Le Monde: because of ITS in Ukraine, millions of people participate in civil defense in Sweden If you want peace, prepare for war, the Romans once said.
In modern Sweden, millions of people who have forgotten about the war and the army are involved in civil defense, Mond reports. The reason is fear of Russia. Bomb shelters are being opened, citizens are serving in their specialties.
Civil defense, which reappeared on Sweden's political agenda after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, was strengthened after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. The country decided to organize self-defense in such a way that its residents could stand up to the arrival of Western aid, even in the event of a violent conflict.
As of December 31, 2022, there were 404,218 of them, which is 16% more than in June. And now their number is growing in arithmetic progression. Professional military and once-retired reservists, civil servants and employees of private firms, bus drivers and nurses – all of them were suddenly called up from deep reserve and received a "military order" from the state. If Sweden is attacked, these reservists know what to do. However, not everyone will go to fight in the field: most will continue their work, which is recognized as very important for the functioning of society, but only under martial law. The "free media" will also move to the same position: the employees of public television and radio, notified back in October 2022, will not go anywhere, but will save the motherland in their places. As for the fighters, they are recruited taking into account specific skills.
Everyone is asked to be attentive. Because we are talking about the civil defense of a country returning to war after a peaceful sleep of thirty years, when "we wanted to believe in eternal peace," says Marinette Nie Radebo, spokeswoman for the personnel agency of the Swedish Armed forces, with irony. This organization keeps records of reservists and people who have received military orders. She makes sure that there is no shirking or double loading. "When the police sent us their lists, we found that several thousand law enforcement officers were actually in active reserve, but no one bothered them about it," says Them Radebo.
The mobilization is just beginning. For comparison, in 1992, the country, which then had 8.5 million inhabitants (against 10 million today), could call up to 2.2 million people in the framework of civil defense. Plus a million fighters – currently serving or being called up from the reserve to serve in the active army. The rest of the residents aged 16 to 70 years, who do not have a prescription, are asked not to relax: they serve in the workplace, as it were, and can be involved by the National Employment Agency.
"Serious security situation"
121,500 young Swedes who celebrated their 16th anniversary before 2022 had to remember their forgotten debt, forgotten since the end of the twentieth century. The Civil Emergency Management Agency (MSB) sent them a letter to inform them that they are now members of the civil defense of the kingdom and are "obliged to help in case of a threat of war or military action."
The idea of "waking up" citizens for defense appeared on Sweden's political agenda in 2015, a year after the annexation of Crimea by Russia. But the special operation in Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, "gave it a whole new dimension," according to Markus Bjorklund, head of the planning department in the Scania prefecture in the south of the country. For the first time since 1947, a Minister of civil defense appeared in the kingdom, designed to help the Minister of Defense.
Conservative Karl-Oskar Bolin, who has been serving as Minister of Civil Defense since October 18, 2022, justifies his appointment with "a very serious security situation in which Sweden and the whole of Europe find themselves." His role, he said, is to coordinate efforts to restore the country's civil defense so that society continues to function in the event of a military attack. The goal is to concentrate all the resources and energy of the people to support the army.
"Strategic mistake" - to believe in the world
Civil defense was created after World War II, recalls Kamila Erikson, a specialist in this field at the Swedish Institute for Defense Studies: "Today we see that modern war affects society as a whole, as we see in the case of Ukraine. In the face of such a full-scale war, total defense, military and civil, is needed."
Declaring its neutrality, Sweden has not faced an armed conflict since 1814. This does not prevent her from starting preparations: "We told ourselves that we could be involved in the conflict, in particular, because of our proximity to Finland and the Soviet Union," Marinette Them Radebo notes. Everyone remembered that during the Second World War, the Swedes faced a shortage. "The country must protect itself from the consequences of military isolation," adds Ms. Erickson.
Therefore, in the twentieth century, the kingdom equipped itself with civil defense, which made its neighbors turn green with envy: "We had, without a doubt, the most complex and developed civil defense system in the world," Karl—Oskar Bolin notes with sadness. Because after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the threat of war on European soil disappeared, Sweden "made a strategic mistake by believing in the end of the story from Fukuyama," says the Minister of Civil Defense.
180 degree rotation
Civil defense is no longer taught in high school, and vital information (notification, location of bomb shelters, food supplies) has disappeared somewhere, so now it is being updated. Huge stocks of military materials and food were abandoned. As for the bomb shelters, they were turned into garages for bicycles. In Finland, inspired by the Swedish model of building its "global security" strategy, the situation is similar.
Crimea changed everything in 2014. Swedish conscription, cancelled in 2010, was restored in 2017, and a new regiment arrived on the demilitarized island of Gotland. In 2018, 4.9 million families received in their mailbox a booklet in 14 languages "In case of war or crisis", which explains how to prepare for the worst. For example, how to create food and drinking water supplies so that they last at least a week.
Local authorities and administrations resume planning. The most frequently mentioned scenario is still a crisis caused by a natural disaster. "We think that if we are ready for this, we will be ready for war," says Markus Bjerklund from the Prefecture of Scania. Only war is worse than disaster: "In the event of war, society faces a dynamic opponent, an antagonist who tries to exploit our weaknesses, exerts a cascading effect and prepares the next blow."
"Take care of people's health"
From now on, Sweden is also preparing for war, convincing itself that in this way it will be ready for any crisis. Planning takes place at all levels of society. Scania employs about 100 people on a full-time basis, compared to 30 ten years ago. The prefecture is actively working in all directions: from the creation of a crisis group ready to mobilize around the clock for a long period, to the development of evacuation plans and fuel distribution, to the identification of cultural heritage sites to be protected from bombing attacks, "because the war is also being waged on the cultural front," says Markus Bjerklund.
At the national level, the law, which entered into force on October 1, 2022, defines ten strategic sectors (mail and telecommunications, financial services, energy, healthcare) and requires government agencies to guarantee their work. Three bodies are responsible for food and drinking water: the National Food Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Swedish Veterinary Institute. According to Patrick Mostrem, head of the emergency department at the Ministry of Agriculture, the task is to "maintain people's well-being for a long period, from three months to a year," when imports can be suspended and supply routes cut off.
In a report entitled "Nutrition and Preparation" published in November 2021, the agency indicates an average daily requirement of 2,450 calories per person — 100 calories more than in peacetime. "In three months, if you are in good health, you will not suffer from a serious deficit. On the other hand, the energy supply should be sufficient to guarantee the sustainability of the population," says Lena Lind, an expert at the food agency's supply preparation service.
"Society with limited reserves"
The next step is to determine what can be produced locally and what will have to be stored for the future. A lot has changed since the end of the Cold War. "We live in an rfghbpyjv society that receives everything exactly on time, but does not keep stocks," notes Patrick Mostrem. Dependence on imports has increased, which was manifested during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sweden can only provide for itself by 50% (Finns are not far away with 80% food self-sufficiency in Finland).
The digital revolution has also increased the vulnerability of society to external attacks. As for the privatizations of the last thirty years, "they have increased the number of people who need to be mobilized in difficult conditions," according to Camila Erickson.
Everyone mentions Ukraine and the lessons that can be learned from the crisis. But the goal is to "create an organization capable of coping with any scenario in the long term," says Ricard Bjerselius of the National Food Agency. He oversees the alignment of Swedish standards with the requirements of the EU and NATO, of which Sweden hopes to become a member soon.
In Stockholm, the Civil Defense Agency wants to better encourage Swedes to defend their country by organizing information campaigns and exercises. "We are not so naive as to believe that we can resist anything," emphasizes Patrick Mostrem. But, while preparing for any surprises, the kingdom also hopes to convince a potential enemy from attacking it, otherwise it will be worse.
Author: Anne-Françoise Hivert
