Our swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, died this morning.
Pulled down to the floor and stabbed multiple times in the stomache, chest and arms, right in the middle of Stockholm's biggest department store, she was being operated on up until 5:30 this morning.
They say the attacker was a grown man in a military jacket and a cap, the knife was found but he got away. Pretty much all of Stockholm is locked down right now.
Anna Lindh was a leading advocate for Sweden's entry into the european monetary union set to being voted on September 14th. She was actually going to do another panel discussion about EMU last night on our biggest TV channel. Everything is just grinding to a halt now.
She's been very active in events unfolding in China and the United States these last years, I don't know, I can't do any summary of her accomplishments and events as a minister that would do her justice right now, nor is that the point of this thread.
Our foreign minister was murdered in a damn department store. Last time anything like this happened, when our prime minister Olof Palme got shot down in the street in 1986, sweden was paralyzed.
Very few of our politicians have bodyguards and security, we've valued the peace and safety of our city, our country, as a national treasure.
It seems all that is to be left behind in the 1900's.
Anna Lindh was 46 years old, she is survived by her husband and two small children.
Posted by Lee (Member # 393) on :
She died? Damn. I was afraid of that, the attack sounded pretty severe. Hell, I'd even heard of her prior to this. . . Who could do such a thing?
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Aided by the prime minister she worked hard towards formulating Sweden's aid to the US after the WTC-attacks two years ago, a very sad coincedence this day.
I can't even begin to think what the man's motives were. She was respected and well-liked by everyone, even her political opponents, never got into any scandals and always liked to work hands-on in her role, meeting and talking to (the) people in elections and campaign-work. I've never heard of her mentioning any stalkers, regardless this doesn't look like a stalker's typical behavior and judgment.
There is talk about this just being a purse-snatching gone wrong, in which case I'd be even more angry.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
A nutter by the sound of it.
This really is terrible.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
I just read the news. She was the face of Sweden... really accentuated its foreign policy with her strong personality and negotiating skills. She also was one of the few people who didn't eschew making public statements about Bush re: his Iraq and Israel stance, who didn't lose her principles to favoritism and exhibitionism... politicians like that are truly rare.
[ September 11, 2003, 05:16 AM: Message edited by: Cartman ]
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
...But I can't think of anything to say. This is horrible. It hits so close to home, in so many ways. On one hand, this sort of violence is unheard of as a political tool around here. The Palme and Hammarskj�ld murders had a perverse aura of international high crime to them - they were somehow "understandable" and "unreal" at the same time. This is just thuggery at its worst.
And on another level, it must remind all of us that it could have happened to us, too. As said, there need not have been a political motivation to it at all. Yet how often do you usually think of the people who get 60 millimeters of obituary for having died of a banal little stabbing? This makes it *personal* while being as public as it can be.
I dunno. Like this. Like now. In the middle of a bloody NK!
I just hope they get the bastard. To say "this time" might be unfair. But finding the culprit is a better way to recover than having to speculate, and to escalate. The next time the Minister of Finances raises taxes, does a drunkard get a bright idea?
Timo Saloniemi
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
Caption from a swedish author: She was a speck of light among the black costumes of power.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Geeez....that's terrible. You guys really do need security for your elected officials:w only one in amillion (or less) would do such a thing but the days of an elected official being completely safe are long past.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
The national police committee are having a press conference now, they're eliminating the possibility of this being anything else than murder of the first degree.
Disgustingly enough, the political extremists running the swedish neo-nazi homepage Info 14 are celebrating this murder of one of their proclaimed Enemies of the People.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
Wacko indeed.
But I have to give your country respect, as it appears that your politicians try to live amongst their people and therefore seem to have a better understanding of how their decisions affect their country. It's really something that perhaps many countries (including my own) would envy over. To have someone take advantage of their accessibility is not only absurd, but patently outrageous.
Walk strong, people of Sweden. If your politicians decide to hide, then you've lost more than just a foreign minister.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
This is a crime against our democracy and everyone fears that things will become harsher now, all across Scandinavia.
We do have security for our people. They said there wasn't a threat picture validating full coverage during the campaign.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Our democracy was undermined last year when Pim Fortuyn (leader of the LPF, a populist right-wing opposition party bound for massive growth in the upcoming elections) was shot by an "activist" who deemed him a danger to society. Now this guy had charisma and a vision, he was going to revolutionize politics, bring the government closer to the people, etc. All talk & no walk, you know the type. The polar opposite of Anna Lindh.
Anyway, there was a fallout. The LPF won the elections with an overwhelming majority (Fortuyn became a martyr, his death attracted many floating voters), but it didn't last three months due to constant internal bickering over Fortuyn's "ideology" and how his thoughts should be translated to workable policy. In the end, that disrupted the democratic proces more than the murder itself did.
Don't let her death be in vain.
Posted by Nim (Member # 205) on :
It get's no easier by the fact that almost every streetcorner in Stockholm already has a poster of her on it, for the election. And in the newspapers, and on the sides of the buses. It's very painful.
