When three people were killed by a man with a sword in Trollhättan in 2015, Bilan Osman began to think about writing about a school shooting. Ten years later, she debuts with the novel "It was better before". The book was sent to print on the same fateful day that Rickard Andersson cold-bloodedly shot ten people in a school in Örebro.
It was a matter of time. But it has always been a matter of time before it would happen in Sweden, she says at a café in a Stockholm suburb.
As a journalist, Bilan Osman has long been monitoring both right-wing extremism and radical Islamism, and is therefore forced to live with a protected identity. She always carries a police alarm, has been threatened countless times, and has been assaulted on two occasions.
Complex
The book revolves around a pair of young people growing up on Vallön outside Gothenburg. It is Liam, Leyla – and her mother Fadumo, who fled here in the 90s from war-torn Somalia. Bilan Osman wanted to capture the complexity of a small community where everyone knows each other, but where racism is steadily increasing.
Several of those she grew up with are today active in right-wing extremist organizations.
It is a major reason why I monitor the right-wing extremist environment. I wanted to describe that, because I feel it is lacking, she says.
In the book, Somali Fadumo increasingly feels that she must apologize in the small community, without really knowing why or to whom. It is a feeling many who are subjected to racism recognize, Bilan Osman believes.
You don't know, have I done something wrong, why is that person staring? For many who are subjected, it takes a long time before you want to acknowledge to yourself that it is about racism.
Radical change
Bilan Osman emphasizes that right-wing extremist ideas have been normalized in Sweden over the past ten years – and that the change is radical.
I remember how brutal it felt when the Sweden Democrats came into the Riksdag, I thought it would affect Swedish politics, which it really has, she says, recalling the resistance in the 90s.
But now it's as if everyone has become powerless against fascism, which is always the problem when it takes over. It takes over through silence.
To be able to give a complex picture of the perpetrator, Bilan Osman has been hanging out on digital forums with the extreme right. It may seem controversial, but understanding that environment has made her less scared. She has also learned that the "lone perpetrators" are far from being alone – many have similar views.
It's much worse than I thought.
Born: 1992
Lives: Stockholm
Family: A five-year-old son.
Background: Has worked as a journalist, researcher, and communicator. Is a columnist for the magazine Syre, and has freelanced for Expressen, Svenska Dagbladet, and Dagens ETC. Has also worked at the Expo Foundation.
Likes to read: "I grew up with Henning Mankell, so I'm a Mankell nerd. Otherwise, it's been a lot of Somali poetry lately."
Writing plans: "It gets so empty when you've left a manuscript. I've already started on the next book, which will be about a real person who existed in Sweden but was murdered a few years ago."
... organized right-wing extremists:
– Many get stuck on the Nordic Resistance Movement, and they have lost a lot among young people. Young people today join Active club, which is like a fight club - where hooligans meet Nazis. Skinheads have made a comeback too, there are about 60 organized skinheads just in Stockholm, and call themselves Stockholm skins. You have to understand the trends, then you can understand people.
... the Örebro shooting:
– I think the police have done an extremely good job. You have to remember that they didn't have access to his mobile, which usually determines how someone functions. Then there was some communicator who said "there are no signs of racism". There have been reports that he was surfing on Nya Tider just before the shooting, as Aftonbladet has written about. So you can draw your own conclusions. But so far, it's all speculation. The only thing you can establish is that it's horrific.
