Organize or lose

By Anna Herdy, from Flamman 5/2018 (February 1, 2018)

The deep rift between the leadership of the Social Democratic Party and left socialists of various red hues has seldom been seen so clearly as when the party presented its election plan, and the think tank Katalys presented its major project on class. Editor-in-chief Anna Herdy predicts a bright future for the broader left – in the workers’ movement 2.0.

It’s almost a little ironic. Two important institutions in the workers’ movement wrote two different stories within a day of each other. On the one hand, the trade-union think tank Katalys launched the important project Klass i Sverige (Class in Sweden) which, under the leadership of sociology professor Göran Therborn, is an attempt to chisel out a new class analysis, and through the initiative of Daniel Suhonen, head of Katalys, to put issues of class on the political agenda. On the other, Social Democratic Party Secretary-General Lena Rådström Baastad and election manager John Zanchi presented what would be the Social Democrats’ election plan – one that has completely abandoned the wage earners’ perspective and the social portion of its own movement.

Katalys and the Social Democratic leadership are thus reading reality in two completely different ways, laying bare the now enormous rift between a socialist left and the leadership of the Social Democratic Party. This election year, the think tank will above all try to highlight class conflicts on the Swedish labor market, talk about the living conditions of the working class as a consequence of the constantly increasing clefts, and look for (and, it is hoped, find) the issues that will mobilize the working class to vote for equality and justice in the election this fall. The Social Democratic leadership, on the other hand, that they are “confident in the idea that we are in a position where we can continue to govern after the election” (Expressen, January 30, 2018). Quite clearly. The plan is to win 700,000 “changeable votes” over to “their” side of the bloc border – 300,000 of them from the far-right Sweden Democrats (SvenskaDagbladet, January 30, 2018).

They will do this primarily by talking about what their party’s own surveys show voters are most interested in right now: namely, crime but also “jobs”, healthcare, integration, troubles in the suburbs and gang criminality. That is, more of the same fluffy signal words about order in State finances, “better” welfare, “faster” integration and “everyone who can work, will.” These are not insignificant questions – but the party has already shown that they do not intend to fill them with any content worthy of a workers’ party.

The criticism was not long in coming. Tobias Baudin, President of Kommunal (the Swedish Municipal Workers’ Union), said that the Social Democrats had forgotten welfare workers; Daniel Suhonen, head of the think tank Katalys, said the election plan was a “plan for losers.”

The fact that this conflict exists inside the Social Democratic Party is a positive development for the party leadership. When internal conflicts can be shown openly (regardless of whether they concern nuclear agreements, the right to strike, or the election plan) it strengthens the image of a broad social-democratic party where it appears that debate is lively and everyone has a place – or that the left of the party is being kept in check, depending on who you ask. But this liveliness of debate is only a mirage. What used to be the political subject of social democracy – the working class – is now gone and has not appeared in communications or the creation of public opinion in many years. The Party leadership has abandoned its inheritance and its most loyal electoral base, which is why the LO (Swedish Trade Union Confederation) collective is losing votes to the Sweden Democrats. Katalys, which describes the problems of social democracy clearly in its latest report, wants to mould public opinion in relation to the Social Democratic Party, but there is a drawback: the Social Democratic Party doesn’t want to listen. Instead, they show – with all the clarity that could be desired – that there is an imaginary middle they now believe remains.

In an interview in this week’s number of Flamman, sociology professor Göran Therborn presents the interesting idea of an extraparliamentary left movement that places demands on the Social Democratic Party, the Left Party, and the Green Party, and how he hopes the Klass i Sverige project can contribute to that. It is an uplifting thought, because what’s needed is not just mobilizing the working class to the polls, but a working class organizing itself in a movement that is able to change the premises of the political debate – and above all, political reality. The Social Democratic Party has left its core voters without a social context, and are no longer interested in organizing the working class within itself. To be honest, the Left party is not (yet) terribly good at that. Even if the membership is the largest since the 1980s, the party does not yet constitute a first choice for the working class. Instead of talking generally about crime, unemployment and integration, the left socialist alternative must recognize and meet the class conflicts on every given occasion. It must see people who are afraid that their children will become gang members, improve security on the labor market, and reckon with a pension system that mires people in poverty.

Don’t get me wrong: the point is not to say “working class” as many times as possible. The point is to build something for the working class to believe in. To make the conditions of the working class the center of political debate.

Support the Swedish construction workers' strike!

As of yesterday, April 13, 2016, Byggnads - the Swedish Construction Workers' Association - has gone out on strike at several dozen sites across Sweden, with plans to expand the strike to many more sites over the next two weeks if an agreement cannot be reached.

In a statement from March 30, Byggnads listed the demands it had presented in negotiations with the Swedish Construction Federation (Sveriges Byggindustrier), the employers' organization it is now striking against. Among them:

• end dumping of wages and conditions as a result of long contractor chains
• improve workplace safety and training for safety officers
• ensure that immigrants who choose the construction profession do not have worse wages and conditions than others who also choose to work in construction
• greater influence over employers' actions that violate employees' personal integrity
• wages and conditions for construction workers hired through employment agencies to be equal to those of other employees at the workplace they are hired out to

"Sveriges Byggindustrier," the statement notes, "will not go along with any of this if Byggnads does not at the same time go along with major changes for the worse to union influence".

One of the sites now out on strike is only a short subway ride from where I work; early yesterday afternoon I went out to offer my support. I met with two striking workers, Dennis and Martin, who were glad to speak with me for a few minutes about the strike.

They reiterated the union's position that its current influence over wages and conditions was not a point of negotiation; they would not support any compromise over that issue in order to get the Federation to consider their other demands. The whole site was not out on strike, as there were other trades at work that were not involved in the negotiation, but they felt that the issues Byggnads was striking over would affect them as well, sooner rather than later. Martin pointed out that the four companies making up the Federation had earned 4 billion SEK (US$500 million) last year, and that the demands Byggnads was putting forth would only cost a total of 500 million SEK (US$61 million). "Plenty left over for them to go buy plenty of peanuts," he noted.

Both were adamant that unity was the key to winning the strike, even if they were unsure that they would be able to convince the other trades on-site to go out at this point. But they are still willing to hold out while the strike expands and to stay out for as long as they need to.

A Facebook group, Vi stödjer Byggnads och Målarens strejk, was created early yesterday and has garnered support from around Sweden and from other trades and professions. Messages of international support with the hashtag #backastrejken (Back the Strike) would no doubt be greatly appreciated.

The "People's" Demonstration - 30 Jan 2016

The past weekend may well be considered a high-water mark for Swedish fascism. The boost in confidence the movement as a whole received with the solid electoral gains of the Sweden Democrats party in 2014 has begun to have an impact.

Readers have probably already heard about the rampage of members of the Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR, by its Swedish initials) through downtown Stockholm last Friday. Dozens of masked youth clad in black (reported as 200 in the media) targeted people of apparent non-Swedish appearance in the neighborhood of the central subway station. Though the anti-immigrant sentiment whipped up following the New Year's Eve incident of mass sexual assault in Cologne undoubtedly had an impact, the decision by the Social Democratic government to deport some 80,000 refugees from Swedish soil also sent a clear message that even the center left sees the wave of mass immigration as a problem to be eliminated rather than the humanitarian crisis it actually is. Such actions by a ruling government can only encourage those who stand further to the right.

Despite the relative absence of violence associated with it, the "People's Demonstration" called for the following day was no less disquieting. The reports following the demonstration put the attendance at around 300 people, which may be one of the largest such demonstrations in the past few years. It also marks the first time, as one observer noted, that several different fascist and neo-Nazi organizations (SMR, Nordic Youth, members of the former Swede's Party, and former Sweden Democrats) appeared together at the same event. One speaker of note was Annelie Sjöberg, a member of the Centre Party, who is currently employed by the Municipality of Söderköping. The Centre Party is a parliamentary party with no known direct connections to the far right, but the fact that even a low-level civil servant would agree to speak in front of them, and publicly acknowledge it in the mainstream media, is a development that should not be ignored.

A counter-demonstration organized by the Allt åt Alla (Everything for Everyone) activist network managed to occupy approximately half of the small park where the People's Demonstration was to be held, and kept up a spirited barrage of chants, boos, and vuvuzela playing throughout the event. It was a large enough group that the police brought in to maintain order decided to separate the two groups with a cordon of police vans, but it was not large enough for the counter-demonstrators to push for anything more significant than vocal disruption. At best, during the first hour of the gathering, we were at least of equal size to the fascists, but as the event continued our side began steadily losing participants until a few handfuls were left at the very end.

The course of this counter-demonstration shows the limitations of a single group or network trying to organize a mass event in an environment where the radical and revolutionary left is fragmented and apparently largely passive. There appeared to be no effort to reach out to other organizations on the left to build and organize the event, and apart from a handful of speakers at the very beginning there was no real attempt to provide it with any meaningful structure. A serious, coordinated effort by a group of left organizations in the weeks running up to the demonstration would have yielded better results, with a clearer sense of direction that would both have drawn greater numbers to the event and encouraged people to stay on past the first hour.

One immediate response to the "People's" Demonstration was the hashtag #inteerkvinna ("not your woman"), with which Swedish women made it clear that they didn't buy into the racists' message that they needed to be protected from immigrants and refugees.

Efforts like this are not enough, however, when the leader of the Sweden Democrats is confident enough to send out a mass email to municipal politicians in the Moderate Party (the former ruling center-right party) inviting them to dialogue and collaboration. Anna Kinberg Batra, the leader of the Moderates, distanced herself from the initiative, saying that the Sweden Democrats were no alternative, but without an organized, militant radical left exerting the same kind of influence as the Sweden Democrats (both outside of, and potentially within, the Riksdag), there will be nothing to stop individual Moderates from reaching back out, either now or in the near future.

Combating the rising tide of fascism in Europe will not be a quick or easy task. But there is much more the left can do, and the existing parties and organizations need to be willing to reach out and collaborate in order to achieve this.

Marxismen för horar - en röst i debatten om sexarbete

I apologize to my international readers in advance for this. Here in Sweden there has been an overwhelmingly negative reaction to Amnesty International's recent decision on sex work; the predominant view on the left is that criminalizing the purchase of sex somehow makes things safer for women. One thing that is missing in the debates is the actual voices of sex workers, and I hope in some way to rectify this by presenting a translation into Swedish of an article by British sex worker Magpie Corvid. The original article can be found here on the website of Salvage, a newly-launched "quarterly of revolutionary arts and letters". (I highly recommend checking it out, if you haven't already.)

Till mina eventuella svenska läsare: jag ber om ursäkt för alla konstigheterna i språket. Jag har väldigt liten erfarenhet i att översätta till svenska (vilket inte är mitt modersmål). Hittar ni grammatiska eller andra fel i texten hör gärna av er i kommentarfältet nedan och jag ska gärna korrigera. Annan diskussion om artikeln och frågan är förstås också varmt välkomna.

MARXISMEN FÖR HOROR

av Magpie Corvid

     Min historia är samma historia som tusentals andra som upptäckte att de inte kunde hitta fasta jobb som betalar bra. Våran historia handlar om åtstramning, och vi finns överallt, vi lever av socialbidrag, deltidsarbete och några visstidsjobb. Några startar egna företag, några bygger webbsidor, några reparerar bil, och några blir sexarbetare.

     Tillsammans med flera andra gav jag mig in på sexarbete som en direkt lösning på fattigdomens hemska risker. Jag blev sexarbetare inte på grund av någon stor historia. Jag är inte sexarbetare eftersom jag är psykiskt sjuk, eller har en historia av misshandel, eller har elektrakomplex, eller vill få uppmärksamhet. Ibland är det utmärkt, ibland är det svårt, och sexarbete är inte ett job för alla men det är mitt. Det är arbete jag kan utföra och som jag är bra på, och jag försörjer mig. När jag säljer min sexualitet som produkt, den enda skillnad mellan mig och andra servicearbetare eller artist ligger i arbetets sexuella karaktär. Förstås kan sexarbete vara intensivt och farligt, och förstås att göra det olagligt gör inget för att lätta dessa faktorer. Aktivisten Jenny Pearl, från gruppen English Collective of Prostitutes, sade:

Jag går ut till arbetet på grund av ekonomiska tryck. Socialbidrag räcker inte för gas, el, vatten, och att ersätta vitvaror. Jag kommer inte att kunna leva av socialbidrag i sikt. När jag måste köpa jackor eller skor så har jag inte råd med dem. De flesta flickor eller kvinnor jag träffar på gatan finns där för ganska liknande anledningar, för att hålla familjen ihop, för att barnen inte ska omhändertas av socialtjänsten. Det ger dem möjligheten att bestämma över t ex att slå på elementen eller inte, istället för att stanna i sängen under täcket för att bli varm. De går ut i en timme och få betalt, det räcker för att betala en räkning. Ibland är det den enda kontroll, det enda val vi har i livet. Vi kan stanna i sängen, bo i elände, och leva på sytlmackor, men personligen tror jag att jag och min dotter förtjänar mer. Då väljer jag att gå ut på gatan och tjäna pengar, eftersom jag vill ha ett bättre liv. Det jag gör är inte ohederligt. Arbetet är svårt. Hade jag ett val så skulle jag inte göra det. Men nu att jag finns i straffregistret på grund av ofredandet är det här det enda job jag får göra för att tjäna pengar utan att missköta min dotter. På grund av hennes handikapp måste jag tjäna £60 när jag går ut bara för att betala kostnaderna för vakten, även om hon är tjugofem år gammal, innan jag får pengar som räcker för att betala räkningarna.

 • • •

     Jag föddes inte i fattigdom utan växte upp i en medelklassfamilj, och mina föräldrar siktade mig som en raket mot den amerikanska drömmen. Men innan jag blev sexarbetare var jag pank, och hade knappast råd med mat och hyran. Med två år i yrket har jag ett ganska bra liv, i ett underbart äktenskap där jag ekonomiskt sett står på jämlik fot med maken, och det går att spara ihop för en inteckning medans jag har tid att ägna åt att skriva och att engagera mig i politik. Men varför, när det ser ut på ytan att jag tog mig själv i kragen som hjälten i en Horatio Alger-historia (fast med ridpiska och i strumpor), är jag marxist?

     Jag är marxist eftersom Horan Som Hen Föreställs¹  – bedragare, trafikerad, förtryckt, sinnessjuk, gatflicka, kurtisan, dominatrix – används som ett verktyg för att få kvinnor på en line, för att patriarkiska makten ska hålla tummen i ögat på dem. Det är inte så konstigt att en hegemonisk, korporativ feminism – feminismen av kvinnor som Angelina Jolie och Facebooks Sheryl Sandberg – förfäktar den s k räddningindustrin – den ljugande maskinen som fabricerar statistik och sammanflätar frivilligt sexarbete med människohandel. Om korporativa feminister vill frigöra kvinnor, varför inte börja med USA:s papperslösa gästarbetare? Varför inte börja med dem som helt lagligen jobbar under förfarliga omständigheter, utan rätten att byta arbetsgivare, i Storbritanniens visumsystem? Det ska de inge göra eftersom de vill ändå ha de marginaliserade under kontroll som städare, kycklingplockare, och barnvakter. Men inte horor. Aldrig horor.

     Feminismen i räddningsindustrin är fängelsefeminism (carceral feminism) som stärker staten, som ”räddar” med arrester. Med syftet att stoppa sexhandel som skydd angriper den nya hopen lag mot sexarbete och polistaktiker verktygen, t ex internetreklam och identitetkontroll, som sexarbetare använder för att gallra bort oönskvärda klienter, och det gör oss alla mindre säker. Save-lagen (Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation) i USA och åtföljande rad högprofilsrazzior mot internetbaserade sexarbetare, tillsammanse med Proposition C-36 i Kanada som inskränker reklam och kriminaliserar klienterna samt antagandet av lagar runt Europa som kriminaliserar klienterna innebär att sexarbetare sätts i fängelse oftare samt att vårt arbete blir svårare och farligare.

     Själva eliten i feministiska rörelsen, dvs. kvinnor som Gloria Steinem och Germaine Greer – förfäktar detta som en storsint räddningsaktion. De tjusas av Horan Som Hen Föreställs och bryr sig inte om sexarbetarnas verklighet. Polisen som anför razzior i Soho i London hittar många sexarbetare, men sällan de som har trafikerats, och istället stämplas sexarbetare som arbetar tillsammans som handlare och hallickar. Medan nya regimer etablerar sig i länder där klienter har kriminaliserats så blir dett svårare att gallra bort de oönskvärda och de som verkligen finns på kanten av sexarbetsområdet, där tvång skulle verkligen kunna ske, drar sig längre tillbaka in i skuggarna. Eftersom jag har bindat mig för lösningar som tar itu med belägenheten för dem som verkligen tvingats till sexarbete, och eftersom jag inte accepterar ett ytligt sätt som enbart bara puttar tvång utanför scenen, är jag marxist.

     Jag är marxist därför att jag vet att kvinnor förväntas bli uppenbarelser av mäns åtrå, men om en kvinna säljer sina kunskaper och sex appeal och finsliper dom samt uppfattar sitt arbete som en uppmaning så förvandlas alla hennes konst, drivkraft och påhittighet till försäljningen av kroppen. Och jag är marxist därför att vi alla säljer kropparna, tiden och viljan till arbetsgivarna, familjerna, länderna, religionerna, samt våra älskare och vänner, men det är Horan Som Hen Föreställs som tillåter oss att distansera oss från alla otaliga sätt på vilka vi horar. När vi ser dem, horarna, ställas upp i rad och filmas efter en razzia, ser vi inte de äkta sexarbetare – avbrutna, avslöjade, utslagna från arbetet, häktade, jagade, avvisade – utan bara kjolarna och höga klackorna. Vi ser inte strävan efter att fara över havet eller satsningen på att försörja en familj.

• • •

     Världen runt blir folk – för det mesta kvinnor, ofta mödrar – sexarbetare, ofta för at försörja familjerna. Säger en radikal feminist till mig att mitt arbete är avskyvärd så säger jag att allt arbete är avskyvärd och ber henne att kliva ner från piedestalen. Här på marken rengör kvinnor fisk, toaletter, och rumporna på handikappade och de äldre. Och några av oss är sexarbetare. Jag står med henne mot tvånget, förnedringen, och rädslan som onekligen finns in delar av sexarbete, men vill hon sätta stopp på det så får hon stå med mig mot åtstramningen samt kränkningen som finns i det flesta kvinnoarbetet. Låt henne kämpa bredvid mig för avkriminaliseringen. De som kämpar för sexarbetets avskaffande bjuder på hemska historier om kvinnor som kidnappats, drotags och lurats till sexslaveri, och framträder som Wilberforces² arvingar, men utan en kritik av kapitalismen och marknadens tvångskraft kan vi inte avskaffa någon form av slaveri – vilken verkligen aldrig avslutades.

     Jag är marxist därför att jag förstår att tabun samt marginaliseringen och det s k andrandet av sexuellt arbete inte är inneboende, som massan av en sten som kastas. Mitt arbete existerar på grund av patriarkin, och mågna feminister tror att dess avskaffande skulle bli till kvinnors fördel. Men det är en missriktad feminism som vill terrorisera sexarbetare och sätta dem i fängelse samt offra våra trygghet, frihet och uppehälle för en meningslös trofé i formen av en bordell där en razzia gjordes. Elitens ”fängelsefeminismen” har inte något problem med att göra en razzia mot en bordell och tvinga dess invånare till att sy i en arbetsplats med svältlöner. Men en socialistisk, intersektional feminism borde lyssna på sexarbetarnas röster istället för att ignorera dem och att betrakta dem som symboler. Medan domstolarna i USA omdirigerar sexarbetare in i religiösa programm så organiserar sexarbetare sig för att dela ut information om säkerhet och gallrande. Vi kunde säker göra ännu mer för att förbättra våra arbetsvillkor om polisen och samhället låter bli att göra oss till måltavlor.

     Jag erkänner att mitt arbetar är lyckligt lottad i jämförelse med många andra sexarbetare. Men som marxist förstår jag att om det inte står dem fritt att välja – eller inte välja – sexarbetet och att organisera sig för bättre arbetsvillkor, så står det inte mig fritt heller, och sexarbetarnas grundläggande frihet och trygghet världen rund bygger på att vårt arbete anses som arbete. Miljontals arbetare jorden runt, största delen av vem inte är sexarbetare, arbetar i hemska förhållanden med en större eller mindre tvångsgrad. Det finns faktiskt mångmiljoner äkta slavar, mer än som någonsin fanns, och de flesta av dem jobbar i andra brancher än i sexarbete. Ofta är Horan Som Hen Föreställs fanbäraren för kampanjer mot nutida slaveri, men räddningindustrins påstående till trots är lösningen på slaverin, även den delen där sexarbetare är inblandade, inte kriminaliseringen av sexköp eller försäjlning av sex. Lösningen kan vara en rad saker och ting som en strömlinjeformad regering skulle anse som helt oacceptabla. Hur skulle nutida slaveri avskaffas? För att börja med ska gränserna och migration övervägas radikalt så att de som migrerar på grund av jobb har alla rättigheter och rätt till tjänster som medborgare har. Dessutom ska fackföreningarnas befogenheter ökas kraftigt och sexarbete avkriminaliseras helt och hållet utan den inskränkande lagstiftning som finns i t ex Tyskland, där sexarbetarna har endast utsatts för bordellernas grymma regim.³ En grundläggande del av lösningen skulle vara en konsekvent insats för att avskaffa fattigdomen, med ett garanterat minimilön för att börja med.

     Jag har inga stora förväntningar att den traditionella vänstern, i alla dess former från Labourpartiet till anarkismen, kommer snart att helhjärnat gå över till rörelsen för sexarbetarnas rättigheter. Det finns många ledande röster inom den som tvivlar på feminismen och allt som tyder på statens makt, och det vore klokt av dem att akta sig för sådant eftersom Horan Som Hen Föreställs har gjort ett för stort intryck på vänsterns medvetenhet samt dess idéer om sin intellektuella historia. Andrea Dworkin framkallade henne när hon sade:

Prostitution i och för sig är missbruk av kvinnokroppen. Vi som säger det klandras för att vara naiva. Men prostitution är väldigt enkel ... i prostitution förblir ingen kvinna välbehållen. Det går inte att använda människokroppen på sättet som kvinnokroppar används i prostitution och behålla en välbehållen människa vid slutet, eller mitt i, eller nära början. Det är omöjligt. Och sen blir ingen kvinna välbehållen efteråt.

     I själva verket har även de feminister som påstår sig vara mer inställda mot marxismen, t ex Gayle Rubin och Catherine Mackinnon, avfärdat klassbegreppet och skärat ned det till bara en tillhörighet istället för ett dynamiskt förhållande inom samhället. Som Brooke Beloso skrev i sin uppsats från 2012, Sex, Work, and the Feminist Erasure of Class,

Utan Marx uppfattning av klass som ett dynamiskt förhållande under kapitalismen så misslyckas feminister som i MacKinnons och Rubins kölvattnet skriver om sexarbete skilja mellan ”kvinnan som arbetare” och sex som ”den särskilda produkt av en individs arbete”. Istället blir de ägnat att sammanfläta de två begrepp och ser på prostituerade överallt som offrar som råkar vara kvinnor (eller flickor) men aldrig arbetare.

    Även om det fanns många nära förbindelser mellan rörelsen för sexarbetarnas rättigheter och den strömlinjeformade feministiska rörelsen tidigt i feminismens andravågsskede så har förbindelserna avbrutits av den senare dominansen inom radikala feminismen av idéer som tillskrev ”naturliga” egenskaper till sexarbete (s k essentialisering). De som kämper för sexarbetarnas rättigheter ofta använder intersektionala feminismens och privilegeteorins språk samt lägger fram sin sak från sociala och ekonomiska rättvisans synpunkt, men även i senare år av feminismen har idéerna från ledande röster som t ex Melissa Gira Grant varit kvar utanför debatten. På ett liknande sätt har frågan om sexarbetarnas rättigheter varit kvar på det yttre marginalet i kampanjen mot åtstramningar.

     Vår tids vilda, anarkiska glädjeämne är Interneten, och genom den har sexarbetare förmågan att ha kontakt med allmänheten utan aktivister, akademiker eller politiska partier som övergång. Red Umbrella-projektet (RedUP) i New York blev rubrikstoff när det utforskade stadens omläggningsprogramm för dem som arresteras för prostitution där obligatoriska kurser i t ex livskunskaper och yoga erbjuds istället för fängelsestraff. Rättegångarna som aktivister i RedUP besökte samt övervakade och analyserade visade sig vara rasistiska och ståndaktiga i att marginalisera svarande. Med det som resultat så engagerade projektet sig direkt i politik och åtog sig den sedan länge priviligerade rollen som utforskare.

     I Storbritannien har sexarbetare stormat politik och i november 2014 fullständigt besegrat deras motståndares försök att smyga in kriminaliseringen av klienter i propositionen om nutida slaveri (Modern Slavery Bill). Gruppen English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) som gick i spetsen för insatsen drar nu fördel av situationen med ett enkelt löfte om stöd för den fullständiga avkriminaliseringen av sexarbete. De har sedan länge fokuserat på förhållandet mellan fattigdom och sexarbete, i synnerhet för ensamstående mammor, och de hoppas att kampanjen som siktas mot fackföreningar ska synliggöra det breda stödet för avkriminaliseringen samt tvinga fram en svår men nödvändig debatt. De får redan några resultat; Austin Harney, företrädare från facket Public and Commercial Services (PCS) till brittiska justitiedepartementet, talade som privatperson för ECP:

Det borde aldrig vara i någon fackförenings intresse att tillåta sexarbetares liv att sättas i fara, särskilt eftersom de har rätt till lön och villkor som ligger helt i linje med alla arbetstagares mänskliga rättigheter. Kriminaliseringen av klienter kommer bara att ytterligare inskränka sexarbetarnas redan begränsade trygghet, som kan komma att stå inför livshotande angrepp i förbrytarvärlden samt att utsättas för olaga arrester av polisen som förväntas skydda de oskyldiga. Sexarbetare utgör inte något hot mot samhället och torde välkomnas för att stå i solidaritet i kampen mot all förstörelse som åststramningarna innebär!

     Än så långe ligger en stor del av vänstern efter. Medan brittiska Gröna Partiet och Liberaldemokraterna samt delar av Labourpartiet har utvecklats positivt i frågan om sexarbete, fortsätter allianser som Left Unity och enskilda revolutionära grupper debattera om sexarbete är arbete eller inte. Genom att göra urmodiga idéer om den grundläggande ohyggligheten i sexarbete trovärdiga stärker dessa grupper konservativ moralpanik och bidrar till att marginalisera sexarbetarna samt ignorerar röster från några av dem som drabbas mest av åtstramningen. Vänstern hoppas att hämta sin inspiration från Syrizas exempellös seger och deras framgångsrika valstrategi om att göra kopplingar mellan olika slags marginalisering. Men även Syriza har visat sig vara bristfällig i frågor om t ex HBTQ-rättigheter; partiet lövade att införa civila partnerskap men backade ur frågan om adoptering för HBTQ personer. Det återstår att see om Syriza kommer att backa ur frågan om sexarbetares rättigheter på ett liknande sätt. Genom att ignorera eller låta fara sexarbetares rättigheter försummar brittiska vänstern ett bra tillfälle, men detta kommer inte att förhindra oss att göra kopplingarna själv. Jag tror att sexarbetare kan bygga om Horan Som Hen Föreställs i vår riktiga avbild utan ledning från någon vise eller något parti.

     Sedan jag lämnade den organiserade vänstern har jag engagerat mig i politik mer än någonsin. Sexarbetare och många andra börjar inse att vi kan bygga ett äkta världsamhälle och effektiva kampanjer genom jäsningen som finns i sociala medier. Försvarare av Monica Jones, en svart transsexuell kvinna arresterades 2013 för prostitution, byggde en internationell kampanj som skarpt avslöjade skärningpunkterna mellan ras, klass, transidentitet och sexarbete. När anklagelserna överklagades och sedan avskrevs så lämnade segern ett starkt, organiskt nätverk i kölvatten med bestämd radikala politik och feminism samt en stark kritik of åtstramningen. Den strålande uppsvingen av sexarbetares motstånd mot lagarna och moraliteten som vill kriminalisera oss är en del av en bredare motstånd mot åtstramningen, men det återstår att se om den globala rörelsen mot åtstramningen kommer att erkänna sexarbetare som fullständiga kamrater i kampen. Jag är en del av båda världar, båda rörelser, men i hoppet att feminismen och den organiserade vänstern ska släppa Horan Som Hen Föreställs och gå över till kampen för sexarbetares rättigheter så är jag marxist.

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1 För detta begrepp står jag i skuld till Melissa Gira Grants viktiga bok Playing the Whore, där det starkaste begreppet är ”the prostitute imaginary”.

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2 William Wilberforce (1759–1833), brittiska politiker som ledade rörelsen att avskaffa slavhandeln. -- Ö.A.

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3 En analys av tyska lagstiftningen och en kritik av artikeln i tidskriften Der Speigel finns på engelska här. -- Ö.A.

The Sweden Democrats - an inside picture

A number of people from the States who have read my blog as a result of the reporting on the counterdemonstration against Wednesday's "Pride parade" have expressed their confusion as to who the Sweden Democrats are. Since I consider it the job of this blog to provide a clearer picture of Swedish politics and political events for English-speaking audiences, I had planned to do a little reading and write an article about them providing a brief history of the party.

This morning, I was tipped off about a blog entry by former SD member (and municipal councilor) Jesper Nilsson, published only three days ago, detailing exactly why he has left the Sweden Democrats. After reading it, I immediately felt that translating it into English here would far better serve the purpose under these circumstances than my own research and writing.

I would also like to note that the Swedish anti-racist Facebook group "Inte rasist, men" (Not Racist, But...)  posted a link to this blog entry on their Facebook page but it was almost immediately blocked due to complaints (presumably from other, active SD members). In an article on their webpage, they note that their complaints about a group called "Legalize Rape" did not result in the page being taken down. Why is it that Facebook has no problem blocking criticism of a far-right, demonstrably racist party, but does nothing about a group that clearly thinks sexual violence is acceptable?

The original blog entry (in Swedish) appears here. These are the people who organized the "Pride parade" through the heavily immigrant neighborhoods of Tensta, Rinkeby, Kista and Husby last Wednesday. These are the people I protested against, and I hope by the time you finish reading, you will better understand why.

(A final note: I personally do not completely agree with Mr Nilsson's vision at the end of his blog entry, but I am translating it in its entirety so that the few readers I do have get as full a picture of the situation as possible.)

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Why I left the Sweden Democrats

Jesper Nilsson, 28 July 2015

As the headline indicates, this piece is about why I left SD. I was the district chair for the SD Youth in Västmanland, nominated to the Board of its association, and elected as both municipal councilor and county councilor in addition to being the vice-president of the municipal association and elected to the party's district committee; I have chosen to leave all of these positions in order to completely abandon the Sweden Democrat movement. But firstly, I'll begin by talking about myself and how I ended up in the Sweden Democrats. I really don't like talking about myself, but sometime's it's necessary in order to make things understandable. This is my story:

My childhood and adolescence were characterized by a lack of self-confidence, and I have had marked problems with creating long-term relationships, both friendships and otherwise. As a consequence I shut myself up at home, where I played video games and listened to nationalist romantic Viking rock, headed by Ultima Thule. Their lyrics gave me a feeling of identity. I've always had a great interest in history, and their songs gave me the opportunity to find out that other people felt like I did. In addition, Ultima Thule could touch me deeply, and these feelings built up my belief that the "nation's interest" should be given priority and should permeate all political decisions.

My party political process began prior to the 2009 EU elections, when I noticed that on many points, Jimmie Åkesson's¹ words on national affinity and community were what I felt were desirable for the country. This, in combination with Per Albin Hansson's "folkhem"², was exactly what I envisioned. I was a little hesitant about the Sweden Democrats, though; I'd heard about the party's background and had never been able to identify as xenophobic. In the spring of 2010, however, I met a representative of the Sweden Democrat Youth (SDU) for the first time. They themselves had a foreign-sounding name and a foreign background; moreover, he understood my concern about the party's background but referred to his own heritage as an assurance of the party's purity. At that point I couldn't do anything else than believe him, naïvely enough. And so I joined the SDU, but it would be a while before I became active.

After the "iron pipe" scandal³ was the first time I was seriously prepared to leave the association, but Åkesson's calm, trustworthy voice gave me the feeling that those involved maybe weren't representative of the party after all. Erik Almqvist was forced out, after all...

In the spring of 2013, I went to an SD meeting for the first time. I was invited to the annual meeting of the municipal organization; Björn Söder⁴ was there as chairperson. I got to meet him, and was struck by how pleasant he seemed. The man who was vice-president of the municipal association at the time came up to me afterwards and made an unbelievably professional, serious impression. I decided then that it was time to get involved.

I really should have smelled a rat the first time I was to visit a school with SDU, since there was a representative sitting there listening to white power music - which I naturally questioned. He shrugged his shoulders dismissively and agreed that that type of music wasn't something SD supported. All the same, it was a band whose members were openly antidemocratic and sung about things like "hanging politicians from lampposts". I interpreted it as that the party wouldn't support that, although I still asked myself how suitable it was for a representative to be listening to that music. I may pretty much have been the only one to see the problem. The reasoning was built on the principle "If no one knows about it, it doesn't matter".

The school visit went well for me, however. I got a lot of praise for my debating technique and my involvement - something that was completely fantastic for me, considering my lack of self-confidence. I was totally delighted.

When it came to various member meetings, though, I started becoming hesitant. During a presentation by Linus Bylund⁵, there was a member who questioned the term "newly arrived", considering it as concerning "foreigners". Bylund then tried to argue that it could in fact be better to use more positive rhetoric around newly arrived immigrants. Another member then said "It's not good for Sweden, anyway!" I became uneasy, but chose to focus on the genial vice-president and the others who seemed serious. After the presentation itself, it was time for coffee. A member from a neighboring municipality struck up a conversation with me, and it was moderately pleasant until, in an extremely vulgar fashion, he asked me if I knew a woman who would want to go home with him and "be dominated a little". Such members are probably not unique to the Sweden Democrats, but I believe they will be over-represented in an environment where conservative forces are leading.

On another occasion I was eating lunch with a colleague after a school visit. He spoke about how he managed to "get some" one night at the pub. He saw a woman and overheard her saying she was attracted to firemen, at which point he went up and lied to her face, saying he was a trained firefighter. Later she figured out he wasn't, and asked why he'd said he was. He sneered and said "I wouldn't have gotten laid otherwise." I don't know when this was, but him sitting there boasting as if he'd stolen a choice trophy definitely indicated how he viewed women.

Later on, I chose to stand as a candidate for the municipality and the county council. I couldn't have dreamed then of being elected to the county council; I just wanted to fill a spot. I had a little more home for the municipality, but it wasn't anything I had confidence in.

During the summer of 2014, a statement came out from a member of the Riksdag based on arguments that women who are treated badly in marriage "had themselves to blame" and that it was "their own responsibility". This member had the opportunity to offer a sincere apology but abstained, complaining later on that the media was being nasty. Yet another statement that made me sick. Of course women in the SD dissociated themselves from this, but no call was raised for expulsion, or even to demand an apology. The reason I bring this up (I'm trying to keep things local) is that she sat on the same district committee as I did. In addition, refusing to apologize and to instead complain in front of the district that the media was being nasty is remarkable.

This same woman, at a dinner after a committee meeting, sat and talked with me about there being "an international conspiracy" that was "forcing us to be tolerant and open to things like gay rights and multiculturalism". I just said I disagreed, but my thoughts turned to the neo-Nazis' insanely preposterous ideas about Jewish occupation; it is certainly frightening that this woman sits in the Riksdag and was in addition the party's second vice-president.

In the spring of 2014 I became a district chair in the SDU. Now I was to experience the problems that existed concerning women in the association. Sexist expressions and slang that was humiliating to women occurred with remarkable frequency. In every meeting there was at least one instance where someone objectified women's bodies, and I can believe they thought I wasn't a real man because I didn't want to use that slang. I felt it was a compliment in that context. I think expressions like "Fuck, look at the body on her" and "That ass!" are horribly embarrassing and they made me feel very uncomfortable. During the 2014 election campaign for the Riksdag, there were four of us from the SDU - three men, one woman - who were going to have a meeting when my telephone rang and I have to step away for a while. The two remaining men laughed in their "masculine" way and encouraged the woman to "go up and pinch me in the ass" and other things to get me to stop talking. This is behavior I find horribly vulgar and objectionable. Who can, with good conscience, recommend that a young woman get involved in a movement that uses this kind of language? I can just imagine how it felt for this woman, but she is probably tougher than I am...

Later on during the caimpaign, a representative came out with a statement calling people parasites, the n-word, and everything else possible. SD says it has zero tolerance towards ideologically aberrant opinions. Formal "zero tolerance" is permissible, but in SD's case it extends no further than avoiding expressing certain opinions on social media. But even if those values aren't always expressed that way in the media, they're there all the same. There may be SD members who feel the same way I do: that they don't belong in the party. But at least as many - if not more - think that this is fully acceptable. Most don't care that members and representatives have these stale opinions and values, as long as they don't express them publicly. Perhaps they understand that if members weren't allowed to express them, SD would have to expel so many members it would no longer have a party left.

One clear example of the objectionable opinions that can be found within the party is the time some of us carpooled to the county council. As is rather usual, we got into a discussion concerning LGBT issues. As usual, I advocated for the right of gays and lesbians to adoption; comments like "What are you thinking?" and "Are you a feminist?" immediately popped up. I sighed, and used a rather banal example: "If a starving chiled in Uganda could have a better live with a homosexual pair in Sweden, isn't that simply a positive thing?" But no, I was clearly for "mass immigration".

During another carpool, a rather angry woman mentioned how awful it was with all the beggars outside the ICA supermarket - but it was hardly out of compassion for these people. She mentioned that she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw a neighbor (whom she'd known all her life) giving money to a beggar. Is it the height of treachery to try to help a socially vulnerable person by giving?

Experiences within the youth association, moreover, assert that sexism is completely OK, provided that it's handled internally and that everyone involved is "OK with it". On one such occasion I tried to protest that all the same, it legitimates a negative view of women and that in addition it could be difficult for the person being subjected to it to say no, but then I was clearly too influenced by political correctness. The man I was speaking with also said it was biologically unnatural for men and women to be friends.

When I was out having a few drinks with a colleague, we got - as usual - into politics. I seem to remember that I brought up the problem of the party being seen by many as Nazi. My colleague played it down by saying "those saying that don't know any better" - but then came the really shocking part: "Actually, Hitler was a model example." Now, it should be said that both I and his live-in partner told him off in no uncertain terms, and that it all ended up with him apologizing. Despite all this, it was something said during the substantial intake of intoxicating beverages - something that makes a mess of things for everybody - but I don't think that matters at all. Calling a person with the blood of millions on his hands, who turned a democracy in to the worst sort of dictatorship, a model example is pure lunacy. Your values don't disappear just because you've been drinking. On another occasion he was there when we were manning a literature table together with other youth associations in Västerås. A woman, originally from a country occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War and whose parents had been sent to one of the Nazis' concentration camps, came up to us. When she told us this, he laughed! It may possibly have been out of uncertainty over how to handle the situation, but just the same I cannot imagine a more disrespectful way to handle it. I'll leave it unsaid whether this person has Nazi sympathies or not, but obviously he doesn't find any big problems with expressing himself that way. The sympathy for antidemocratic opinions within SD is obvious.

At another literature table in a school during the election campaign, we were given a pot of coffee, which was welcome; at that point my male colleague said to our female colleague: "As a social conservative, I think it is your job as a woman to pour me some coffee." It may have been an attempt at a joke, but it was unbelievably unpleasant and inappropriate. It's true that the location was rather empty of people at the time, but what would a passerby think upon hearing that kind of "joke" being made? This person was actually warned by the Dalarna/Västmanland district then in charge, although if you're reading this, by now you probably understand that it presumably wasn't because the statement indicates a hostile attitude towards women from the party concerned, but because it would be damaging if anyone had heard those opinions expressed...

Let's return to homophobia: It is not at all unusual for homosexuality to be compared with sexual intercourse with animals. A preposterous comparison, in my opinion, but difficult to protest with the "open and tolerant" Sweden Democrats! I will never forget how the youth association, at its annual congress, voted no to advocating the right of homosexuals to civil marriage. One of the arguments - seen by many as the strongest - was: "That is ideologically aberrant". Personally, regardless of their ideology, I could never look a gay or lesbian in the eye and say, "You may not build a family because it's against my ideology." It's obviously a completely unreasonable argument. Moreover, it's already permitted under Swedish law. All due respect to the caution of conservatism, but there's nothing cautious about making a U-turn straight back to hell. Within this movement, however, it is fully legitimate to be of the opinion that LGBT persons are a group of degenerates.

In addition, we have all these references to the so-called "alternative media". Avpixlat, Fria Tider, Exponerat and the Flashback forum, and so on. These pages often contain downright untruthful articles completely lacking in scientific grounding. Despite this, I still ought to say that these are by far the most read pages among ordinary Sweden Democrats who take the words written there as an absolute truth, and that is what's so tragic. The naïveté is evident; I was also naïve, I willingly admit. But I have always rejected these media outlets, since the texts published there are often racist, sexist, and homophobic.

These opinions are not always outwardly visible, but they permeate the entire party; I feel there are extremely few people who are prepared to actively oppose them. I hope the Sweden Democrats who see this problem thank me for saying how things stand so that they can overcome their problems once and for all! But as long as they're part of this "national" movement they'll attract these kinds of forces; I can state definitively that many within SD would love to see members of the former Svenskarnas Parti (5) come over to them now that it's shut down - something that runs directly opposite to my own thinking and values.

For those of you who do not sympathize with SD: I want to confirm the image of SD you have. Under that polished surface is a rotting corpse. My vision has always been to cut off the unhealthy branches in the party and get the tree to grow large and flower, with the desire to build a 'folkhem' based on equality, consideration, collaboration, and helpfulness just like the one Per Albin Hansson laid the foundations for. But I have been forced to realize that the tree is so infected that it is better to rescue the healthy branches: the ones that understand the dangers of racism, sexism and homophobia. Those of you in SD for the same reasons I was have to understand that it is the wrong way to go. There are other parties to involve yourselves in; although Åkesson's words "sound good", I hope you will think a step further and come to the same insights I have.

Five years in the association, with merely two years active in the party - how could I advance so quickly? Well - the party doesn't have better people. That's saying nothing about me, but a lot about SD. I believed in them, but after months of reflection and regret, I was forced to realize that everything I believed in and fought for is an illusion I painted in my head but doesn't actually exist. This insight is probably the toughest I've arrived at, but sometimes you just can't grit your teeth and keep going. It's better to admit that you were wrong and apologize, which I'm doing here and now. I would also like to thank those of you who were magnanimous enough to be friendly towards me despite my choice of party. With these words I leave SD forever, and they probably think I'm a disloyal traitor. If am "betraying" the Sweden Democrats now, I am doing the majority of society a huge favor.

In conclusion: Why am I writing this? SD is climbing higher and higher in the opinion polls, and I don't think they deserve it. I want to illuminate, for the average citizen, what they actually choose to vote for, and which representatives they put their trust in. I have insights into the party that most outside don't have access to; when I myself realized that I had chosen the wrong political direction, it would actually have been a shame not to tell what I'd seen and heard. I should, of course, have left the movement earlier, but I hope that my readers understand that this - leaving all my positions although I like politics in general, realizing that people will turn their backs on me, and understanding that I will never be able to return - is no small step to take. I also realize that I have put my entire political credibility at risk. This text could also be seen as a formal end to my journey. I would perhaps never be able to go further if I didn't get to speak about my experiences.

With this, I realize that my role in the party has been played out. I oppose all forms of racism, sexism, and homophobia, and I therefore do not wish to represent the Sweden Democrats. It took a longer time than most for me to realize what a stale party it is, but as the old Swedish proverb says, "sent skall syndaren vakna" (the sinner awakes too late). I turn to those of you who sympathize with - and who are interested in - SD. I encourage you to think again. Even if SD brings up issues the other parties are cautious with, they do not have the solution. In the end, the immigration question is the only one SD cares about; considering what kind of party it is, there is a great risk that they are counterproductive on the issue.

If I were to summarize my choice of party in some way, I would express it as the right observations, but the wrong conclusion. I saw major problems with welfare; I saw major problems with the immigration policies being pursued; I saw major problems with criminality. I turned to SD, which sees the problems but (as I discovered) definitely does not have the solution. Again, the only thing their politics stem from is reducing immigration by asylum seekers and immediate family members; the rest of their politics is filled out with bottomless populism - something that is immediately dangerous to society, whose politics should be governed by opinions based on facts.

Footnotes:

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1 Current party leader and MP.^↩
2 Social-Democratic politician and Prime Minister of Sweden from 1932 to 1946. Hansson's "folkhem" policy consisted of a social corporatist welfare state, class collaboration, and a reformist agenda. Wikipedia ^↩
3 An incident from 2010 (publicized in 2012) in which three members of SD, including two MPs, race-baited Swedish comedian Soran Ismail, harassed passersby, and armed themselves with iron pipes from a nearby construction site when confronted. Wikipedia^↩
4 Former Party Secretary and parliamentary group leader of the Sweden Democrats; currently MP and second deputy speaker of the Riksdag.^↩
5 MP since 2014; Åkesson's former press secretary and chief of staff for the SD parliamentary group.^↩

Brief report back from the anti-"SD Pride" protest

The march yesterday by supporters of the far-right Sweden Democrat party under the guise of a Pride parade did not go unnoticed in the press both domestically and internationally. It was good that the ploy by these unashamed racists was exposed for what it actually was - an attempt to pit immigrants and the LGBT community against each other - but that level of attention was not matched on the ground by an equal level of organization in the areas where the march actually occurred.

This is not to say that nothing was done; there was a spirited demonstration of more than one hundred anti-racist, pro-LGBT activists at the spot where the march was supposed to have ended. The marchers themselves - numbering less than twenty - instead stopped a few hundred meters away. It is not clear whether they did so of their own volition or were stopped by the police accompanying them, but in an interview after the march, organizer Jan Sjunnesson was clearly unwilling to be confronted and called out on his thinly-disguised provocation by a group five times the size of his own.

The march started in my own neighborhood - Tensta, a suburb to the northwest of Stockholm that is heavily populated by immigrants from a number of countries and that also has a large Muslim presence. A fellow activist and I went to the location where the step-off was to occur, to see how things would start off. Though the group itself and the police presence attracted a great deal of attention from area residents, it quickly became clear from talking to several of them that very few were aware of who was actually organizing the march. With that low level of awareness, it fell to the handful of protesters to organize visible resistance, which - though it attracted a fair bit of media attention - actually accomplished very little. The march stepped off exactly at 12 without a hitch.

As noted earlier, there was a demonstration at the planned location for the end of the march: Husby, another northwestern suburb with a heavy immigrant population and Muslim presence. (The march, in fact, wound its way through several similar suburban areas.) It definitely had a greater effect - stopping the march a little earlier than planned - but my impression was that it failed to attract and retain a significant number of the actual residents of Husby, both for the demonstration itself and for the picnic and hangout afterwards.

I cannot speak for Husby or most of the other neighborhoods plagued by this farce on the part of the Sweden Democrats, but in Tensta there was absolutely nothing done in the week or two leading up to the march to raise residents' awareness of the event and to try to organize a more neighborhood-based resistance to it. Had that been done (even if it had been just something like putting up flyers) we might have been able to have a demonstration of equal size at the start of the march, possibly preventing them from stepping off at all. That would have been a far greater victory.

This, for me, is the key lesson to draw from yesterday's events - we experienced activists need to make sure we're reaching out to the working people in our own neighborhoods when our neighborhoods are forced to play host to racist provocations. If they're not aware, they can't join the fight; if they don't join the fight, we'll never have a hope of winning - whether it's stopping a handful of racists staging a parade, or building a world without racism in the first place.

Dirtying the mantle of Pride

The activist community in Stockholm has been roused to anger and action this week by an upcoming event - a two-hour Pride march through Tensta and Husby, two northwestern suburbs of the city. This is, however, no ordinary Pride march; it is being organized by one Jan Sjunesson, former editor of Samtiden - the paper of the right-wing racist Sweden Democrat party - and currently collaborator on the homophobic hate site Avpixlat.

Despite Sjunesson's claims that this is a defense of LGBT rights in neighborhoods where a Pride parade has never been held before, the timing and location of the event indicate this is intended to be a clear Islamophobic provocation. Tensta and Husby are two districts with a heavily immigrant and Muslim population, and the march is scheduled for next Wednesday, July 29th, at 12:00 noon. The only people who would be around to witness the event - and possibly confront it - are schoolchildren, high-school students, stay-at-home parents and the unemployed.

It's not hard to out Sjunesson as an unrepentant racist and Islamophobe; his Facebook page is littered with all kinds of hate-filled propaganda. Word about this march and who's behind it will certainly spread through Tensta and Husby like wildfire and people will turn out to protest - as well they should. But as noted, it is likely to be largely immigrants and Muslims who will be able to come out at that time; Sjunesson will no doubt use it as fuel for his arguments that Muslims are an intolerant bunch of homophobes who have no business coming to a peaceful country like Sweden that embraces diversity and living off its generous welfare benefits and refusing to integrate.

The rest of the Swedish far right has predictably rallied to Sjunesson's cause, expressing bewilderment that the main gay rights organization in Sweden, RFSU, has officially distanced itself from the event and decrying the left as hypocrites for organizing to protest the march when they supposedly stand for the defense of gay and lesbian rights. (They've also accused the organizers of the annual Stockholm Pride march of hogging all the glory for themselves, afraid to let others stage Pride marches when and where they wish.)

This event is a thoroughly disgusting mockery of everything the real fight for gay rights has ever stood for. Anyone and everyone who supports LGBT liberation should, if they are able, turn out to counterdemonstrate along the route of the march and attend the Pride picnic organized by genuine LGBT activists at the location where the march is planned to end.

There are surely residents of Tensta and Husby who are both gay and Muslim. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to call Sjunesson's bluff and organize an openly Muslim LGBT contingent to jump in at the front. Tensta and Husby are their districts; why should they not be represented?

I'll be taking the day off to protest. If such a contingent comes into being and gets into the march, I will most assuredly be with them.