Stieg Larsson remembered
The speech given by his partner Eva Gabrielsson to the Observatorio
contra la Violencia Domestica y de Genero
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
Good evening all representatives of /Observatorio contra la Violencia
Domestica y de Genero/. Ladies and gentlemen, As you already may know,
Stieg Larsson was not interested in public attention about himself as a
private person. To become a media celebrity was for him unthinkable.
Writing just for money as a mainstream journalist or commercial author
was his very nightmare. He did not want to be visible like that. Stieg
Larsson wanted to make people and societies visible.
When I met Stieg Larsson in 1972 he defined himself as a feminist. This
was unusual. He saw the situation of women at an early age and never
stopped seeing it.
Stieg Larsson's actions and his views of the world, can mainly be
understood from a perspective of women's rights. However, his concern
was all violence against people who are branded "wrong" at some "wrong"
point in time. Sooner or later we might all be affected since we all
belong to some minority.
This is barbarism with a high risk factor, since it can erode
civilisation from within.
One example is from Autumn 2003, when Cecilia Englund worked with Stieg
at Expo on a book entitled "The Debate on Honorary Killings", where
parallels were drawn between the almost simultaneous murders of a
kurdish woman named Fadime Sahindal and a Swedish model named Melissa
Nordell. Sahindal's murder was described as an "honorary killing" and
something foreign to "Swedish culture". Nordell's murder was - just an
"ordinary murder".
Stieg called them "sisters in death", both victims of the same
patriarchal behaviour to control through violence. To view this as a
question of culture only opened the door towards racism or endless
research about ethnicity. While women would continue to be battered and
killed. The book's subtitle was consequently "Feminism or Racism". This
is what Stieg Larsson said in this anthology:
"The forms of oppression differ - but not the cause of oppression. The
forms vary dramatically between Sicilian honorary murders, burning
widows in India or battering of girlfriends and wives on Saturdays
nights in Sweden. The culture does not explain the underlying causes as
to why the women of the world are being murdered, disfigured,
circumcised, beaten and forced into different forms of ritual behaviour
decided by men - the causes being that men in patriarchal societies
oppress women.
This is a systematic violence against women - for this is exactly what
it is about - and would be described as such, if violence of the same
proportions were directed against trade unionists, jews or handicapped
people. Feminism and anti-racism are two sides of the same coin. None of
them must be implemented at the other's expense." Stieg Larsson wanted
to make all these dangers visible.
The Millennium crime novel trilogy is a new way of making discrimination
and violence against women visible. I am sorry that the illusion of
Sweden as a just and equal society happened to be shattered in the
process. Millennium shows that Sweden is as good - or as bad - as other
countries and by no means perfect. This is all for the better. We need
good maps of reality in our journey through life, and not illusions. The
castles of our dreams can otherwize become our mental prisons.
As the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish wrote: "Tell me how you lived
your dream in some place, and I'll tell you who you are"
Finally: This prize of the Observatorio is most unusual in general. It
is also most unusual in particular. I wish to underline, that is the
first award ever given for Stieg Larsson's question of the heart - women
and womens' situation in our patriarchal societies. He would be honoured
by being in the same company as the four earlier award winners.
Nothing would please him more, than knowing that this inner meaning of
Millennium has been seen, listened to and understood, and now made
visible once more, in yet another way - by this prize from /Observatorio
contra la Violencia Domestica y de Genero/, today.
On behalf of my lifelong partner, lover and best friend, Stieg Larsson -
the man who loved women - thank you very much.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/54145,news,stieg-larsson-remembered-by-eva-gabrielsson
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