Publication: Race and Class
Publication Date: 01-JAN-05
Format: Online - approximately 7832 words
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Author: Mulinari, Diana ; Neergaard, Anders
Article Excerpt
Abstract: Many of the immigrant workers who came to Sweden from the sixties onwards, and their children, are stereotyped as 'black skulls'. They are seen as silent, passive and mired in 'traditional' cultures, a stereotype that also pervades the trade union bureaucracies which are closely tied to the dominant Social Democratic Party. But interviews with activists in the FAI, a network of immigrant union activists, reveal a new 'black skull' consciousness in which the stereotype and insult of passivity have been turned on their heads. A new consciousness and analysis of Swedish racism has emerged one which ultimately seeks to transform the whole way in which trade unions operate.
Keywords: activists, immigrants, racism, Sweden, trade unions, workers
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They do not discriminate against us; it is not about racism, they only want us to go. A respectable immigrant is a silent immigrant, one who has learnt to stay calm. One who never demands anything ... But we in FAI, we are so tired of being wimpish. We cannot and will not continue to show that we are integrated 'black skulls'. We are not that any more ... We are ready to be a pain in the ass; if it is needed, we will be loud and rough ...
The Swedish political landscape has changed drastically in the last ten years. As research has shown, issues related to 'race' and ethnicity are central not only to debates about migration and national belonging but also to political identities and political movements. (1) In the last parliamentary elections, a right-wing racist party gained several seats at the municipal level. At the same time, the Liberal Party, historically recognised for its progressive stance, strengthened its position by demanding language tests for immigrants. Undoubtedly, the support of the Swedish 'immigrant' (2) population for the Social Democrats and the Left influenced the outcome of the elections and the triumph of a red-green coalition. This population (a product of both labour migration in the sixties and refugee policies from the seventies onwards), although highly differentiated, generally shares a similar position in the labour market, experiences segregation in housing and everyday life and institutional racism in welfare institutions.
This population is also throwing up new forms of working-class organisation and struggle, such as the network of immigrant union activists (Fackligt aktiva invandrare, the FAI) that is our subject here. (3) There is increasing scepticism, among both 'Swedes' and the immigrant population, about joining a union and about the way that unions function. (4) These are criticisms that FAI also voices; it demands organisational development to increase unions' dynamism at the expense of their institutional bureaucratic structures.
In Sweden, most social science research has focused on immigrants from a cultural standpoint, characterising them for the most part as passive and 'different'--apart from a few critical studies. We begin, however, from an awareness of the way in which the internal division of the working class has been structured around gender and by 'race'. (5) How does an inclusive, reformist and bureaucratic trade union organisation respond to challenges from new groups? And how does this connect with issues of gender and patriarchy, especially given the way that the status of women receives particular emphasis in the standard conception of the Swedish nation?
Our study is based on empirical research carried out between 1997 and 1999, which included both in-depth and group interviews (based on regional FAI networks) with immigrant union activists, in which we captured both the context of discussion and the collective voice of our informants. These methods (together with participant observation of FAI's activities and at union meetings on issues related to discrimination) made it possible to challenge the stereotypes of silence, passivity and difference. We also collected and analysed different types of material produced by the trade unions and the FAI, and analysed articles in the LO weekly over some six years, to understand the picture the unions paint of 'immigrants' within the movement. The LO (Landsorganisationen) is the Swedish trade union confederation. As researchers, we did not occupy a neutral space. That we identify ourselves as 'black skulls' (Anders is black; Diana, Latina) strongly influenced the way that immigrant workers and 'Swedish' union activists spoke to us about racism.
Historical context
Swedish governments have, since 1932, been dominated by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), apart from 1976-82 and 1991-94. The SDP is one of the pillars of the Swedish labour movement; the other is made up of the trade unions organised around the LO. (6) The significance of Swedish trade unions for understanding the processes of racialisation and discrimination lies partly in the fact that the LO is actually the largest 'immigrant' organisation. More than a fifth of LO's members are of non-Swedish background--that is, they were either foreign-born (13 per cent) or had at least one parent who was born overseas (8 per cent). (7)
The first feature to emphasise is the Swedish labour market's very high degree of unionisation; however, this is not necessarily evidence of the strength of the LO, since, from an international perspective, the degree of unionisation of white-collar workers (TCO, Tjanstemannens centralorganisation) and professionals (SACO, Sveriges akademikers centralorganisation) is even more exceptional, as is the organisational strength of the employers (Svensk Naringsliv). (8) This is an important element in LO's self-image, an image challenged by our informants.
They are ... how can I explain this to you? Well, when I was a child my parents bought the first [home with a] living-room. We were the first family in the neighbourhood to have such a room. We never used it but we learned that we were better than all the others because we had that room ... It is the same thing with the Swedish unions ... have you seen the European unions at the anti-globalisation demonstrations, have you seen them when their people lost their jobs? If something is never used, it is pretty and it is big, but it is like my mother's living-room.
Throughout the LO's history, it has witnessed a number of organisational conflicts that have indirectly affected the development of strategies for immigrant workers. The first serious political conflict within the LO arose in the aftermath of the 1909 general strike, which was lost. Radical groups based on syndicalism forged a new trade union (the SAC, Sveriges Arbetares centralorganisation) which is still around but has never mounted much of a challenge. (9) A more serious challenge to reformism within the LO and to its links to the SDP came from the strength of communist activism. But, during the 1950s in particular, the communists were marginalised by a concerted effort from within the unions with the help of the SDP. Subsequent major conflicts have focused on the challenge from public-service employees to improve their relative position within the labour market vis-a-vis industrial workers. In the LO, this also became a gender conflict between the predominantly female union of municipal workers and the male bastion of the LO, the metal workers' union. Finally, strains developed between the SDP and the LO during the 1980s and 1990s that threatened their alliance, as the SDP became increasingly influenced by neoliberal ideas and the example of Britain's...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.
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