Syriza congress: Alexis Tsipras (left), Manolis Glezos.
Europe
Alexis Tsipras addresses the congress.
Ken Loach.
By Jody Betzien, London
By Mathias Wåg, translated from Swedish by Petter Nilsson
May 28, 2013 -- Transform! -- Stockholm suburbs have been ablaze. Cars have been torched in suburbs around the city and when the firefighters and police arrive they have been met by youths throwing stones. Why is this? Why now? How come in Sweden?
Seen from the outside, Sweden can still seem like the promised land of welfare, the balanced third way between socialism and capitalism. But inside during the last 10 to 20 years, neoliberal policies have been eating away like termites consuming the welfare state's foundations from within, leaving it as an empty shell. And Stockholm, where the riots started and were centred, is the testing facility for neoliberal reforms large and small.