Basic HTML Version
SWEDEN
At
the
Crossroads
1
THIS
interview with Per
Unckel, Member of the
Swedish Parliament , we
u pdate o u r reader s on
soc ial and political problems
facing northern Europe, and
Sweden in particular.
Some Scandinavian countries
have a reputation for having a high
suicide rate. Why is the suicide
rate so high in such well-to-do
count ries as Sweden , Denmark
and Finland? And why do so many
young people commit suicide?
A part of the explanation is the
kind of social situation our time of
welfare society has come into–
people having fairly good living
standards from a material point of
view but with difficulties with
their human or social relations.
A
lot of people in our kind of coun–
tries are awfully lonesome, which
contributes to the suicide rate and
causes misuse of drugs and alco–
hol.
Quite a few very young people
are committing suicide--even chil–
dren- which underlines that there
is something wrong with our social
relations. When it comes to small
kids thinking about these things,
it's necessary to point out that the
family situation could be much bet–
ter than it is in this country from a
strict ly social and humanitarian
point of view.
During the '60s and ' 70s, Swe–
den legalizad the sale of " hard"
pornographic literatura. Now in the
'80s various Western newspapers
show that some Swedish psycholo–
gists regret the legalizing of the
sale of sex-o riented literatura.
Would you comment?
22
The '60s tendency was in my
opinion too strong because it dam–
aged the kind of values that a
country needs in order to be able
to stand all kinds of difficulties. It
broke clown the former values that
people of this country had in com–
mon. H owever, one of the most
basic rights in a free and open
society is the right to publish
wbatever you want. 1 am from
that point of view always very anx–
ious to defend also things that
people dislike. I f you hesitate in
defending even things you disagree
with, you might end up with the
state or somebody else forbidding
things that are truly precious in
society.
Many Scandinavian countries
have a solid reputation for setting
the pace in t e rms of social
advancement. You've wanted to
bring prosperity to your c itizens in
every co rner of the land, and
you've tried very hard t o make it
easier in Sweden for people who
are underprivileged . Are you basi·
cally satisfied with the results of
your social program? What about
the monetary cost? ls it a greater
burden than the government had
anticipated?
This country has made one basic
mistake in building welfare. Let me
explain it in terms of the difference
between a welfare society and a
welfare state. I n my definition
Sweden is a welfare state, and that
is our problem, because welfare,
when it comes to material goods
and social relations, comes from, to
a large extent, by and through the
State. That means that when we are
entering into a period with econom–
ic difficulties, this kind of welfare
state is vulnerable. When we run
out of money we run out of all the
things that a welfare state is sup–
posed to provide.
On the other hand Sweden
should have, instead, tried to build
a welfarc society where all the dif–
ferent kinds of goods that come
from the State are just one part of
it. We wouldn't have been as vul–
nerable today as we are, and we
probably wouldn't have run into
the kind of social relations problem
that we discussed before.
Sweden has to change its collec–
tive course- the welfare state
course that we have followed so
long.
Unlike Norway, Finland and Den–
mark, Sweden managed t o remain
neutral in both world wars. There
hasn' t been a war in Sweden for
well over 150 years. Norway and
Denmark achieved neutrality only
in the Great War (1914·1918).
The PLAIN TRUTH