A translation of a newspaper article on 15 January 1994.
Anne Knudsen is an
anthropologist and was at the time egnaged at the Univeristy of Odense.
Scania - one example
The Scanian version of regionalism is no different from those of other Western European regional movements - from the Corsicans to the Welsh and the Samis. All of the ingredients are there: the feeling of living in an economic and administrative periphery; the central power's disregard for the regional language, the cultural traditions and the suppression of the special and unique regional history.
The Danish anthropologist Anne Knudsen has read Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid's book "The 333-year book about Scania".
The Swedish Government is having more than a few hesitations towards the building of the bridge across the Öresund. In addition to the ecological and economical reservations, shared by many Danes, more and more Swedes are expressing an opinion which has not been considered in the Danish debate. The bridge across the Öresund is not only a bridge between Sweden and Europe, they say. It is bridge between Scania and Copenhagen. Why would Stockholm be interested in connecting Scania with the Capital of Denmark after 300 years of unconcealed attempts to amputate that particular connection?, they ask.
Good question. But most Danes will have difficulties taking the question seriously. Isn't Scania and Sweden the same thing and besides, does all that historic nonsense make any difference today? It is such a long time ago!
Regarding the subject of geo-politics, it is significant to note that official politics in Denmark is strikingly idealistic - not to say nativistic - compared to most European political establishments. When geo-political arguments are surfacing in the official debate they are mostly disregarded with a "Oh well!", but it is soon interrupted by a number of more abstract arguments.
This is not the case in Sweden where, for instance, the concerns for the Baltic states do not always emerge as exclusively humanitarian but also as an expression for geo- political considerations. Sweden's neutrality doctrine has probably meant a great deal for the domestic geo-political consciousness. It was not until after the fall of the wall in Eastern Europe it became a sign of foolish war fanaticism to discuss whether or not Scania could be defended militarily. Prior to the fall of the wall the answer was, by the way, no. A realistic line of defence for Sweden started at the Hallandsåsen (at Scania's northern border).
The fact that Sweden had no intention to defend Scania militarily against a hypothetical invader is but only one of the large number of complaints expressed by a number of Scanian authors in Stiftelsen Skånsk Framtid's book, the "333- year book about Scania". The complaints concerns the Stockholmian aversion of the Scanian language on TV, the particular legislation specific to the ferry service over the Öresund, over the diminishing level of quality of the Aquavit, the beer and the mustard as well as the statues of the Swedish kings in the Scanian cities.
The central point in the complaints are the fabrication of history which has had as its purpose to convince the Scanians their territory "by law of nature" has always been Swedish. The fact that the treaty of Roskilde in 1658, when Denmark relinquished the trans-Öresund part of the Kingdom to Sweden only brought the geo-political circumstances in harmony with a natural geo-political world order, so to speak.
The Scanian regionalism, the way it is portrayed in this book, is no different, by structure and content, from the other Western European regional movements - from Corsica and Wales to Samiland. All the ingredients are there; from the economic and administrative peripheral treatment, to the disregard by the central power's of the regional language and the cultural expressions and to the suppression of the regions special and unique history.
More specifically it can be argued that, since the region of Scania does not enjoy any legal status within the framework of the State of Sweden it is therefore to be regarded as fully integrated under the name of Södra Götaland, the region's status has more similarity with the situation of the regions in France and less of the regions in Britain. The cultural, historical and ethnic characteristics are denied. This has probably to do with how the official Sweden views the State and the Swedish administrative traditions have many similarities with the French.
The Scanian movement differs, on the other hand, not only from many of the French movements by not succumbing to violence but also, to a certain degree, by doubting its own real identity, and thereby its political goals. Are the Scanians a national minority placed at the wrong side of a state border, as the Tyrolese? Should they come "home" to Denmark? Or is Scania a "micro-nation" like Corsica and Catalunya, an area which ought to become its own state? Or should the whole problem be solved within the framework of a wide regionalising process of Europe, with linguistic and cultural autonomy for the local populations?
All of the three bids are discussed in the various articles in the book. It appears, wisely enough, that the third alternative has the greatest support, both in the book and in the contemporary Scania.
It is a generally a common streak among all regional movements that they are put an excessively high emphasis on the history. For citizens in states, as the Danish where the national identity is so deeply embedded in the personality that we hardly ever talk about the national history, the regional movement's never-ending enthusiasm appears almost grotesque. This is the case here as well.
Out of 17 shorter and longer articles in the "333-year book", no less than 10 tells the story of the Swedish invasion, of the massacre of the Scanian peasants, of the broken promises in the Roskilde Treaty which were meant to preserve the Scanian rights.
But even if it may appear exaggerated it is, however, very typical in ethno-regional publications, and the explanation is obvious. The authors have generally themselves discovered this - their own - history at mature age and this insight has been a chocking experience; that their childhood's teachings have been tendentious state indoctrination. All minority peoples of Europe have been taught that is was a blessing for them to become citizens in the magnificent state which now governs them. They were never taught how this was actually achieved.
And they are now, with the growing regional-nationalistic awareness, interpreting the historic events from a nationalistic view point, which in most cases will be considerably erroneous. The re-writing of the romanticised "Danishness" and "Swedishness" of the 17th century to the 15th century will not be historically more correct if it is made to serve regional or ethnic interests. And when the primitive Scanian from the hunting period of the stoneages is placed in a "Eastern-Danish cultural perspective" - well, we are then as distant as during the wildest moments of Gruntvig. More appropriate is the conception of "a southern Scandinavian language".
Before my Danish readers are getting all exited about the rights of the Scanians, while we out of habit congratulate ourselves for our national benevolence, I must clarify what a future Scanian nation will entail for the conception and understanding of the Danish history. If Scania re-establishes its own history, we will loose some of ours.
The intermission tune of the Danish radio - "Drömte mig en dröminat" ("I dreamt a dream last night") - derives from an old Scanian handwriting. This is stated in two of the articles in the book. The discovery of Vinland (North America) and the conquest of Normandy are Scanian accomplishments. Sven Estridsson was a Scanian king. The Kalmar Union was a Scanian invention from 1332 which Margarethe in the year of 1387 "was forced to accept ". And Saxo's History of Denmark is a Scanian writing.
The actual "Wait a minute!" may not come until one realises that the Island of Bornholm (with the provinces of Halland and Blekinge) belong to the region of Scania and that this region, in fact, became a member of UNPO, the stateless peoples' UN, in February of 1993 where it is accompanied by nations such as Tibet and Kurdistan.
But this is no laughing matter.
The prevailing conditions are not to be regarded as an ever-lasting law of nature. The real story behind the sufferings of the Scanians, about Gustav II Adolf's massacre in 24 villages in 1612, about the slaughter i Klågerup in 1811 and about the staked resistance fighters along the Scanian roads during the 1660th is the well known story about border changes in connection with the states ambitions to obtain distinct borders. The nation-state's cultural and administrative attempt to homogenise the population has led to endless problems. The history situation in Scania is but one such example.
It would be refreshing to see new ideas emerge in connection with the relations between language, history and political affiliation. It is not evident that geo-politic and educational politics must go separate ways. If Stockholm, with this in mind, avoided ridding itself from the Scanian problem, both Sweden and Scania could benefit from a new culturally regionalised Europe. With or without a bridge over Öresund.