Category: Comment

Terror on the streets of Stockholm 

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

5 years ago today, Sweden experienced a hateful terrorist attack. Today, flowers have been placed along the city street where it occurred. My thoughts go to those who were murdered, and their families and friends.

If you would like to read my post from that attack 5 years ago – here it is again….

At 2.30pm yesterday, a masked man stole a delivery truck from outside of a restaurant. The delivery man tried to stop the thief by standing in front of his truck.  However, the thief pushed over the driver, picked up speed and proceeded to drive zig zag down Stockholm’s main pedestrian shopping street, ploughing into people as he went. The truck’s final destination was one of Sweden’s largest department stores, into which it smashed in a billowing cloud of smoke. 

Like everybody else I was really shaken up by this act of violence.  I, and my nearest and dearest, were all in safety and my phone rang and beeped frenetically as we contacted and reassured each other. 

Stories reached me about friends being locked into their offices or hiding out in shops and restaurants. The streets were awash with armed police, and the whole city was shut down within 20 minutes – trains, buses and the underground were all stopped and roads were cordoned off as residents and tourists were rapidly ushered out of the city center. 

In the midst of the chaos, Stockholmers reached out to each other in support. People opened their homes to provide sanctuary to each other, cafes provided food and beverages, social media was flooded with people offering to help and offering protection. In this emergency, love prevailed – which was moving and heart-warming. I myself was in a gym, and the doors were locked. The staff went straight to action providing us with support and offering food and drink and unscheduled training classes for those who wanted a distraction. 

The latest news at time of writing this blog is that 4 people and 1 dog were killed, and 15 seriously injured. The driver has been arrested.  Another person is in custody believed to have some connection to the driver. Border control has been tightened up and there are still disturbances in local traffic. 

Stockholm now joins the long line of cities such as London, Berlin, St Petersburg, Paris and Nice, who have suffered under terrorist attack. 

No matter who is responsible for this act of violence, be it an organisation or an individual, we must never give into them.  The nature of terrorism is to spread fear by using intentionally indiscriminate acts of violence. It’s its indiscriminate approach that makes it difficult to predict and we are often powerless to influence it. Therefore we should do what we do best – not bow down to it but stand up and keep going. It is by living our lives in our open, democratic societies that we win.

I sincerely hope that Stockholm does not become a fearful, suspicious, closed city. This place that I love is a target because of its freedom and that is a freedom we should protect by continuing to live our lives. 

Terror will never win. It is designed to exploit our human fear. It is the ultimate act of intimidation. We must not let it win. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. Yesterday, we showed love to each other. Let’s continue to do that. We do not need more hate. 

We must prevail. 

60 years of Sweden’s Sun film

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Every Monday, once a week, from the beginning of the year until the Summer Solstice, the ‘Sun film’ is broadcast on Swedish TV. The film shows what time the sun goes up and down in Lund, Stockholm, Kiruna and Lycksele.

Fantastically retro, the film has been broadcast for almost 60 years.

And tonight, I recorded it for you….

Transgender Sweden

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Today is the International Day of Transgender Visibility. The day is dedicated to honouring the victories and contributions of the transgender and non binary communities while also bringing awareness to the work that is still needed to protect trans lives. During 2021, 375 trans and gender nonconforming individuals were murdered. Around 70% of these occurred in Central and South America.

Transgender in Sweden: It has been a long and rocky road for the transgender population to receive legal protection in Sweden. This road has been lined with demands on enforced divorce and enforced sterilization. In fact, it wasn’t until 2013 that the requirements to be sterilized and undergo sex reassignment surgery in order to change gender became unconstitutional. Sterilization had been in effect since 1972, and enforced on 500 to 800 transgender people.

Today, the transgender community is protected under the Anti-Discrimination Law of 2009. Additionally, in 2018, “transgender identity and expression” was added to the hate crime legislation.

It would however be naive to believe that this has eradicated this type of discrimination and crime in Sweden. In fact, many transgender people report a constant feeling of insecurity and vulnerability in society. Around 12% of the reported hate crime in Sweden has a homophobic or transphobic motive. Who knows how much happens that isn’t reported?

Days like International Day of Transgender Visibility are hugely important for breaking the negative cycle of hate. If you would like some input on how to support the trans and non binary people in your life, go to http://www.thetrevorproject.org and look under Resources.

Are foreigners paid less than Swedes? Take part in a survey.

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

The latest study regarding newcomers in Sweden and their salaries was done in 2017.

My friends at the Newbie Guide think it’s time to shine a light on this issue again which is why they are carrying out a new survey. If you are interested in participating, please take the time to answer these questions.

The more responses they get, the more comparative data they can collect. Based on this, the more they will know about newcomers in Sweden and their salaries and the more they can work to make an impact.

If you know anybody else who would like to take the survey, please share the link.

The link to the survey is here:

https://forms.gle/CWZo9Mu5dEyo66w49

Are foreigners paid less than Swedes? Take part in a survey.

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

The latest study regarding newcomers in Sweden and their salaries was done in 2017.

My friends at the Newbie Guide think it’s time to shine a light on this issue again which is why they are carrying out a new survey. If you are interested in participating, please take the time to answer these questions.

The more responses they get, the more comparative data they can collect. Based on this, the more they will know about newcomers in Sweden and their salaries and the more they can work to make an impact.

If you know anybody else who would like to take the survey, please share the link.

The link to the survey is here:

https://forms.gle/CWZo9Mu5dEyo66w49

Great Swedish Women Part 7: The Leaders

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Since March 8th, I have been republishing a series to celebrate Great Swedish Women, past and present: women with strength and passion, women who create change. Today is the final day – and a new post.

Never in the history of Swedish politics have so many women had such powerful leadership positions as today.

We have come a long way since 1919, when women won the right to vote in Parliamentary elections and in 1921 when the first five women were voted in as MP’s. It took 65 years until 1986, when Karin Söder was the first female party leader to be elected.

However, today six of the eight political parties in the Swedish Parliament have a female leader. These six politicians are, as seen in the picture below: Ebba Busch (Christian Democrats), Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats and Sweden’s first female Prime Minister), Annie Lööf (Center Party), Märta Stenevi (The Greens), Nyamko Sabuni (Liberals) and Nooshi Dadgostar (Left Party). They stretch all across the political spectrum from left to right.

In the Swedish Parliament 46.1% of the MP’s are female, making it the highest proportion of women in any European Parliament. Only four other countries in the world have a higher female representation, with Rwanda in the number 1 position at 61%.

(Source: Worldbank Data 2020)

Sweden and Ukraine – Yellow and Blue

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many official buildings in Sweden are flying the Ukrainian flag in solidarity. The authorities want to show that Sweden stands side by side with Ukraine in their time of need.

The Ukrainian flag, like the Swedish flag, is yellow and blue. The Swedish flag is a yellow cross on a blue background. The Swedish flag was initiated in the early 1500’s and the yellow is said to represent gold and blue represent the sea. Sweden depicted itself as a wealthy sea-faring realm.

Psychologically, the blue represents justice, loyalty, truth, vigilance and perseverance. The yellow represents generosity.

The colours on the Ukrainian flag represent something else. The blue represents the sky, and the yellow represents the wheat fields that are so important to the country’s identity and economy. The flag was first hoisted in 1848.

On a psychological level , the yellow in the Ukrainian flag is said to represent joy and the blue represents calm.

I am sure we all hope that the people of Ukraine experience both again very soon.

Huge Swedish demonstration against the vaccine pass

Posted on by Neil Shipley's watching the Swedes

Yesterday, in central Stockholm and Gothenburg, a huge anti-vaccine pass demonstration took place. Thousands of people, assumed unvaccinated, crowded together in a public square and marched the streets.

One demonstrator was interviewed on tv and said ‘I want the right to my own body, I believe in freedom, I don’t want to be forced to take a vaccine’.

Last I checked, the vaccine was voluntary and nobody’s forcing anybody.

We have the freedom to do what we want: take the vaccine or don’t. I have had Covid and do not want to experience it again. So I choose to take the vaccine to protect myself from serious illness if I get re-infected. However, that is only a part of my choice. I also choose the vaccine to protect others in society, to try to reduce the spread of the virus and out of solidarity for our exhausted health care workers.

If somebody else does not want to get vaccinated, that is their liberty. They are in the minority in Sweden, at roughly 15%.

There is a confusion between pro- or anti-vaccine and supporting the existence of a vaccine pass. The demonstration seemed to mix up both issues. They are very different.

However, the ironic truth is that if more people got vaccinated, the fewer restrictions we would need. The more who are vaccinated, the less likely it is we need a vaccine pass.

Many people dismiss these demonstrators as ‘tin foil hatters’ – a pejorative term for people with paranoid, persecutory delusions. However, this diminishes an important and valid concern. The debate around vaccination really is a tricky one. There is a conflict between the right to make one’s own decisions over what happens to one’s body – versus the collective level of safety necessary to protect vulnerable people and the healthcare system. What we need to figure out is how to strike a balance between individual rights and the public good. The question is who’s rights weigh the strongest: a person denying a vaccine, or a vulnerable at-risk person who cannot take the vaccine?

I am sure most of us agree that safety is the basis of freedom. That’s why I see the vaccine pass as a temporary way to protect the public, while still enabling us as individuals to live a freer life.

It will hopefully enable us to protect ourselves and each other, and alleviate the burden carried by our health care workers. And it will hopefully lead to a quicker path out of the pandemic. For me, that is worth trading off against a small restriction on my personal rights.