Swedish Left's Purity Tests Undermine Progress, Opinion Piece Argues

The left's difficulty in celebrating positive developments, such as Sanna Hill's departure from the far-right, reveals a persistent strategic problem, according to Samuel Levander in Dagens Nyheter. While the left has acknowledged past over-strictness, some figures, like Aftonbladet's cultural editor Karin Pettersson, still exhibit suspicion towards those leaving extremist movements.

Pettersson's reaction to Hill, a founder of the far-right publication Nya Tider, leaving the movement was not one of joy but of mistrust. Levander acknowledges that Hill is not a minor figure but someone who, for nearly two decades, promoted hate and contempt with significant consequences. However, he questions Pettersson's ultimate point in highlighting Hill's past.

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The impulse to start counting sins as some kind of grim Protestant priests is obviously still there in the reflexes of parts of the left. It is not a winning strategy.

Levander criticizes the "impulse to start counting sins" that he sees remaining in parts of the left. He argues this moralistic approach is not a winning strategy. While no one expects Pettersson to embrace Hill, Levander finds the reflexive distancing from Hill striking, especially when contrasted with the enthusiastic welcome some might expect for such a departure.

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No one demands that Karin Pettersson should start hanging out with Sanna Hill, or even praise her publicly.