‘It might as well be me’: young Swedes prepare for new form of national service

Photograph: Miranda Bryant/The Guardian

When Hedda Johannesson, like most of her school year group, received a questionnaire to determine whether she would be conscripted for military service, she considered herself anti-war.

But, having passed the necessary intelligence, physical and psychological tests, the 18-year-old behavioural science student will soon spend 11 months learning about chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear warfare.

It’s been only a year and a half since Sweden submitted its Nato application, marking a sharp change in the historically neutral country’s approach to defence and international relations. But in recent weeks a looming sense of potential conflict has swept the country as citizens were warned to prepare themselves for the possibility of war.

“I did the tests and then they recruited me, whether I wanted to [serve] or not,” said Johannesson. “With what’s happening in Ukraine I would like to protect the people who can be protected – since if there’s going to be a war [in Sweden] someone is going to have to do it and it might as well be me.”

Although not everybody will be required to do military service – only a small proportion of the population is called up against their will – as of Friday, the government is also restarting compulsory civic duty, a form of national service which was dismantled after the cold war.

In a speech at a national defence conference earlier in the month, the prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, invoked bomb shelters in Kyiv as he said: “Step by step, we are now building up the new total defence. And on 19 January, Sweden reactivates the civil obligation.” Telling the population that it was up to citizens to ensure Sweden’s security, he said: “Citizenship is not a travel document”.

Kristersson also announced plans to send forces to Latvia, despite Sweden not yet being a full member of Nato. “We waste no time waiting for the final ratifications,” he said, referring to stalling from Nato members Hungary and Turkey.

Whether or not they support it, this national change of direction is already transforming the lives and prospects of young people.

Johannesson is one of about 100,000 young people who will be called up for military duty next year – about 10% of whom will be doing so unwillingly. In the past, only those who expressed interest in serving were required to do so, but insufficient numbers last year led to a change of policy from the authorities.

The new mandatory civic duty will at first only apply to those who are trained in emergency services and electricity provision, but it is the first step in what is expected to be a much broader national service programme.

Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden’s minister for civil defence – who announced to the conference “there could be war in Sweden” – said a full return to civic duty is being considered further down the line.

He said Friday’s announcement marked the reactivation of civic duty for the first time since it ended in 2008. “That reactivation will happen in two sectors, first and foremost in municipal rescue services,” he said.

Emergency services works will be called in for extension training covering “war conditions”, he said, including learning how to handle unexploded ammunition.

Many of the teenagers say their generation has been shaken by a succession of world events. “As we’ve grown up and are getting older, it’s been one thing after another. And I feel like we’re kind of desensitised to it in a way. Greta Thunberg, pandemic, war,” said Lara Nippman, 18, also a student.

Lia Buckhöj, 18, supports the concept of national service in general, but she said its associations have changed dramatically in the last two years. “Things are becoming more serious. That’s scary. Especially as we’ve been so far from war [in Sweden].”

Zahraa Albaroodi, 18, who moved from Iraq to Sweden 10 years ago and now lives in Malmö, has seen Sweden’s international outlook change dramatically. If she had to do national service she would do it, but not out of choice. She said society would always treat her like an outsider: “It feels like I will never become a citizen and I can never change that – no matter what training or job I do, or if I do civic or military service.”

Samrand Faik, who works with young people in the Stockholm district of Järva, said that for many young people he had spoken to, especially those outraged by the government’s inaction over a series of Qur’an burnings last year, the expectation to do national service feels unjust.

“People feel: ‘Why should I fight and play my part in civic duty if Sweden cannot give me safety when it was calm and safe?’”

Experts said the national service announcement was a sign that civil defence is now a national priority.

Dr Sanna Strand, a researcher in Stockholm University’s economic history and international relations department, said: “Politicians from across the political spectrum are pointing to the importance of a prepared and resilient population, often by giving the Ukrainian people as an example.”

Calling up those who do not want to do military service was a “notable step”, Strand said. “Politicians are now clearly emphasising the importance of doing one’s duty to the country – even openly questioning the loyalty of certain groups, as Kristersson did when he was critiquing the attitude of some immigrants to Swedish citizenship at the recent Swedish defence conference.”

She added: “It will be interesting to see how young people react when less than 10% of the age group is called upon to do their duty … while most of their friends do not have to.”