FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Stuff

SWEDISH SKINHEAD STOMP

Today, raging Swedish neo-nazis, nationalists, and your basic right-wingers will get together, as they do every year on November 30, to commemorate the death of 16th-century warrior king Charles XII. The way they do it is they march around a little, shout "Keep Sweden Swedish" at other Swedes, and, of course, have their asses handed to them by the local anarchists, commies, and your basic anti-racists. November 30 has been a national holiday in Sweden since 1853 but it wasn't until the late 60s that its celebrators decided to start saying "no jews or negros allowed." The racist aspect culminated in the 80s when neo-nazi skins joined in and, as a reaction to that, opposing anti-fascist organizations put together November 30 counter-demonstrations, generally outnumbering the skins by the thousands. By the mid-90s, the fight had become so entrenched in Swedish youth culture that some joker decided to make

a feature-length adaptation of Romeo and Juliet

based around it, where Romeo is a sizzling young nazi-skin and Juliet is a sizzling young immigrant chick. Recently, though, the demonstration has been kind of a major yawn. Last year the racist side numbered in the

low 30s

, which I guess is great news for progress and all, but definitely did not make for a satisfying beat-down. It's been stated plenty o'times that the November 30 battle was going the way of the pennyfarthing or the Klan, but this year, what with the recession and Obama making everybody all pissed-off and fighty, analysts are projecting that the brawl will be completely "off the chain." I guess we'll find out tonight. Oh, and if you happen to be in Stockholm and feel like punching a nazi, you'll find them on and around Riddarholmen (and most likely marching towards the Charles XII statue in Kungsträdgården). Otherwise, the anti-fascists will demonstrate against racism on Odenplan and march towards Hötorget and my bet is that it'll all clinch in Kunsträdgården at about 8 PM. See you there!