Per Ahlmark
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Photo: Ann Ek
Per Axel Ahlmark (born January 15, 1939, Stockholm) is a Swedish writer and former leader of the Liberal People's Party.
He received his BA in Political Science at the University of Stockholm in 1964.
Ahlmark was the leader of the Swedish Liberal Youth of Sweden 1960–1962 and a member of the Board of the Liberal People's Party 1960–1978. He served as a Member of the Riksdag from 1967 to 1978 and as Leader of the Liberal People's Party from 1975 to 1978. From 1976 to 1978, in the first non-Socialist government in Sweden in 40 years, Ahlmark served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour. He retired from party politics in 1978 for personal reasons. From 1978 to 1981 he was Chairman of the Board of the Swedish Film Institute.
Per Ahlmark has published several political books and many hundreds of articles about politics, literature and international conflicts. During the 1980s he has published three books of poetry, one novel and two books of essays. He was a columnist for Expressen, then the largest daily newspaper in Scandinavia, from 1961 to 1995. Since 1997 he is a columnist for Dagens Nyheter, the largest Swedish morning paper, and a contributor to Göteborgs-Posten.
He is a strong supporter of the State of Israel. 1970-1998 he was the Deputy President of the Swedish-Israeli Friendship League. In 1983 he founded the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism.
In 1994 Per Ahlmark published the widely debated book Tyranny and the Left (Swedish: Vänstern och tyranniet), which is the major work on Swedish fellow travellers and political pilgrims during the last thirty years. His next work, An Open Sore (Det öppna såret), makes a summary of new research regarding democracy and dictatorship respectively in terms of war, genocide/massmurder, and famine. In 1997 this book triggered one of the most heated discussions in recent decades in Sweden about freedom and its enemies. His latest book in the same field is It's the democracy, stupid! (March 2004).
Ahlmark supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and has been extremely critical of Hans Blix (who is also a prominent member of the Liberal People's Party and served as co-chair with Ahlmark in the Liberal Youth of Sweden). In an article in the Washington Times, Ahlmark called Blix a "wimp".
Ahlmark was formerly married to Swedish actress Bibi Andersson from 1978 to 1981.
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| Preceded by Gunnar Helén |
Leader of the Swedish Liberal Party 1975–1978 |
Succeeded by Ola Ullsten |
| Preceded by Ingemund Bengtsson |
Swedish Minister for Employment 1976–1978 |
Succeeded by Rolf Wirtén |
| Preceded by Gunnar Sträng |
Vice Prime Minister of Sweden 1976–1978 |
Succeeded by Ola Ullsten |
