If Syria was Sweden... Part I

I am not in favour of military intervention in Syria. Not at all. There are too much weapons in use, too many fighters on the ground as it is. Need no more—we are in dire need of less rather! 

Consider the following situation: conflicting Stockholm-based elites have ruled Sweden for more than 50 years. “Stockholm,” or the “08’s” as they are popularly called in the rest of the country, has tightened the grip on power during the last 10-15 years, to the detriment of the rest of the country. Anger and frustration is reaching a boiling point, particularly in regions with historical experiences of tough rule from Stockholm; Scania, Småland, Blekinge, Halland and the Northern regions, including Herjedalen, Jämtland and the mining city of Kiruna. The response from Stockholm has been less than interested in talks about political change, economic equality between regions and social, cultural and religious freedoms. 

There have been plans of arranging marches towards Stockholm from the different main cities around the country, from Malmö, Kalmar, Halmstad, Göteborg, Karlstad, Kiruna. There are historical precedents to this, of which the whole population is aware. Creating Sweden was not done easily over a night—it took centuries of warring regional interests and local leaders. The history of resistance to Stockholm is well known, and some of the stories highly publicised, such as the Dacke feud, the Snapphane rebellion, or the Battle of Lund. In addition, there are myriad local stories of heroes and martyrs having risen to fight “Stockholm” over the centuries all over the country. The resistance is also represented in the capital city itself, which has for three hundred years been a magnet to people from all over the country in search of a future impossible to envision in the area from where people came. There are a number of Swedish descendants around the world, particularly in the USA. Most of them with roots in the regions with the harshest experiences of Stockholm (again Småland, Scania and the Göteborg region is well represented). As the situation in Sweden is seriously deteriorating, they are now being contacted by their long-lost kin in Sweden, being asked to act as lobby groups in their new country.

The rebellion starts in the small village of Revinge, some 40 kilometres north east of Malmö, when a local rebel group, belonging to the Home Reserve, attacks the military camp P7. The Home Reserve in many parts of Scania now decide to side with the Revinge Group, and as the National Army advances on Malmö the Home Reserve groups gather in the city to protect it from the Army. In Malmö itself, local criminal gangs side with the Home Reserve rebels, forming a number of support groups of their own, based on different allegiances between them.