Clan Expert: “It’s Not About DNA or Ethnicity”

“I have a church background myself, and I probably have a hole inside me, a warmer community draws me. That’s probably why I live here in Genghis [i Lund]”.Image: Lars Brundin

For more than ten years he has been reading and studying the phenomenon of clans. She has written books and lectured to authorities, including the police. Last Saturday, the deputy chief of police came out and raised the alarm that at least 40 “criminal clans” organize crime in Sweden.

– The last five days have been crazy. Interviews every day. Also from Denmark and Norway.

The police chief’s statement became general in some parts, showed a closer examination. Per Brinkemo thinks it is good to say “criminal clans”.

– It has been said in the debate that then you throw everyone for a ridge. But don’t you do that if you say criminal family networks? What is the difference?

Because networks can be part of a family.

– Then we must clarify and say that most people are not criminals. The second argument is that then you miss the culture of honor and your own administration of justice.

This is the crucial thing, according to Brinkemo. The administration of justice and the special culture of honor, which has to do with social reputation, where the actions of the individual are deeply connected with those of the clan. So it is important to show warmth and hospitality. And in some situations be tough and don’t give in.

This culture explains part of the violence in Sweden, according to Per Brinkemo.

– A hardness has developed. It can be sanded, it is very possible. Many people do. It’s not about DNA or ethnicity. It is an experience or lack of experience of the form of social organization.

Isn’t there a risk of overlooking other things, such as social or individual causes of crime?

– This is at least my contribution to better understand what is happening. So if you’re 75 percent or 100 percent true … But you should also be open to other perspectives.

“I have read incessantly literature, from Arabs, Somalis, other researchers. In Sweden, we have not been interested in clan cultures at all”Image: Lars Brundin

Per Brinkemo was a freelance journalist when in 2003 he received information about a boy who was sent on a “foster trip” to his parents’ homeland, Somalia, and left there alone. Brinkemo investigated the case, prompting the Swedish authorities to act and the boy was able to return to Sweden.

– I invited him to Lund, he became our “sixth child”, although he is not adopted. Then I realized how little I knew about integration, migration and, above all, the countries the immigrants came from. I’m quite nerdy, so I started reading, especially about Somalia. And I found this word clan. However, you won’t find much about it in Sweden.

– I have read incessantly with literature, from Arabs, Somalis, other researchers. In Sweden, we have not been interested in clan cultures at all. Therefore, we cannot decode people from those cultures. Why are you offended? “You trample on my honor”, why wasn’t it said so often thirty years ago?

The abandoned child became Brinkemo’s additional son and led to contacts with the Somaliland association in Malmö, Rosengård. Then he worked for four years in the association, as a kind of link with the Swedish government society.

– These people knocked me out. They really wanted integration.

– But the token fell off only when I realized that it was not Somalis. Without people coming here to Sweden, who in principle do not have a single day of experience in the exercise of authority, which of course only consists of authorities.

A clan can be made up of hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. These are divided into sub-clans.

– In different clans, you can group your ancestors from twenty, thirty generations, says Per Brinkemo.

– The smallest unit consists of a few hundred people. Those who shared ancestry a few generations ago belong together. And then they help each other.

Not only in conflicts. The clan is a social safety net.

– They support each other financially. And it is beautiful. Dinners much more often, in larger groups. I myself have a church background and I probably have a hole inside me, a warmer community draws me. That’s probably why I live here in Genghis [i Lund]. This is compensation for my clan, for my church.

– But there are also parts that are dangerous. If a clan or members of a clan turn into crime for one reason or another, then it is more difficult to attack than these more flexible gangs.

Furthermore, the freedom of the individual is very small.

Is it a generational question, will clan structures disappear in Sweden?

– We do not know. In other countries, it has proven to be resistant. I am not really dystopian in my disposition. But if such structures are installed, it is very difficult to access them.