Today I’m in Stockholm, Sweden, and participated in the memorial service for the victims of the Holocaust. It was cold, wet and dark and I listened to the Prime Minister of Sweden, Stefan Löfvén, who spoke some quite wise words.
“I refuse to listen to the sound of boots marching”, he said, and the audience cheered.
He spoke of how important it is to stand up to oppression of certain groups everywhere and reminded us of some current examples:
“Jews in Europe, Roma in Hungary and Romania, homosexuals in Russia.”
He spoke of tolerance and the importance of the international community showing support for marginalized groups and efusing to let hatred seep in and become normal. He spoke of the importance of such an extinction not to happen again. I appreciated his speach as I believe the current Swedish government – established after a lot of drama – won’t cooperate with the extreme right, and the Prime Minister’s words on a day like this are important.
A few attendants cried and afterwards there was going to be an official service with invited authorities, where among those the admirable organization Young Muslims Against Antisemitism were to participate. When the service wrapped up and we were to bring candles to the memorial statue of the victims of the Holocaust, it struck me that I recently did particpate in another memorial service. I took part of a memorial service for the 145 victims of the school massacre in Peshawar, Pakistan, a few days after it happened. It was an emotional service where we also lit candles and where most attendants cried floods for the young children who has been slaughtered in their own school.
That massacre no one mentioned today. And maybe it’s not surprising. The Peshawar massacre was an extinction that was mostly forgotten by the international media two days after it had happened. We talk about how it can’t happen again, but it’s going on right now in the time of the information age where we can’t say we don’t know. But when it’s not close to home it seems we can’t relate to it.
When leaving the ceremony today I thought of the quote of Friedrich Hegel that the interviewee Louis Yako once told me:
“‘The only thing we learn from history, is that we learn nothing from history.“
Photo credit: globe-views.com
Sweden and the Middle East Views 
Thank you for your story. Unbelievable, we must never forget. Never ever!
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Thanks Dina!
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Reblogged this on Buster's Two Cents and commented:
Thanks, JC, for your observations from Sweden, and for mentioning the Young Muslims Against Antisemitism. We need more young people everywhere saying “no” to the prejudices and hatred of their forebears. They are our best and possibly only hope for stopping “IT” happening again and again.
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Reblogged your important message.
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Thank you and thank you for reblogging! the NGO I mentioned is a beautiful initiative.
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I just thought about it the same thing, people all around writing “never again” while is already happening. Yesterday victims were Jews and Roma people and today are the just caring different identities. It is so unbelievable how we continue living in ignorance. It is like by feeling guilt for our history accept that the presents crimes are OK to commit.
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