Thread by @AndreiaSaveSwe

So, let's talk about #Sverigebilden (Sweden's international image)

[Thread]

In 2016, when I was 22, I moved from Portugal to Sweden. I was very tired of Portugal & its problems with corruption and a system with lots of problems. I moved to Stockholm even though I had never even been in Sweden before & I didn't know anyone there. All I had was hope.

I grew up hearing about Scandinavia as the utopia of the World. Since I was a child, I saw news about Scandinavia & it was all about life quality, low corruption, honesty, respect, lots of opportunities, economic growth, strong unions that protect workers interests.

Back then I didn't know what #Sverigebilden was. I just knew that what I heard about Sweden & Scandinavia sounded really good. Even if some (very few) news came out about problems in Sweden, it was always rounded up with some kind of explanation as to why it's no reason to worry.

When I arrived in Stockholm I was extremely impressed. I fell in love with the city. The buildings were so beautiful, there was water everywhere, plenty of cosy coffeshops, amazing museums... Winter was colder than I'm used to, but the long summer days were so exotic for me.

I noticed that people were really quiet & didn't interact with each other so much, which was kind of boring but in a way also exotic. There was a certain calming aspect to it. Swedes explained to me that it's their way to show respect: give each other space. "hmm ok", I thought

I learned swedish, sent tons of CVs & got called to some interviews for jobs to which I was very overqualified. But since I didn't speak the language 100% & lacked experience, I accepted the reality of having to start like that. I used the jobs I got as a way to practice swedish

Later I met people from USA, UK, Australia & NZ, all of which got jobs without having to speak the language at all & without having experience. I thought it was a bit weird but assumed they had been lucky & I hadn't. Now I know better. There's lots of discrimination in Sweden.

It became painfully clear to me that there are several different categories of emigrants in 🇸🇪 & I was at the bottom, since I came from South Europe. I heard quite often about the "manana manana" mentality of where I came from. "ppl down there are lazier & want siesta", I heard.

I also heard a lot about how "the system" didn't work in countries in South Europe. About how when you hire an electrician he'll surely show up half an hour late, trains don't come on time & public officials are not to trust in such countries.

I was quite disappointed about many things in my country, so I tented to agree with many of the things I heard. But I started slowly noticing the underlying ego of it all: "In other countries, the system is not as trustworthy as in Sweden", "We do it better here"

Many times I noticed that people showed confidence in parts of the Swedish system that they didn't even have any contact with yet. People just assumed that it worked well, since it's swedish. I had also thought like that in the beginning. I started questioning myself.

What was it about Sweden, the swedes & all things swedish, that deserved immediate trust? Was it some kind of official stamp of excellence?

What was leading people to think like that?

I now understand that it's #Sverigebilden. I now understand that it works like a brand. And it's a prestigious one. There is *a lot* of work being put into protection the reputation of that brand. There's a lot of efforts to build trust in that brand, across the whole World.

I now understand that I was fooled by #Sverigebilden. I was young & naive and I believed what I saw & heard about Sweden. I believed the reputation. I know better now. I now understand that a good reputation can be just a pandora box, waiting to be opened.

The pandemic has been the key to that pandora box, for me & many others. We got to see the lengths to which swedish public officials will go to, just to save face & to save their own skins. We got to see them make serious mistakes & lie about it without taking *any* consequences

People abroad know about the Toblerone story. Some politician in Sweden had to resign because of buying a Toblerone with public money. Everyone goes "uuuh it must work really well in Sweden, they don't tolerate the slightest corruption!"

Don't be fooled, there's plenty of corruption & shady games behind the scenes. Thing is that those stories don't make it out into the world. And when they do, ppl find a group of (mostly) emigrants to blame for it, like MEWAS. We were supposed to keep the secrets. But we didn't.

I used to think that the reason why very few negative news about Sweden make it out into the World, but now I understand that there's very few negative news about Sweden abroad because #Sverigebilden is to be protected at all costs & there's a system in place for that purpose.

Lesson learned:

Not everything that shines is gold

Many people blame me of having unrealistic expectations of Sweden, which led to disappointment.

My answer: if I'm gonna be in a country with systemic problems, arrogance, lies & lack of accountability, I might as well be in a country with good weather, nice food & nice people

I don't need to pay some of the world's highest taxes to be in a country that promotes itself as a 5 star hotel when in fact many of those stars would be gone if an inspection would come.