Anna Lindh, Swedish Foreign Minister, Dies from Knife Wounds

[BurtWorm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/11/international/europe/11CND-SWED.html?hp


September 11, 2003
Swedish Foreign Minister Dies After Knife Attack
By ALAN COWELL


STOCKHOLM, Sept. 11 — Anna Lindh, the Swedish foreign minister tipped as a potential leader of the nation, died of knife wounds early today after she was stabbed in a department store on Wednesday. Her death left the land dismayed and distressed, stirring painful memories of the 1986 slaying of Prime Minister Olof Palme.

...


Goran Persson, the prime minister, said Ms. Lindh died after hours of surgery in which physicians battled in vain to save her. Her killing "hurts the society we have built," he said at a news conference, adding: "It hurts our trust in society. What is needed now is for us to come together around the values that we want Sweden to stand for."

Most of all, many Swedes seemed stunned that violence should intrude so easily into a society that has long striven for inner harmony and peace and in which politicians, as elsewhere in Scandinavia, can walk the streets without security details, mingling with the people they are supposed to represent.

"This is absurd," said Fredrik Sanabria, a computer specialist heading for his office. "It's terrible wherever it happens. But you think you would be safe from this kind of violence in a country like Sweden."


...


Ms. Lindh, a powerful figure in the Social Democrat Party that has dominated public life here for decades, was stabbed in the arms, chest and stomach and underwent surgery. Initially, the police said her condition was not life-threatening, but surgeons discovered widespread internal bleeding in the area of her liver.

She was tipped as a potential successor to Mr. Persson and had been foreign minister since 1998.

[Brucey]

1. Very sad,

this is a tragedy. Whatever the motive, this is another blow against civilization. Bush and his cartel have shown the way to many: violence is the answer. Too bad we can't get this guy out of office right now before he does more damage. Violence begets violence.

[Cha]

2. This is shocking! Yesterday I read the "knife wounds weren't

that serious"! May she RIP!

[dutchdemocrat]

3. She also called Bush

She also called Bush 'The Lone Ranger'... on top of being pegged to possibly run the country one day.

[Kamika]

5. uhmm

apart from usa she made critical remarks about italy, russia, turkey, china, possibly every muslim country in the world and Israel.. and the swedish ppl didnt give her bodyguards.. gogo swedish security

[BurtWorm]

7. I'd like to know what those remarks were that you're hinting at.

PS: Nice touch to edit your subject line from "heh" to "ummm." Out of respect for the dead, no doubt.

[Kamika]

8. dunno

i just read that she was overly critical.. i guess she didnt like muslims way of treating women.. israels palestina blaha etc dunno really

edit: yeah im so nice and sensitive :p

[BurtWorm]

9. Well, thanks for sharing.

[BurtWorm]

10. delete.

[TSElliott]

13. Here are some links...

http://www.clearharmony.net/articles/200307/13735.html

http://wwww.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/0/93a5f95f32de8f0cc1256b99004d3e4b?OpenDocument

http://www.obv.org.uk/europe/eu20030822a.html

http://www.byegm.gov.tr/YAYINLARIMIZ/CHR/ING2002/03/02x03x22.HTM#%203

http://www.ishr.ch/About%20UN/Reports%20and%20Analysis/CHR%2058%20-%20Examination.htm
~snip~
Ms Anna Lindh, Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, also strongly criticised the USA for use of the death penalty, stating, "ountries such as China, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Iran and Iraq, stand out in this barbaric practice". She urged them "not to resort to this primitive form of punishment"

[BurtWorm]

14. Yeah? So?

Did her calling countries that practice capital punishment "barbaric" cause some Swedish mental patient to come unhinged? Who knows?

[Kamika]

15. all im saying..

Is when you insult half the world you dont go shopping without bodyguards

[BurtWorm]

16. Were you insulted enough to want to kill her?

I wasn't. You know, we may live in barbaric old USA, but some countries are actually civilized. Imagine that!

[Kamika]

18. No but she behaved just like bush and that ticks ppl off

she behaved like sweden was great.. calling other countries barbaric etc.. just like how bush thinks usa is great and other countries are inferior.. she did the exact same thing.

that ticks ppl off. Foreign ministers shouldnt go around saying how barbaric another country is.. its not his/her business.. i may not like bush but i dont like someone calling us barbaric because we use a form of punishment they dont.

And these remarks werent all.. she called turkey barbaric too for how they handled kurds etc etc.


Anyway i feel like i need a disclaimer.. her murder is HORRIBLE but what i just dont get is why she didnt have any bodyguards when she went around like this.

[BurtWorm]

21. She called Turkey barbaric for how they handled Kurds!?

Shocking!

[AP]

23. Stop it. You're making me sick. The death penalty is barbaric

and I guarantee you that nobody killed her over this issue alone.

Assassinations are usually over things that are threats to the future political power and profits of the hegemony. No right wing government is going to let its hegemony disintegrate because of a slavish devotion to capital punishment. They'll let it go long before millions of chinese citizens get swayed by the logic of the Swedish FM's arguments.

If she was assassinated, it was because she was a future threat to someone's money and power.

If she was killed by a single issue madman, there's almost nothing you can do about it except to make sure that everyone who needs it can get psychiatric care. Nobody should stop criticizing capital punishment just because it might upset some lunatic. Everyday I criticize things, and I'm not going to stop just because someobody out there might want to kill me because of it.

[TSElliott]

26. The whole thing started

because someone said that she called bush "The Lone Ranger" maybe doing a tin-foil indication that he had her killed for it. Kimika-chan just stated that she has made similar comments about several other countries, indicating that if one assumed a statement was reason to kill her then Bush would be like 6th in line to do the deed.

[AP]

22. Please. If every politician who crtiticized the death penalty

were murdered, we'd see one of these assassinations a week.

Usually, liberal charismatic politicians are assassinated because right wingers think they're going to be able to state the obvious case for liberalism in all its apects (and not just the death penalty) to the public and the public will agree.

A rising star, attractive, with a penchance for stating the obvious truth. Better make a will. Sometimes I detest this world.

[Kamika]

24. again thats not the point

The point is she is saying other countries are barbaric while her own apparently is great. and that makes ppl angry. Im sure she didnt only criticize the death penatly , she criticized muslims because of their attitude towards women, criticized israel because of palestina issue. Criticized Italy because of something else. The whole idea to criticize soveriegn nations which isnt her business is wrong.

just imagine someone criticizing you all the time without ever mentioning they have any faults

[AP]

27. the quote "the barbaric practice".

She wasn't calling the countries barbaric, she was calling the practice barbaric. And I don't see where she's saying that Sweden is beyond reproach (in fact, if she's an elected official in Sweden, she very likely critical of something within its borders).

And my point again is that nobody killed her for calling the death penalty barbaric, or gender discrimination wrong (and she isn't the first and only person to do this. (Doesn't Kofi Anan issue reports every year making the same points?)

If she was assassnated by someone sane, it was because her entire liberal message, and her ability to get democratically elected was a threat to someone's hegemony. She was goingto cost someone powerful their money and their power (and shift it back to the people, and then shift it around in a way which created other rich people to challenge the hegemony's power).

It's always about wealth and power, and, in the 21st century, capital punishment in China and gender discrimination in Turkey isn't really the same threat to the hegemony that it was 40 years ago (especially, when criticizide by a Swedish FM or even PM).

[TSElliott]

17. You wanted to know what some of the remarks were.

So I just posted various links to what she said about China, Israel, Italy, Turkey and other Middle Eastern Countries.

[BurtWorm]

19. Yes, thanks for sharing.

And what she said was just barbaric. It's so rare when foreign ministers say anything critical of other countries. Just barbaric!

[TSElliott]

4. Did they ever catch the guy who stabbed her?

I am pretty surprised that a man was able to stab someone repeatedly with a knife in public then run away and no one attempted to stop him.

[StuartStark]

6. That frickin' SUCKS.

What's up with modern Europe and political assassinations?!

[DemBones DemBones]

11. Sadly, this shows the difficulty of eradicating violence.

Swedes were shocked that this sort of thing would happen in their country.

We were once shocked by killings in this country. I particularly remember the shock of JFK's assassination. Today we wouldn't be shocked by an attack on a political figure. I don't think it's that guns are more common today but that violence is more common. I understand why many progressives support gun control and used to support it myself. Now I think it's not the answer and would lead to more killers using knives and other weapons. How do we end the violence? Will we have metal detectors everywhere, attempting to confiscate all knives and guns? And will suicide bombers then walk right through the metal detectors? And more killers use everyday items like ballpoint pens as weapons? Why do we have so many killers?

Violence must be eliminated through treating the root causes, I think. More attention must be paid to this.

Meanwhile, a woman has died in Sweden, a woman who was the Swedish Foreign Minister, victim of a knife attack. Perhaps victim of a political enemy. She was campaigning for Sweden to adopt the Euro, not a popular policy with most Swedes, according to polls. Was she murdered by someone who wanted to keep the traditional currency, the kroner?

Whatever the reason, a woman has died in Sweden, a woman who was the Swedish Foreign Minister. May she rest in peace.

[donsu]

12. I'm wondering if she will make The Bush Body Count

http://www.bk2k.com/bushbodycount/bodies.html

[dutchdemocrat]

20. Sadly

That was my thought too...

[JohnKleeb]

25. Thats so sad may she rest in peace