<3 Stockholm <3

I guess you all have heard about what happened in Stockholm Friday afternoon. Stockholm is my town, where I was born and raised. We still live in the center of town but luckily not that close to where the madman charged the streets. So sad hearing about the victims & their loved ones. But Stockholm came together in a sort of unity. It was a mess but still people helped each other out which was lovely to watch and be part of.

The clip above is Let there be light by Senay Berhe / Stocktown.
Empty Stockholm streets in beautiful summer night/morning light – when Stockholm is showing off.

This past two days I’ve started to write so many different things about all this but mostly I ended up in discussions with extreme right persons on the internet via Facebook. It has made me so friggin angry.
How somehow a deed from a terrorist get mixed up with the refugees seeking help in our country. As if different groups & religions somehow would be a threat just because they don’t originally comes from Sweden. But who really does? I am so tired of all these right wing, narrow minded populistic ideas. But also way to upset to really form a good text right here. So below are some useful links and ideas from other minds that I think is worth reading. (Some in Swedish some in English)

Yuval Noah Harari: the theatre of terror  in The Guardian
Harari is the author of Sapiens and the new book Homo Deus. And in this piece he somehow breaks down what the terrorist do to our feelings and how we react. (also dont miss this podcast Big Think when Harari is a guest – very interesting!

“During the modern era, centralised states have gradually reduced the level of political violence within their territories, and in the last few decades western countries have managed to achieve almost zero political violence. Their citizens can struggle for control of towns, corporations, organisations and even of the government itself without any need of brute force. Command of hundreds of billions of euros, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and hundreds of ships, aeroplanes and nuclear missiles passes from one group of politicians to another without a single shot being fired. People have quickly got used to this, and consider it their natural right. Consequently, even sporadic acts of political violence that kill a few dozen people are seen as a deadly threat to the legitimacy and even survival of the state. A small coin in a big empty jar can make a lot of noise.

This is what makes the theatre of terrorism so successful. The state has created a huge space empty of political violence. This huge space acts as a sounding board, amplifying the impact of any armed attack, however small. The less political violence in a particular state, the greater the public shock at an act of terrorism. Killing 17 people in Paris draws far more attention than killing hundreds in Nigeria or Iraq. Paradoxically, then, the very success of modern states in preventing political violence make them particularly vulnerable to terrorism. An act of terror that would have gone unnoticed in a medieval kingdom can rattle much stronger modern states to their very core.”
Full article here.

Johan Hakelius in Expressen
En styrka som fanatiker aldrig kommer fatta

“Det är det här terroristerna aldrig fattar. De tror att öppenhet och frihet är detsamma som svaghet. Det faktum att vi är en aning lösa i köttet vad gäller disciplin och samordning, tolkar de som att vi är på fallrepet. Det precis vad alla humorlösa, fanatiska renhetsivrare alltid trott. De fattar inte att det är precis tvärtom. Att det är just det att vi inte alltid går i takt och inte har ett enda mål, som gör att vi överlever det mesta.

Det handlar om att finmaskiga nät av tillit, initiativ och makt är mycket svåra att riva upp. Och om att allt som är toppstyrt, likriktat och auktoritärt, alltid vilar på lerfötter.

Terrorism är ingen nyhet för Västeuropa. Under sjuttiotalet fanns flera år då över 400 människor dödades i terrordåd i Västeuropa. Ett normalt år på sjuttiotalet mördades kring 300 personer av terrorister. På åttiotalet hade antalet terroroffer i Västeuropa sjunkit till någonstans strax under 200 per år. Det var först kring millennieskiftet som dödsfall i terrordåd blev enstaka undantag Västeuropa. Dåd som de i Madrid 2004 och på Utøya 2011 var verkliga avvikelser.

Om man ska dra någon slutsats av det här, så är det att terrorism inte fungerar. De stater och samhällen som terroristerna angripit genom alla år finns inte bara kvar, de har utvecklats och är rikare ekonomiskt, kulturellt och socialt. De terrororganisationer som trodde att de kunde kasta Västvärlden över ända, har splittrats eller tynat bort. Nya har kommit, men gått samma öde till mötes.”
Läs hela krönikan här

DN: Så utnyttjas attacken i Stockholm för att sprida propaganda i sociala medier.
Manipulerade bilder och texter som vilseleder. Läs hela DNs text här

Var kritiska till det ni ser. Rasister manipulerar bilder från gårdagen och klistrar in bilder på obrydda muslimer. Köp inte deras narrativ. pic.twitter.com/5Op7j70Aat

— acke (@sauronlol) April 8, 2017

I have to think a bit more about all this. I’ll be back.
Peace & Love to you all!

Kisses
Isabelle

Ps, Keep calm & recycle