I timed my return to the UK to be able to vote in my first national Swedish election since becoming a citizen. I did that yesterday. As yet we can’t be certain of the result, but it looks as though the red-green alliance will be pipped to the post by the blue-brown one (Conservative through to extreme Right), which might have the effect of negating my whole reason (apart from love) for embracing Swedish nationality. The Sweden Democrats (SD) will be the largest party on that side of the fence, although they won’t want to claim the Prime Ministership – too much responsibility, as I understand. But they are bound to profoundly influence the policies of any new right-of-centre government, in a racist direction. (The party’s origins were Fascist.) So it’s gloom all around for those of us on the Swedish Left.
Well, I thought, at least I’m still a ‘dual’ Brit, and so can choose to get away from a racist Sweden if I want. That option isn’t open to poor Kajsa. – But wait. Frying pans and fires come to mind…
Not all the votes here have been counted. There still remain the postal and ‘overseas’ ones. Kajsa thinks they’re more likely to be conservative – whatever that means in a Swedish context. (If they’re literally ‘conservative’ they should be wanting to ‘conserve’ Sweden’s Social Democratic tradition, surely.) As well as that, the Centre-Right coalition might fall apart over the issue of whether the SDs should be given any government posts, which the Liberal faction is likely to resist. We won’t know any of this until the middle of the week. By which time I’ll be back in King Charles’s konungarike, and just as unhappy, under statsminister Truss.
Now off to Arlanda to catch my plane…
Porter’s Pensées 
The quasi-fascist, Putin-admiring, Sweden Democrats with their 20% of the vote sound worse than the right-wing of the Conservative Party.
And Sweden does not have the excuse of the Murdochs.
This does not bode well. How could this have happened?
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Not every democratic result you dislike is because of a resurgence of “Fascism”, although I grant that historically Sweden had a remarkably close relationship with Nazi ruled Germany. The Social Democrat Sweden is comparatively new.
As I may have previously stated, the Headmaster of my secondary school pointed out that while he was fighting Fascism in “the War”, the Swedes were building themselves a very nice Town Hall in Stockholm with the profits they were making.
It is much more likely that far from a resurgence of Fascism, the difficulty is the “rulers” ignoring, and actually dismissing the fears and worries of a substantial sector of the electorate, ie the people who pay their wages.
Indeed you yourself stated that much of the crime involved migrants; no statement by “the rulers” to the contrary can alter the facts. So, who are the Fascists, the people…or “the rulers”?
That is the main reason for Brexit, (no, nobody believed the £350M nonsense, or indeed were particularly swayed by the Daily Mail or its like); they were swayed by Cameron being told to f*** off by Merkel and then trying to sell it as a good result.
Corbyn lost his second election because of Starmer’s proposed “People’s Referendum”, which was a ruler’s attempt to overturn a democratic decision of “the people”. It was catastrophic; there was an opportunity to really change Britain…just thrown away.
And in the previous one he almost won…despite the Daily Mail and assembled Tory press ( oh, and BBC and others of that persuasion) dripping their poison into the ears of the people.
Like God, eventually “we, the people” will not take “being mocked”. Why should we? Generally “the people” are reasonable. They want to be left alone to follow “the pursuit of happiness” ( and best of luck with that, but some modicum of happiness can be achieved by most if they are generally left alone, and helped when necessary…that’s a true Welfare State…)…
Currently “we, the people” are being sacrificed on the altar of Ukraine’s “sovereignty” whereas in reality Ukraine became part of the American Empire in 2014 with the CIA coup.
Of course, Britain’s rulers have always liked to “set an example to the world” at the expense of the British people, but the rulers never had to bear the hardships; and they won’t this time either.
Finland and Sweden are about to become part of the American Empire. How long before US troops and missiles are stationed on their territory? Defensive, of course…as it always is…
Like Nye Bevan, I now believe the Cold War was utterly unnecessary, and was simply to sustain the US military/industrial complex ( which Eisenhower warned about…eventually and too late…) and promote US hegemony…
And now it needs another Cold War…but this one has every chance of turning hot..
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Just a quick response. Stockholm City Hall was completed in 1923. Was your headmaster ‘fighting Fascism’ then? And Swedish Social Democratic governments go back to the 1930s. – On ‘fascism’, I agree the term is loosely bandied about, just as ‘the people’s will’ is; but not by me. (See my previous blog on this.) What is your definition?
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I very much doubt he was fighting Fascism in 1923. Clearly he got his facts wrong; but the thrust of his comment is correct. Social Democrat Sweden did rather well from trade with Germany whilst he was “fighting Fascism” as he put it.
I have no definition of Fascism, but like an elephant, I recognise it when I see it. I don’t see it in “Trumpism”, or ” Trussism”; what I see there is “blow-hardism” and utter bollocks.
As for ” the people’s will”, that’s easy; it is the result of a democratic vote by the electorate. It may be “right” or “wrong” according to others, but it’s the best we’ve got.
I’ll stick with it, and wish we had more of it as Switzerland does.
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