A young beggar, clearly a foreigner, makes his way through a subway car. He approaches a middle-aged woman and holds a cup towards her. Depending on where the surveillance cameras were situated in the car they may or may not have captured:

• The middle-aged woman’s expression of contempt.
• The beggar thinking he might have a chance with this hag if he makes an effort.
• The beggar affecting an expression of subservience and suffering.
• The middle-aged woman’s face suddenly becoming distorted as she mirrors and exaggerates the facial expression of the beggar for a few seconds.
• The beggar, staggering a little from the shock of being mocked, moving on. Does she have a heart of stone to be mocking a beggar?
• The middle-aged woman in shock from her own action. Does she have a heart of stone to be mocking a beggar?

Each bus and each subway car in Stockholm has surveillance cameras. Surveillance footage from public places is a standard component of online Swedish tabloids nowadays. The less real news to report - the more video footage. Not enough brutal events happen in Sweden to satisfy the demand – so we also get the more spectacular footage from the UK and the US: the random police brutality, the sudden altercation in prison, processions of ambulances arriving at schools / work places after massacres, the odd gas station mugging. But if something of interest happens on the public transportation system in Stockholm, someone always sifts through all footage and leaks a video to the press.

And for this reason I know for a fact that I can never go into public office. It would be too easy to discredit me. All it takes is for that someone finding the footage from the subway and posting the short sequence described above, of me, since it was I who was mocking the beggar on the subway. No matter what platform or agenda I might be advocating at the time, the footage undeniably shows a person with a heart of stone.

Or does it? What the footage shows is one very irritated person. We don’t have beggars in Sweden. We do not have people out of luck relying on the generosity of strangers to make it through the day. This is the one up side of paying so much taxes – in return you have the right to expect that society will have institutions and processes to take care of those most in need.

What we do have are leagues of professionals coming here from Rumania on begging tours. Several times a year, throngs of dark-haired and dark-skinned* people appear in the city. These people do not speak Swedish nor English. There are both men, women and children. Some kneel on the streets (next to banks or department stores). Others prowl the subways. Some walk up and down the streets leaning on crutches, affecting creative limps or palsy. The women usually sit with a listless baby in their arms on the subway stairs. The kids usually play the trumpet or  accordion. If you pay attention you can see the guy with the crutch saying a few words to the guy kneeling and then to the next guy kneeling around the corner. Or beneath a female’s drab attire, all browns and greys, the most fashionable H&M socks are showing.

I am telling you: we do not have beggars. Any Swedish citizen in need can get money from the Social. Any drug or alcohol addict likewise. The latter may have to be willing to stop their addiction – but assistance is there the moment you want it. The throngs of refugees and illegal immigrants living outside of society to avoid repatriation, the only group which may truly be in need of financial assistance, never beg. They fear attracting any attention and are far too traumatized to face crowds of people on the streets.

The travel of the imported beggars to Sweden as well as their accommodation is organized. The beggars do everything right except the iconography. They do not understand the Swedish heart. The stronger affect someone shows, the less a Swede will trust them. Any national disasters affecting Sweden are reported in a strict factual tone on TV. Asking for a donation for any type of purpose you should keep a neutral objective tone. We lack the religious, societal and historical paradigms that would make us reach for our wallet when seeing someone kneeling on the street in supplication.

In his book “Presentation of the self in everyday life”, Canadian sociologist Erving Goffman comments on how as persons we can take for granted a certain amount of respect from our fellow beings until the image we present of ourselves is proven to be misleading. Especially so if we have mislead in order to gain advantages. A person presenting themselves as a physician can enjoy high regards of others unless it happens that he is proven to be an impostor. It may well be true that the beggars come from a country with considerably lower GNP, rampant unemployment a corrupt government and a multitude of other problems. I would not object to giving money to rectify social injustice. But what the beggars are doing is engaging in a commercial racket while pretending to be poor and ill. It would be better for them to wear proper suits and carry binders like the Iraquis and Iranians collecting money for their countries learned to do.

I do object to being taken for a ride. "No money from this stone-hearted hag!", I think to myself as I veer out of the way of the third dark-haired, dark-skinned youth with palsy limping down the street outside my Office.

*Oh an don’t think that “dark-haired” “dark-skinned” is something disparaging in my book. These Rumanian beggars are beautiful people and look very intelligent.