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There
is no news in Sweden
By
Jonathan
Power
TFF Associate
since 1991
August 12, 2004
LONDON -
If all the world
were like Sweden there would be no news to report. The
last time that Sweden hit the front page was when its
foreign minister, Anna Lindh, was knifed to death by a
madman last year on the eve of a referendum on Swedish
entry into the Euro zone. The time before that was in the
distant past.
But news and truth,
as Walter Lippmann observed, should never be confused.
The truth is, as a recent report by the United Nations
showed, that Sweden is probably the most successful
country in the world - that is if you factor in not just
national income, but the longevity of its people, low
infant mortality and high levels of education. Moreover,
a new study by Professor Richard Florida of Carnegie
Mellon university which measures the kind of creativity
most useful to business - talent, technology and
tolerance - puts Sweden number one in Europe and ahead of
the U.S.. In the future, Florida argues, this means that
Sweden will become a "talent magnet" for the world's most
purposeful workers.
Yet there is
another side of Sweden. If one walks down the
out-of-the-way, dirt track that led me yesterday to the
shores of the Baltic on the island of Fårö one
will come, hidden both by forest and the unwillingness of
the local people to divulge its whereabouts, to the house
of film maker Ingmar Bergman. For a lifetime Bergman has
chronicled the Swedish soul, its solitariness, its
obsessiveness and its melancholia, a trait he shares with
other Swedish artistic geniuses - it's in the poetry of
Transtromer, the music of Stenhammar, the paintings of
Zorn and the writings of Strindberg and
Dagerman.
Maybe it is this-
plus the long, dark, gray winters- that will succeed in
keeping Sweden partially cut off from the world. Despite
its successes at least half its population prefers to be
a step apart. Swedish voters turned their back on the
Euro. This is the European country that along with France
loves itself the most, is comfortable in its old ways, is
wedded to its cradle to the grave welfare state despite
the high taxes needed to support it, and lives a life
that is distinctly introverted. You can see it in
"medieval week" in the walled city of Visby in the
neighboring island of Gotland where visitors come from
all over Sweden just to walk quietly around in medieval
dress.
The real truth is
that the two sides of Sweden coexist, and not altogether
uneasily. Sweden has more multinational corporations per
head than any other country and, despite its socialism,
state-owned enterprises barely exist. Sweden has
pioneered private competition in a range of endeavors
from railways, to hospital management, to schools.
Immigrants have been welcomed generously. Sweden is the
only country in Europe not to insist on some years of
transition before the workers of the new eastern members
of the Union are granted the right to free
movement.
The Swedes have
been called the Japanese of Europe - the consensual
society where disputes are talked out even if its takes
hours, days and months. The idea of the adversarial
debate, whether it be in parliament or the courtroom is
regarded as uncivilized. Yet at the same time Swedes are
immensely individualistic- this is the country that
pioneered sexual freedom and women's emancipation. Late
teenage sex is accepted unblinkingly. The divorce rate is
the highest in the Western world.
If you want to
understand Sweden you have to understand its Lutheran
heritage. Whilst Church attendance except at Christmas
and Easter is extraordinarily low probity is in the
Swedish soul. Honesty in business is one reason why
Swedish firms shine abroad. A handshake seals a deal.
Rarely is an idea over sold. Bills are paid on time. If
you are in a serious relationship infidelity is not
acceptable. If it happens then it usually means
separation.
Swedes have
consciously chosen not to take the Anglo-Saxon road. They
have one of the lowest take home pay envelopes in the
Western world. The state taxes away almost half of it.
And as for the rest Swedes would rather take long
holidays and a short workweek than push up the national
income figures. Outsiders may say that Sweden, once the
richest country in Europe in terms of GNP per head, is
losing its way. Insiders are content. The economy purrs
along.
Swedes travel. They
know the virtues - and temptations - of the outside
world. They all speak English, even the garbage men. But
they are not going to quickly change. The big news in a
news-less country is that even in our globalized world
you can be different. Indeed it may be that, as Professor
Florida observed, the world in future may come to Sweden,
rather than, as long expected, the other way
round.
Copyright © 2004 By
JONATHAN POWER
I can be reached by
phone +44 7785 351172 and e-mail: JonatPower@aol.com
Follow this
link to read about - and order - Jonathan Power's book
written for the
40th Anniversary of
Amnesty International
"Like
Water on Stone - The Story of Amnesty
International"
Här kan
du läsa om - och köpa - Jonathan Powers bok
på svenska
"Som
Droppen Urholkar
Stenen"
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