Malin Krutmeijer is an employee of the cultural editorial office.
Magdalena Andersson looks out over a swimming pool and remembers her childhood, when “Sweden was safe” and she devoted herself to character-forming sports. The Social Democrats’ election film is one minute long and oscillates between left-wing ideas about community, welfare and climate, and typical right-wing rhetoric about discipline, harsh measures and strong defense.
All of this must be embodied by Magdalena Andersson. The solution will be to fish up an idealized 70s, complete with association life and Olof Palme, and throw it into the future. There, beyond venture capitalist predation, gang crime and segregation, the lost paradise awaits if the Social Democrats prevail.
It is not easy to try to play on nostalgia and faith in the future at the same time.
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“Our Sweden can do better”, reads the Social Democrats’ election slogan. It’s another version of Barack Obama’s famous, 14 year old, “Yes we can”.
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That Obama’s “we” has become “our Sweden” reflects that Swedish politics is a competition in more or less romantic nationalism. Even the Left Party has invented a meat-, car- and charter-loving worker from a mill as a galleon figure on his whaling ship.
Neo-nationalism means that embarrassing stereotypes stand as rods in the hill.
The Left Party cares about its arch-Swedish flint roaster, Ebba Busch is indignant on behalf of the “heartland”, the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats – yes you already know.
The Social Democrats, for their part, want to take a position reminiscent of the royal house. By virtue of their history, they are simply Sweden and Swedishness. And that’s stuff.
When Magdalena Andersson, dressed in royal dark blue with a Swedish flag as a brooch, spoke in Almedalen a few weeks ago, she exclaimed that she loves Sweden. This Sweden was represented in the speech by, among other things, “a healthy pride and a strong relationship with our country”, an “obsession with sun hours, bathing temperatures and barbecue tips”, accuracy, a sense of duty, common sense and “a feeling that right should be right”. Idel Swedish clichés, but the Prime Minister also loves health care, summer jobs for young people and “the authorities’ zealous officials” (yes, in fact).
We may well assume that, for example, criminals, the unemployed, immigrants in million program areas forgive, I mean segregated people, convinced anti-nationalists, liars, careless officials and sloths in general can not be Swedish. In any case, not as Swedish as the unforgiving, proud flag-wavers that the Prime Minister loves.
Magdalena Andersson emphasized that what she was talking about was not at all “dangerous nationalism”. Nevertheless, she began her speech with a long description of how one should be to deserve to be included in the nation Sweden.
It did not sound like some paradise, but I do not believe in such. Nor did it sound like a vision of a better society. It sounded like a cramped cage.
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