In the book "My Struggles", the debater and psychiatric nurse continues her long fight against Islamism, religious fanaticism, honor-based oppression and for women's rights.
School choice contributes
"They are still everywhere and it's free as long as we have free school choice," says Baksi about how school choice has given Islamists money and opportunities to spread their teachings.
She writes that “the TV channels, the independent schools and the organized crime” combined with the weak position of immigrant parents towards their children have had a major impact on the spread of radical Islamism. And those who have suffered from it are other Muslims who have been threatened and ostracized by extremist forces and, on the other hand, equated with Islamists.
And the left didn't want to see the problem, or didn't want to - out of fear of being accused - criticize Islamists. And the latter used it.
– The sad thing was that it was we Muslims who suffered from their oppression, says Nalin Baksi.
– They hijacked anti-racism.
Been clueless
Baksi, formerly Pekgul, criticizes politics in general for having, for a long time, unwittingly given support to Islamists. They have been able to advance their positions and paint society as a threat to immigrant Muslims. Baksi believes that both Göran Persson and Fredrik Reinfeldt showed lack of understanding.
She comes from a politically committed family with several imams who, for centuries in Turkey, opposed fanatical literal interpretations of Islam. And they, like her, believed that religion should not be mixed with politics.
– For me, Islam is tolerance, love and flexibility. But Islamism is an ideology that wants to limit people's freedom and especially women's freedom, says Baksi.
Left politics
She was often accused of doing the racists' work. But it was hatred and threats from Islamists and their defenders that made her leave politics in 2011, she says. At the same time, she lost the election for the presidency of S-kvinnor, the Social Democratic Women's League.
That was good, she says - then she could use it as justification for leaving politics. Her family, she says, would have seen her as a traitor if she had bowed to Islamist threats.
Political comeback, perhaps? No.
"I think I have a much greater impact through writing," says Nalin Baksi, who has columns in several newspapers.
