The new Swedish xenophobia, 1991 and now again in 2010

[pampango]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/27/swedish-xenophobia-malmo-shootings

It started in 1991, August; a quiet Stockholm summer evening. The silence is shattered: a man is shot and wounded. For another six months the whole of Swedish society is wounded; fear becomes a part of all of us. One person dies, and others damaged for life. Slowly a pattern emerges: a Swedish citizen who shot with a rifle and laser sights at victims who all had something in common – darker skin, dark hair, or an immigrant background.

I was then the chief reporter for Swedish television on the story, which was the biggest police operation and trial that Sweden had seen since the 1986 assassination of the prime minister, Olof Palme. I reported from the first shots till the last day of the trial. I saw Sweden changed: Nazi flags were raised; there were riots between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators; young people found their way into extremist groups. And out of that time an anti-immigrant party emerged – called New Democracy – which a few months later gained a popular vote and entered Sweden's parliament.

Then everything changed again. A few years later, democracy and openness had pushed back the fear of foreignness. We could once more be proud of our Sweden. Until now. Until it happened again – but this time the other way round.

This time the anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, were formed first. During the autumn's election campaign they ran on one issue only and in September were voted into the Swedish parliament. Xenophobia became established and – I am certain of this – legitimised what we see happening again, this time in Malmö, Sweden's third largest city, situated a long way south, close to the continent, and with a high proportion of immigrants, who, the police believe, are now being targeted by a racially motivated gunman. The latest attack was on an Iranian-born hairdresser on Saturday.

So, I am quite certain that what is now happening is not the work of an isolated deranged shooter. There are many of them – copycats. And this time round, they will continue, and prove infectious. With a democratically elected xenophobic party in our parliament, the xenophobic currents in society that we have struggled against for so long will gain new strength, new strongholds, new legitimacy.

[Hannah Bell]

1. knr. the forces of the right have been gaining ground in sweden & the

swedish welfare state is in the process of being neo-liberalized.