Sweden — Paradise Lost, a continuing tragedy

When I was a child of the sixties Sweden enjoyed a worldwide reputation for freedom and liberalism. This was confirmed in the ’70s when Sweden gave asylum to Marcello Ferrada-Noli. In his own words,

I remember vividly when the Pinochet government revoked my constitutional right of renewing my passport, making me stateless, after my testimony at the Russel Tribunal in Rome 1974 exposing the killings, torture and horrible crimes perpetrated by the Junta in the Prisoners Camp in which I have been confined. Helped by lawyer Hans Göran Frank (one of the founders of Amnesty International Sweden), I obtained political asylum and a främnlingpass (alien’s passport) according to the Geneva-Convention in a matter of weeks.
Why Sweden should consider asylum to Edward Snowden

Ferrada-Noli is now calling on Sweden to reaffirm that old reputation largely lost in recent years through the increasingly open “alignment by Sweden with U.S. interests, not only militarily and at geopolitical levels, but also in matters of information-sharing, intelligence cooperation and protection of American industrial businesses and copyrights.”

Sweden, as we now know from Edward Snowden, is effectively the ‘sixth eye’; part of the global Echelon/Five Eyes surveillance system operated by the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Sweden’s role is to monitor Russian internet traffic for the NSA.

Sweden’s new status is further confirmed by the country’s treatment of the Assange ‘rape’ case — there is absolutely no legal or logical reason why Assange could not be questioned in the Ecuador embassy in London. The only explanation can be Sweden’s determination to get Assange onto Swedish soil from where he can be shipped to the US for trial.

Ferrada-Noli believes that Sweden could regain its old liberal position by now offering Snowden asylum in the same way it was granted him many years ago. It’s a lovely thought. I believe that the Swedish people would welcome Snowden. But like so many ‘western’ countries, behind the facade of democracy, governments no longer reflect the people.

It will never happen. In fact it must not happen — not while Carl Bildt has a breath in his body.