The death of African-American citizen George Floyd while in police custody on May has triggered a wave of protests against racism. In Sweden, the support to the movement #BlackLivesMatter has been enormous. Many have been the mobilisations taking place in the country during the last days. Would you like to learn more about it?
Black Lives Matter As a Movement
#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2013 in response to the death of the African-American of 17 years old Trayvon Martin. Since that moment, the movement has stood for the rights and against the violence and discrimination towards black communities. However, after the recent death of George Floyd, the mobilizations have enormously increased around the world.
Many have been the ways of supporting the movement:
- posting completely black images on Instagram
- attending physical or online mobilisations,
- protesting in front of the US embassy
These are some examples. The engagement all over the world has been immense.
Sweden and the Human Rights
To understand how has the commitment with the #BlackLivesMatter movement been in Sweden, it is important to also know about Sweden’s support to Human Rights.
Sweden is the second country supporting Human Rights the most (right after The Netherlands).* Additionally, it is top 4 in the global list of gender equality, and tenth concerning the development of LGBTI rights.**
Sources: US News* WeForum** and The Conversation***
Besides, Sweden is one of the least racist countries in Europe, according to a Harvard University Study.*** As a result, the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement in Sweden was expectable.
Photo credit @Unsplash
Black Lives Matter in Sweden
The restrictions of a maximum of 50 people gathered in the same place due to COVID-19 have not prevented the support to #BlackLivesMatter mobilisations. Last week, the protest in Gothenburg gathered more than 2000 people. Besides, in Stockholm and Malmö, thousands of people also marched to protest against racism last week.
The support to the movement does not only happen in the biggest cities, smaller areas as Umeå has also called a strike supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
For those who did not want to protest due to the COVID-19 situation physically, there are many different options. The activist Aysha Jones organized an online demonstration that gathered more than 60.000 people last week at the US Embassy in Stockholm.
How Can I Collaborate?
If you want to support the movement, there are many options for doing it:
The Official Website of Black Lives Matter provides information about global and local actions, campaigns and donations.
Next 13-14 June will take place the Livestream Fundraiser Stockholm, organised by a group of Afro-Swedish who will be streaming a 12 hour DJ show to raise funds for the movement.
In her profile, the activist Aysha Jones also posts different online mobilizations and how to engage with them.
Checking the different Afro organizations in Sweden is also possible to learn more about the movement and check when mobilisations are taking place. Check: Afro-Swedes Forum for Justice, Stop Afrophobia or Afrosvenskarnas Riksorganisation
Use hashtags as #BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatterSweden, #BlackLivesMatterSverige or adding the city you live in to find activities!
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