I made it in and out alive tonight from one of Stockholm’s most notorious suburbs, Rinkeby. You might want to characterize it as Stockholm version of “the projects” since the reputation it carries is of high crime, high unemployment, low income and a heck of a lot of dark-haired people.
I’m not sure if any of those characterizations are entirely untrue. However, if I wanted to get contentious, and what the heck, why not, I would speculate that the crime rate isn’t really significantly higher than any other district of Stockholm and potentially lower for some types of crime than a number of Stockholm districts (car burglaries is pretty high in central Stockholm for instance.) And yet, even if they are all smack dab on the money, it’s not the combat zone Stockholmers of gentler ‘hoods would imagine it to be.
But different it certainly is. But I’d say it’s different in a wonderfully dynamic way. The place teams with life from its inhabitants. There are culturally-related events and activities, initiated by and serving the people who make up its colorful tapestry going on 7 days a week at all hours and spilling out of every conceivable public space that the people can occupy.
In fact, occasionally the do indeed occupy space. Just last November members of the Rinkeby community occupied an abandoned building which the city deemed too expensive to renovate and have slated for demolition (related article -sorry in Swedish only.) They were eventually were physically removed by the police. According to a friend of mine who lives in Rinkeby, the building was used not only for squatters and protesters, but for smaller cultural groups who can’t afford to rent community space to meet.
That’s what an immigrant-rich suburb community like Rinkeby seems to differ most from its sleepy native Swedish variety where activities are often organized on weekends or around sporting halls or in quiet basements that people drive to. People in Rinkeby are out later, their kids are up later and they’re more intent on interacting with their neighbors to play connect-four at 7.30pm at Folkets Hus (The people’s house) on a weekday.
It wasn’t the Milton Bradley games which brought me to Rinkeby after dinner on a Thursday (though I literally did pass a group of people playing it) but the samba group, Yakumbé, who practice Thursdays 7-9pm in the basement of the People’s House. They call it a workshop and invite anyone to stop in an pick up an instrument, menacingly toddling children included. So we went; menacing children and all.
And not only did we return with our lives, but much enriched by the lively samba percussion. I was once again warmed to be in Rinkeby seeing all the people out and about even though it was cold, dark and late (well, by the clock of the average Swede.) The place gets a bad rap for all the wrong reasons and so little credit for all the real realities.
If you haven’t ventured around Rinkeby you really ought to give it a try one time. Go ahead. Live life a bit on the wild side.
Bring earplugs if you try out the samba workshop…was loud.
Dear Boston “Blatte”,
I am so tired of Rinkeby being classified as something “exotic” that people should try, sort of like going to the Zoo. We who live there, know that it is not all about Samba there or crime. Maybe it was in the past. There are plenty of hard-working people there who do not live on subsidies. We are a group which choose to live in a nice, affordable 3-bedroom rental apartment without bank-loans, instead of living in a 20sqm. room in the City with a million-krona bank loan. I moved here about three years ago, from a smaller city, because I found a great, newly renovated apartment close to nature and close to the City. I am white caucasian with a University degree from the US. I lived in Florida and NY and I have seen US Ghettoes and Rinkeby is nothing like them.
In fact, we have less crime here than in the City, since lots of religious Muslims live here and they do not party or drink. The only thing that can be disturbing is that Africans scream a lot louder on the football field than native Swedes do and their kids also scream more in the playgrounds.
I feel safer here than in the city or other suburbs.
Vegetables and meat are cheaper and there is a greater selection of foods here. It is time that Swedes and other stop seeing Rinkeby as something exotic. Skin color should not be a trait which is “exotic” in Sweden anymore. Sweden will never again be an “Aryan” homogenic nation and neither will the rest of Europe be. In a couple of generations, there will be more people of foreign descent, due to higher birthrates. I am looking forward to a very exciting time and I hope that Sweden will become more like the US, where people say to you “Welcome” instead of judging you by your origin. I really miss the US and all the black people there and the churches and the food.
P.S. don’t use the word “Blatte” about yourself. It doesn’t just mean “a person of different skin color” but has a deeper derigatory sense which could be compared to calling yourself n*****r in the US.
Report abuse »
The building which the squatters occupied, was not used by any cultural groups. It was the building of “Socialen” and it was the social services office only. When they merged with the Kista “Socialen” they moved to Kista. It was too expensive to turn the empty offices into living units, due to Swedish building code and other reasons. Now they will erect a new building there with nice apartments that hard working people can rent. I hope we will see some extra-ordinary architecture instead of the drab 70’s building which stands there now, soon to be demolished.
Report abuse »
@ Rachel. Thank you for your reply, I’m very appreciative for the time and effort. The fact of the matter is that Rinkeby is exotic with its mix of people from all places and things are “different” from other Stockholm suburbs.
If people in Stockholm aren’t intrigued to discover what makes it a great place to live they will remain fearful of it and it will remain insulated. Breaking down stereotypes and dispelling myths is what helps people with no exposure to anything “different” accept that “differences” should be embraced and not shunned or reviled or disapproved of.
My first 15 years of living in Sweden took place in “kniv Söder”. I used to called it “Ej Hornstull” because when we were trying to exchange our studio for something larger, people were interested for a place “Katarina, Mariatorget, ej Hornstull.” Clients of mine from “Norra Stockholm” literally crinkled their noses hearing that I lived on Söder. One friend of mine who worked on Söder but lived in Vasastan told me that the best part of her day was getting on the bus to leave Söder. Street made Hornstull “exotic” –though in town the term “trendy” is used. There was an appeal to “kniv Söder” and the kind of immigrants that printed t-shirts that proclaimed “The People’s Republic of Hornstull” and would not be fearful of the A-lag who hang out outside the Systemet and near the stairwell up to Högalidsparken.
My first visit to Rinkeby was to participate in Barnens Karneval which was an amazing grass-roots effort of residents of Rinkeby. They raised all the money themselves and didn’t charge for any of the food they served to the crowds. That community spirit amazed me. And I was glad that my Swedish in-laws who had never been to Rinkeby despite living less than 10 minutes away were also pleasantly surprised by how nice an area Rinkeby is; nothing of the preconceived image they had. If they hadn’t been brought by me interested in seeing what Rinkeby was all about they’d still have their false images.
I admit that my “trip” to Rinkeby is like visiting something, a place of interest. Well, it is. The same as hundreds of other places of interest I have visited during 20+ years of travel. I even made an “excursion” into South Boston during my last visit for the same reason. That section of Boston is as foreign to me as Rinkeby despite living about as far away in both cases. I can ignore them, read about them or visit them. I choose to visit them and I hope other people do too. Then eventually they will become “normal” and not “exotic.”
re: Blatte. I am familiar with its usage in Swedish and I have a personal history of being set off from my peers and neighbors for being the “undesirable” while growing up. And until my American background is made obvious on the street in Stockholm I am often lumped into the Blatte gang. When the skinheads have zieg heiled me, they haven’t bothered to find out that I am not the variety they think they’re harassing. I don’t feel very comforted by assurances that I’m a “first class immigrant.”
And I haven’t always been a Blatte. I started off as a Svartskalle.
re: The abandoned Statsförvaltningshus. My friend who was politically involved in the protests told me that during the “squatting/occupation” people used the space for activities too (I wasn’t implying that it once housed cultural facilities.) I only have him to go on, so I have no idea exactly what or how it was used or for how long. I’m glad that the city plans on constructing new housing in its place. Do you know demolition will take place and when the units are expected to be made available to tenants?
Cheers,
BB
re: the
Report abuse »
Sweden isn’t the only place that multicultural neighborhoods get a bad rap. Good to see someone visiting the place before they make up their mind about it.
Report abuse »
@ Stan. I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing. I’ve been discussing this with a facebook friend who agrees with Rachel (though his reference is Gothenburg) and feels I’m only reinforcing stereotypes by blogging about it the way I’ve done.
I don’t agree but I am glad there is a dialogue.
BB
Report abuse »
Rachel:
I don’t understand. Why can’t she refer to herself as Blatte?
Cockroaches are survivors. They demand to be accepted on their own terms.
I think that you lack respect for the interdependent web of life.
Report abuse »