If there is a revolution coming to Sweden you would not want to be on the
wrong side of Josefin. Watched by open-mouthed sparring partners, she
thunders her fists against a punchball as if to say: “Some iron has entered
the Swedish soul.”
And so it has. Sweden, renowned for decades as the model of cosy womb-to-tomb
welfare socialism, has suddenly become a much rawer place.
The centre-right governing coalition of Fredrik Reinfeldt, which came to power
last autumn, is seen by David Cameron as a potential template for Tory
fortunes. Since the election they have seemed determined to roll back the
nanny state after many decades of Social Democratic feather-bedding.
On the agenda is abolition of wealth tax, cuts in income tax and a
privatisation programme that is already starting to excite foreign
investors.
But the most symbolic act so far has been lifting the 37-year ban on
professional boxing, outlawed by the Social Democrats as cruel and morally
dubious. “It was a political move, not a medical one,” says coach Peter
Bermsten, as Josefin rubs herself down. “It took a political decision to
bring us back to reason.”
We are talking in the Fox fight club in Malmö, its walls plastered with
yellowing posters from the days when Sweden was a world-class boxing nation.
One, from 1959, shows Ingemar Johansson set to thump the heavyweight Floyd
Patterson.
Sweden has some catching up to do. “Boxing did not fit into the Social
Democratic self-image of the Swedes in the 1960s,” says Åse Sandell, a
towering flaxen-haired middleweight, who has risen to the top of women’s
boxing only by moving to the United States.
Boxing is booming again and Sandell has become the idol of a new generation.
The smack of leather on leather, the grunt of young boxers who are no longer
confined to heavily regulated amateur bouts: this is the sound and the fury
of a cultural revolution in the making. Not the whiff of cordite, but of
embrocation and sweat.
Sweden’s social welfare model, so admired by Gordon Brown, was ripe for
overhaul. Indeed, so ripe that the Social Democrats grudgingly started their
own reforms, cutting down, for example, on Europe’s most generous sick-leave
arrangements, which were blamed for turning a healthy nation into a society
of work-dodgers.
But they ducked the key question: how much should the state steer the inner
life of the individual? This, after all, is a country that bans all
television advertising aimed at the under-12s, and where the Government
retains a monopoly on alcohol sales to stop people drinking too much.
As we stand with Anders Ljungberg, a local journalist, in Malmö’s immigrant
quarter, we see a group of Kurdish teenagers scuffling playfully at the bus
stop. A Volvo draws up and a white Swede leans out of the window; the kids
quieten down. “He was ticking them off,” Mr Ljungberg says. “He probably
told them that there were better ways of behaving.”
The greatest compliment you can pay a child in Sweden, says Åke Daun, a
sociologist, is to say that he is tyst och fin, quiet and well-behaved. The
Social Democrats came into power in 1932, have ruled for 65 of the past 74
years and ensured that Swedish adults, too, were tyst och fin. They paid the
highest taxes in Europe and in return got the biggest handouts. Parents pay
a maximum of £90 a month for childcare, receive up to 80 per cent of their
salary during their 390-day maternity leave, receive free university
education and access to free retirement homes.
But the sums, even with the current strong economic growth, do not add up.
Swedes are afraid of losing their privileges. But they are even more afraid
that they will slip down the prosperity league. In 1970 they had the
fourth-highest per capita income in the world. Now, as the sociologist Johan
Norberg says: “If Sweden was one of the states of America, it would be the
fifth poorest.”
“We have to make it easier to get work,” says Djordje Jovanovic, 72, a
former waiter who helped to vote the Social Democrats out of power. “I don’t
want us to lose our wealth. When I go to my place on the Costa del Sol I see
really poor Brits pocketing the bread that they get with their soup in cheap
restaurants. We shouldn’t stoop that low, and that means working harder
here, securing our future.”
At H&M, the Swedish fashion retailer, we meet Johana Hållin, a 28-year-old
teacher. “We have to make it more profitable to work than to be on social
welfare,” she says with passion, and she really does seem to be the voice of
young Sweden. Certainly she fits into our caricature of a Swede: blonde,
funny, she even teaches the Swedish language.
Yet Sweden is losing its blonde-ness. Some 23 per cent of the population of
Malmö, Sweden’s third city, were born abroad; if their children, born in
Sweden, are taken into account, over 35 per cent have foreign connections.
Somalis, Afghans, Turks, Iraqis and Palestinians are all wedged into the
state-sponsored estates in Malmö’s Rosengard district and almost all live on
welfare.
So here is the most explosive issue in Prime Minister Reinfeldt’s quiet
revolution: if he wants to cut social welfare handouts to force people to
work, what happens to the foreigners who cannot get jobs because they are
foreigners? They get poorer and, since they are being told constantly to
behave more like Swedes, they will start to become more demanding. No more tyst
och fin.
That is why Mr Reinfeldt has taken the unusual step of appointing Nyamko
Sabuni as Integration Minister. She is neither blonde nor blue-eyed: she is
originally from Burundi and is a Muslim. And rarely has a Swedish minister
openly uttered such tough sentiments.
She wants to ban the head-scarf for girls under the age of 15, make visits to
the gynaecologist compulsory for schoolgirls to ensure that they are not
forcibly circumcised, cut state funds for Muslim schools and stopped funding
for a Centre Against Racism. There is one central aim, she says: to get
migrants into jobs. “Language and work are the keys to integration,” says Ms
Sabuni. “The Social Democrats drove people into a dependency culture.” The
Swedish model was based on a homogenous society — not only white, but also
hard Protestant workers shy of public conflict and ever ready to work out
consensus. That was the starting point for Gunnar and Alvar Myrdal, the
spiritual founders of the welfare state in the 1930s. The assumption was
that if it did not work in Sweden, with its population of only nine million,
it would not work anywhere else.
It really does seem to be foundering. Sweden is a society full of hidden
tensions and unemployment, an intrusive state and citizens frustrated by
their lack of choice. It has been defeated not only by the arithmetic (of
how to support an expanding legion of welfare claimants and pensioners on
the basis of a shrinking workforce) but also by sharpening global
competition.
Travel on the 999 bus from Copenhagen to Malmö across the formidable Oeresund
bridge and the accompanying music is of clinking glass — bottles of booze
bought in cheaper Danish shops. State-controlled alcohol sales, in southern
Sweden at least, are sure to buckle.
In the 1970s toy shops were forbidden from selling warlike toys, even water
pistols: now everything is available over the internet and 10-year-olds in
Malmö can admire a plastic replica Nazi Tiger tank in a cheap unregulated
high street store.
The Social Democrats trumpeted the defeat of street prostitution after passing
a law that jails kerb-crawlers rather than women who sell their bodies. But
trade has simply moved from the red light district on Industry Street to the
laptop, with most assignations being made online.
The nanny state is on the retreat. The idea that a just society can be engineered
by an all-seeing bureaucracy has had its day.
The admiration for Sweden from the British Left and Right is thus slightly
puzzling. The interest of the Conservatives — David Cameron and George
Osborne are recent visitors — can be explained by the need to find an
example of how a long-lived Centre-left government can be toppled without
polarising society.
But the real change in Sweden is coming from the people themselves. They want
more freedom of choice and are willing to put with a few punches on the way.
Ask Josefin. But watch out for her left hook.
Going down
— Sweden’s average tax bill (incl local and municipal taxes) is 56 per cent
— In 1970 it was the world’s fourth-richest country (GDP per capita); in 2000
the fourteenth-richest
— Official unemployment rate is 5.7 per cent; Eurostat estimates it at 7.1 per
cent
— Since 1995 the number of self-employed people in the EU has risen 9 per
cent; in Sweden it has fallen by 9 per cent
— State spending has almost doubled from 31 per cent in 1960 to 60 per cent in
1980
— Between 1975 and 2000 per capita income rose in the USA by 72 per cent, in
Western Europe by 64 per cent and in Sweden by 45 per cent
— Average number of patients seen by a Swedish doctor daily has fallen from
nine in 1975 to five in 2006
Source: European Commission; Eurostat, OECD, Swedish Office of National
Statistics
Sweden is belatedly facing up to the realities of the modern world. Actually the world as it and always has been. The state does not owe you a job and certainly doesn’t create real jobs. The forthcoming French election will also see the inhibiting influence of government on job creation swept away. A new reality is sweeping old Europe.
Lithcol, London,
Another article full of prejudice and misconceptions about Sweden. First, Sweden has never been a socialist country. Industry and banking have always been overwhelmingly privately owned. The Swedish welfare system has always b een based on these two fundaments, Second, the welfare system is not more generous than other countries´. Third, Swedish culture has always been thoroughly western with very strong American ties ever since emmigration in the 19th century even though this is not always reflected in the foreign policy. Young Swedes (sadly) feel much more at home in the US then in Berlin or Paris. Fourth, Swedes are one of the most individualistic people you´ll ever find. They like the state to take care of a few things for them so that they can enjoy their freedom.
Sten, Lund, Sweden
UK is still the pits compared to Sweden. Everybody knows that, except for a couple of thousand Swedish bimbos that spend some years working in London before they wisen up and move home again.
As for Sweden being a failed example of socialism, think again. If the Swedish social democrats are socialists, then Tony Blair would be one too. Should we blame him for Britain being in a poor state since 1946 ?
What could Sweden ever hope to learn from Britain, how to breed chavs or how to increase the number of teen slags with prams, maybe some pointers on how to pollute our immediate enviroment would be in order.
Charlie, Berlin, Germany
Sweden is going to regret this. They had a socialist government who gave them ultra cheap 100mbit/s internet, first in the world with IPTV. Just watch the right wing government privitizing everything to foreign capitalists who don't care about the quality of the service but rather only think of how they will limit services and stop the technological evolution to sell limited services. It's gonna be the same for everything else this right wing government is going to privitize. And soon enough you'll have the poor demonstrating in the streets just like they do in France, when right wing ultra-liberals thinks it's peoples own responsabillity to find good jobs, when they know that system doesn't work without the social state.
Charbax, Mulhouse, France
As sweden led Europe into the dark ages of socialized everything, maybe they'll be the first to break the cycle. Socialism has been proven to be a failed ideology every single place it has ever been attempted and will always fail when people wake up and realize the truth.
praetorian55, detroit, Mi
It's true us Swedes have a nanny state regarding alcohol and drugs, but we are a lot more liberal regarding pornography than the UK and we don't put CCTV's everywhere. As for the swedish "experiment" failing, I would not agree. It's just being modified for more modern times. So even in future you can rely on Sweden being a relatively high tax - large handout kind of operation, while at the same time maintaining a high standard of living. I do rest assured that it will work out just fine, knowing that not a single Swedish politician will look to the UK for inspiration regarding how to run a country.
Harald, Stockholm, Sweden
The main reason for ousting the social democrats was not public outrage at botched privatizations (hardly any have occurred in the last few years), but the previous government being out of ideas as how to stop that legion of dependents from expanding and helping job creation.
The alternatives, even obvious ones like mildly reducing benefits or loosening the death grip of the state on employers and companies, were apparently politically impossible for the left. So out they went, even in an economy that grew strongly in 2006.
Tom, Stockholm, Sweden
Socialism is about care and empathy for all races of people, you cannot just want to take care of your own race like Sweden does. We will see the real socialists from the make believe socialists, after Sweden becomes a multi-cultural state.
Peter R, Wash DC,
Preserve the blue eyed Blonde.
James Rossouw, garrison , NY USA
I don’t recognise my country in this article. Why is it that Sweden always has to be used to prove a political point when foreign journalists write about the country. That is not the case with for example…Belgium. Mind your domestic politics by yourself and don’t mix Sweden in with it!
Tomas Rasmusson, Stockholm,
One thing the article forgets to mention is that one of the main reasons Göran Persson's Social Democrat Party was voted out was the Swedish people's discontent with the many, and clumsily carried out, privatisations and deregulations of public services such as electricity and water...
Lady Sara Rönneke, Norwich, UK
Swedish Socialism has came up against its own contradictions. Socialism on the micro scale can deliver the goods up to a point over a short period of time but ramp it up to the macro scale over longer periods and it fails miserably. Look around the planet and see which countries are the poorest and most oppressed?
The vast majority are those which have Socialism as their main ideology. The great Cuban experiment should act as a warning to anyone who harbours those idiotic ideas.
Someone once wrote the Capitalism creates winners and losers. That may be true but Socialism creates only losers.
Edward Witney, Glasgow, Scotland
It was a bit strange that the land of vikings had become such fairies. Good luck to the boxers and lets see the whole of Europe grow out of welfare dependence and start tackling the serious issues that the 21st century has in store for us all.
Christopher Hyde, Paris, France
Bye, bye - so long glad to see you go!
Time the Swedes stood up to their gov.
Way to go!
Justa Thought, Evansville, USA
The unreality of the Swedish experiment is becoming obvious even to its own citizens. Not before time. It has been an idol to social democrats and liberals here in New Zealand, for decades. However it has all been built on a simplistic and flawed understanding of human nature.
Kenneth Hutchison, Tauranga, New Zealand
This is no surprise. Once 51% of the population realizes they can vote themselves benifits and even a salary, with a yearly raise of course, the country's economic future is doomed. The 51% always grows, after all, who doesn't want something for nothing? Meanwhile, the minority that is funding all the largesse becomes less productive, and less numerous. Eventually, Atlas will shrug. That's why we should always remember...SOCIALISM ALWAYS FAILS.
drc, Dallas, Texas
To James Gough: Nowhere in Europe is "safe" from blow-ins. The Gough family blew in to Dublin from Wales some centuries ago. I see you're still there.
M McCarthy, Malmö, Sweden
This article conveniently forgot to mention that this right wing government lost its popular support just a few weeks after they took office when their true colours shone through. I very much doubt that Reinfeldt and his gang will do a full term. His right wing party claimed to be the "New Labour Party" but everything they do is for the benefit of the already rich. Swedes won't put up with that for very long.
Björk, Göteborg, Sweden
Sweden may lose its position as the poster child for every wrongheaded socialist idea. On the other hand, these changes might just save them from the certain destruction they face if they continue their journey down the suicidal socialist road to oblivion.
R LaBonte, Sacramento, CA USA
Sad to see Sweden loosing its identity judging by your report it will be like a Latin country in the near future with a poor standard of living. Is there any where safe in Europe for the indigenous people?
James Gough, Dublin 8, ireland
They could institute an "Entrepreneurial tax cut" where those who seek to go into private business get their taxes cut by 50% and get a 10 year exemption and access to low-interest rate government loans.
If making starting one's own business an attractive option with real money savings, why wouldn't people who were so inclined do it?
M.Paul, Springfield, USA
This is only "right-wing" reporting if you equate reality with "right-wing." Sweden can no longer afford its welfare state, because there are too few Swedish young people to support the rest. Importing large numbers of people with an alien culture and religion has lead to disaster in cities like Malmo. Look at the crime statistics. These are facts; not propaganda.
Isabella, California,
This discussion demonstates the fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals. Mark attempts to offer analysis based on reason and logic. Honesty and and Chris offer nothing but spleen. For liberals, truth is how they'd like reality to be. Ideas too painful to rationally process are converted directly into emotion. It is for this reason that I believe there is little hope for the human race.
John Wolfe, Palmer, USA/Alaska
It will be a sad day if Sweden follows the arc that Mark predicts, although there does seem to be a certain inevitability about it. Looking at the rise of the anti-immigrant right in other parts of Europe, not to mention the shift away from the generous pro-asylum stance by the general populace, I get the sense that Europe may be starting to regret its liberalism in this regard. In many ways it appears that the most welcoming societies were simply not prepared, culturally and logistically, for the effects of a massive influx of ethnically disparate peoples, who often arrive without the language and job skills necessary to contribute to society right off the bat. My feeling is that, unfortunately, there may be more truth to Mark’s prediction than we’d all like.
Keith, Corpus Christi, Texas
I agree with Honestly,
This article is anti immigrant (no more "tyst and fin" means no more quiet and nice -hence, they will be on the not quiet and nice attack soon), and definentely right wing propaganda.
Chris, Göteborg, Sweden
Having worked in Sweden, of and on, for the last fifteen years, I can verify this article as true. Sweden is where the UK was twenty-five years ago. The idea that massive immigration, has no effect on public service delivery to the indigenous populace, has been thoroughly discredited. . However, the cycle that Sweden is now bound to follow is inevitable. It's the same process that we went through in the UK. A demand for lower taxation, commensurate with diminishing and widespread abuse of public service provision. Followed by alienation and decent into poverty of immigrant communities used to surviving on welfare handouts. Riots and widespread criminality in these areas will undoubtedly follow. And it will be the Swedish people branded as Racists for allowing this situation to arise. Like the UK, Sweden will become a more selfish society, of lower taxation and indifferent public services. Is this the Utopia that the Socialist were hoping to build.
Mark, Göteborg, Sweden
Right-wing political propaganda, under the ferniss of honest, objective reporting ?
Honesty, Oslo,