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The Old Country Newsletter – Mountain Trolls, Starvation & Weave Baskets
Your Weekly Newsletter from Sweden
Philip Gustavsson
May 17, 2024
Good morning!
It’s Friday, May 17th. In just a few hours, we’ll be clocking out for the weekend. As Sweden finds itself six hours ahead of the U.S. east coast, the weekend will welcome us a little sooner. But you can comfort yourselves knowing that the coming Monday is at least six hours further away for you.
In today’s newsletter, you’ll read about how the protest against universities with ties to Israel have spread to Swedish universities’ campuses; a big controversy between the parties that together make up the Swedish government; and a new law that would mean a significant change to the Swedish legal system. At the end of the newsletter, you’ll also find a reader-submitted story from the past, which is well worth a read.
I hope you enjoy the newsletter. Have a wonderful weekend!
Philip
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Take care of your life! Take care of it! Don't waste it! Because now is your time on earth!
My personal favorite book-series of all time is The Emigrants, by the Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg. Through the four books in the series, we get to follow the triumphs and tribulations of early Swedish immigrants in America. In the first book, "The Emigrants," we meet Karl Oskar, Kristina Nilsson, their three children, and eleven others who set out from Småland in 1850, seeking a better life away from poverty, religious persecution, and social injustice.
By clicking here, you can learn more about the books and order a copy for yourself. Beyond getting your hands on an incredible book, it is also a great way to show support for this newsletter, as a few cents of each sale will help support our work.
Statistics you didn’t ask for
In a recent newsletter, we concluded that approximately 179 000 Swedes live in America. But how many Americans (that do not have a Swedish citizenship) live in Sweden?
That’s much fewer than the other way around. However, there are many more Americans in the U.S. than Swedes in Sweden. Divided by the whole population, 0,05 % of the U.S population is Swedish. And 0,09 % of the Swedish population is American. In other words, there are relatively more Americans on Swedish soil than the other way around.
Student Campus Protests Reach Sweden
The wave of student protests against university collaborations with Israeli institutions has reached Sweden, but in stark contrast to some of the more violent demonstrations in the U.S., these protests have, at least so far, remained peaceful.
In Lund, one of Sweden's largest student cities, students have set up tents in the iconic Lundagård to show their support for Palestine. The tent camp, now known as "Palestinagård" thanks to painted signs, is a hub of solidarity where private citizens distribute food, music fills the air, and only one police officer is present.
“This is an unauthorized demonstration without formal organizers. It’s a collective effort, and they’ve been very peaceful—flying kites, sharing food, staying calm,” says dialogue officer Magnus Björn-Bentzen, the sole police presence.
So far, the police have no plans to intervene as long as the demonstrations remain peaceful, according to Björn-Bentzen. Efforts by SVT Nyheter Skåne to get a comment from the university leadership have been redirected to Rector Erik Renström’s blog.
Many of the protesters in Lundagård also participated in demonstrations during Eurovision. “I recognize many faces and have shaken hands with several,” says Björn-Bentzen, who admits he’s worn out after several days of work during Eurovision in Malmö.
None of the demonstrators wish to speak with the media, stating that no single person can represent the voice of all.
In other news
Several government officials are reacting to TV4's "Kalla fakta" program revealing anonymous "troll accounts" linked to the Sweden Democrats (SD). Defense Minister Pål Jonson called the findings "serious," while Liberal leader Johan Pehrson labeled them "unacceptable" and demanded that SD halt the activity, with Center Party leader Muharrem Demirok urging Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to take action.
In February, a massive fire broke out at the Oceana water park, part of Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg, resulting in one fatality. A police report to the Swedish Work Environment Authority confirmed that the fire started during welding on the water slide, quickly spreading and causing significant damage; an explosion occurred during the incident as employees attempted to evacuate people from the area.
Sweden's KPIF inflation rate, which excludes mortgage rates, slightly increased to 2.3% in April, below the expected 2.4%, from 2.2% in March, still aligning closely with the Riksbank's 2.0% target. Meanwhile, overall inflation measured by KPI dropped unexpectedly to 3.9% in April from 4.1% in March, and food prices remained stable, marking the smallest month-to-month change since 2017.
Would you like to feel closer to Sweden? A perfect way to do that would be to have a look at Swedish broadcasts, either current or past. SVT Play is an online streaming service provided by Sveriges Television (SVT), the Swedish national public television broadcaster.
To watch it, one has to be in Sweden – or have access to a VPN provider that can connect to a remote server located in Sweden, like NordVPN, which sponsors this segment of the newsletter.
By using NordVPN, you can access what SVT Play has to offer – including current news, documentaries about emigrants, live broadcasts from nature events, and much more – by simply connecting to a server in Sweden. Follow the link here to get 74 % off for your first two years and three months (!) of usage. By doing so, you also help support the distribution of this newsletter.
Tidö Agreement Leads to Proposal for Anonymous Witnesses
A joint proposal by the political parties in the Tidö Agreement to allow anonymous witnesses, a controversial change in the Swedish legal system, aimed at combating organized crime, is moving forward.
The Tidö Agreement is a written agreement between the Swedish political parties Kristdemokraterna, Liberalerna, Moderaterna, and Sverigedemokraterna. Named after Tidö Castle, where negotiations leading to the agreement were held, the Tidö Agreement formed the basis for appointing the current government, with Moderate Ulf Kristersson as Prime Minister and coalition builder after the 2022 parliamentary elections. The agreement outlines collaborations across various areas where the four parties have committed to working together, one of them being on the question of allowing anonymous witnesses.
The government and the Sweden Democrats are advancing with a proposal to allow anonymous witnesses, according to representatives of the four parties in a guest article, an opinion piece, in Göteborgs-Posten. They argue that organized crime poses a systemic threat and that a damaging culture of silence risks leaving many crimes unresolved.
The proposal suggests allowing anonymous testimony both in investigations and in court if there's a significant risk of violence against the witness or a relative, with crimes carrying a minimum two-year prison sentence. While the proposal has faced criticism for potentially undermining witness credibility and thus jeopardizing legal certainty, the fact that the parties are moving forward with it means it will be submitted to the Legislative Council for review.
Word of the week
LAGAR [LAH-gahr]
Weave Baskets and the Story of a “Hembygd”
This week’s story from the past comes from Hannes Persson, a native of the small village of Hedared in the south-western parts of Sweden. He describes how history is always present in his hometown, and how the fates of those who came before gives meaning to the present.
Thank you for your submission, Hannes.
My ancestors have always felt present; my family and I, in the small village of Hedared in Västra Götaland, farm the same fields and walk the same paths as our long-deceased relatives. Above all, it's the stories that keep the memory of these people alive.
There are tales of my great-great-grandfather Johannes, who had a record number of friends and foes, stories of when my ancestor, on the night before Christmas Eve, stole a drinking horn from an old mountain troll in the Högaberget (the High Mountain) and was chased to the church gate. There are stories of hunting moose, wolves, and witches.
Yet, there are also tales of starvation. When the well-known Swedish explorer Carl Linnaeus traveled through my village in 1746, he wrote, "Westgothian mountains I must call the land that lies between Borås and Alingsås. There is little beyond rocky terrain, soaring peaks, winding valleys, infertile soil, and steep slopes.” The people of Hedared have had to adapt their way of life to their surroundings. In a landscape similar to the Appalachian Mountains they were more at the mercy of their environment than anywhere else. By day, they farmed their land in the best possible way, and by night, they wove baskets to make ends meet.
Attribution: Hannes Persson
To transport their goods across the mountains, the cargo had to be light, and small baskets became the specialty of the people of Hedared. August Pehrsson was born in 1845 and is my great-great-grandfather; his profession is engraved on his tombstone as Korgmakare "Basket Maker". During the summer, he gathered wood; in the autumn he prepared materials; in the winter he wove the baskets; and during the spring, he finally climbed the mountains to sell them in villages far on the other side. The profit was minimal, and the margin between life and death was very slim. August and his wife lived to be 50 years old.
Attribution: Hannes Persson
August's children could have faced the same fate, but when the baskets were sold on the other side of the mountain, they didn't just bring home a few coins but also stories of the new country. My great-granduncle Werner Eden Peterson, born in 1895, and many other relatives made a final journey over Högaberget in Hedared, leaving baskets and starvation behind. Werner and his wife Ida made their way to Saint Paul, Illinois, where they laid the foundation for a better life and lived to be 90 years old.
Attribution: Hannes Persson
The people who once wove the baskets to make ends meet, their pain and troubles, their joy and hope, are long gone. But the Swedish cultural heritage that once fed their children has not yet vanished. Today, there remains one man in Hedared who possesses the skill of weaving the Hedared basket. This basket, which through blood, sweat, and tears, provided the means for my relatives and many other Swedish Americans to start a life in the new country. While they may rest in peace, the knowledge that paved the way for our existence cannot fade away with them.
— Hannes Persson