These last couple of years, there’s been a slow increase of racist rhetoric in Stockholm and in Sweden. Three and a half years ago, the “immigration skeptical” party the Sweden Democrats got voted into parliament, and ever since media has been in this very polarized state, where SD has been criticized one day, only to grow in popularity the next due to people seeing them as ‘martyrs’. For some reason, the fact that one of their top politicians picks up an iron pipe outside a McDonald’s after a night out, and starts threatening one of the most famous Swedish young stand-up comedians (who happens to have Kurdish heritage), doesn’t seem to bother people. Or that countless of both their national and municipal representatives have both written and said things that are creepily reminiscent of neo-Nazi vocabulary. There seems to be a shift happening, all over Europe really, and it is very very hard to figure out what to do about it.
I think, on a personal level, it is important to take a stand. And show others that you have.
Two weeks ago, on Sunday, there was a rally at the Kärrtorp square, only two tube stops from where I live, against racism. Some neo-Nazis had been spraying swastikas on locker doors and walls in the local high school and other places, and a group of parents had invited to this rally to show that the neo-Nazis weren’t the only ones with an opinion. A couple hundred people gathered at the square, both youths and families with prams – but in the middle of the rally, about 40 neo-Nazis stormed into the square and attacked the protesters with rocks and firecrackers. The police was in no way prepared, and for a while total chaos filled the square. Amazingly enough, though, eventually the protesters managed to chase the neo-Nazis off the square and into the forest. 27 people were arrested, of which 26 were part of the neo-Nazi group. I wasn’t there myself, but this is what I’ve been told by people that were there and heard on the news, and I’ve also seen some recordings on the internet. It’s incredible, to see on the blurry phone recording, how the panicking rally crowd go from screams to forming a tight group and chasing the attackers off, shouting “No racists on our streets”. It makes it so clear, just how much strength there is in numbers.
The following week, last Sunday, there was a new demonstration, a protest against what happened during the first rally, starting at Kärrtorp’s square and ending at the Kärrtorp soccer field.
There is only one stop between Skarpnäck and Kärrtorp, and Skarpnäck is the first stop on the line, but still the tube was full 15 minutes to 12. On a Sunday. And when we reached Kärrtorp, getting of the tube and out from the platform became a serious issue. There were so many people wanting to reach Kärrtorp square.
The entire road from Kärrtorp to the soccer field (less than one kilometer) was packed with people, me and Lina accidentally ran into Stefan Löfven (leader of the Social Democrats) and the sun was shining.
So many people, showing that they did not agree with what the neo-Nazis represented, gathered in one place. It was incredible, that energy! At the soccer field, a stage had been raised and there were speeches and music (so many Swedish artists, who could easily sell out medium-sized concert venues, singing songs to support the cause). Jonas Hassen Khemiri, one of my favorite authors and playwrights, was there, standing about 10 meters from where I was jumping around to Hoffmaestro. I also met dad and a bunch of mom’s Skarpnäck friends and Bengan and Victor and saw even more people, old high school classmates and long-lost teenage acquaintances and ex-fellow choir singers.
Everyone was there, two days before Christmas, in the cold. In Kärrtorp, which is an insignificant suburb on the shortest of the tube lines, 20 minutes from the city center. Young, old, children and their parents, people you would not normally expect to see in a demonstration. More than SIXTEEN THOUSAND, showing the world that we did NOT agree with what the racists and neo-Nazis were trying to turn our neighborhood into.
That rush. Of so many people, showing that they care. It sends a clear message. It gave me hope. In nine months, we have national elections in Sweden. I hope this huge turn-up of people will be an indication of the diminishing power of racist and anti-immigration ideologies in Swedish politics.
Katja Malmborg 