In this mailing: Judith Bergman: Sweden: What to Do About Gang Violence? Josef Zbořil: Europe: Cooperative Free Nations or Overly Controlled by Brussels? Sweden: What to Do About Gang Violence? by Judith Bergman  •  October 29, 2019 at 5:00 am       In Sweden, crucial societal issues, such as who is behind the current crime epidemic, are a public taboo. "With the exception of three people in the survey, all have been offered help since they were boys. Some of them were already registered with the police as ten-year-olds... They have undergone programs... far from the criminal environment in Malmö.... It has not worked. In many cases, social services use the same words: all resources have been exhausted. Put another way: what the social services have done so far does not help, and there are no more measures to try out". — Sydsvenskan, September 21, 2019 The government therefore recently presented a new initiative, which seeks to tackle the gang violence. The government proposal, however, never specifically mentions who is mainly behind the gang violence and that its own migration policies have in large part created the situation in which Swedish society now finds itself. These are facts that mainstream politicians have avoided discussing openly for years. The question is: How do you solve a critical societal problem... without talking about it openly? It does not seem likely that any of these hardened criminals will be swayed much by "increased investments in schools and social services in 'vulnerable areas'", as one of the government proposals suggests. In Sweden, where gang crime has become extremely violent, crucial societal issues, such as who is behind the current crime epidemic, are a public taboo. How do you solve a critical societal problem that is maiming and killing people, without talking about it openly? (Image source: iStock) "Since 2015, 32 people have been shot dead in 30 separate acts in Malmö's latest murder wave. Our survey of the murders shows that more than 120 young men are linked to them in different ways", according to a recent series of reports about gang violence in the Swedish mainstream newspaper, Sydsvenskan. "There is much talk about 'gang wars' in Malmö," the report relates. Continue Reading Article