Sweden Archives - Page 2 of 9

Social Democrats’ left-green bloc emerge as victors but so did the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Sweden’s center-left bloc led by the Social Democratic party is set for a narrow victory over right-wing opponents in today’s parliamentary election, according to Yle. The biggest upset was the dismal showing of the conservative Moderate party, which slipped into third place after the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.

In light of the boycott against the Sweden Democrats, the Moderate party changed its tune and was willing to form a government with the anti-immigration party with neo-Nazi roots.

The lesson? Don’t copy the rhetoric of xenophobic parties. Voters can vote for the real thing instead of a poor copy.

In Finland, the best example was when the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* split into two parties in 2017. There was the old PS and a lighter version called Blue Reform.

The PS survived as a party, and Blue Reform disappeared from the political map.

The election result Sunday will expose nasty things about Sweden and the Nordic region

Posted on September 11, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Sweden will elect 349 MPs of the Riksdag (parliament) today, and the big question is how well the far-right Sweden Democrats will fare. According to various opinion polls, the Sweden Democrats are seen coming second after the Social Democrats. The biggest upset would be the Sweden Democrats doing better than the conservative Moderate party.

Just like the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* in 2011, the Sweden Democrats scored their best election victory in 2010 by almost doubling their support to 12.9% (+29 MPs to 49MPs) from 5.7% (20 MPs) in parliament.

Even if Sweden Democrat chairperson Jammie Akesson assures us that the party has moved away from its racist and neo-Nazi past, some are not convinced.

Up to now, all mainstream political parties in Sweden have blocked the party from forming part of a government.

Why all the commotion and support for the Sweden Democrats?

It’s the same story in all of the Nordic Countries: migration.

In Finland, the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* plays the same toxic tune as in Denmark (Social Democrats today and formerly Danish People’s Party), and the Progressive Party (FrP) of Norway.

In Denmark, the Islamophobic narrative has taken hold of the country’s political environment, and the same is happening in Finland and Norway. A big victory for the Sweden Democrats today could shift matters in the country for a long time.

Sweden is the pet topic of the Perussuomalaiset, spreading fake news, too

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Migrant Tales

If you didn’t speak out against racism, who would?

Sweden is a pet topic of the far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party. They constantly and obnoxiously remind us what a horrible place Sweden is because there live Muslims and other migrants.

PS chairperson, Riikka Purra, continues to push her ethnonationalist and ethnic replacement theory at almost every opportunity. She constantly attacks people who are vieraskielisiä, people who do not speak Finnish or Swedish as their mother tongue.

Purra tweets below:
In the [September] Swedish [parliamentary] elections, there is a general debate to discuss how many “non-Nordics” can live in each area and what problems too many will cause.
So times are changing, even in Sweden. Unfortunately, it is too late [for them].
If only Finland would understand [to act] before such a matter happens.”

Purra forgets to mention how much migrants have contributed to building Sweden’s economy and well-being. She doesn’t, for obvious reasons, mention how our ever-growing elderly population will impoverish us.

Moreover, Purra, like her PS lapdogs and followers, are constantly whining about how bad Sweden is and how immigration is bad for society.

Exposing white privilege in Finland #85: We need solutions, not racist provocations

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The riots in Sweden sparked by the burning of the Koran by the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party led by Rasmus Palaudan remind us how urgently we need solutions, not provocations, to heal the wounds gashed by racism and double standards. Provocations do nothing more than expose our hypocrisy and privilege. They never offer solutions on the way to move forward.

Be it by the Palaudan and other far-right political groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* it is always the same script: provoke, provoke but never give solutions. While Palaudan has threatened a “final solution” to Muslims and expelling all of them from Denmark, the PS has only given cheap racist soundbites.

Palaudan loves attention, and he gets it from the media and, unfortunately, from some Muslims and others. He is not a champion of free speech by burning the Koran but an example of white privilege disguised as free speech.

In the last election in Denmark, his party got 1.8% of the votes, which is below the 2% threshold for an MP to be elected.

The PS is so full of bravado that they fear mentioning the term “Muslim” in their hate soundbites but instead speak in code. Asylum seekers and immigration policy are their code words for Muslims.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports: “Police said up to 100 mostly young people threw stones, set cars, tires and dustbins on fire, and put up a barrier fence in the town of Landskrona after authorities moved a demonstration scheduled there by Danish party Stram Kurs to the nearby city of Malmö, about 45km (27 miles) to the south.”

Forgetting the crucial role migrants have played in building Sweden’s economy after World War 2, PS leader Riikka Purra parrots her usual far-right talking points about events in Sweden.

**Tweets Riikka Purra: “The rampage continues in Malmö. Rocks and fuel bottles were thrown at the police.** **Masked persons ignited several arson attacks.** According to police, the situation at night was chaotic, says Yle.”

Russian asylum-seeker family’s securty compromised by asylum reception center

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Migrant Tales

A Russian family under serious threat of human rights violations plans to complain to the chancellor of justice against the Imatra asylum reception center, which alleges had endangered the Russian asylum seekers’ security.

The family lived in Finland during 2017-2020. They are Ludmila*, her elderly mother, husband, and three other family members, including four cats.

A representative of Free Movement (Vapaa liikuvuus), an NGO that promotes equality and opposes deportations, detention, and criminalization of migrants, has promised to assist the family with the complaint.

An official complaint is necessary to prove to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) that information leaked to Russian authorities, putting the family in even greater danger.

The Russian family in question alleges that a worker at the Imatra asylum reception center had compromised their security by calling the Russian Embassy in Helsinki about their voluntary return to Georgia.

The family received a notice in November from the police that their stay in Finland had expired. They were given two options: leave Finland voluntarily or by force.

Ludmila said that since they did not want to break the law, they were willing to leave the country voluntarily. Since the family feared returning to Russia, where they allege being persecuted by the authorities, Ludmila said they planned to go to Georgia, where it would be safer.

To travel to Georgia, they needed valid passports which had expired.

“The social worker at the asylum reception center sent an SMS [in November], ‘Ludmila, I called the Russian Embassy. I asked how you can renew your passport. It is best if you call them yourself and ask.'”

How systematic exploitation of stateless persons also happens in Finland

Posted on August 9, 2020 by Migrant Tales

An article in The Guardian on an asylum seeker who asks, “‘Why can’t I be legal anywhere?’ Exploited and left stateless by Sweden.” His story is not an anomaly but reveals what is happening to stateless persons, even in countries like Finland.

Helsingin Sanomat and Migrant Tales published a story about the column. The author, Paavo Teittinen, hits the issue right on the nail:

“The source of human trafficking and similar type of exploitation in Finland is not inevitable. It has been allowed to happen. Criminals can run their [businesses] fairly freely due to the lack of information, resources, and [police] interest.”

In The Guardian article, the stateless person Rahman* tells about the exploitation and hopelessness of his case:

“It was a time when no matter what Rahman suffered, the legal right to remain in Europe eluded him. His lack of status enabled appalling crimes to be committed against him, and it left the criminals unpunished. He has been exploited and deported but his dream of Europe endures. He has found his way back to the continent but the future is uncertain.”

Here is the question: If the Finnish authorities turn a near-blind eye to human trafficking, it suggests that the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), police service, and other state-run regulatory bodies give their tacit approval to this type of exploitation. What role does institutional racism have in the issue?

Who has heard or read in Finland that the present immigration policy and toxic debate surrounding asylum seekers and migrants are the sources of the exploitation in the labor market?

The reason why we are not hearing anything, or hardly anything, is because racism and complicity encourage us into inaction.

*Rahman is an assumed name to protect his identity.

A Kurdish activist in Sweden who faces deportation to Iran fears imprisonment and death

Posted on March 7, 2019 by Migrant Tales

THE STORY WAS UPDATED

An activist of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) in Sweden is under threat of being deported to Iran, where he believes he could be imprisoned and life would be under threat. Following the footsteps of many of his country, Agrin,* came to Sweden in 2015 and lives in Eskilstuna, located 112 kilomters west of Stockholm.

A representative of the the Summit Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Presons Affairs, expressed “extreme concern” about the plight of the etained Kurdish activist facing deportation to Iran. He wrote that thereatment and punishment of those who oppose the Iranian regime is “well-known.”

“When someone is bing deported from one country to another, the authorities of the country apprehend, handcuff and evn restrain the person if necessary,” the representative wrote in an email. “Then he is escorted by three officials with his files, which will be handed as well to that country’s authorities.”

While the complicated political situation of the Kurds is due to the ongoing conflict in Syria and the region, both Turkey and Iran announced Wednesday that their forces will carry out a joint operation against Kurdish rebels.

Agrin used to live in the Rammadi refugee camp in Iraq but after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, he moved with his family to another city in Iraq.

Agrin taking part in a demonstration against Iran in Sweden.

In recent years, a number of EU countries have deported many Iranian political opposition activists resulting in one execution and disappearance of many others. The crackdown of Kurdish activists in Iran has resulted in imprisonment and death, according to Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights.

If you want to help and stop this deportation, please get in touch with [email protected].

* The original name of the person was changed.

(Racism Review) Swedish racism: Engineering a false image of democratic solidarity

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Migrant Tales

When I, Masoud Kamali, arrived to Sweden as a political refugee from Iran in 1987, I had heard a lot about Sweden. While serving time as a political prisoner in Iran, one of my first images of Sweden came from an article that I had read in the Iranian Iran’s major newspaper, Keyhan. when I was in jail in Iran in late 1970s. It was about the Swedish Sweden’s charismatic Prime Minister Olof Palme. The article contained a picture of Palme walking his bicycle on the grounds of Stockholm’s famous Citadel and gathering money for the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua. As a leftist believing in a socialist revolution at that time, my prison-mates and I were very impressed by a country in which the Prime Minister dared openly support a leftist/Marxist movement.

At the time that Palme was assassinated in 1986, I had been arrested and jailed in Turkey for trying to leave the country illegally, since I did not have a valid passport and visa. I remember that I could not control my tears since he had become a symbol of democracy and solidarity for me. Though Palme was remarkable for many reasons, his anti-Vietnam war campaign and strong opposition to Apartheid in South Africa were among his impressive political stances.

Read the original story here.

A few years later in 1989, I began studying Sociology at the University of Linköping in Sweden. Initially and for the first time, I felt that I had another identity instead of just being a “refugee.” Given my student status, I envisioned that my peers with Swedish backgrounds and I would be treated as equals. However, I would quickly learn that (GWF) Hegel was wrong; the abstract could not be understandable if it turns into concrete human action. On the contrary, in many cases quite the opposite is true. Abstract declarations of “Human Rights” and “equality of human beings” propagated by the Swedish government become meaningless when actualized as concrete action. I was not welcome to my Swedish classmate’s “after work” gatherings and to other “student activities.” I realized very soon that even questions such as “Do you like Sweden?” or “Are you happy to be in Sweden?,” were not neutral inquiries and should not be answered in accordance with your actual feelings and genuine sentiments. Such questions are master narrative scripts to be answered subserviently with responses like “Absolutely” (as in “Yes, sir boss!”) in order to “fit in” not as part of a Swedish group but rather in the token role of an “immigrant” who is a symbol of Swedish generosity and solidarity.

Continue reading “(Racism Review) Swedish racism: Engineering a false image of democratic solidarity”

The bad and good news after Sweden’s 2018 parliamentary elections

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Migrant Tales

There is good and bad news after Sunday’s parliamentary elections. The bad news is that the far-right Sweden Democrat saw its support rise by 4.7 percentage points to 17.6% compared with the elections in 2014, according to Svenska Dagbladet. The good news – if it can be considered as such – is that the result was well below expectations.

Writes The Local: “But the pre-election polls had clearly got into their [Sweden Democrats] heads: YouGov had them polling at 25 percent and becoming Sweden’s biggest party – the same YouGov that got the party right last time. Other pollsters said they’d adapted their methods and were better equipped this time to gauge the SD vote, with Ipsos and Demoskop for example putting them around the 18-19 percent mark. But who could really tell?”

Read the full story (in Swedish) here.

Certainly, Sunday’s election result will make Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s job difficult in forming a new government. The present situation may mean the Social Democrats forming a government with a right-wing party that would exclude the Sweden Democrats.

The fact that the Sweden Democrats became the country’s third-largest party – not second-largest, according to some polls – and that migration and crime took the front seat of the political debate, reveals something disturbing about the Nordic countries. Norway, Finland, and Denmark, whose far-right Danish People’s Party does not form government but supports it, all have seen the rise of the populist anti-immigration parties.

How is it possible that Nordic countries, which profess being the most liberal and which base their social policy on equality could be so xenophobic and Islamophobic?

Continue reading “The bad and good news after Sweden’s 2018 parliamentary elections”

(Migrant Tales 12.2.2017): Dear Sweden, don’t play ball with the Sweden Democrats – Finland is the best example of the disaster that awaits you

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Migrant Tales

Dear Sweden,

In all of the Nordic region, we have seen far-right populist parties rise in this century with a hostile even vicious anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity agenda. Of all the Nordic countries, you are the only one in the Nordic region where populist anti-immigration parties have not formed directly or indirectly a part of government.

A poll in November, however, showed a sharp rise of the far-right Sweden Democrats to 21.5% when compared with 12.9% it got in the 2014 parliamentary elections and not trailing too far behind the Social Democratic Party (25.7%) and Moderates (22%).

The Sweden Democrats are the third largest party today in the 349-seat Riksdagen (parliament) with 49 seats (12.9%) in 2014 compared with 20 seats (5.7%) they won in 2010.

In an analysis piece by Expo, an anti-racism and anti-fascism NGO in Sweden, they explained the rise of the Sweden Democrats in 2010 to the Riksdagen in the following words:

“The Sweden Democrats gain from presenting themselves as an alternative to the so-called establishment,” wrote Expo chairman Daniel Poohl. “The bloc politics that has marked the election campaign has turned the Sweden Democrats into a distinct third alternative, an underdog.”

Poohl continues to warn us in 2016 about the Sweden Democrats: “That’s where we come in. This is the white paper [stating that they aren’t a racist party and have no ties to fascism] that the Sweden Democrats would have to do, but will never be able to write. The racism found in the Sweden Democrats isn’t something that belongs to history but is a part of the party’s concept.”

Migrant Tales wrote the following letter to Sweden in june 2015 warning about the perils of playing ball with a populist party that loathes immigrants:

“Today, you, dear friend in Sweden, are the only country that can restore sanity to this part of Europe and effectively challenge this force that is undermining and threatening our Nordic values. We need you to hold out and show leadership, which has been shamefully lacking in the rest of our region.”

Read the full story here.

However, it looks like there is a tear in the cordon sanitaire that excluded the Sweden Democrats from Swedish mainstream politics. Anna Kingberg, the head of the Moderates, said that her right-wing conservative party would be ready to negotiate with the Sweden Democrats, according to Politico.

Continue reading “(Migrant Tales 12.2.2017): Dear Sweden, don’t play ball with the Sweden Democrats – Finland is the best example of the disaster that awaits you”