The Invisible Party (Osynliga partiet) was a Swedishconceptualanti-capitalist media campaign masquerading as an "organization" with the purpose of connecting all anti-capitalist action, however small or without actual realization, to an "invisible" political party.
Although it called itself a party, it did not have official members but instead had participants. It could not, and did not wish to, participate in elections. The professed goal of the group was to undermine the capitalist system. It was founded by different parts of the Swedish extra-parliamentary left, in particular the Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation.
The Invisible Party "disbanded" after a September 16, 2006 press release by the "central committee" behind the campaign declaring that they would discontinue their activities:
This chapter of history that we have told over the last six months is now over. We chose to illustrate the possibilities of the invisible class spirit through a campaign where we showed different aspects of the struggle that goes on in the shadows. All actions performed during the campaign followed their own logic, had their own purposes and their own meaning without the words that describes them. All we did was talk about that which was previously invisible, and now it will become invisible yet again.statement from the Invisible Party central committee, September 16, 2006.[1]
Ideology
An Invisible Party banner at a demonstration in Stockholm, June 3, 2006 organized by the Pirate Party amongst others. The banner reads: "Everything for everyone. Online & IRL".
The Invisible Party can be seen as a shared concept, a symbol for a struggle against capitalism and the perceived exploitation of the workforce. Participation in the party has involved strikes, blockades, flyposting, sabotage, shoplifting, riots, and other radical tactics.
Anna-Lena Lodenius, a Swedish author on political extremism, has described the Invisible Party as follows:
It's about groups who see themselves as some kind of elite, a moral elite who goes in front and changes the reality. Then all we others are going to understand that it was all for our best. They don't respect the democracy and the representative democratic system.[2]
The leftist website Motkraft described the views of the group as follows:
We have already made our choices! At workplaces, at school, and amongst unemployed the class struggle is ever present, invisible and faceless. These struggles are the Invisible Party. Every time you refuse to obey your boss, or cheat on an exam, or screw that job application-course, you're not alone. You're part of the Invisible Party, the actual movement that undermines capitalism.[3]
Methods
After the Centre Party proposed a special youth contract for those under 26 (similar to France's First Employment Contract policy), activists claiming to be members of the Invisible Party responded by vandalizing Centre Party offices throughout Sweden.[4] The Centre Party was in opposition at the time.
Activists under the banner of the Invisible Party continued the vandalism throughout the 2006 Swedish general election campaign, hitting the offices of the Christian Democrats, another opposition party, as well.[5]
As of 2006, the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) was gathering information about the Invisible Party and its supporters.[6]
Controversy
The Invisible Party was widely misunderstood outside the extra-parliamentary left.[citation needed] Media presented the party as an actual organization with members in the strict and traditional sense. Because of the actions against the Centre Party the party was vilified by Swedish media and presented as a violent and anti-democratic organization. This led to the true purpose of the campaign becoming even more obscure than before. The winner of the Swedish political reality show Toppkandidaterna (The Top Candidates), Petter Nilsson, donated 100,000 of his 250,000 SEK prize-money to the project. After the actions against the Centre Party, the party demanded that the license-funded public broadcaster SVT should ask Nilsson to repay the money, and the Centre Party Youth claimed that SVT was "responsible for the attacks",[7] but SVT chose not to take any action against Nilsson.[8]
The Sweden Democrats is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, and is the second largest party in the Riksdag.
The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the SwedishSocial Democratic Workers' Party, usually referred to as The Social Democrats, is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in Sweden. Founded in 1889, the SAP is the country's oldest and currently largest party.
The Moderate Party, commonly referred to as the Moderates, is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liberalism. Internationally, it is a full member of the International Democrat Union and the European People's Party.
The Christian Democrats is a Christian-democratic political party in Sweden founded in March 1964. It first entered parliament in 1985, through electoral cooperation with the Centre Party, and in 1991 broke through to win seats by itself. The party leader since 25 April 2015 has been Ebba Busch. She succeeded Göran Hägglund, who had been leader since 2004.
The Communist Party (Swedish: Kommunistiska partiet, K) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Sweden started in 1970. From 1970 to 1977, it was known as the Communist League Marxist–Leninists (Revolutionaries) (Swedish: Kommunistiska Förbundet Marxist-Leninisterna (revolutionärerna), KFML(r)) and from 1977 to 2004 as the Communist Party Marxist–Leninists (Revolutionaries) (Swedish: Kommunistiska Partiet Marxist-Leninisterna (revolutionärerna), KPML(r)). At the 14th Party Congress held in Gothenburg in January 2005, it was decided to change the name to the current one.
The Swedish Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth Federation, (SUF) is a youth-based group in Sweden that supports independent working class struggle.
Parlamentet is a satirical panel gameshow on TV4, which parodies Swedish political debate. It was first broadcast in 1999 and is currently in its 23rd series. The current presenter is Anders S. Nilsson, who has hosted the show since 2004. Current team members include Babben Larsson, Robin Paulsson, Johan Rheborg and Johan Glans. Kodjo Akolor has also been featured. The program is a Swedish version of the short-run British show If I Ruled the World. The comedians are divided into two teams (parties), red and blue, representing traditional political colours.
Jan Arne Björklund is a Swedish Liberal politician. He was member of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2019, representing Stockholm County, and served as leader of the Liberals from 2007 to 2019. Björklund served as Minister for Education from 2007 to 2014, and as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden from 2010 to 2014.
Until the late 2000s, terrorism in Sweden was not seen as a serious threat to the security of the state. However, there has been a rise in far right and Islamist terrorist activity in the 21st century.
Islam in Sweden refers to the practice of Islam in Sweden, as well as historical ties between Sweden and the Islamic world. Viking contact with Islam dates back to the 7th–10th centuries, when the Vikings traded with Muslims during the Islamic Golden Age. Since the late 1960s and more recently, immigration from predominantly Muslim countries has impacted the demographics of religion in Sweden, and has been the main driver of the spread of Islam in the country.
The Antifascistisk aktion (AFA) is a far-left, extra-parliamentary, anti-fascist movement in Sweden, whose stated goal is to "smash fascism in all its forms". Some of its members are influenced by the theory of triple oppression, and all of its members claim to oppose sexism, racism, and classism. The point of the organization is to exchange information and to coordinate activities between local groups.
Nazism in Sweden has been more or less fragmented and unable to form a mass movement since its beginning in the early 1920s. Several hundred parties, groups, and associations existed from the movement's founding through the present. At most, purely Nazi parties in Sweden have collected around 27,000 votes in democratic parliamentary elections. The high point came in the municipal elections of 1934 when the Nazi parties were victorious in over one hundred electoral contests. As early as January 22, 1932, the Swedish Nazis had their first public meeting with Birger Furugård addressing an audience of 6000 at the Haymarket in Stockholm.
The Örebro Party is a local political party in Örebro, Sweden. Markus Allard is the party leader. According to Allard the party cannot be placed anywhere on the traditional left-right spectrum, and instead focuses on local issues. Some of its key issues include lowered wages for politicians, stricter migration policy, and free dental care.
Sweden participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "If I Were Sorry" written by Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell, Fredrik Andersson and Frans Jeppsson Wall. The song was performed by Frans. In addition to participating in the contest, the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the competition in 2015 with the song "Heroes" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. SVT organised the national final Melodifestivalen 2016 in order to select the Swedish entry for the 2016 contest in Stockholm. After a six-week-long competition consisting of four heats, a Second Chance round and a final, "If I Were Sorry" performed by Frans emerged as the winner after achieving the highest score following the combination of votes from eleven international jury groups and a public vote.
The 2009 Malmö Davis Cup riots were anti-Israel riots in the Swedish city of Malmö against a Davis Cup tennis match between Sweden and Israel on 7 March 2009.
General elections were held in Sweden on 11 September 2022 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag who in turn elected the Prime Minister of Sweden. Under the constitution, regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The preliminary results presented on 15 September showed the government parties lost their majority, which were confirmed by the final results published on 17 September. After a month of negotiations following the elections that led to the Tidö Agreement among the right-wing bloc, Moderate Party (M) leader Ulf Kristersson was elected Prime Minister on 17 October. The Kristersson Cabinet is a minority government that relies on confidence and supply from the Sweden Democrats (SD)
The second cabinet of Stefan Löfven was the Government of Sweden from 21 January 2019 to 9 July 2021. It was a coalition, consisting of two parties: the Social Democrats and the Green Party. The cabinet was installed on 21 January 2019, following the 2018 general election.
Nima Gholam Ali Pour is an Iranian-born Swedish politician, author, activist, political commentator and journalist. Since the 2022 Swedish general election, he has been a member of the Riksdag representing the Sweden Democrats party for the Malmö Municipality constituency.
The Nuance Party is a political party in Sweden founded in 2019. According to national broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), the party aims mainly at the country's Muslim population.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
