History

Olof Palme, progressive politician commemorated in Zihuatanejo

By Michel Janicot

Some twenty feet away from the archeology museum of Zihuatanejo stands a stone marker that locals and visitors alike do not even acknowledge as they walk to and from the Paseo del Pescador. Atop the four-feet granite pillar is a bronze plaque dedicating the surrounding plaza to the memory of Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden. He was gunned down on a Stockholm street on February 28, 1986, shot in the back at close range as he was walking home from the cinema with his wife. While there are still several theories about who could have been responsible for the murder, the identity of the killer remains a mystery to this day, 19 years later.

Palme was born in 1927 and raised in a wealthy conservative upper-class family in Stockholm. After the death of his father when he was six years old, Palme suffered from poor health; he received much of his early education from private tutors. After fulfilling his compulsory military service, he enrolled in the University of Stockholm, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1948 and a Law Degree in 1951.

While a student, Palme spent a year at Kenyon College, in Gambier Ohio, USA, and after graduation spent three months hitch-hiking across the United States, Canada and Mexico. He became interested in politics when he was appointed President of the Swedish United Students Union, traveling extensively in Western and Eastern Europe, India, Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia where he attended international student seminars and conferences.

In 1953, Palme became personal secretary to Tage Erlander, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the first stepping stone in a political career that would culminate to the country’s top position in 1969 and again in 1982. He was elected to the Swedish Parliament in 1957, Minister of Transport and Communications in 1965, and Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs in 1967 before becoming Sweden’s Prime Minister.

Described as an energetic and imaginative politician, Palme refused to be bound by the narrow-minded Cold War mentality, taking a strong stand against McCarthyism, South African apartheid, the Vietnam War and Third World struggles for liberation from colonial regimes. Outspoken on other international issues, such as nuclear power, disarmament and environmental protection, he opposed Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan which he viewed as immoral and a severe blow to efforts for peace and disarmament and was highly critical of the politics of Ronald Reagan. Palme was appointed as an arbitrator in the war between Iran and Iraq by the United Nations and it is reported that the entire organization came to a standstill when he addressed the world council.

A powerful voice for peace and disarmament, freedom and human rights, Palme was called, “A brother and a comrade to all who are downtrodden,” by Oliver Tambo, President of the African National Congress of South Africa.

Probably no other leader of a small nation has left such a deep impression around the world, as partially reflected in the great number and variety of public facilities that bear the name of Olof Palme: a children’s hospital in Latin America, an elementary school in the middle of West Sahara, a city park in Central Asia (among others), and a small plaza in Zihuatanejo, a symbolic tribute to a dedicated visionary committed to international solidarity. The plaza was dedicated in August 1986.

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