A handbook in hushing things up

Publicerat 19 Jan, 2006

How can you effectively put a lid on a debate? How can you get journalists to write less about something, or not at all? Simple: You call them racists, or say that they are highly prejudiced and xenophobic. You claim that they lack respect for other cultures, or are ignorant about them. You can also hint that they are fellow travellers for some fringe political party with a shady agenda.

An aggressive and rude manner can also get some people to back down. It’s easy, it’s beneath contempt – but it works. OK, not on everyone and not for ever, but definitely for a while. And if it doesn’t help? Well, you can always make one or two anonymous threats.

But, you can also use more subtle tactics and ask:
If things really are so terrible at home for thousands of young women with an immigrant background from so-called honour cultures, why don’t we see more of them on television and in the newspapers? Why are they so silent? After all, we live in a free country. Then you can answer these questions by saying that there is in fact only a small, dissatisfied group of young women who most of all are trying to get a flat of their own from the social services, but it’s not politically correct to say things like this out loud. If someone points out that the County Administrative Board, Koffi Annan of the United Nations and many others say that this is not the case then the question to ask is: But what do they know, really?

Another method is to wonder why people insist on focusing on the bad things, and to ask why we can’t instead highlight those young women who are happy and satisfied and don’t want to live in any other way. You can point out that not everyone thinks it is important to be able to choose who they marry, and that not everyone feels a need to decide over their own bodies and how they should live their lives – that they value other things in life. Those who want something different have all the opportunities in the world open to them as Swedish citizens. Women here have the right to do want they want with their lives, with the help and support of good legislation and a number of active women’s movements. This Promised Land, this haven of freedom of choice would never let its sisters down. Or would it, Gudrun Schyman and the rest of the establishment?

Marie Eriksson marie@stockholmskulturbyra.se

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