Sweden shifts right

[Gob]

The polls have opened in Sweden's general election - where an anti-immigration party is vying to make large gains.

The nationalist Sweden Democrats (SD), which polls suggest have 20% support, are tipped for second place.

Neither the governing Social Democrats nor the main centre-right party is likely to win a majority.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has accused the SD of extremism and said that a vote for it was "dangerous".

Immigration has been a central issue of the campaign. The SD doubled its seats in the 2014 election and it is predicted to double them again in this election.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45461686

Racism? Probably plays a part. But increasingly Europeans are becoming pissed off with mass migration, and the imposition of foreign norms and cultures, from people who refuse to integrate.

[Guinevere]

How very Trumpian of you. “Refuse to integrate” is total dog-whistle code for “don’t look and sound like us.”

[Gob]

No. Refusal to integrate is a big problem. To write it off as just "Trumpism" shows why it's become a big problem.

Sweden's "naive" approach to integrating asylum seekers has opened the door to the far-right, an outspoken lawmaker told AFP ahead of elections expected to see the country's once-marginal anti-immigration party make gains.

Amineh Kakabaveh is an Iranian Kurdish ex-peshmerga fighter who sought asylum herself in Sweden in the 1990s and has been a member of parliament since 2008. She has been a vocal critic of Sweden's handling of the 400,000 asylum seekers taken in since 2012, including 160,000 in 2015 alone, the highest number in Europe per capita.

Sweden is "increasingly divided", said the 40-year-old politician, whose views have earned her enemies among her own formerly-communist Left Party who accuse her of stigmatising immigrants. Yet Kakabaveh is ruthless in her criticism of Sweden's shortcomings on integrating immigrants, giving it a failing grade.

"We have been naive. We have not been brave. We had no plan," she said, adding that this has enabled a rise in "fundamentalism" in Sweden's suburbs that has fuelled the far-right.

"Sweden has been having integration problems for 20 years," Kakabaveh tells AFP in an interview just days before the election. "This is why the Sweden Democrats, a racist party, is now [poised to be] the second biggest party."

For Monica and Bengt Borg, a retired Swedish couple, Flen doesn't feel like Sweden anymore. As they sit on a bench on the town's main street, an Iraqi man nearby watches a Kurdish television program on his phone. Arabic pop music pulses from a girl's phone. A constant flow of Somalis, Ethiopians and Syrians pass by, the women in headscarves.

"We don't recognize our country as it is today," said Bengt Borg, 66. His wife, 64, says she no longer feels safe walking alone at night due to reports of rapes by immigrants. Both plan to join a growing number of Swedes voting for a nationalist and anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, in Sunday's general election.

In Italy

The popularity of Italy’s hardline interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is growing as he taps into the emotions of a nation in despair and seizes on them as if he was still on the campaign trail.

Nowhere was this more evident than at the state funeral on Saturday for 19 of the 43 people killed in Genoa’s Morandi bridge collapse last Tuesday. Cheers and hugs greeted Salvini, also deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League, and his coalition partner, Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), as they arrived at the ceremony.

In contrast, deep disdain for Italy’s previous government was reflected in the insults hurled at members of the centre-left Democratic party.

In what some describe as a watershed moment, many Italians are not only counting on a robust and swift response to the tragedy from their new leaders but are also depending on them to resolve chronic problems, from high unemployment to corruption, that have weighed the country down for decades.

More pertinently, some are looking to Salvini, a man admired among supporters for his consistency as much as he is despised by critics for his anti-immigration rhetoric, as their saviour.

Germany;

Far-right demonstrators have held another night of anti-immigration protests in the German city of Chemnitz - following the fatal stabbing of a man for which two migrants have been arrested.

On Friday around two thousand people took to the streets - under the slogan "security for Chemnitz"

"We do not have a problem with foreigners if they integrate,” said one demonstrator. “So long as they work or want to work and are not imposing their culture on us. These are the basics. And many people are afraid because the security situation is getting worse and worse."

Also;

Some fear the “great peace” – the 70-plus years of co-operation and security in Western Europe – is now under threat.

The rise of the far-right has co­incided with a decline of the centre-left. Of the 28 EU states, only six – Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece, Sweden and Slovakia – have left-wing governments.

The right’s tough line on migration has played well with some of the left’s traditional supporters.

Prof Matthew Goodwin, of Kent University, says: “We have centre- left parties struggling with a new agenda of terrorism, immigration and the refugee crisis.”

There are fears for the future of the EU. A poll for Reuters suggests far-right parties could increase their seats in the European Parliament from 80 to 122 next year.

Prof Goodwin says: “The issue of the refugee crisis is massive for the EU. If they cannot be seen to respond effectively to that issue and they cannot come up with a unified plan, that is going to cause the EU major, major problems.”

So do not just write it off as "Trumpism", think about what fuels it, why it is happening, and what can be done about it..

[Econoline]

It's worth noting that none of those quotes shows any indication that the immigrants themselves are "REFUSING TO INTEGRATE." Amineh Kakabaveh (the Iranian Kurdish ex-peshmerga asylum-seeker quoted, who has been in Sweden for 20+ years and so probably has the best handle on the problem) does not put the blame on the immigrants, but rather on the government for inadequate planning::

• Kakabaveh is ruthless in her criticism of Sweden's shortcomings on integrating immigrants, giving it a failing grade.
  
  "We have been naive. We have not been brave. We had no plan," she said,

And the "Sweden Democrats" party (like Trump and the Republican party) appear to have no plan either, other than fear and cruelty.

[datsunaholic]

"Failure to integrate". No, it's a failure of people to accept or even tolerate cultural differences. It's very prevalent anywhere that is/was historically mono-cultural.

The US was a prime example- even white people from the Old World coming in- unless you gave up your Old World traditions and heritage, you weren't accepted into society. That isn't "integrating into society", that's conforming. And it's a lot harder to do for people who LOOK different. They can't just give up their traditions and fit in since they look different.. And that's not right. They shouldn't have to give up their traditions. We should be tolerant of other people's cultures even when they conflict with ours, but we aren't.

[BoSoxGal]

Bravo x infinity, Datsun!

That’s exactly my feeling, but you said it much better than I could!


Some of us never get to travel the world - I love that the multicultural society created by immigrants lets me experience some measure of the rest of the world right in my own backyard. It’s the small minded xenophobes who are unsettled by anything different than what they grew up with - and any such thing is seen as bad, even if it causes them no direct harm.

Fear is the saddest of all human emotions.

eta: But I will add one caveat - I’m good with multiculturalism up to the point where it conflicts with individual rights sacrosanct in a liberal democracy. So to that end, I’m not okay with radical Muslims who believe they are justified in slaughtering cartoonists who mock Mohammed, or stoning women for premarital sex, or throwing gay people off of roofs. I consider them as abhorrent as the white male terrorists in my own culture who slaughter women because they are ‘involuntarily celibate’, or who slaughter black people at prayer meeting because their hearts are full of racist hate.

Basically I have no sympathy for murderers of any ilk.

[Econoline]

datsunaholic -

[datsunaholic]

Tolerance goes both ways. As long as you're not trying to force your culture on me. I'm not going to force my culture on yours. We can agree to disagree on religion, diet, politics, etc.

The whole "fear" thing among conservative whites is spun up by conservative white religion. That by letting muslims in, they will try to convert all of us. Ironic since that's what the white televangelists and southern baptists are trying to do. Except that in most cases Muslims practice what they preach. Southern white baptists don't. "Do as I say, not as I do".

No, I don't tolerate hate in any religion or culture. Killing people who don't follow YOUR rules is wrong no matter what. Or harm, or harassment. You do have to follow the laws, even if your "Religion" is in conflict with it. That's pretty much the limit of "conforming" that is necessary. Freedom of religion and expression doesn't give you the right to trample on someone else's.

[rubato]

The degree to which immigrants choose to conform is entirely up to them. They are obliged to obey the laws, pay taxes and support themselves but that is all. Amish, Hutterites, Orthodox Jews, some Muslims and some Sikhs and many others have chosen to keep most of their religious and cultural traditions including teaching their children their native languages and cultures and pose no threat to us. By recognizing that this is a purely voluntary act we also give it greater depth and meaning. When people come here and choose on their own to conform it becomes an affirmative act which says "I like and respect American culture and by my behavior want to tell you so". If we suggest that it is obligatory and think we have the right to compel it we remove all honest value from it.

Those who choose not to conform are saying that they have a right to their personal identity and self-expression and expect that American society will respect and preserve that right, which is complementary in a different way.


yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

It’s also worth noting that much of what we consider revered American culture today was brought by immigrants of old, who were very often denigrated and despised at the time of their arrival - and in some cases for decades afterward.

It would be nice to think we could outgrow our old patterns of xenophobia, but apparently we still fall woefully short.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I've been in the US 35 years now and my Indian doctor a few years less. Yet when we get together we talk about cricket. This may be a little tricky tomorrow as England are 3-1 up on India at the moment (best of 5 series) and likely to win the current fifth match. As this man will be monitoring my stress test I probably should cut back on the gloating.

[RayThom]

And the excitement is palpable. There are good players on both sides.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=num2y1zK59Y

[liberty]

How very Trumpian of you. “Refuse to integrate” is total dog-whistle code for “don’t look and sound like us.”

So you tolerate other people cultures. How about, killing and eating horses and dogs? What gives you hypocrite the right to tell other people they can’t eat horse meat or dog meat?

[Gob]

"Failure to integrate". No, it's a failure of people to accept or even tolerate cultural differences. It's very prevalent anywhere that is/was historically mono-cultural.

The US was a prime example- even white people from the Old World coming in- unless you gave up your Old World traditions and heritage, you weren't accepted into society. .

So did you have people "integrating" like this;









Would you accept Sharia law becoming part of US law?

[BoSoxGal]

Plenty of home grown crazies just like them, at least here in the USA. In fact, they’re responsible for hundreds of deaths in the years since 9/11 - while there have been hardly any people killed here by radical Muslims.

[rubato]

&c et al and so on.

yrs,
rubato

[Gob]

Rubato makes the error of conflating home grown hate filed idiots with imported ones.

Classic "whataboutism"

[rubato]

The rise of the fascist right in Sweden, Greece and elsewhere is driven by the effects of austerity policies.

All white Americans are immigrants. It has been proven adequately that hatred is distributed through all cultures.
Only a naive racist does not know this.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Gob]

The rise of the fascist right in Sweden, Greece and elsewhere is driven by the effects of austerity policies.

In part yes, policies forced on governments in part by mass immigration.

All white Americans are immigrants.

Oh dear, none are more than one generation American? Hey guys, Asperger boy thinks you are not Americans, but immigrants.

It has been proven adequately that hatred is distributed through all cultures.

It has also been proved that bears shit in the woods.

Only a naive racist does not know this.

Something you needlessly prove with your every post.

[Joe Guy]

All white Americans are immigrants.

I immigrated from San Francisco, California.