All parties are now talking about gang crime and integration problems in the Swedish suburbs. It could have started earlier.
Purpose was good, the end result is not.
For years, Sweden looked aside as problems in the country’s metropolitan suburbs grew.
People who lived and worked in the suburbs knew and told about the problems. But there was not enough attention to them. The Megaphones of those in power announced other things.
It was too difficult to talk about the problems of the suburbs, especially for those who did not live in the suburbs. The speech was left to the Swedish Democrats. However, the political isolation of the party did not solve the problems of the suburbs, but increased the popularity of the Swedish Democrats.
Now all parties are talking about gang crime in the suburbs and the problems of integration. It could have started earlier.
I met in the summer, two writers, both dealing with Swedish gang crime in their works: Jens Lapidus fiction, Johanna Bäckström-Lerneby fact through.
Both said Sweden has not dared to face the problems of gang crime and integration in the suburbs. Attempts have been made to solve the problems, of course, but a genuine public debate on their causes should have started more than a decade earlier, Lapidus said.
“Now there is so much violence and shootings that it is no longer possible to pretend that there are no problems,” he summed up.
Swedish the purpose was good. Not wanted to stamp, point with a finger. There was a desire to protect people living in the suburbs, most of whom are not involved in crime. Stamping the suburbs would also stamp the innocent.
But who did official Sweden eventually protect? Stigmatizing immigrants in the suburbs or self-pitying thoughts and difficult decisions?
The problems of the suburbs are a reality for those living there, innocent but also for criminals, many of whom would like to leave criminal life. For the affluent middle class, suburban problems are headlines and entertainment on Netflix.
Last during the week, a major debate on crime began again in Sweden. A report presented by the country’s crime prevention council said foreigners with a foreign background are significantly overrepresented in criminal suspicions.
“Foreign-born people are more likely to be suspected of a crime,” Dagens Nyheter stood on the front page.
There is no silence in Sweden anymore, and that is a good thing. Especially for those who live in problem suburbs. Swedish crime statistics could be made a different kind of front page.
Such: Those born abroad are more likely to be victims of crime.
The author is HS’s Stockholm correspondent.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/columns-sweden-had-a-good-intention-but-the-problems-did-not-disappear-with-silence/
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