The ups and downs of 2009 were a fitting end to the first decade of the new millennium. Rob Hincks rummages through a mixed bag of memories to look back on what the year meant in Sweden.
Photo: Maja Suslin/Scanpix
As years go 2009 was fairly momentous. The final year of the decade saw the first black American president and the collapse of the financial system as we know it. It was the year when the world went wireless; revolutions were watched on Twitter, and YouTube and Facebook continued to replace face-to-face meetings.
Pirate mutiny
In Sweden, though, the internet revolution turned somewhat sour for the people behind file-sharing site the Pirate Bay. In January entertainment companies filed charges against them for violating copyright law. And as spring sprang in Stockholm they were sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay SEK 30 million (USD3.6 million) in damages.
Not all was lost. In the 10 days following the trial some 25,000 people rallied to the cause and joined the Pirate Party, which aims to legalize file-sharing via the internet and reform patent law. Bolstered by its newfound support the party went on to win a seat in the European Parliament in the EU elections in June. Revolution of a sort, it seems, was in the air in Sweden.
The royal wedding between Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling takes place on June 19, 2010. Photo: Suvad Mrkonjic/XP/Scanpix.
Wedding bells
Love was in the air, too. After much speculation Crown Princess Victoria and gym owner Daniel Westling announced their engagement. Not to be outdone, Victoria’s younger sister, Princess Madeleine, and her beau, Jonas Bergström, did the same in August. There must be something in the water at the Royal Palace.
It was also the year in which Sweden became the seventh country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriages; a progressive move that slipped in almost unnoticed among the Vic and Dan memorial books and coffee mugs.
Coffee mug sales aside, Sweden could not avoid the financial shockwaves that rippled across the globe in 2009. Worst hit was carmaker Saab. Put up for sale by owner General Motors, the company was finally closed down after a suitable buyer failed to emerge despite a mountain of speculation in the press and a surprising bid by Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg.
Saab got the red light after more than 60 years of making cars. Photo: Joe Raedle/Scanpix
Flu frenzy
Not one to miss an opportunity, Sweden used its six-month presidency of the EU (starting in June) to push through new proposals for a more secure and accountable pan-European financial system. It also promised 100% broadband coverage in all member states by 2013.
Perhaps in anticipation, Swedish telecoms company Telia began trialing a new broadband network in Stockholm in December. The world’s first 4G network (presumably one better than 3G) promises download speeds 10-20 times faster than currently available.
Technology may be here to stay, but swine flu came and went in Sweden. In a radical mass vaccination program, the Swedish state stuck needles in some four million arms (accounting for almost half the vaccinations in Europe), successfully combating the spread of the disease and introducing a hot topic at the watercooler — if you hadn’t been under the needle, you weren’t in the club.
Swedes cheer Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s every move at Barcelona. Photo: Manu Fernandez/Scanpix
World Cup blues
Sport was (as ever) another talking point. Ski champ Anja Pärson announced 2010 would be her swansong while former Celtic and Barcelona soccer star Henrik Larsson hung up his boots. Swedes let out a collective groan of despair when the national team failed to make the soccer World Cup in South Africa next year, but that did nothing to dent the popularity of striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Swedes delighted in his winner over Barcelona’s archrivals Madrid in November’s “el clásico” derby.
And for a moment, Robin Söderling reawakened memories of Sweden’s golden age of tennis. By reaching the final of the French Open in Paris (beating Rafael Nadal on the way) and the quarterfinal of the US Open in New York, Söderling put Swedish tennis back on the map.
White Christmas
Culturally speaking, vampires, murder and computer hacking were all the rage. The 2008 blockbuster Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In) continued to fuel vampire fever with releases and festival appearances across the globe. But it was the late Steig Larsson’s Millennium trilogy that caught the popular imagination. If estimates are to be believed the first film has already grossed USD 100 million worldwide. Add to that the multimillion-selling books and you have a literary and cinematic tour de force rarely seen on these shores.
In a fitting end to a year of global turbulence, much of Europe was ravaged by snow storms in the final weeks of December. For many this meant chaos. In Sweden, the nation awoke on December 24 to a white Christmas; the first for some time.
The Millennium trilogy’s lead actress, Naomi Rapace, was a fixture on red carpets during 2009. Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/Scanpix
The year ahead…
As for 2010, Stockholm has reason to celebrate after being elected the inaugural European Green Capital. And there will be more reason to celebrate (for some) in September when Swedes go to the polls to elect a new government. Then, of course, there are those weddings. Spare a thought for the poor king who has to stump up for two wedding presents in as many months — 2010 will be a year to remember for him at least…
Rob Hincks
Rob Hincks is an English journalist based in Sweden. In 2009 he moved house, office, sold his car and acquired 72 new friends on Facebook. In 2010 he intends to take it easy, stay at home and watch England win the World Cup.
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