Sweden does not represent racism

I used to love the feeling of randomly hearing someone speak Swedish whenever I am abroad, when I spot Swedish crackers in a supermarket in London or when I loudly talk about the great sense of humanity, equality and history to my foreign friends.

However, I no longer feel that pride or excitement of talking about my homeland, rather just fear. I am scared of what is happening to my country and it does not feel like the loving country that I was once used to know. With the latest row of violence that has been spreading like wildfire, I no longer feel comfortable to stand up tall and talk about my country, the country that once used to symbolise peace.

I read racist comments on Facebook on a daily basis, and it is these people who have set the Swedish flag as their profile picture, thus associating the country with their poisonous opinions. Is that really what Sweden stands for?

With that in mind, I am not at all surprised of the reputation that our country has got lately but I am going to change that. I, too, will set my profile picture to the Swedish flag, not to spread poisonous ideas but to regain the image that my country once used to represent. We represent humanity, freedom and welfare and that is what the rest of the world should associate us with. Let’s do our very best to change the misconception and win back our title because Sweden does not represent racism or violence.

— The reader is a Swedish student based in Karlstad