A decade after her iconic anti-Nazi photo, Swedish activist sees the far right normalised
Tess Asplund, the woman photographed raising her fist against a neo-Nazi march in 2016, says the far right has since become mainstream in Sweden, with the Sweden Democrats forecast to place second in the 13 September election.
Ten years ago, a photographer with Stockholm's anti-racism foundation Expo captured an image that circled the globe: a lone Black woman, fist raised, standing before hundreds of uniformed neo-Nazis marching through the town of Borlänge. The photo became a global symbol of resistance to the far right.
Today, the woman in that photograph, Tess Asplund, 52, says what once felt like a shared rejection of Nazism has given way to something far more troubling. She describes the far right as having become normalised in Swedish society over the past decade.
Election looms as far right gains ground
Ahead of Sweden's general election on 13 September, polls show the centre-left opposition leading the ruling rightwing coalition, raising the possibility of a change in government. Yet the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in neo-Nazi movements, are projected to finish second again, as they did in 2022, when they became a key supporting partner to the minority government.
The party has faced persistent accusations of harbouring violent racists and Nazi sympathisers. It has used its parliamentary leverage to push restrictive migration policies targeting asylum seekers and Muslims. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson suggested the far right could formally enter government after the election, a moment widely seen as a turning point.
From the front line to the shadows
Asplund travelled to Borlänge on 1 May 2016 to protest a march by the Nordic Resistance Movement, one of Sweden's largest neo-Nazi groups. After the photo went viral, strangers thanked her on the street, but she also received threats and harassment.
She argues that while the Nordic Resistance Movement — designated a terrorist organisation by the US in 2024 — has become less visible, the Sweden Democrats have absorbed its agenda into mainstream government. A Syrian refugee beaten unconscious in central Stockholm last year told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter that politicians blaming immigrants for the country's problems have emboldened violent groups.
Asplund also points to young people who grew up in Sweden being deported to their parents' countries of birth after failing to meet new income thresholds for migrants. While she believes many Swedes still fight for human rights, she says she no longer recognises the country she grew up defending.
