Sverigedemokraterna
The Sverigedemokraterna or Sweden Democrats are a far right political party in Sweden.[1] They have been characterised as a party of the 'new far right', having taken pains to sanitise their message and their image, consigning jackboots and skinheads to the past and replacing them with sharp suits and ties.[2]
Contents
History
The party was reportedly founded in 1988 as a white supremacist outfit. According to journalist Jake Wallis Simons in the Daily Telegraph, members used to wear Nazi uniforms to meetings, one prominent early activist, Gustaf Ekström, had been a member of the Waffen SS and another Anders Klarström was part of the Nordic Reich Party.[2]
According to author Jens Rydgren, the Sweden Democrats have their roots in the extra-parliamentary far-right:
- for the first half of the 1990s there was no clear distinction between the Sweden Democrats and different skinhead and Nazi organisations, and an overlap of membership was not uncommon.[3]
Support
By 2014, the SD were the third largest party in Sweden, and won 20 parliamentary seats in the May 2014 elections[2]
Racism
The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism stated in a 2003 report on Sweden that: "Since the September 11 attacks antisemitism has remained a cornerstone of neo-Nazi ideology while islamophobia is disseminated primarily by the more “respectable” Sweden Democrats."[4]
In March 2009, Sveriges Radio reported that an investigative team which infiltrated the party had encountered racist remarks at roughly one third of the meetings they attended:
- Among other things, members of the Sweden Democrats who hold elected office said that immigrants aren’t loyal, don’t want to pay taxes, and would rather take black-market jobs.
- “Those who come from these countries, they’re pretty raw and real savages… [laughter]…They are, it’s in their nature,” one elected official could be heard saying on SR’s tape.
- At another meeting, immigrants are compared with dogs.
- “Did you know that an immigrant who comes to Sweden from countries like Afghanistan and Africa sometimes come with 2,000 parasites in their body. Not ever our dogs have that many, and they have to sit in quarantine…,” said a Sweden Democrat representative, prompting several at the meeting to burst into laughter.[5]
In October 2009, a survey by Demoskop found that 83 per cent of Swedes regarded the party as racist, but 38 per cent thought it was acceptable for other parties to co-operate with them.[6]
Counterjihad links
In 2006, the party's website was closed down by its hosting company for carrying cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. This led to the resignation of Swedish foreign minister Laila Freivalds after it emerged that a Foreign Ministry official had contacted the hosting company.[7]
In 2006, the American conservative writer Bruce Bawer described the Sweden Democrats as the only sizeable party in the country that "articulates most Swedes' concerns about their country's immigration and integration policies."[8]
Sweden Democrats member Ted Ekeroth spoke at the Counterjihad Europa conference in Brussels on October 2007.[9]
In September 2009, the Party's international secretary, Kent Ekeroth hosted an 'anti-Islamisation' seminar in Mälmo. Speakers included Jordanian journalist Ghada Hanna, Mrutyuanjai Mishra from India and Alan Lake from the UK. Lake discussed how the counterjihad movement in England was building alliances with football supporters.[10]
Pegida links
According to English language translations of Swedish press reports, SD supporters were involved in the first, poorly attended protest of Pegida Swerige, an attempt to start a movement similar to the PEGIDA protests seen in Germany.[11]
People
Jimmie Åkesson - Party leader| Kent Ekeroth - International Secretary | Ted Ekeroth
Contact
Notes
- ↑ Ivar Ekman, Anti-immigration party gains toehold in Sweden - Europe - International Herald Tribune, nytimes.com. 6 July 2006.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jake Wallis Simons, EU elections 2014: 'I can hear the boots of the 1930s marching through Europe', Daily Telegraph, 14 May 2014
- ↑ Jens Rydgren, From tax populism to ethnic nationalism: radical right-wing populism in Sweden, Berghahn Books, 2006, p.115.
- ↑ SWEDEN 2002-3, Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, Tel Aviv University, accessed 17 October 2009.
- ↑ David Landes, Sweden Democrats in racism row, The Local, 30 March 2009.
- ↑ Four in ten back far-right cooperation: poll, The Local, 16 October 2009.
- ↑ Freivalds and Dahlgren Resign, 21 March 2006.
- ↑ Bruce Bawer, While Sweden Slept, New York Sun, 8 December 2006.
- ↑ Counterjihad Brussels 2007, CounterJihad Europa, accessed 17 October 2009.
- ↑ Daniel Poohl, Välbesökt SD-möte mot "islamisering", Expo, 7 September 2009.
- ↑ Thousands gather to oppose Pegida demo, Radio Sweden, 9 February 2015
