Over the past week riots have spread throughout the suburbs of the Swedish capital Stockholm. There have been clashes with police, many arrests and cars have been set on fire by youth in the suburbs.
The riots began after a 69 year old man was shot dead by police in his flat in the suburb of Husby in Stockholm. It was first reported by media that the man had been injured by police and taken to hospital where he had died, but local residents disputed this with images of the man taken out in a body bag several hours after the shots were fired. This incident is only one of many of police repression in the disadvantaged suburbs, where the majority of the population is from an immigrant background.
Recently the police have started stopping and searching people in the underground looking for illegal immigrants. The policy was to stop people who ‘looked’ like they may be illegal immigrants. This blatant racism led to a public debate on the issue, where the racism of the Swedish state was highlighted by prominent writers. Young people in the suburbs have been targeted for stop and search and police harassment for a long time and just as in London 2 years ago this is one of the reasons for the riots.
Poor suburbs, like Husby, have also been the most hit by the cutbacks and privatisations pursued by the Swedish Tory government over the past decade. Cuts to education together with the impact of the economic crisis have led to youth unemployment in Husby of 38% and 20% of students being unable to go to high school when finishing secondary school. But residents have started organising against cuts and for more services. One of these groups, called Megafonen (The Megaphone), are campaigning to demand youth centres and more resources for education. They have rightly said: ‘We know (the riots) are a reaction to faults in society. Unemployment, underfunded schools and structural racism are all underlying causes of what is happening today. Our solution is a constructive fightback through social movements.’ The group have also called on residents to send them any footage of police violence to counter the propaganda of the mainstream media. Disgracefully, the Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has called on the group to condemn the rioters, which they have refused to do.
The riots in Stockholm are a product of growing inequality in Swedish society. The welfare state, which was fought for by working class people is being destroyed by the politicians (including the Social Democrats) who use the state to harass, intimidate and beat up anyone who challenges their rule. State racism is an integral part of capitalism and is used to divide the working class in order to keep the system going. This leads to workers blaming each other instead of organising together to fight against the ruling elite. Groups like Megafonen provide a great opportunity for organising locally, but workers across Sweden need to unite and fight for a different society. Ultimately only a socialist overthrow of the system can defeat state racism and inequality.