BY DAG TIRSÉN AND CLAUDIO BURGOS
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - In the first week of February, a group of skinheads attacked activists from Elevkampanjen (Student campaign) who were staffing a book table at the Aso High School gymnasium here. One of the racists hit an activist and threw the table on him.

No action was taken against the skinhead, said Anna- Klara Engqvist, a leader of the Elevkampanjen - one of the two national student unions in Sweden. She said he was simply called in to the headmaster's office to explain himself. The headmaster, Gillis Axelsson, said, "It was a small thing, only a slap in the face."

The day after the racist assault, students organized a protest meeting outside the school, which was assailed by the skinheads. A week later on February 13, some 400 people, mostly students at the school, participated in a larger demonstration that was organized by Elevkampanjen.

A group of 30 - 50 skinheads approached the rally, and provoked fights with the students. Axel Winkler, a member of Elevkampanjen, was kicked repeatedly. The cops stopped the clash after stones were thrown at the skinheads. The police rescued the racists, halting a bus on the street and unloading its passengers, then boarding the skinheads.

Elevkampanjen canceled a third attempt to organize a protest when the headmaster threatened to close down the school that day.

These confrontations were a culmination of a sustained period of harassment by a group of about 10 skinheads from a broader layer of right-wingers. Hitler salutes, "sieg heil," "Jewish swine," and "damned communist" are expressions commonly used by the rightists.

Axelsson claimed in an interview with Internationalen that Elevkampanjen initiated the original attack at the book table and he accused the organization of breaking the "truce," which had existed during the fall. Taking no direct action against the racist attackers, Axelsson took the opportunity to forbid all political activities at the school.

Elevkampanlen, which is closely allied to an ultraleft group called Offensive, published a leaflet at the school with the head line "For a nazi free school!" There was no demand to lift the political ban at the school.

Dag Tirsén, is a member the Food Workers union. Claudio Burgos is a member of the Young Socialists in Sweden.  
 
 
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