On 25 June 2009 armed police, at the behest of Swedish Social Services, boarded an airliner on its way to India from Sweden with the Johansson family and seized their 7 year-old boy, Domenic, for being (legally) homeschooled. There was no warrant, the Johanssons had broken no law.
In an act of unprecented cruelty, Gotland Social Services destroyed a loving family. Domenic's broken-hearted mother, Annie, has had a complete breakdown and was hospitalised. Social Services used this against her, as though there was something psychologically wrong with her. They also forbid her to cry after visiting sessions have ended. Domenic's desperate father, Christer, was arrested and jailed in December 2010 for taking his son on an 'unauthorised' visit to see his grandparents - he and his wife were only allowed short, 1 hour-long supervised visits once every five weeks. Domenic himself has been horribly traumatised by the whole experience and a court has denied the family any possiblity of a reunifiction. The system is simply protecting its own employees instead of defending human rights as it is supposed to, but doesn't.
What is going on here? Even after Domenic's desperate parents agreed to state school their son (they didn't have to by law, as homeschooling was legal), have the vaccinations the state wanted (again, they didn't have to by law, the parents have the right to opt out), and have the tooth cavities fixed (as any family would upon discovering them - the vaccination and tooth cavity excuses were added later...the reason for the abduction was oringinally entirely because of homeschooling, which was, as I said legal), still the state would not give Domenic back? Why? They have never said other than to say it was all a state "secret".
But really we are forced to only one conclusion as to what is going on, and it is this: The state believes it owns our children, not the parents. To prove that they own our children they will do whatever they want, including ignoring their own laws because owning the child is more important to them than the law. This means, quite simply, that the current Government is criminal. THERE IS REALLY NO OTHER CONCLUSION, IS THERE? And their wall of silence, or their parroting the nonsense that "children have the right to go to school" or other communist slogans, just proves they are statist fascists.
Therefore what needs to be done is to make the government accountable to its own laws which it is not currently. This behaviour itself is a hallmark of a dictatorship. And this is why the Johanssons are suffering so much. This is why the international community needs to condemn the Swedish government and call it into account so long as it claims to be a democracy because really as it is it does not belong to the democratic community. It isn't a democracy - and that's the core problem that this website highlights. And simply insisting it is a democracy proves nothing because actions speak louder than words. It has more in common with China than with Norway, Finland and the UK (for example). All the government has to do is admit it was wrong (and governments do do that...occasionally), apologise, make appropriate compensations, release father and son, restore homeschooling (which is a legal right in the EU), and agree not to use the legal system to protect its interests above that of its citizens. Sweden needs liberalising once more .
The government knows it is wrong and the best it can do is resort to character assassination through its lackeys in the Social Services department with the help of psychiatrists (a favourite Soviet tool to silence dissidents). But as George Mikes wryly noticed, psychiatry is (more often than not) the disease it pretends to cure. For crying out loud, this is a loving family. It had everything together until the state machinery started hacking away at it and calling its mutilation "in the best interests of the child". Poppycock. But then I guess if you lie often enough, as Hitler noted, the people will start believing you, and the bigger the lie the more they will believe you. "If the Social Servives have intervened then they must have a good reason", someone said. Must they? They are just people after all, not infallible demi-gods. And that's the point - the State is just people. Really, would you buy a used car from them?
Again, don't misjudge me. I am not criticising all Social Services people. Some are really good. I know a fantastic lady in Norway who works for the Barnevern or Norwegian equivalent of Swedish Socialtjänst or Social Services. And she told me that some social workers have real psychological issues themselves. Now that I have seen the Johansson case, I can well believe her. Which raises another issue: these socials have no accountability to the people.
The Domenic Johansson case illustrates Swedish state tyranny and cruelty at its worst and utterly demolishes the lie (along with numerous other cases) that Sweden is a 'social paradise'. Since his kidnapping, the State has desperately sought for excuses to retain Domenic in captivity by twisting its own and EU laws, not to mention the United Nations Convention on Human Rights, to justify its criminal behaviour.
Why have the authorities targeted this family? Is it because they are different and don't want to become grey cogs in a faceless collectivist machine? Is it because the family is Christian? Or does the state just simply hate loving families that show up their bleak neo-Soviet system? Or are they trying to make sure that no one ever challenges them again if they get away with this crime? As we seek answers to these questions we are forced to the conclusion that something is very, very seriously wrong in the Kingdom of Sweden. As we shall see, the state really believes that it owns all children and that it has greater rights to their management than parents. To the government, parents are just raising their children as unpaid state proxies. No wonder some Swedes are even now calling their country a "madhouse".
Many people are very angry - myself included - at what has happened to the Johanssons and similar actions against the remnant homeschooling community in Sweden. Citizens who were previously content to just passively look on and allow the Swedish régime to behave in this fascist manner are now speaking out - loudly. This is one of many websites now coming out in support of the Johansson family and to demand justice. Something very ugly and destructive is going on in Sweden and it is time to put it right. One observer had this to say:
"Have you people gone insane? What kind of monsters are you to use a little boy and his mother as pawns in your stupid political game? Grow up and act like responsible adults - release the boy AND his parents! They weren't fighting you, they were leaving, and you act like spoiled children!" (John K. Spinuzzi).
The author of this website is also a homeschooling father. So far, we have had a fairly decent relationship with our municipality, Arvika kommun, though there have been disagreements in the past. We have chosen to remain (for now) in Sweden while other homeschooling families flee abroad. We have successfully homeschooled our eldest son right through the years of compulsory schooling, and he has passed all his state exams. We have to say, from what we know of the Johanssons, that this is an exemplary family, a family any decent person would be proud to be a part of. What happened to them is just plain evil - there's no other way to put it. And we mean to stand by them until this hideous state abuse is put right and Sweden leaves the century of totalitarian régimes behind it and enters into real 21st century enlightenment. This is a fantastic country and its people deserve better than they are getting.
Meanwhile let us tell you the Johansson story in full...
