After a very heavy month of January, with more than one building bombed per day, something that should never happen has occurred. The full extent of the catastrophe on February 4 is not yet clear, but at least 11 lives were lost after a heavily armed man broke into the Risbergska education center in Örebro. It is hard to imagine the terror and trauma that students and teachers experienced as the gunman wandered around for over one hour, in pursuit of victims. Some ran for their lives to nearby buildings, others huddled behind doors and under tables, trying to keep quiet. It is even harder to take in the grief of the families, friends, colleagues and teachers of the victims. We share their grief and send our deepest condolences.
Police have been hesitant to release much information about the perpetrator, who they believe acted alone. He is among the dead. He was a 35-year-old Swede with no income, and has been described by relatives as living a very lonely life. The police say that no “ideological” motives have emerged yet, i.e. they have not yet found any ideological movement that he was involved in or referred to. What we do know, however, is that the political climate in Sweden and the world has recently been characterized by escalating hatred and incitement by the right-wing. A society cannot be safe as long as high-profile politicians constantly cast suspicion on large parts of the population and exclude people through systematic racism and discrimination. Safety and security requires an extensive building of a welfare system that includes everyone and their needs.
At the same time, the police have stated that the motive for this crime, the worst mass shooting in Swedish history, is not yet clear. The police have previously overlooked racist motives as in the case of Peter Mangs (the racist serial shooter known as “Laser Man II” who terrorized Malmö in 2009–2010) or the Almedalen attack on Ing-Marie Wieselgren (national coordinator for psychiatric issues, murdered by a neo-Nazi) in 2022. It is alarming that the attacker targeted a school where Swedish language classes for immigrants are offered. In previous school attacks in Sweden, the common denominator has been far right radicalization. It is already clear that the horrific act in Örebro did not take place in a vacuum, but in an increasingly unequal and brutalized society that is being torn apart. New violent boundaries are being crossed, and hatred, racism, and toxic propaganda is fueled by the politics and blame game of the powerful elite.
Schools in Sweden are in a disastrous situation. With the “We are not enough” demonstration last fall, the Swedish Teachers Union responded to the conservative government’s budget proposal and declared that schools are facing the worst cuts in 30 years. In the spring of 2023, teachers in Örebro joined large demonstrations and explained that schools in their city had been forced to cut SEK 200 million (about $18 million USD) in the last six years. In this year’s round of collective bargaining, the Swedish Teacher’s Union is not only demanding higher wages, but also a reduction in teaching hours, as the workload is unsustainable. Teachers are being forced to work unlimited hours in some cases, due to the sheer amount of work that needs to be done outside of their scheduled work hours. On top of all the other problems that teachers have to deal with, now they are also expected to manage emergency situations and face danger to themselves and the lives of their students. Teachers, who are sounding alarms about the crisis in the school system, must be listened to immediately.
To address the crisis, the political parties that control SKR (Sweden’s municipalities and regions, the employers who bargain with the teachers) have only one thing left to do: approve the teachers’ contract demands and ensure that billions stolen from the schools through cuts are returned, in order to finance a massive upgrade of the school system instead of putting that money into military spending. Schools should be the hubs of society that build a sense of community and belonging.
A mass shooter has undoubtedly been left untreated for serious mental illness, although there may also be ideological motivations. The crisis in psychiatric and social services is possibly even more dire than the education crisis. The TV program Uppdrag Granskning — lämnade att dö (Mission: Investigate — Left to Die), horrifically illustrates how people are treated in a completely undignified manner. It was filmed in Stockholm, but psychiatry and social services throughout the country are suffering from lack of resources. Another alarming report from over-privatized Sweden describes rehabilitation centers and care homes infiltrated and operated by gangland criminals, which social services are forced to rely on because “corporate secrecy laws” prevent insight into which of the many companies are run by criminals. Social services, psychiatry, the care sector, youth centers and extracurricular programs need a bailout, on par with what the banks received during the pandemic: hundreds of billions.
The solidarity shown in Örebro in the past 24 hours by shop workers, pizza chefs, nurses, doctors, firefighters, teachers, youth center staff, and many more, is remarkable. That’s what society needs, working class people taking care of each other. An SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) education center should be a place for development, where different cultures can mix and strengthen each other. The perpetrator attacked this institution, which will spread fear, and hurt all of those throughout the country who are fighting against discrimination and racism every day. We must fight back against intimidation and stand up together against racism.
The Left Party and others in the opposition have recently called for “national unity” after 32 bomb attacks were carried out against the public in January. National unity with the blue-brown (conservative-far right) government would require the Moderates (Conservatives), Liberals, Christian Democrats and the racist Sweden Democrats to totally abandon the policies they stand for, to renounce cuts and privatization, end their racism and class oppression. Since this will not happen, such an alliance would instead become a cover for the right’s continued “hard-line” and exclusionary society that the left would be forced to tone down their criticism of.
Socialist Alternative believes that the unity needed now is one for welfare, against economic inequality, racism and violence. We need to come together in massive protests and strikes, and use our collective strength from below as workers to push for the investments that the welfare system deserves to build a safe, equal, and inclusive society for all.
