Description

There is an ongoing discussion, primarily within the anarchist/autonomist movement, but also in the public debate, regarding the movement’s decline and de-radicalisation in Sweden. In the summer of 2019, an article was published in the culture section of Aftonbladet, “From stone-throwing to refugee aid”, written by Petter Larsson, about how the autonomous left has been rendered passive, pacified and deradicalised. Larsson bases his argument on an academic study conducted by political scientist Jan Jämte and sociologist Magnus Wennerhag, which shows a quantitative decline in what they call “protest events” (demonstrations, leafleting, sabotage, etc.). Larsson goes so far as to place direct action and politically motivated violence in opposition to solidarity work, thereby drawing a fictitious line between otherwise self-evident and complementary methods that autonomous and anarchist movements have employed for decades. This text does not constitute a response to either the study or the article. However, we do see a connection between this kind of fatalistic portrayal of the anti-fascist movement, its content and its methods, in Sweden today.