21-05-2025
'I love this country – that's why I'm speaking up about Sweden's diversity problems'
If Sweden wants to get serious about diversity and inclusion it must tackle some-deep-rooted problems head-on, argue Greg Fernando and Brandon Sekitto, the founders of the 1046 inclusion campaign.
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In an interview for The Local's Sweden in Focus podcast, the pair explain that they started the initiative with the aim of ensuring that all of Sweden's more than ten million inhabitants felt included in the country regardless of their ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age or disability.
Brandon Sekitto says it took him a while to figure out that Sweden wasn't as inclusive as it seemed to him growing up. His family moved to Sweden from Uganda when he was just nine years old and he ended up living in Tensta, one of Stockholm's most multicultural neighbourhoods.
'It was different races, people from all over the world. It was like a mosaic of diversity.'
Greg Fernando's introduction to the country was very different. Moving to Stockholm from Canada well into his adulthood and living in the affluent Kungsholmen area, he was often acutely aware of being the only person of colour within a given radius.
But even though they first saw Sweden through different lenses, they both want to make the country more welcoming and have reached similar conclusions on what needs to be done.
'I'm really proud to say that we recently won a Nordic inclusion prize, we presented at the Riksdag last year in November, and this year we're really excited because we're forming a partnership with Nordiska Museum,' says Fernando.
So far, 36 organisations have pledged a commitment to the initiative they founded.
READ ALSO: Should Sweden collect stats on ethnicity to combat racism?
While they're pleased with some of the projects they have under way, both men believe that if Swedes want diversity to be more than a buzzword people are going to need to engage in difficult conversations – and it won't be comfortable.
'Sweden has to understand that this uncomfortableness is necessary for us to be comfortable enough to make the changes we need. And it is not primarily the job of us as minorities or black people to do. It's the job of Swedes themselves to do,' says Sekitto.
"I love Sweden, so don't send me hate mail," he adds. "My kids love this country. I love this country. That's why I'm speaking up."
He and his co-founder are committed to facilitating these difficult conversations. As an intercultural communicator Sekittto specialises in bridging cultural differences, while Fernando founded the organisation New to Sweden as a way to help newcomers gain a foothold in a difficult job market.
According to Fernando, an unwillingness to fully embrace diversity stems from a form of nationalism tied to Sweden regularly coming topping lists of the best places in the world to live. As a result, he says, a consensus has emerged among many Swedes that newcomers should adapt to the superior Swedish way of life and leave their own cultures and traditions at the door.
'They have such a terrible time adapting to anything new. And I think that's a skill set that they have to pick up, because otherwise we're just going to be doing the same old dance for the next 100 years, where they just don't think people coming from abroad bring any value to them.'
READ ALSO: 'Sweden is decades behind on racism and diversity'
As for the campaign's name, Fernando jokes that naming it 1046 was not their most clear-sighted moment.
'We started this project so long ago and at that time there were 10.46 million people living in Sweden. So we came up with the bright idea of naming this initiative after the number of people who are living here, not thinking ahead.'
'We would love people to join up,' Sekitto says. "Everybody can do something. We've done what we can and we welcome everybody else to join the conversation.'
You can find out more about the 1046 campaign on their website and LinkedIn page.
Membership+ subscribers can listen to the interview with Greg Fernando and Brandon Sekitto in the latest episode of Sweden in Focus Extra, out May 21st.
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