Swedish library lends out gay Muslim gypsy

Innovative scheme to combat prejudice

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 23rd August 2005 14:23 GMT

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Sweden's Malmö public library has taken an unusual step to combat peoples' preconceptions about Muslims, homosexuals, gypsies, animals rights activists and, naturally, journalists.

The "Living Library" project lets punters borrow real people for a 45-minute chinwag in the cafe. Ulla Brohed told AFP: "The Living Library project will enable people to come face-to-face with their prejudices in the hopes of altering their preconceived notions," adding: "You sometimes hear people's prejudices and you realise that they are just uninformed."

This is indeed true. Brohed reasonably explained: "Maybe not all animal rights activists are angry and intolerant but intelligent and committed." And kind to animals, we could add.

However, just when we were about to nip over to Malmö for a big, multi-racial group hug, we noted that Brohed concluded: "Maybe not all journalists are know-it-all and sensationalist, just unafraid and curious."

Not round here, love. Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll skip the Swedish love-in and get back to trying to find an IT angle for the "Paris Hilton clone slaughters George Bush's dog" piece we're currently knocking together. ®

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