Exposing the lying press: Here you can hear the interview with Politiken that started our life’s biggest (literal!) shitstorm.
Our ‘shitstorm’ (literally!) started when a journalist from the Danish newspaper Politiken sent us 28 questions he wanted us to answer. There were so many lies and false accusations in the questions, we actually thought it was rather pathetic. We have worked as sustainable entrepreneurs for two decades, so we are used to checking up on things before we do them.
We could prove most of the claims wrong, for the rest we could give him good explanations. His main informant was a neighbor who lied about several things, as he wanted revenge over Flemming after after a long period of harassment - we thought a personal thing like this was too low for a journalist to use as proper information.
One of the main issues was our use of compost toilets - something which a journalist from a big city in Denmark may not know of, but for people in rural Sweden it’s a very normal thing. It’s also a very important part of the permaculture principles that you deal with your own shit. The new owner of the property knows about the barrels and that he can use them for compost. Half of them are ready to use this spring, the other half is ready in 1 year, following the guidelines of Swedish law.
Nevertheless, the journalist chose to keep the lies, and the newspapers chose to print it. It was published in both Swedish and Danish media, and now the same story is making headlines in newspapers all over the World. The article claims that we have been damaging the local environment with our procedures at our permaculture resort and that we have left animals to die. All these claims and several others are false.
Our business suffered a bankruptcy with several creditors and our investors left disappointed and frustrated. For this we are very sorry! But we also need to say that it’s not headline material, it’s a part of being an entrepreneur. Businesses close every day, and we have not broken any rules.
The article insinuates that we ran away with money. The fact is that we have not paid ourselves wages since August last year and we left Sweden with nothing. We are living on support from family members, and money is running out soon.
We chose to give ourselves a second chance of a life in freedom because we believe this is how we can best contribute to the World.
It is true that we have a tax debt in Denmark, that has multiplied tenfold due to interests and fees during the 10 years we have tried to find a solution with the authorities. Just to keep the debt from growing - a number we don’t agree upon - we would have to pay over 50.000 DKK each month. This means that we should make at least 100.000 DKK a month before taxes, an amount you just don’t get close to as a sustainable entrepreneur.
We feel we have been treated deeply unfair by the Danish tax authorities, and met a cold-hearted, narcissistic system that does not live up to its promise about serving the citizens of Denmark well.
This case is a very important part of our bumpy ride in Sweden. Despite this constant financial stress we have contributed more to our local community than most people we know, with the hundreds of workplaces we have created over the years, and millions paid correctly in taxes and VAT.
We went to Guatemala for many reasons, but one of them was that we had a choice between a life in eternal poverty, or to give our family a second chance. For us, the latter was a hard but necessary choice to make as parents and people who believe we have many gifts to share with the world. We want to live, be happy and for our family to thrive. We believe that is our birthright, and we believe it is yours too. If you see us as villains for making this choice, we are sorry.
We see ourselves as people who can contribute much more to the world when we are not locked up in a debt-prison. And our intention is, as always, to give as much to our community as we possibly can, in the form of workplaces, attracting tourists and supporting small local business owners. We prefer to spend the little money we have here in our little town, than we want it be used for wars and other things we don’t believe in or want to support.
We could say much more about how bad we have been treated by the tax authorities, and the constant stress we have been living under. If you want to know more about how broken the Danish tax system is, we refer to a very important podcast with former permanent secretary of the Danish tax authorities, Peter Loft - also in Danish - HERE.
It is not illegal to be unable to pay your debt, and it is not illegal to move to another country when there is a complete lack of collaboration from the authorities. We tried for a decade to find a solution with them, with so many sleepless nights as consequence, without any luck. In the end we gave up, but not on living a happy life.
Have we suddenly changed character and become evil, greedy polluters and animal abusers - or does the media lie?
We are a family with small kids who have gone through some extreme years. We believe that by applying a regenerative mindset to our everyday lifestyle choices, we can all contribute to a more beautiful, sustainable world. We believe that every action counts, and this is how we have tried to live and work for the last 2 decades. We have inspired many all over the World. So, please ask yourself if you are in doubt: Have we suddenly changed character and become evil, greedy polluters and animal abusers - or does the media lie?
In the article the authorities claim to not know anything about our compost toilets and how we handle them. We believe that is very weird since we have regular control visits and building permissions for our toilets. We have shown the toilets and procedures from soil-to-soil to the authority representatives several times, and have been told that it’s inspiring. This we cannot prove, but we have paid for the control visits, which we can prove. So either the municipality lies, or they have not done the work we have paid them to do, which is to make sure that all rules are followed. Our claim is that they are cowards, who are washing hands and lie instead of standing up for their own work and what is right. We have experienced this before, and if you run your own company you may have too.
You can find the full spoken interview on our website www.maketopsoilnotwar.com and also see some parts of the email correspondence with the journalist.
We asked the journalist to get back to us if he needed proof for our claims, debunking the lies. He didn’t get back, and the newspaper printed the lies unfiltered. If you want to check our story, feel free to download the interview, and share it with those who have interest in this case. They are all in Danish.
You will experience that our side of the story is very different to what was printed.
There are not many fish left in our oceans, there’s poison in our drinking water and food, species are going extinct every day. We believe that permaculture is the answer to most if not all of the problems mentioned above. Politiken, Dagens Nyheter, BBC, The Guardian and whoever else have copied this story - these are our questions to you:
Is our permaculture resort really the problem?
Do you believe it’s a problem that people deal with their own shit?
Would the world be a better place if natural/biodegradable cleaning supplies were the only option?
All the newspapers who printed the story have broken ethical principles about proportion and perspective, and posted lies - all to make headlines that sell. If you wonder why there is a record-low trust in the media these days - that’s why.
We would like to let the original journalist of the article, Jonas Pröschold, know the consequences of his actions. Our teenage daughter, who still lives in Sweden, has to face these false rumors on a daily basis, the foundation of our family is hanging by a thin thread, and we receive dead threats and hate emails many times each day. The witch hunts are not over yet.
We also receive loads of love and support, for which we are extremely grateful. It matters more than you think, so please keep it coming!
Please share your own story!
We would be happy if you will support us by sharing your own story with creating beautiful solutions and suggestions for the world, while bureaucrats, the tax system and/or the press make your life difficult - share it on instagram, Facebook or whatever other media you use with the hashtag #maketopsoilnotwar or #shitgate . We are here to create a beautiful world, and the more we are who join in, the faster it goes.
All the best,
Flemming & Mette