the bosses and the politicians aren’ t to blame
When the seas rise up and the buildings fall and an angry planet comes to call,
you can’t hide behind the rules, we won’t care about the rules.
Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame? Who’s to blame?
Are we to blame?
– Chris Hutchings
Blue Sky, Chemical Dye
Your water’s blue from the blue sky, my water’s blue from the chemical dye.
You get jeans, made cheap in China, I got poison in my eye.
So I sing to you my brightest dream!
Your Canadian tux, your soft blue jeans leave indelible marks on my rivers and streams.
Profits roar and drown out the people, hear our song, this tender cry!
So I sing to you my brightest dream!
I dream that you walk here be – side me, over thirsty fields, by the poisoned pools.
Whatever we do we are bound together. If we speak as one, we can change the rules.
Your cotton shirts are thirsty, then drink the Aral Sea away.
Do you know the deadly cost we pay when you buy those brand-new jeans today?
So I sing to you my brightest dream!
I dream that you walk here beside me, over thirsty fields, by the poisoned pools.
What ever we do we are bound together. If we speak as one, we can change the rules.
You take my hand and promise!
– Moira Smiley
We Used To Know
I am standing in a line in front of those who came before me.
All who’ve walked the path of life and left it for me, they used to know.
When did they let this knowledge go? It slipped away, day by day.
The only way to set us free is if we strive for harmony, taking only what we need,
respect the balance we used to know.
When did they let this knowledge go? It slipped away, day by day.
But when I turn around, I’m standing face to face with one who knows how to pass it on.
Now we’re standing on the edge looking into the abyss with only hopes and fears at hand,
to fight the battle we used to know.
We cannot let this knowledge go, we ́ll fade away day by day.
So let us turn around and reach out to the past,
and learn to live with earth so it may last.
– Astrid Vang Pedersen
A Scientist’s Speech on Biodiversity Loss
I am standing in a line in front of those who came before me.
All who’ve walked the path of life and left it for me, they used to know.
When did they let this knowledge go? It slipped away, day by day.
The only way to set us free is if we strive for harmony, taking only what we need,
respect the balance we used to know.
When did they let this knowledge go? It slipped away, day by day.
But when I turn around, I’m standing face to face with one who knows how to pass it on.
Now we’re standing on the edge looking into the abyss with only hopes and fears at hand,
to fight the battle we used to know.
We cannot let this knowledge go, we ́ll fade away day by day.
So let us turn around and reach out to the past,
and learn to live with earth so it may last.
– Astrid Vang Pedersen
Kalendarium
14 April – Paneldiskussion
Varför skulle Sverige verka för internationell strafflag mot storskalig miljöförstöring?
Plats: Riksdagshuset, Stockholm
Arrangörer: Rebecka Le Moine (MP), Jytte Guteland (S), och Fredrik Ahlstedt (M), i samarbete med End Ecocide Sverige.
Medverkande: Wayne Jordash KC, Johanna Lundgren Gestlöf, Nina Macpherson, David Frydlinger, Jytte Guteland (S), Fredrik Ahlstedt (M) Rebecka Le Moine (MP)
Samtliga riksdagspartier bjuds in att medverka i panelen.
Moderator: Catarina Rolfsdotter
21 april – Paneldiskussion
Internationell strafflag för att skydda naturen: varför är det så viktigt?
Plats: SPP, Vasagatan 10, Stockholm. Tid: kl. 17 – 18:15. Kaffe från 16:30
Arrangörer: End Ecocide Sweden, Ecocide Law Alliance
Medverkande: Johanna Lundgren Gestlöf, Nina Macpherson, Lisa Svensson, Kevin Noone, Pella Thiel
Anmälan och mer info
9 maj – Workshop
Choirs for Ecocide Law – för körsångare och körledare
Plats: Församlingsgårdens aula, Umeå
Tid: 13:00 – 15:00
Arrangör: Sveriges Körförbund, Svenska Kyrkan och Sensus studieförbund
Medverkande: Peder Karlsson, Merzi Rajala, Kirsi Kaunismäki-Suhonen
Anmälan och mer info
10 maj – Konsert
Let’s Change The Rules!
Plats: Idun, Folkets Hus, Umeå
Arrangör: föreningen Choirs for Ecocide Law
Med-arrangörer: Svenska Kyrkan och Bilda studieförbund
Medverkande: Simon Issát Marainen, EllyEve, Axel Berntzon, Peder Karlsson, Umeå Stads Motettkör, Psyk-kören, Alma Vokalensemble, Enskilt anmälda sångare-kören, med flera
Biljettpris: Ordinarie: 299 kr, Student/Pensionär 199 kr
Arrangörer: Choirs for Ecocide Law, Svenska Kyrkan, End Ecocide Sweden och studieförbundet Sensus
Biljetter
Mer info
11 maj – Forskarsamtal, paneldiskussion
Ecocide Law for a sustainable transformation
Plats: Galaxen, Umeå universitet. Tid: 12:00 – 13:30
Arrangör: UTRI (Umeå Transformation Research Initiative)
Med-arrangör: Another Development Foundation
Medverkande: Ulf Vannebäck (juridik), Heidi Burdett (ekologi), Irina Mancheva (statsvetenskap), Erland Mårald (idéhistoria) och Peder Karlsson (ekocidlagen och kultur). Moderator: professor Jon Moen
