Does SD want to burn its white paper at the stake?

Expressen writes every day about the crowds, the people and the excitement from Almedalen Week 2025.

Victor Malm reports from the third day in Visby. Jimmie Åkesson on Expressen’s stage in Almedalen. Photo: SVEN LINDWALL

VISBY. 100 copies.

Stitched, without design.

The girls are born.

The Sweden Democrats’ white paper has been the subject of the first sunny day in Visby. Most striking? The extremely limited edition. No more copies than the 100 that were made available to the public this morning will be printed, and no digital versions exist.

One can imagine that they would most like to collect the 100 copies and arrange a book bonfire before the last ferry leaves for the mainland. But that would look a bit like… 1930s Germany. Counterproductive, given the content of the white paper. They therefore settle for a more modern method: radical refusal to distribute. Which is of course also counterproductive.

The minimal edition speaks louder than the almost 900 pages.

The Sweden Democrats’ white paper documents and acknowledges the extensive anti-Semitism that for a long time – touching on the years when today’s leading representatives became involved – characterized the party. Important. But when the party is now actively trying to limit the book’s distribution, we should rather understand it as a modern letter of indulgence. Short-circuiting debt.

Unworthy, of course.

Because Jimmie Åkesson has not (yet) become a Catholic, but on the contrary emphasizes Sweden’s Christian – that is, Protestant – heritage, a great reformer comes to mind.

Martin Luther was clear as early as 1517: indulgences undermine genuine repentance.

What do the Moderates think?

Yesterday, after all, Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer sat on a Christian stage and led Almedalen in Swedish Church praise.

A man who so beautifully sings Psalm 189, “Abide in me,” reasonably has a well-founded view of the politics of memory and the nature of forgiveness.

He’s probably going to slap Jimmie Åkesson in the ear, or force SD to rush to publish a beautiful hardcover edition. I’d be happy to pay 249 kronor at Bokus.

Victor Malm is the cultural director at Expressen.

Victor Malm is the cultural director at Expressen.