Minorities: Government investigators oppress us

Published 22 October 2024 at 12.40

Domestic. Representatives of Sweden's national minorities direct harsh criticism against historian Lars Trägårdh's ongoing investigation into a Swedish cultural canon. They believe that the process violates the law on the right of minorities to influence – and describe it as “continued oppression”.

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Annette Kohkoinen, vice president of Swedish National Association of Tornedalingers, says that the national minorities have not been given any opportunity to influence the investigation – despite the fact that the cultural canon “affects us a lot.”

– It is part of writing Sweden's history, but we must not be involved in the work. It's absurd, we live in the year 2024. This is not acceptable. It is continued oppression, she tells Dagens Nyheter.

Helen Kantokoski Kviby from the Swedish Finns Archives also criticizes the investigation and believes that it marginalises minorities.

Lars Trägårdh has been clear that he personally do not want cream cheese for so-called national minority groups.

– All this with national minorities should be stopped at once, it is madness, he told DN in June.

The Cultural Canon Committee will present its proposal on 31 August 2025.