We have thrown these books

Published July 11, 2017, Sweden

In “Summer in P1”, the journalist Janne Josefsson claimed that the municipality of Botkyrka is burning older editions of Pippi in the South Seas.

“When you burn books for ideological reasons, there’s something in me that says, ‘Wait a bit, do we really want these to disappear. Shouldn’t a few remain so that I can tell my child that what the views were at the time?’” says Josefsson to Expressen.

Now the municipality’s library admits that they have thrown the books away for recycling. This is because the books contain “racist” expressions.

“The libraries in the municipality of Botkyrka have culled editions of Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi in the South Seas where there are obsolete expressions that can be perceived as racist, but Botkyrka Library have also bought the publisher’s new edition of the book from 2015 where the obsolete expressions have been replaced by more contemporary expressions,” the municipality writes in its press release.

“The culled specimens of Pippi in the South Seas have been discarded and handled according to the same routines as all other obsolete books,” they continue, and point out that discarded books are handled according to “regular recycling and waste management procedures”.

But Janne Josefsson does not buy that excuse. He tells Expressen that the difference is that Botkyrka discards the books for ideological reasons and because of an “intercultural policy”. According to Josefsson, the municipality is only trying to camouflage its behavior. He believes that the books should have remained and that the library could have discussed the books if they find the content so terrible.