September Issue

And how long have you lived in this country? I was asked by a Swede whom I had just met at a party in Stockholm a few years back. I was quite taken aback by the question, asking myself if it was my German-sounding surname or that I had acquired somewhat of an accent in my Swedish that prompted such a question. But the guy was just making conversation and considering that almost 15 percent of the population of Sweden has an immigrant background, there was a fair chance that I could also have my origins in another country.

With such a large immigrant population, it is no surprise that related issues are such a hot topic in Swedish media. Immigration is of course not a new phenomenon in Sweden. Through the centuries groups of immigrants from different parts of Europe have made their home in Sweden. What is new is the sheer volume of the influx of recent years as well as the very varied backgrounds of the recent immigrants, many of them coming from distant lands that most Swedes had not even heard of not too long ago.

At the time my great great grandfather came to Stockholm from Austria to start a brewery, immigrants were quickly assimilated. Today integration has become a real nemeses for Sweden, something that is very descriptively laid out in the (for Swedish Press rather expensive) in-depth article we bring you this month, that better than anything else we have seen describes the situation right now. It is well worth reading (and you find it at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/magazine/05muslims.html?ex=1296795600&en=722dbb00a718b0f9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)!

There is one thing that I disagree with in Christopher Caldwell’s Islam on the Outskirts of the Welfare State and that is his statement that “no one expects the Social Democrats to be chased from power any time soon.” This could well happen on September 17 and you can read about the run-up to the nail-biter election on page 9.

Even though I have lived away from Sweden for 24 years now, I will of course never regard myself as anything other than a full-blown Swede. It is a different matter here where, after all these years, I still feel like an immigrant, however well assimilated I am. I think I am like many Swedes I have encountered in North America who are well integrated in the society here but who still tightly hold on to their ancestry. I have even met many descendants of the first major emigration wave to North America a hundred years ago - when Sweden lost a full fifth of its population - who are still fiercely proud Swedes even though they do not speak a word of the language and have never set foot in the country.

Have a nice September

Anders