The Somali woman can be more than a scapegoat
Updated 08.44 | Published 04.00
“It was better in the past” by Bilan Osman
It has disappeared Four months ago the shooting at the Risbergska School in Örebro. The incident is described as the worst massive shooting of Sweden, in which ten people lost their lives and six people were seriously injured. The majority of the victims were immigrants Sweden who studied cleaning and elderly care, but according to the police the selection of victims has been random. It is a statement that properly illustrates how the application of racial profiling and violence of the police against “the randomly selected” can lead to premature death. Regardless of the stated motive of the perpetrator, this is the basis of structural racism.
Nobody writes about Risbergska anymore, nor about the terrorist attack in Trollhättan, but it is inevitable to do this Bilan OsmanS Roman “It was better in the past”. The novel is set in the fictional, West -Zweedse city of Vallön, a small community where everyone knows everyone, but that has increasingly become divided. In short sections, the all -knowing storyteller describes how the violence escalates by switching between the Somali wife Fadumo, her teenage daughter Leyla and the pendant child friend Liam.
Osman is one Well -known writer and former employees at Expo, and have long investigated right -wing environments and profiles. Because of its actual prose and the design of Liam, it is noticeable, which is gradually radicalized on “Banana Right”, an online forum that consists partly of older Americans: “Their parents are the archetype of Boomers who have had all the opportunities in the world, open and housing options were good. Opportunities of a worthy future in the collision of the system are minimal
The right worldview that we now have access to daily, and in contrast to one of these “millions of refugees”, where the mother Fadumo might be more than scapegoat, more than one woman who was forced to flee and leave her family. I feel how I long for fiction that tells about the first generation, about our parents, because they are rarely visible or represent themselves. But after all, it will be a separate track, or an escalation, in the most important case of the novel, which focuses on increased political contradictions and how they mainly influence a younger generation.
Osman tells A direct language and does not require academic knowledge about the issues set out, which makes the novel feel particularly suitable for young adults. The novel therefore works in a didactic tradition. It wants to learn the reader about the people and the place it embodies. It is often problematic from a purely narrative technology, because it creates a distance. It is striking that I often doubt the credibility of the thoughts of the characters and I get the feeling that instead it is the analysis of the author.
Osman has also been important for civil society and popular education. Everyone who has followed her in public in recent years knows that she has paid a high price for her work. That is why I am not surprised that she is now debuting as a novelist. Fiction prepares room for stories and languages that are not included in the public conversation, especially when freedom of expression deteriorates. Although unlike journalism, fiction does not have to distract his knowledge, and my high hope is to continue reading Osman without statements.
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