On Monday we wake up to a new Sweden

The world is watching with wide eyes

Aftonbladet opening page He is an independent social democrat.

Full Screen

When Giorgia Meloni is from the party Italy brotherswhich has roots in neo-fascism, won the Italian elections at the end of September tribute flowed From the right-wing radical Europe.

“Another victory for common sense,” said the German alternative to Germany.

“Italians, like the Swedish Democrats before them, decided on political change,” the statement read.

In France, Marine Le Pen was equally pleased that Italy had elected a “national” government. Russia was pleased that the “most constructive parties” were now in power in Italy, and both Hungarian Viktor Orban and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki offered their congratulations.

Than the rest of the West it was quieter.

So if what is happening now in Swedish public debate is underestimated, the central actors of the play see the situation quite differently.

The far-right wing in Europe breathes the morning air.

The next really important stop on the journey is the Spanish elections in 2023 when it looks like the far-right Vox party is doing quite well. The success of the Swedish Democrats was the starting point for what they see as a European victory rally aimed at fundamentally changing Europe.

Monday we wake up to something new Sweden Who is sitting on this train?

In the deafening roar of right-wing propaganda that characterizes the Swedish debate, there is reason to remember one thing: Nothing is normal in what is happening now.

SD has its roots in Nazism, Italy’s brothers in Fascism. We have seen ideas and movements now re-entering European politics before.

Until now, our societies have always asked us the question of how people at that time could be so stupid as to allow such forces to rise to power.

Now we know.

“As long as evil Dressed in uniform and boots and screaming his hatred, evil isn’t that serious. When evil wears a costume and adds borrowed vocabulary, it’s a really dangerous thing. To be accepted and taken into your hand is the highest desire for evil, for once it is in and accepted, it can spread like a contagious epidemic.” The now deceased wrote Holocaust survivor Emrich Roth In an open letter to Moderat party leader Anna Kinberg Batra as she opened the door to SD in 2017.

Five years later Jimmy Okeson Both confessed and took seriously. Our language is adapted to what you can and cannot say about the party. Unpleasant self-censorship is rife in the media. And online, Stormtroopers rage against the slightest criticism.

But it doesn’t end there. Resistance is built from below and anyone can contribute.

What Emrich Roth called a “contagious epidemic” consists mostly of silence – your resolve and your silence.

Therefore, the first line of defense is to maintain one’s ability to get upset. Not adapting to the requirements of self-censorship. Not being calm and not keeping a ‘little lower picture’ because otherwise it would be ‘bad atmosphere’.

We must maintain this line of defense.

What is happening now is writing Swedish and European history, no matter what the media tries to beat people with from the new government’s rhetoric.

Resistance pays off.

Always.