* This article was published in issue 404 (October 2025) of «Rojo y
Negro». ---- The International Relations Committee of the CGT is
interested in the social changes taking place in different countries and
how the organizations with which we maintain close ties interpret and
address them. On this occasion, we interviewed Gabriel Kuhn, Secretary
General of the Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC) , to
understand why Swedish society, which we considered a model of
nonviolence, has now become one of the countries with the highest crime
rates in Europe.
There's a 2021 television series, Thin Blue Line , set in Malmö. The
first season still focuses on community policing, with extremely limited
use of violence and weapons. In the third season, however, the problems
of drug trafficking and sexual violence come to the fore. In 1986, Olof
Palme was murdered by a gunshot in the street; in October 1999, the
Nazis killed your comrade Björn Söderberg. Do you think there's a causal
link between Palme's murder, that of Söderberg, and the current
situation? Can we speak of a progressive "depacification" of Swedish
society?
Yes, perhaps that's exactly what happened. But Sweden has always had a
very profitable arms industry, so problems were probably simply
externalized when the welfare state was at its peak and Swedish society
was prospering. There has always been political violence, especially
from the far right, so I don't think the Palme and Söderberg murders
have much to do with the current gun violence.
Gang violence, shootings, and bombings are a real problem in Sweden;
it's not something the political right invented. However, the right is
taking advantage of it. The Moderate Party, which leads the current
governing coalition, has based its entire 2022 election campaign on gang
violence, promising more police, tougher laws, and harsher sentences.
The current situation has attracted a lot of international attention,
and it's no coincidence that television series like Tunna blå linjen are
so popular. Most people outside Sweden are surprised by these
developments, as the country's image as a progressive and peaceful place
is still deeply rooted. It's difficult to say what the exact causes of
the current situation are.
Among the so-called experts here in Sweden, there is a wide variety of
opinions. Several factors are intertwined:
Since the 1990s, the shift toward neoliberalism has been much more
pronounced in Sweden than most people abroad imagine. Income inequality
and social divisions have increased dramatically, numerous
privatizations have taken place, social services have been dismantled,
and the pursuit of profit has become the dominant norm.
Swedish society today is highly segregated, one of the most segregated
in Europe: many immigrants live in suburbs where there are almost no
ethnic Swedes, apart from civil servants, teachers, and police officers.
These neighborhoods rank high in unemployment, crime, school dropouts,
and so on. The sense of marginalization in these areas is very strong;
Sweden has a rather permissive legislation regarding weapons, and there
is a large arms trade, both legal and illegal;
With Malmö being the gateway to the European continent and Stockholm the
largest city in Scandinavia, Sweden serves as a central hub for
organized crime in Northern Europe, especially when it comes to drug
trafficking.
Gang violence is an undeniable reality, and the political left has yet
to find convincing solutions to address it. Unfortunately, the right
dominates the discourse.
Years ago, the police in Sweden were mostly seen as providing social
assistance, not repression. Today, I read on a website something that
could be equated with any European country: "They drink coffee and eat
sweets, then go out to hunt and mistreat people with dark skin, the
homeless, the undocumented, or the mentally challenged. Wherever they
go, freedom diminishes and life withers like dry leaves on the ground on
a late autumn day... They are racist, sexist, homophobic, and
transphobic. They are arrogant, incompetent, self-righteous, corrupt,
and addicted to the power they receive when they attack." Has the SAC
had a debate about its relationship with the armed forces of the state?
Trade unionists in Sweden have always faced repression, especially
during World War II, when they were among the few to criticize the
Swedish emergency government's policy of appeasement towards Nazi
Germany. Today, I don't know any SAC members who work in the security
forces. Many in the union consider police officers to be class traitors.
If any of them attempted to join the union, serious tensions would arise.
On February 28, 1986, Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot in the street
as he was leaving a cinema without an escort, as was the custom at the
time. Can you tell us if that event marked a shift in SAC's activism?
I don't think the assassination had a major impact on the organization.
At the same time, it was a traumatic event for the entire country, and
in that sense, it also affected the SAC. Palme was a controversial
figure in Sweden: many on the right hated him. The assassination was
never solved; security became a much more important issue, and Palme's
death almost became synonymous with the end of the golden age of the
welfare state.
Society changed, and the SAC had to reevaluate its role and find its
place. Those times weren't necessarily favorable to the union.
On October 12, 1999, you were directly affected by the vile
assassination, by a group of Nazis, of comrade Björn Söderberg, a
well-known anti-fascist activist. The rise of the far right has
undoubtedly continued; perhaps not so much in its most violent
expression on the streets, but in its penetration into the social fabric
and into people's daily lives. Is that true?
The far right was quite violent in Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s, and
the murder of Björn Söderberg was a particularly hateful expression of
this. Violence continued into the early 2000s, but both militant
anti-fascist resistance and new far-right tactics made it less visible
on the streets. However, it never completely disappeared. Arson attacks
against the offices and private homes of anti-fascist activists,
including members of the SAC, still occur today.
But yes, with the entry of the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in
the neo-Nazi circles of the 1980s, the far right has successfully
entered parliamentary politics. The Sweden Democrats were elected to
Parliament for the first time in 2010 and are now the second-largest
party, just behind the Social Democrats.
There is thus a direct line connecting the fascists responsible for the
assassination of Björn Söderberg in the 1990s and the far-right
ideologues who roam the corridors of power today.
I'm well aware that the SAC organized pickets, strikes, and
demonstrations... it wasn't a conciliatory union at all; yet, to a large
portion of the Swedish population, including many veteran comrades and
militants of the SAC itself, actions like gluing company doors,
plastering the entrepreneur's neighborhood with graffiti labeling him as
a repressive force, or writing on his house seemed like acts of violence.
The SAC is currently carrying out numerous blockades, but without
violence. During the period you describe, there was certainly more
militancy. With only a few thousand members, it's not surprising that
there are differing opinions on this matter: some members think the
union action we're carrying out today is appropriate, others want a more
militant approach.
Whatever our decisions, we face an increasingly aggressive enemy. The
ruling class is emboldened by the rightward shift in politics. A few
years ago, a very restrictive strike law was introduced, and repression
against union activists has reached new levels.
A few months ago, Erik Helgeson, vice president of the Dockworkers'
Union, the only Swedish union with which SAC occasionally collaborates,
was suspended from work in the port of Gothenburg because union members
had decided to stop loading and unloading war material used by the
Israeli army in Gaza. Helgeson had merely made the decision public,
fulfilling his role as spokesperson for the union. This is an
unprecedented event, to which we must find an answer.
What's coming through the media today are reports of increasingly
violent incidents in Gothenburg, Örebro, Malmö... linked to
migrant-origin criminal gangs and drug trafficking... A disastrous
scenario, which had already been fueled in part by the so-called "Nordic
Noir" media. Is all this real, or is it just information aimed at
destabilizing?
There's some truth to all this; it's not just media propaganda. Many
people are affected by these events, especially in the most
disadvantaged neighborhoods, and something must be done. It has little
to do with the idealization of crime that is part of the "Nordic Noir"
movement; there's nothing romantic about marginalized communities
experiencing widespread crime. But the solution can only come from the
emancipation of these communities, enabling them to address the problems
themselves and develop alternatives for those affected. External
attempts to regulate gangs will not succeed, nor will the antics of
right-wing parties.
We'd like to know how SAC is experiencing the exponential increase in
sexual violence against women, considering that your organization has
represented and continues to represent a space where the banner of
sexual freedom and feminism has been organically rooted for years.
We are repelled by the anti-feminist and misogynistic attitudes that are
part of the rightward shift we are witnessing. As a feminist union, we
must resolutely oppose it. That said, we still have much to do
internally: we are fighting against the patriarchal structures that
still persist. However, there is progress: the majority of the members
of the current central committee are women.
From the International Group of the CGT, we would like to praise the
perspective conveyed by the SAC: the best way to address violent
attitudes, whether from gangs or individuals, is through culture,
training, dialogue, and an egalitarian social program, which the trade
union organization can disseminate through its daily activity.
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Negro». ---- The International Relations Committee of the CGT is
interested in the social changes taking place in different countries and
how the organizations with which we maintain close ties interpret and
address them. On this occasion, we interviewed Gabriel Kuhn, Secretary
General of the Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation (SAC) , to
understand why Swedish society, which we considered a model of
nonviolence, has now become one of the countries with the highest crime
rates in Europe.
There's a 2021 television series, Thin Blue Line , set in Malmö. The
first season still focuses on community policing, with extremely limited
use of violence and weapons. In the third season, however, the problems
of drug trafficking and sexual violence come to the fore. In 1986, Olof
Palme was murdered by a gunshot in the street; in October 1999, the
Nazis killed your comrade Björn Söderberg. Do you think there's a causal
link between Palme's murder, that of Söderberg, and the current
situation? Can we speak of a progressive "depacification" of Swedish
society?
Yes, perhaps that's exactly what happened. But Sweden has always had a
very profitable arms industry, so problems were probably simply
externalized when the welfare state was at its peak and Swedish society
was prospering. There has always been political violence, especially
from the far right, so I don't think the Palme and Söderberg murders
have much to do with the current gun violence.
Gang violence, shootings, and bombings are a real problem in Sweden;
it's not something the political right invented. However, the right is
taking advantage of it. The Moderate Party, which leads the current
governing coalition, has based its entire 2022 election campaign on gang
violence, promising more police, tougher laws, and harsher sentences.
The current situation has attracted a lot of international attention,
and it's no coincidence that television series like Tunna blå linjen are
so popular. Most people outside Sweden are surprised by these
developments, as the country's image as a progressive and peaceful place
is still deeply rooted. It's difficult to say what the exact causes of
the current situation are.
Among the so-called experts here in Sweden, there is a wide variety of
opinions. Several factors are intertwined:
Since the 1990s, the shift toward neoliberalism has been much more
pronounced in Sweden than most people abroad imagine. Income inequality
and social divisions have increased dramatically, numerous
privatizations have taken place, social services have been dismantled,
and the pursuit of profit has become the dominant norm.
Swedish society today is highly segregated, one of the most segregated
in Europe: many immigrants live in suburbs where there are almost no
ethnic Swedes, apart from civil servants, teachers, and police officers.
These neighborhoods rank high in unemployment, crime, school dropouts,
and so on. The sense of marginalization in these areas is very strong;
Sweden has a rather permissive legislation regarding weapons, and there
is a large arms trade, both legal and illegal;
With Malmö being the gateway to the European continent and Stockholm the
largest city in Scandinavia, Sweden serves as a central hub for
organized crime in Northern Europe, especially when it comes to drug
trafficking.
Gang violence is an undeniable reality, and the political left has yet
to find convincing solutions to address it. Unfortunately, the right
dominates the discourse.
Years ago, the police in Sweden were mostly seen as providing social
assistance, not repression. Today, I read on a website something that
could be equated with any European country: "They drink coffee and eat
sweets, then go out to hunt and mistreat people with dark skin, the
homeless, the undocumented, or the mentally challenged. Wherever they
go, freedom diminishes and life withers like dry leaves on the ground on
a late autumn day... They are racist, sexist, homophobic, and
transphobic. They are arrogant, incompetent, self-righteous, corrupt,
and addicted to the power they receive when they attack." Has the SAC
had a debate about its relationship with the armed forces of the state?
Trade unionists in Sweden have always faced repression, especially
during World War II, when they were among the few to criticize the
Swedish emergency government's policy of appeasement towards Nazi
Germany. Today, I don't know any SAC members who work in the security
forces. Many in the union consider police officers to be class traitors.
If any of them attempted to join the union, serious tensions would arise.
On February 28, 1986, Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot in the street
as he was leaving a cinema without an escort, as was the custom at the
time. Can you tell us if that event marked a shift in SAC's activism?
I don't think the assassination had a major impact on the organization.
At the same time, it was a traumatic event for the entire country, and
in that sense, it also affected the SAC. Palme was a controversial
figure in Sweden: many on the right hated him. The assassination was
never solved; security became a much more important issue, and Palme's
death almost became synonymous with the end of the golden age of the
welfare state.
Society changed, and the SAC had to reevaluate its role and find its
place. Those times weren't necessarily favorable to the union.
On October 12, 1999, you were directly affected by the vile
assassination, by a group of Nazis, of comrade Björn Söderberg, a
well-known anti-fascist activist. The rise of the far right has
undoubtedly continued; perhaps not so much in its most violent
expression on the streets, but in its penetration into the social fabric
and into people's daily lives. Is that true?
The far right was quite violent in Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s, and
the murder of Björn Söderberg was a particularly hateful expression of
this. Violence continued into the early 2000s, but both militant
anti-fascist resistance and new far-right tactics made it less visible
on the streets. However, it never completely disappeared. Arson attacks
against the offices and private homes of anti-fascist activists,
including members of the SAC, still occur today.
But yes, with the entry of the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in
the neo-Nazi circles of the 1980s, the far right has successfully
entered parliamentary politics. The Sweden Democrats were elected to
Parliament for the first time in 2010 and are now the second-largest
party, just behind the Social Democrats.
There is thus a direct line connecting the fascists responsible for the
assassination of Björn Söderberg in the 1990s and the far-right
ideologues who roam the corridors of power today.
I'm well aware that the SAC organized pickets, strikes, and
demonstrations... it wasn't a conciliatory union at all; yet, to a large
portion of the Swedish population, including many veteran comrades and
militants of the SAC itself, actions like gluing company doors,
plastering the entrepreneur's neighborhood with graffiti labeling him as
a repressive force, or writing on his house seemed like acts of violence.
The SAC is currently carrying out numerous blockades, but without
violence. During the period you describe, there was certainly more
militancy. With only a few thousand members, it's not surprising that
there are differing opinions on this matter: some members think the
union action we're carrying out today is appropriate, others want a more
militant approach.
Whatever our decisions, we face an increasingly aggressive enemy. The
ruling class is emboldened by the rightward shift in politics. A few
years ago, a very restrictive strike law was introduced, and repression
against union activists has reached new levels.
A few months ago, Erik Helgeson, vice president of the Dockworkers'
Union, the only Swedish union with which SAC occasionally collaborates,
was suspended from work in the port of Gothenburg because union members
had decided to stop loading and unloading war material used by the
Israeli army in Gaza. Helgeson had merely made the decision public,
fulfilling his role as spokesperson for the union. This is an
unprecedented event, to which we must find an answer.
What's coming through the media today are reports of increasingly
violent incidents in Gothenburg, Örebro, Malmö... linked to
migrant-origin criminal gangs and drug trafficking... A disastrous
scenario, which had already been fueled in part by the so-called "Nordic
Noir" media. Is all this real, or is it just information aimed at
destabilizing?
There's some truth to all this; it's not just media propaganda. Many
people are affected by these events, especially in the most
disadvantaged neighborhoods, and something must be done. It has little
to do with the idealization of crime that is part of the "Nordic Noir"
movement; there's nothing romantic about marginalized communities
experiencing widespread crime. But the solution can only come from the
emancipation of these communities, enabling them to address the problems
themselves and develop alternatives for those affected. External
attempts to regulate gangs will not succeed, nor will the antics of
right-wing parties.
We'd like to know how SAC is experiencing the exponential increase in
sexual violence against women, considering that your organization has
represented and continues to represent a space where the banner of
sexual freedom and feminism has been organically rooted for years.
We are repelled by the anti-feminist and misogynistic attitudes that are
part of the rightward shift we are witnessing. As a feminist union, we
must resolutely oppose it. That said, we still have much to do
internally: we are fighting against the patriarchal structures that
still persist. However, there is progress: the majority of the members
of the current central committee are women.
From the International Group of the CGT, we would like to praise the
perspective conveyed by the SAC: the best way to address violent
attitudes, whether from gangs or individuals, is through culture,
training, dialogue, and an egalitarian social program, which the trade
union organization can disseminate through its daily activity.
https://alternativalibertaria.fdca.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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