Page 8
Culture
Street Roots • July 27-Aug. 2, 2018
Street Roots • July 27-Aug. 2, 2018
Culture
Page 9
Iranian-born M in a Dennert was adopted as a 1-year-old and grew up in Sweden. H aving never considered herself
as being different, her world was turned upside down when she was attacked by Neo-Nazis when she was 14. Now,
as the founder o f the djagarhdr (tfiamhere) organization, she is leading a movement that is challenging racial
hatred and gaining in popularity all over Europe.
fighting
a world
of hate
In 1989, she was 14. It is at this time that she
became closely acquainted with the effects of
radicalization on her group of friends: suddenly she
found herself in a situation where her very existence
is questioned. “I have a very clear memory of the
first time I heard of ‘Keep Sweden Swedish,’” she
says. “It was the last Saturday of the summer
holidays. A guy walked past, looked at me and just
said it out loud. My whole world crashed down
around me. I just didn’t understand. Wasn’t I
Swedish? I’m as Swedish as they come!”
Dennert was a girl who loved black pudding, áte
jam on everything, who knew the official flowers of
all the Swedish provinces, was a nerd about her
country’s history and who wanted to preserve its
traditions. “If I wasn’t Swedish, what was I?”
Everything changed that summer.
“The guys who used to hang out by the youth
center with their mopeds suddenly became neo-
Nazis,” Dennert said. “And everyone went along
with them.” Her boyfriend dumped her and denied
that they’d ever been together. A love letter that she
wrote to him was photocopied and spread all over
the school - covered in swastikas and neo-Nazi
propaganda.
“I just wanted to run home and hide,” Dennert
says. “Iw as sitting there at the bus stop one day
Iranian-born M ina Dennert is
leading a movement that
challenges racial hatred in her
home country, with a message
fo r the entire world
w ith a f r ie n d w h e n a m a n c a m e u p w ith h is g a n g . I t
f e lt lik e th e r e w e r e s e v e ra l h u n d r e d 1 m e n , b u t we
BY SARAH BRITZ
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
he woke up with her hair cut off and her body
covered in Nazi symbols. She was 14 years old.
In the white, rich and apparently peaceful area
of Kullavik, south of Gothenburg, Sweden, Mina
Dennert had become a girl who posed a threat to the
white race.
“Not being Swedish had never even occurred to
me,” Dennert admited, 26 years later, as she
reflected on how you go about taking back control of
your own life after such a devastating event The
social climate back then and its consequences, which
resulted in the humiliation and rejection of that
particular teenage girl in the suburb of Kullavik,
meant that D ennert almost ceased to exist.
Today, at least, there’s an answer. Dennert is the
founder of #jagarhar, the Swedish movement known
in the UK as #iamhere. The aim of the #jagarhar
movement is for nobody to be exposed to hate
speech or threats, and for nobody to have to face
hatred alone.
All of this seems immediately relevant in light of
President Donald Trump’s disparaging statem ent on
European immigration, likening immigrants to
terrorists and calling it “very negative” to historically
white European countries.
But let’s take another look where it all started,
back in the early 1990s. There was a recession both
in Sweden and throughout the Balkans. Sweden
accepts 84,000 refugees. Over a 12-month period,
117 refugee camps are attacked. In 1991, an election
year, a new political trend is on the rise. An anti
immigrant group, composed of young, uneducated
men, which argues in favor of reduced immigration,
grew in size. As it did so, it brought together an
increasing number of younger people - the section
of the electorate that has traditionally had a more
open-minded attitude. During this time, Sweden’s
S
P H O T O B Y M A R IO P R H A T O C H A O R T A
population as a whole became more negative in its
attitude toward immigrants. Opinions continue to
shift, despite the fact that fewer refugees were
arriving and fewer permanent residence permits
were being granted.
Ian Wachtmeister and B ert Karlsson travelled
around the country, stacking beer crates on top of
each other to symbolize what they claimed
immigration is costing society. This attitude affected
practically all of the parliamentary parties, whose
policies become more restrictive, and the political
rhetoric changed from being welcoming to discussing
the ways in which refugees and immigrants are a
burden on Swedish society. The New Democracy
party entered Parliament
During the same period, a network named White
Aryan Resistance embarked upon a violent hate
campaign against immigrants, Jews and
homosexuals, by making threats and carrying out
acts of violence accompanied by white power music.
They had no ambitions for parliamentary influence.
Their sympathizers - right-wing extremist skinheads
in bomber jackets and boots - were visible on
Sweden’s streets.
The Keep Sweden Swedish, or BSS party
dissolves in the late 1980s. In 1988, the Swedish
Democrat party is created, and its members include
former members of BSS. The party retains the BBS
slogan “Keep Sweden Swedish” until the late 1990s.
The party seeks parliamentary influence and wins
its first mandates in municipal councils in 1991.
In the meantime, Mina Dennert was growing up
in the white and relatively affluent suburb of
Kullavik, south of Gothenburg. She is an adopted
child, bom in Iran and brought to Sweden as a
1-year-old.
just stayed there. We had nowhere to go, and so me
and my friend decided to go over to Billdal, the next
suburb over.” Dennert said laughing, “Go over to
Billdal! That’s where the people who were against
the neo-Nazis lived. They met up at the bus station
and fought each other on the weekends.”
Dennert laughs often, even when she is telling
the worst parts of her story. “It’s only now, looking
back, that I see all the stuff I put up with, how bad it
was and how significant it’s been in my life," she
said. “One of my best friends was black, too. It was
pretty much just him and me. And he couldn’t cope.
He died a few years back, after many years of drug
abuse. Even though he did it to himself, it was the
racial hatred that drove him to i t ”
In the 1990s, a string of violent crimes and
murders were committed that had neo-Nazi and
extreme right-wing overtones. Eleven people were
shot in Stockholm between 1991 and 1992 and the
victims had what was described as being a “non-
Swedish appearance.” The most extensive police
investigation in Sweden since the murder of Olof
Palme, the Swedish Prime Minister assassinated in
Stockholm in 1986. After some time, the man
known as “The Laser Man” was caught and
sentenced to life for one murder, 10 attempted
murders and nine bank robberies.
Within a few years, West Sweden was shaken by
two additional murders, of which neo-Nazis are
found guilty: John Hron was tortured to death in
Kode and sculptor Per Skogsberg was beaten to
death in Gothenburg. John, a 14-year-old, was killed
because he refused to praise Nazism and Per was
murdered because of his sexual orientation.
In just one year, #jagarhar has gone from being a
small group on the Internet to being a well-
established association that holds talks, workshops,
forms opinions and is involved in dialogue with the
government, the mainstream media and social
media giants alike. Dennert is currently the only
employee. The association has received praise and
financial support and has been mentioned as a good
example in the Swedish Government’s action plan,
“In defense of free speech,” which presents
measures to combat threats and hatred directed at
journalists, elected representatives and artists.
#jagarhar will be launching its forthcoming book,
“Courage” (“Mod”) at the Gothenburg Book Fair.
Almost 76,000 people are members of the
organization’s Swedish Facebook group. The
movement is also spreading beyond Sweden’s
boundaries: The German group has nearly 40,000.
Its members take action online in threads where
hate, fake news and racism thrive. They do this not
by entering into the
controversy, but by standing
up for reasoned dialogue or
simply by demonstrating their
presence.
"There's a power In daring to
“I’ve always felt ‘ratified,’”
speak
out. You become stron
Dennert says. “What does that
mean? Different people have
ger when yon see that yon
different interpretations, but
aren't alone. Being the victim
for me it means being subject
of hate means that you're filled
to, or in the danger zone for
with shame. It's embarrassing
experiencing, racism - either
to be different; to be a victim.
physically or mentally.” The
They say, 'You're stupid, you're
#jagarhar movement started
o n M ay 16, 2 0 16, w h e n
disgusting', and then it's all
Dennert saw that a Facebook
about you, and not about the
friend was sharing racist
fact that they're neo-Nazis, for
material. She followed the
example."
thread and found herself on
M IM A OENNERT
F O U N D E R O F # J A G A R H A R , TH E S W E D IS H
racist and anti-immigrant
M OVEM ENT
pages. She started to ask
K N O W N IN T H E U K A S # IA M H E R E
questions in the comments in
response to what was being
posted, asking “Is this likely?”
and “Is it true?”
“It wasn’t Internet hate, but
it was clear that they had a
world view based on one insane claim after
another,” she says. It was then that she had an idea:
to do a kind of patrol online. “A bit like a kind of
Neighborhood Watch,” Dennert says. “I asked a few
friends what they thought of the idea. The strategy
is simple. We tag things so that it’s easy to find each
other and we like each other’s comments, so that
what we say gets placed at the top of the thread. We
show that we’re there, so that other people feel able
to speak out.”
We start talking about why #jagarhar is important.
“There’s a power in daring to speak out,” Dennert
says. “You become stronger when you see that you
aren’t alone. Being the victim of hate means that
you’re filled with shame. It’s embarrassing to be
different; to be a victim. They say, ‘You’re stupid,
you’re disgusting’, and then it’s all about you, and
not about the fact that they’re neo-Nazis, for
example.”
Dennert has no need to discuss things with right-
wing extremists but said that it’s important that it’s
not only victims who are expected to protest and try
to change things: it’s the responsibility of the whole
majority of society. “We should make room for those
who aren’t allowed a voice,” she said, with an
intense look on h er face.
She laughed again and twisted her hair into a
knot on the top of her head. After a little while, the
knot unraveled itself and her hair fell down again.
See DENNERT, page 12