“Fredsfittan” – The Peace Pussy
The Swedish feminist and peace activist Agnese Hellström recently published a book about her struggle to advocate for peace in times of high emotions and relentless propaganda in the West. While the book does not yet exist in English (only in Swedish), here is the abstract by the author. Stay tuned for an online interview on our YouTube Channel.
In January 2022 Agnes Hellström had only four months left as the president of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, the world’s oldest still existing peace organization. After almost six years at the job she was getting ready to step down.
Working for a peace organization was in some ways more challenging than ever. The world’s military spendings was increasing, democracy was threatened world wide, right-wing extremism and authoritarian leaders gained ground. At the same time the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society had reached important milestones in their work. Sharper legislation for Swedish arms export had been implemented and nuclear weapons were, after over 60 years of hard work from civil society, finally banned by the UN.
On February 24th 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. The invasion was brutal and illegal and an instant an intense debate started in Sweden, pushing for sending Swedish arms to Ukraine and for joining NATO. Only a few days after the invasion the Swedish parliament decided to send military support to Ukraine, abandoning a long time practice of not supporting one side in a conflict with arms.
For Agnes Hellström it was the start of the toughest sprint of her life, both personally and professionally. Trying to nuance and broaden the perspectives on security issues she was accused of being a traitor who ran Putin´s errands. With a husband from Ukraine and a ukrainian refugee family moving in, the madness of war kept her awake at night. What would happen to friends and family who were still in Ukraine, would Putin use nuclear weapons?
In only three months the Swedish government made a complete U-turn, from a policy of being militarily non-aligned to applying for membership in NATO. Fredsfittan (the Peace Pussy) tries to answer the question of how it could happen so fast. How does the decision affect Sweden as a country, its democracy and security?
Fredsfittan (the Peace Pussy) is about being a feminist peace activist during a nearby war in an aggressive and militarized political debate. It digs deeper into the role of politics, the media, experts and tweeters in the biggest and fastest security policy upheaval in Sweden, ever. One of the main purposes of the book is to make sure that we never forget about a short period of time that changed Sweden and will affect its citizens for decades and possibly centuries to come.