It was 6 pm on Thursday, March 20. Twenty-five people had signed up for the course entitled "Sköt dig själv" ("Take care of yourself"), offered free of charge online by the women's organization Lotta. The two instructors in their thirties started by advising on how to recognize an emergency situation – the number to call, the radio frequency to listen to. Then, for more than two hours, they detailed the food and equipment to be stored at home, before encouraging people to cultivate a piece of garden or balcony, to increase the country's food self-sufficiency, 50% dependent on imports.

Civil defense organizations offer courses like this one every week in Sweden. Although the possibility of armed conflict is rarely mentioned, it is on everyone's mind. "Sweden is not at war. But it's not at peace either," summed up conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on January 12. None of the kingdom's 10 million inhabitants can ignore this. In November 2024, they all received in the post a new edition of the booklet "In case of crisis or war," distributed by the Civil Protection Agency, reminding them that they must stock at home enough to eat, drink, heat and look after themselves for one week, without any outside help.

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