Shortly after the first TV debate in the campaign for next year’s Swedish election, there was a startling announcement. Anna-Karin Hatt, the leader of the Centre party, the standard-bearer for liberal centrism in Swedish politics, announced her resignation, citing an unbearable number of threats and harassment.
Hatt was an emerging voice in Swedish politics, but had been able to lead the Centre party for only five months before she made a speech announcing that she felt forced to leave her job for the safety of her family. Her speech was short on specifics, but she referred to clear physical threats “not just from trolls behind a screen, it has come much closer than that”. She said she felt obliged to look over her shoulder in public spaces and no longer felt safe in her own home.
