Hans Runesson: A woman hitting a neo-Nazi with her handbag, Växjö, Sweden, 1985
From The Santa Fe New Mexican Letters to the Editor, July 20, 2022
"A most satisfying photo
The reprint of a 1985 photo by Hans Runesson in a recent Pasatiempo of an elderly Swedish woman slugging a neo-Nazi in the back of the head with her handbag during a rally, is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen. It provoked in me the most extravagant hilarity and happiness. Look at her! She puts her entire body into it. Her face is contorted in a grimace of pure rage. She looks like she is of the generation that actually experienced the real Nazis and knows what these silly, idle, testosterone-laden young boneheads do not know or will not recognize: that all of it was pure hell.
Slugging that young man must have been immensely satisfying. I will admit with only the smallest trace of shame that I wish I could have similarly slugged one of these boneheaded, malevolent and violent Jan. 6 rioters in the back of the head with my handbag. The photo is now on my fridge, to be enjoyed for weeks to come as a sort of counterweight against the hopelessness that befalls me at times these days."
"Imagine A World Without Photojournalism" continues through September 18, 2022
