Yesterday was a brilliant spring day, sunny and unusually mild for the season. But the events in Stockholm hang like a grey cloud over the spring feeling. Walking through the center of my own city, Gothenburg, there was a marked increase in security. Police officers with automatic rifles were standing in street corners, police cars could be seen all over. There was likely no reason to be afraid, as everything pointed to the attack being a singular event. But there is also no way to exclude that an attack may happen again. It seems as we are on a path of societal and environmental destruction while our rampant consumption is used to cover up the mental scars it's causing.
For us as individuals, finding a way to counter the ongoing negative news can feel overwhelming and impossible. We don't have armies and bombs to throw at the evil forces (as if if would solve the problems). The men (mostly men and some women) in power perceive themselves to be isolated from most of the effects, thus decreasing their motivation for taking real action. Thus, it is to a large extent up to us as humans, citizens, individuals and interlinked people on our planet to catalyse a change. But today the challenges we face are many, interlinked and complex. There are no simple solutions; the only ones that advocate for simple solutions are the populists who wants to restrict our lives and build walls both physically and mentally. They are the both scary and scared people, afraid of freedom, afraid of both bright colours and grayscale. Terrorists as well as populists have the same longing for viewing the world in black and white. They both hate the rainbow flags, the softness and ambiguity of an open society.
It is there, in the strength of an open and soft society that my hope came back and allowed me to crawl up from the mental pit I was close to fall into last night. Because the overwhelming response in Stockholm and Sweden was not fear, it was support. The trending hashtag on Twitter in Sweden was not #terror, it was #openstockholm. By using this tag, people in the city stranded due to lack of transport could find places to rest and stay. Citizens as well as companies opened up, inviting strangers to stay as long as they needed. Parents picked up each others kids from school, shops made sure that children could get food. It was not something ordered or organised, it was as response that was built from trust and a web of connections.
Moreover, as many has commented today, the crucial backbone of society in the form of police, emergency services, hospitals and first responders did actually work when a crisis occurred. The government functioned, vital areas such as the parlament were secured. Above all, people accepted the situation and the inconvenience of having to walk home or catch a lift with someone who had room in their car. Ordinary citizens bought food for police officers on watch during the night. We are not a collapsing society.
So despite the terror of yesterday, I am somewhat more hopeful today about our joint possibility to steer the development in a more benign way. Yet, what yesterday also shows is that to really use the wast resources that we together can muster in a time of crisis, we need to understand that there is a clear and present danger. We must not lull ourselves, we need to transform our world. More on that path later, but the great stories can give a hint on what is needed.
