Last night Kajsa attended a meeting she had spent weeks arranging in a nearby suburb, for the ‘Left’ and ‘Green’ parties in Stockholm, to discuss the threat of ‘Fascism’ in Sweden; only to have it brutally attacked by neo-Nazis, dressed in black, with their faces covered by masks, and carrying smoke canisters and red paint sprays. Kajsa – who suffers from asthma – hid in a cupboard with a couple of others, but the smoke still got through, and they had to rush out – holding their breath – for air. It was a terrifying experience. Outside there were dozens of police, police cars, ambulances and even fire engines; which eventually restored order, and somehow sucked the smoke out, so that the meeting could resume. It was the main news item on Swedish TV last night; there’s a long report in today’s Dagens Nyheter; and it even made it into the Independent in Britain: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sweden-masked-attackers-fascism-event-b2534448.html. Kajsa eventually got home safe and sound; but she’s still – this morning – shaken. She’s contacted news agencies to ensure that her family name is not mentioned, as it’s an unusual one, and could make her a target; especially as the meeting was all her doing. (To me she’s a hero!) One of the Greens had already been personally threatened before the event, when she was putting up posters for the meeting. Kajsa had alerted the police to that.

I suppose that one good result of this incident is that it shows that the ‘threat of Fascism’ is real, and not just scare-mongering. On the other hand – and not intending to belittle it – there were only five (5) of the masked attackers; and one of them was revealed to be a young-ish boy (14?) when his mask slipped. This was not a mass riot, and nothing should be read into it about the strength of Fascism in Sweden. Fascism and Neo-Nazism have been always been present here, as in Britain, waxing and waning according to the political weather, but rarely significant on their own. We should avoid the tendency, which is more characteristic on the political Right, of exaggerating single incidents – the occasional (query) anti-semitic banner on a pro-Palestinian march, for example – into something more general and sinister. These were in all likelihood only half-a-dozen kids, probably idiots, out for a bit of excitement. I don’t know yet whether any of them were caught and arrested. When they are, we’ll doubtless know.

Neo-Fascism is a danger, which we all – Swedes and Brits – need to be wary of; but it’s far more likely to come in other, more ‘innocent’ guises than last night’s scary incident in Gubbängen.