Sofiero is a ticking plant bomb
The Swedish Armed Forces get not use anti-personnel mines, our signature on the Ottawa agreement prohibits it so far, but Finland allows them now. Despite the horrendous damage they can inflict on civilians when they are left in the ground and a playing child accidentally steps on them long after the wars have ended. But a defense force that recently launched a commercial on Tiktok with the message “Anything but adequate”, would probably like to see that signature erased and they have some Tidö parties with them.
The borders in an increasingly militaristic world have been moved, Swedish nuclear weapons have also been discussed and the DCA agreement we have does not prohibit nuclear weapons on Swedish soil. A sufficiently strong image of the enemy and the absence of almost any diplomatic impulse – international law and a whole post-war culture of diplomacy are today greatly weakened – make defense politicians and the military seize anything for the purpose of deterrence.
It is often said that polarization is the fate of politics these days, but in military matters, on the contrary, there is a deafening unanimity. If the enemy image is only sufficiently cemented, preferably an evil situated beyond history, all means seem permissible.
An enemy image that really is cemented applies to some invasive plants. Armies of lupines conquer the lands, as if there was a general staff behind them. And it is striking that that demonization coincided so strongly with other contemporary demonizations: of migration, which must be fought at all costs, but also the constant warnings that Russia can attack Sweden at any time.
Parkslide is the alien plant that arouses by far the most emotions, often pure rage. Hell plant, it can be called. It is often combated with glyphosate, perhaps the most common herbicide in the world. In Sweden, private persons are no longer allowed to use it, but in agriculture it is allowed in certain contexts and in many municipalities it is used to combat park slide. When the plant climbs up through the floor in a property, yes, I understand the horror, but it rarely happens.
Glyphosate is heavily debated, the WHO counts it as “probably” carcinogenic, and half a year ago it emerged that the scientific report that previously cleared glyphosate of being carcinogenic was ghostwritten by the chemical giant that manufactures it.
When I wrote about the plant, having looked at and felt it in various places in the country, and followed its history all the way back to the volcanic slopes of Nagasaki – it was brought illegally to Europe by a plant hunter – I have slowly come to admire it: the Parkslide does what nature always does, tries to grow on disturbed ground where other things do not like to grow. It is innocent in the sense that it is people who spread it over the seas or in the form of garden waste dumped in some forest edge. A small piece of root from the park slide can lie deep in the soil even longer than a mine.
At the NATO summit at the end of May, landmines were certainly mentioned in the conversations between the officials. I myself thought of the park slide when the meeting was held at Sofiero, because there and in the castle’s surroundings there are plenty of parks slides. In the municipality of Helsingborg, glyphosate is sometimes used to combat it. Incidentally, Sofiero is possibly a ticking plant bomb also through the 10,000 rhododendron plants they have – that bush is one of Europe’s most invasive…
On the demonization of the invasive plants continue, there is a great risk that more and more chemical pesticides will be used. In the vast majority of cases, the park slide can instead be fought with – yes, we can call it diplomacy: Don’t dig it up, don’t disturb it! Remove the shoots every year, be patient. And don’t forget that the shoots can be eaten and the leaves can be made into tea.
Russia today is imperialist, yes. But at some point in the future we have to learn to live with Russia as well, preferably a democratic and Putin-free one. I think we also have to learn to live with lupines and parkslide: A full-scale war costs too much.
What we should be demonizing are landmines – and glyphosate.
Göran Greider is a journalist and writer and contributes to Aftonbladet Kultur.
