On the 12th October it has been ten years since the Syndicalist Björn
Söderberg was attacked in his home and killed by Nazis in a suburb of
Stockholm. The context in which the murder took place, was that Björn acted openly and consequently against racism and Nazism at his workplace.
One of the Nazis who participated in the killing of Björn Söderberg was
Hampus Hellekant, notorious in surveying leftist activists, journalists
and others that he perceived as his opponents. Since his release from
prison he has changed his name and, according to himself also his
politics. But, as the Research Group reveals in this weeks’ issue of
Arbetaren ("The Worker"), he has never stopped his activities, he has never stopped his monitoring.
The results of which, as we’ve seen, can be severe.
Last December a Syndicalist couple and their two year old daughter were the victims of a Nazi arson in a suburb of Stockholm. The family escaped the flames by climbing down the balcony to the floor underneath. Some months earlier Hampus Hellekant had published pictures and addresses of the couple on a Nazi web page, displaying them as antifascists.
We are experiencing an increasing level of Nazi violence very similar to
the situation of the nineties. The social setting of today, with a
financial crisis, increased marginalization and bigger divides between
classes and a growing sense of insecurity among people is also very
similar to then.
But the challenge we as antifascist activists face, lies in finding
effective means of resistance.
Read on and please spread and repost the article.
http://anarkisterna.com/blog/2009/10/11/ten-years-later-remember-bjorn-soderberg/
- We are always many more than the fascists are ever going to be!
- We are stronger than they will ever be!
- We will never forget Björn Söderberg!
In Solidarity,
the Embryo collective
[email protected]
admin - moved to forums as not formatted as a news article
From Facebook..... Mikael
From Facebook..... Mikael Kopimi Altemark
16 mins
On this day in 1999, nazis shot and killed our friend, warehouse worker Björn Söderberg, outside his home in Stockholm. The murder was carried out in order to retaliate for him having exposed a member of the board of the local reformist union club as a fascist infiltrator.
Björn was well-known for his matter-of-fact style - not a leader or a hero, but a person with feet firmly planted in the ground, a huge passion love for rugby, and working class-eyes looking to the future.
Aside from the rugby, he was a dedicated member of the Stockholm local federation of the Swedish revolutionary syndicalist union, and very active in the campaign to boycott Nestlé for their role in the baby milk scandal which still goes on to this day.
Soon after the murder, Sweden saw the largest anti-fascist manifestation in modern times, and the otherworldness and emptiness felt when I heard about the shots gave way for a few moments during the minutes of silence held in every larger town and square in Sweden. The sound of 40,000 people committing themselves to continue in the footsteps of Björn, to take up and carry on his ethos of civil courage. To act against injustices in our everyday life and confront the fascist monster even when we know that it is dangerous.
Since then, October 12th is the Day of Civil Courage in Sweden, the day when we remember Björn and all other victims of the madness of hate and drive for power, the day when the Björn Söderberg Prize for Civil Courage is handed out to worker militants who have fought and often won the battles everyone of us should take on, together.
I would be very happy if you and your organization could post a comment to the Facebook page of the local federation Björn was a member of - Stockholms LS Av Sac ( or write to [email protected]), to show that he did not die in vain - and that, in fact, the struggle against fascism will always be international.
Here is a link with some further background in English: https://libcom.org/library/sac-activist-murdered-fascists
No Pasaran! De ska inte passera!