“Do you have the courage?” → “Decision of disbanding”

In the year 2017 a text was published by Nordisk Ungdom [Nordic Youth] where the members were urged to prepare for becoming “political soldiers” which “will have to sacrifice significantly more than blood sweat and tears”. Today, two years later, the organization is being shut down because it has been too hard for these soldiers to keep the operation alive. AFA [antifa] Stockholm explains here how this development looked and the reasons behind Nordisk Ungdom giving up.

Nordisk Ungdom (NU) was formed in the year 2010 with the ambition of becoming a countrywide organization which would modernize the Swedish fascism through new methods and new political alliances. During the first years one amongst others cooperated with radical Islamists on a foundation of antisemitism and conservatism meanwhile a hand was being stretched out to the radical leftist movement in hopes of cooperation against globalization and “society’s elite”. NU profiled itself initially as a fascist group with socialist traits, which except for immigration and multi-culture also went after neo-liberalism’s assault on the labor-rights, economic injustice and imperialism. In this way the founders, which previously belonged to Nationaldemokraterna [the National Democrats], hoped that the organization would be able to unite youth with socialist and racist values and thus lay the foundation for a new kind of fascist movement. The inspiration for this movement came largely from fascist projects abroad like Casa Pound in Italy or Junge Nationaldemokraten in Germany.

This political strategy became short-lived, partially because the socialist movement with organized anti-fascists at the front treated NU by the exact same terms as any other fascist street-group.  It sometimes happens that fascists try to use socialist rhetoric, but this will never change the fact that they fundamentally want to divide the working class and get us to hate our colleagues and neighbors instead of our real enemies. The AFA-network [antifa-network in Sweden] and other anti-fascists therefore at an early stage ensured confronting NU repeatedly which contributed to all local groups except the one in Stockholm quickly being disbanded and also the remaining Stockholm group became quickly strongly weakened, they only succeeded in hanging on because the leadership and the core activists lived in Stockholm.

After the experiment of uniting fascist and leftist-minded youth failed Patrik Forsén (19840325-0155) and a few activists  continued running the organization. For several years the group was searching for a way to grow and become relevant, but time after time they were hit by setbacks in the form of at three occasions having their premises exposed and their events attacked. Among the few activists that had stayed in the organization are apart from Patrik Forsén also Fredrik Haugen (earlier Hagberg) (19860924-0638) and Christian Mattsson (19900604-4433). Through the years the group experimented with various ideological alignments, from the initial will to approach the left to adopting the so-called “alt right”-movement’s rhetoric and thereafter an attempt with a radical-conservative variant of Catholicism.

During the years 2015-2017 NU achieved some media success and in number of active members by producing video clips of provocative actions, e.g. was organized attacks against the Pride-parade and the sit-in strike for unaccompanied refugee minors’ rights. At one of these occasions one person was injured when pyrotechnics was thrown straight into the group of youths that were performing a peaceful manifestation at Mynttorget [town square between Parliament and Stockholm Palace], which we previously reported about here. Meanwhile, NU’s members worked frantically with a new social center which they rented in false name in the municipality of Danderyd’s premises. Furthermore Patrik Forsén launched a number of side projects, foremost Skandinaviska Förbundet [The Scandinavian Association], which was to work as the (officially) youth-based group NU’s adult equivalent. These side projects however never lead to any larger success but remained air castles on the Internet.

On March 8, 2018 NU once again performed an action whose only purpose was to become a good video clip by trying to provoke the feminist demonstration which is being held on that date every year. This time however they were confronted by a number of anti-fascists which lead to the action failing and those that had participated got to leave the place with their tails between their legs. In May same year we published a compilation of the people which participated in Nordisk Ungdom’s activities and a month later the paper Arbetaren [“The Worker“, the anarcho-syndicalist labor union SAC‘s paper] published where the new premises were, which got them evicted and all energy invested in the project was for nothing. In November 2018 NU’s last demo resulted in open conflict between their own group and Nordiska motståndsrörelsen (NMR) [Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), Nazis], because the latter during the march had become violent when anti-fascists on location protested against their demo. NMR’s behavior resulted in the whole spectacle ending in a fight between fascists, police and anti-fascists. This was something which NU did not appreciate at all which drove the until then relatively good relations between NU and NMR into the ground. Furthermore NU left walkover to NMR in the few contexts they participated in and were engaged in, e.g. the demo at Mynttorget. During 2018 and 2019 the level of activism in the group has been steadily decreasing and the number of members drastically declining until it was decided to officially disband the group.

– We have decided to dissolve the organization as we don’t deem the conditions for continued activity to be fruitful.

This Friday came the statement from Nordisk Ungdom and Skandinaviska Förbundet which declares that the organization ceases to exist. After a 2018 filled with setbacks the group’s spokespersons explain that they no longer can carry on with their activities because “activists are fired from their jobs, the union refuses to represent them, they are persecuted by authorities while left-extremists are allowed to harass and batter. The established media houses cheer the witch-hunt and gladly destroy the lives of young and old. Electoral rigging occurs widely. We are convicted in political courts, we are not allowed to rent premises, banks have shut down our accounts.”

[“One of us was beaten down yesterday.”]

We in AFA Stockholm can not but congratulate ourselves and other anti-fascists around in Sweden which since NU was founded the year 2010 with joy and pride have been a driving force in making these fascists’ lives difficult. The anti-fascist movement has through all these years worked hard at identifying and confronting these fascists. It is we in the anti-fascist movement that see to it that these individuals’ employers, colleagues and neighbors get to know what they are up to in their spare time. It is also the anti-fascist movement which by “harassing and battering” the fascists which themselves attack peaceful manifestations, burst the illusion they are trying to create of themselves as strong, brave and angry white men. Nordisk Ungdom has been unable to retain the activists which in various batches have joined the group because they were constantly countered, something which becomes extra clear when one reviews the past year when the air went out of the organization once and for all.

AFA Stockholm has through the years seen many fascist organizations come and go. Svenskarnas Parti [Party of the Swedes], Fria Nationalister [Free Nationalists], Nationaldemokraterna [the National Democrats] and Förbundet Nationell Ungdom [the National Youth Association] are some exaples of the groups within the white supremacist-environment which during the 2000s have imploded. That Nordisk Ungdom now join the same destiny is not only important in the meaning that we have a fascist organization less to oppose but also means that the entire white supremacist-environment is weakened overall. NU has as the previously mentioned organizations been acting as a fixed point in the fascist movement and has had collaborations and alliances with groups and initiatives which now stand without protection and extra activists to use. We expect more castles in the air to fall and look forward to the domino effect it results in dissatisfaction, personal conflicts and further division.

Nordisk Ungdom is no longer organizationally a problem. But in spite of the organization’s weakness and the members’ incompetence a few of the former members can on an individual level still represent a threat. Some of the members will leave the political involvement behind and some will look for new contexts in other fascist groups, it has always been thus. We have previously published a compilation of NU’s members and sympathizers which can be read here. The article is relevant until we see that those mentioned are no longer active and urge those which feel affected to contact us to avoid our future attention.

E-mail: afa-sthlm@riseup.net

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/ AFA Stockholm

Translated by b9AcE to the best of my ability, from the original text in Swedish. Any errors are to be presumed mine, not antifa’s.