EU network: Sweden passive on ‘slave auction’
The pan-European network of NGOs and research institutes has called on the Swedish government to use the opportunity of a “slave auction” held in Lund in April to “address the specific needs of victims of racism and racial hatred”.
The RED Network, representing NGOs and research institutes from 17 EU member states, has expressed its deep concern over “the racist incidents depicting black people as ‘slaves’ at Lund University and Malmö University in Sweden”.
In an open letter to education minister Jan Björklund and integration minister Erik Ullenhag, the institute challenges the government to take a clear stand.
“While Swedish politicians are passive and quiet we have received support from the US, such as (the European Network Against Racism) ENAR, and now from the RED Network,” said Mariam Osman Sheifay, a Social Democrat MP and chair of the Center against Racism, a Sweden-based member of the RED Network.
The letter refers to a so-called “jungle party” held at a Lund student organisation, where three people with blackened faces and lynching ropes around their necks were sold in a mock auction.
The incident, first reported in a local Lund student newspaper, has since gripped the attention of civil rights heavyweights around the globe.
The European Network Against Racism (ENAR), based in Brussels, wrote an open letter to Sweden’s democracy minister Birgitta Ohlsson condemning the incident, urging the government to take action.
The tale took another turn when prominent US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson penned a complaint to Jan Björklund urging Sweden to take measures to ensure that Swedes are reminded of the brutal transatlantic slave trade and the part Sweden played in it.
While Lund University, one of Sweden’s most prestigious seats of learning, has since responded to the criticism by announcing a new programme to educate students and staff about the university’s core values, anti-racism campaigners have been left frustrated by the government’s reticence to speak out on the issue.
“It is time for the Swedish government and Swedish politicians to openly condemn and take a stand against racism and the racial hatred. Silence and half-hearted condemnation is the same as support for racist actions,” Mariam Osman Sheifay said in a comment on the letter.
Victoria Kawesa, a researcher at the Center Against Racism, told The Local that there is a gulf between Sweden’s image overseas and the reality faced by the afro-Swedish community.
“People we speak to are shocked that this occurred in Sweden. Sweden has a humane reputation but at home nobody takes a stand,” she said.
In a opinion article published in the Svenska Dagbladet daily at the weekend, Erik Ullenhag called for a united front against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Victoria Kawesa would like this call to include the afro-Swedish community.
“Erik Ullenhag has… written about hate in Sweden without naming the racist attacks against blacks, Afrophobia as a problem in Sweden,” she said.
“Black people are also Swedish citizens and have a right to be protected and to receive support against racist slights and attacks.”
Kawesa furthermore echoed Jesse Jackson’s calls for an education campaign to inform Swedes that the slave trade is part of the country’s history and something of deep concern for the Swedish population, in part and as a whole.
“We need to draw attention to the fact that Sweden was involved, this is an experience which we all share. The incident in Lund is an opportunity to address this,” she said.
The “slave auction” has been the subject of ridicule from some quarters, with one controversial Swedish artist, Dan Park, posting images of Jallow Momodou, who reported the incident, all over Malmö and Lund depicting him as a naked man in chains.
Park maintained that his art was “great humour” and the incident has furthermore been described by some as a “tasteless joke” and called for those alleging racism to toughen up.
“Racism has become a word that can be used, but the situations exist. There are people who say that we are easily offended, but that is easy to say when you are not the ones being insulted,” said Victoria Kawesa.
Peter Vinthagen Simpson
About the Author
What can one say about the life of the black people in Sweden? They are almost non-existent in the daily life of Sweden and even government policy does not involve them. Take for example, if the government says the unemployment rate is 7 percent, note that the rate excludes the black population. Or if there is the clamour of shortages of hospital beds, it is clear that does not involve the blacks. The blacks are seen in Sweden as pests and it is just due to fear of international condemnation, Sweden would have made it sure that blacks find it hard to live in the country.
Black people have been called all sorts of names in Sweden and even the police have made high level racist remarks, for example some two years ago in Malmö, black people were called monkeys by the police but nothing has ever been done about the issue.
Recently at Lund University students there painted their faces black to replicate the “slave trade auction” as it happened during that times in which Sweden designed and supplied special ships that transported the slaves to various areas of the new world. This, the African student in the university did not like that move which they considered too insulting.
The events have not only aroused disgust in Sweden but has sent ripples internationally where prominent anti-racists held condemnation of the events and the culture of impunity which they believe reflects the deep racism in Sweden as a normal way of life. Traditionally the black people in Sweden have always been quiet and absorb most of the abuses heaped upon them by the Swedish public, its legal system, its job market, education, housing, healthcare etc. But now they are getting tired of the slave-like conditions they are experiencing while living in Sweden.
Afro-Swedes in Stockholm in coalition with other African and Swedish anti-racist organizations are gaining broad international support are now calling the Swedish government to look into their plight. A petition was submitted to the government on the 11th of May 2011, in which among others, will call for the following to be observed –
The governing parties in parliament should approve the bill 2010/11: Skr328 Swedish slave trade, which suggests that the task of spreading knowledge about the transatlantic slave trade and Sweden’s role in this is given to the appropriate authorities as a continuous activity and that on October 9, the date of the abolition of slavery in Sweden in 1847, be made into a national day of remembrance.
This can create the collective consciousness of the transatlantic slave trade and the role of Sweden which ensure that a similar incident at the University of Lund does not repeat itself.
That the government allocates resources for the detection of the 2011 UN International Year for people of African origin and contributes financially to the permanent memorial at the UN headquarters in New York in memory of victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.
To Lund University and Lund University Student Unions –
That Lund University Rector, Per Eriksson, immediately suspend the students who organized the “slave auction” at Halland nation while waiting the final decision of the Disciplinary Committee.
The students behind “slave auction” must obviously be excluded from Halland Nation and the Student Union. And that Halland nation’s welfare officer has forfeited their confidence as a leader in that she was taking part in the “slave auction” and then in a series of statements sought to legitimize this racist spectacle.
By Scancomark.se Team
England, Portugal, France, Spain, Holland….European countries that are well-known for being involved in the trading slaves from Africa in and around the Atlantic up until the 19th century. But like its southern neighbour Denmark, historians say Sweden too profited from slavery and according to Professor Dick Harrison from Lund University, in the 17th century Sweden even paved the way for what was to come…as most of the other countries involved in slave trading hadn’t yet begun to develop big slave ship fleets.
But it didn’t stop there. After that first wave, Sweden’s involvement in the slave trade was relatively small, but a new phase began in the late 18th century when the Swedish King Gustav III bought the West Indian island, Saint Barthelémy, from the French. He soon decided to turn it into a Swedish slave colony.
Dick Harrison says neither of the two waves were important for the economy on a national scale,but trafficking slaves across the atlantic was a matter of national pride Sweden. And even the church had no problem with it.
It might have been about keeping up appearances then, but there’s been plenty of denial ever since. Today, It’s hard to find many Swedes who know their country was a slave-trading nation as late as the 19th century, and it’s probably not surprising as you won’t find it in many history books.
Musician Amahdu Jah performing at a seminar in Stockholm on Sweden’s role in translatlantic slave-trading.
One of the speakers was Victoria Kawesa from the Centre Against Racism in Stockholm, who thinks Sweden needs to recognise its role in slavery to help in the fight against racism today…
And Kitimbwa Sabuni from the African-Swedish National Association and agrees Sweden needs to start facing up to its past….
http://networkeurope.radio.cz/feature/swedens-slave-trade
As a matter of fact many elites in Sweden are racist, and are consciously racists.
However, most of the ordinary Swedes are unconsciously racists, even though many ordinary Swedish believe that their attitudes have nothing to do with racism. Because of this lack of understanding about racism, there are lot of problems on the political scenes. As soon as, a politician or a person in power says something not in the favour of foreigners, many other politicians, famous people and ordinary people on the political scene or in the media protest about the words. However, when it comes to the daily life, the same Swedes, who protest against racism, are completely racist in the manner and attitude toward foreigners! When they look for apartment, they try to avoid foreign neighbours, when the foreigners apply for jobs, their application would be consider less favourable and thousands of other obstacles for immigrants and refugees.
It’s fascinating!
Many swedes are racist and don’t even realize it. They all like to say that they believe in equality and fairness but it’s just repeating what they’ve been told again and again.
I’ve heard a lot of swedes make racist jokes, use terms like svartskalle, jävla invandrare, and even jävla n#ger. I’ve heard many swedes say they would never live in areas with lots of immigrants, think it’s better to hire swedes than immigrants etc.
The people I’ve heard say things like that ranged from a Lund educated teacher, to local factory workers and everything in between. They then go on to state that they aren’t racist. It always leaves me scratching my head. It’s like they don’t even hear what they say.
RACIST SWEDEN: Rasist Javisst?
Racist Sweden is a swedish documentary from 1993 about the conflict between young swedish nationalists and immigrant teenagers growing up in the suburbs of Stockholm. The film was shot during the whole of 1992 and culminated in the riots on the 30th of November 1993 after which date the authorities prohibited the nationalist demonstration in the centre of Stockhom.
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZWsZyShR_s&feature=related
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXBJIL_yjJE&feature=fvwrel
Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T58Slq54kM&feature=fvwrel
Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac14UncRc6w&feature=fvwrel
Part 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX6S2zb0zl0&feature=fvwrel
Part 6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jsLGuGo1c&feature=fvwrel
Part 7:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojAhMYuBRQ4&feature=fvwrel
Part 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWLxACbUrPI&feature=fvwrel
Part 9:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmucRpmaoRA&feature=relmfu
Part 10:
(CNN) — Iran says it has busted a U.S. espionage network, arresting 24 people accused of spying and identifying 42 CIA operatives linked to the operation, state-run Press TV reported, citing an Iranian intelligence ministry statement.
The statement said the operatives had gathered data from “universities and scientific research centers, and in the field of nuclear energy, aerospace, defense and biotechnology industries.”
The alleged spy ring also used U.S. embassies and consulates in several countries, particularly Turkey, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates to cull information about the “oil and gas pipelines, telecommunication and electricity networks, airports and customs, the security of the banking and communication systems.”
“The network, which was set up by a considerable number of seasoned CIA operatives in several countries, attempted to trick citizens into spying for them under the guise of issuing visa, helping with permanent residency, and making job and study offers,” the report said.
The Iranian and U.S. governments have been adversaries since the 1979 Iranian revolution that toppled the shah of Iran and ushered in a hard-line and theocratic Islamic republic. Today, the United States says Iran aspires to build nuclear weapons and backs terrorism in the Middle East — stances Tehran denies.
Iran repeatedly has accused the CIA of trying to undermine the government, and news reports surfaced during the George W. Bush administration of an escalation in U.S. covert operations to undermine the regime.
Last year, for example, police arrested several suspects allegedly connected to the CIA, Israel’s Mossad and the British M-16 who were behind “recent terrorist attacks” targeting Iranian nuclear scientists, Iranian media reported.
In another 2010 bust, seven people, including some accused of having ties to a U.S.-backed Farsi-language radio station, were arrested. Iran’s state-owned Press TV reported that two CIA operatives were among the group.
In 2009, Iranian authorities said it arrested four citizens who were paid by the U.S. government to bring about a regime change. It said the group was funded by the State Department and the CIA.
The U.S. did not acknowledge those reports or the new claims from Saturday.
Also, an Iranian diplomat in June 2009 said that the United States may have been behind the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old Iranian woman whose fatal shooting was captured on video, making her an instant symbol of the opposition movement that protested against the June 12 presidential election results.
A CIA spokesman said at the time that “any suggestion that the CIA was responsible for the death of this young woman is wrong, absurd and offensive.”
Journalist Seymour Hersh, writing in a 2008 article in The New Yorker, said the Bush administration has launched a “significant escalation” of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country’s nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic’s government.
Hersh told CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer” at the time that Congress had authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents.
The White House, CIA and State Department officials have declined comment on the report.
If you cannot stomach the Swedish racism ,why dont you move away .Ithink most of swedish Airports are open 24 hrs daily.
Secondly do you think that there are blacvks who are also racists towards white-people.
If you hate racism so much Why dont you go back to Kenya/and in Africa and introduce racism as an ideology to millions of jobless idol youth.Shouting here wont change the Swedish racism. Are Russians not racist against blacks/the chinese/Germans and Brits your colonial lords?Go home oppen /Register Kenya Democracy Party of Nazists .& make Kenya a Racist Nation.
The only intrinsic value things have is what we give them, so perhaps as humans, we tend to over value some things that are essentially worthless… And stupid people never give BLACKS any value to start with. Anyways I don’t blame us Swedes and whites for that matter.
After all, how can you make a child who hates education love it when he is always stuck on the XBOX? Otherwise what do you expect from a country where the future generation is apprehensive of higher education and most kids ARE WANNABE rappers and punk rock stars after high school; already have enough tattoos and other body modifications? (your answers should give you a glimpse of the future of the west…)
For instance most of my buddies think Africa is a country! Hahaha! It’s someone stupid who will think Africa is a country, come on! Furthermore, the myopic designation of people as culturally united simply because they share a landmass is dicey. Imagine the newspaper headline “Asians Found Adrift on Raft.” We would be properly horrified at Chinese, Vietnamese and Sri Lankans being lumped together as one entity…
Africans should fight for their rightful position in Sweden, otherwise they will be swallowed and remain marginalized as they were in their original African countries.
As a white, i must say that tt the end of the day, these people like who perpetuate racial segregation ARE STUPID and so are those who think nothing should be done about it.
And guess what? Even those who have managed to make it to the continent and back make the situation worse. For instance this stupid girl at my workplace who thinks all of a sudden so much of African culture should change. Change for what? Who sets the rules in life for who to follow? Then comes all these stupid models of development being imposed on Africans. In the west, development exists for the large part only as a concept; however, in Africa development assumes many forms and of the most part it includes positive action in improving peoples’ lives.
Unfortunately, the western dimension has affected our abilities to be innovative. For developing countries, it is often assumed that Africa will follow the same development trajectory as today’s industrialized countries did in the past: first a decline of the agricultural sector, then a heavily growing industry and later a shift towards the service sector but this is not the case. it’s all happening simultaneously!
Some African countries will change global trends soon; parallel to western economic and development models being imposed on them! I am writing a paper on this issue and the world bank projections on Africa are Epic! Ghana especially. From the literature I gather that the recession has actually turned the tide. Somehow foreign aid has reduced significantly, reducing corruption; forcing people to take work more seriously, get creative and use their brains for the first time… that’s how the Chinese and Indians did it!
I believe Africa is the mother of all continents. Ethiopia is mentioned in one of the earliest literature, and so is Ghana and Mali. What do you know about world history…Without Blacks I am wondering what will come of the world (at least I got a sexy wife!! And beautiful kids). Nothing world changing has happened in Africa really? Think about slave trade for a fact! And then think about ME!
So I think instead of complaining about how ignorant people from other parts of the world are, one should rather start educating Swedes on multiculturalism. Otherwise, I have just created a new breed of Swedish who might perhaps get Europe out of future disaster based on MYOPIA. You are welcome to join if you please.
To those supporting racism: You actually believe people really want to be here? Leaving their families and cultural traditions? You think that if there was some semblance of peace and equality back in the countries of the refugees they would actually even care to come to Sweden?
People follow wealth and resources, it is simple as that. And most of them have been robbed of what was rightfully theirs. Africa is the wealthiest continent in terms of natural resources and one of the poorest financially.
Why is that? Because Europe stole most of their natural wealth to build their nations. Free natural resources and free labour was the name of the game. Can you imagine flying to a nation, seeing their gold and diamonds, oil, agriculture, animals, etc and saying this would be great to take back home. Then beating them and raping them, making them fear you, forcing them to work for you and taking all of these things and shipping them back to your country.
Now you have the audacity to think you are better than the average African. People whom you have down trodden for centuries in the name of greed and have no form of empathy for their pain and struggles. How repugnant!
Does anyone even understand that making fun of something as serious as that, that has destroyed the lives of millions over time. A crime so bad that is has robbed people of their future. A person I know recently made a joke about a Japanese guy and how he must be radioactive. Is that how you people think? That things like that are funny? People’s pain an suffering is far from a joke no matter how silly it may seem.
Would you joke about the painful death of a loved one from a disease or accident? Think people, think! Don’t be as cold as the Swedish winter.
Dressing up as blackface is explicitly racist. People figured that out a long time ago. Sweden is not a non-racist country, and I can attest to that. Because they believe in political neutrality doesn’t suddenly mean racism doesn’t occur. It,s all lipservice. If they cared about racism, then something will come out of this.
Will something come out of this? I expect not. Because its apparently a “non-issue”. Theres a difference between a non-issue, its an IGNORED issue, and all the RACIAL SLANDER that is occurring on these message boards speaks to the RACISM and XENOPHOBIA that still strongly resides in Sweden.
Its disgusting and horrific.
Xenophobia is more rampant in Sweden than I have felt out of all the places I’ve been in Europe, west and eastern europe. I would NEVER come back to live Sweden. To everyone out there, if you can leave … leave, because this mentality is only going to get worse.
Race is not a non-issue. This is NOT being blown out of proportion; for the same reason you dont make fun of the holocaust, or 9/11, or the war in the middle east. Its all lipservice until there is a public apology (which there wont be).
Who do you think drew the borders of the African countries? Colonialists from the West. Did they take into account the ethnic borders that already existed? No. They are a large cause to the segregation that occurred there in order for them to claim the best land and efficient slave trade routes.
Makes me sick. I look forward to leaving.
Do you expect all the white people in Africa, Australia, Asia, Latin America to go back to Europe (where the majority live)? You suggested blacks not happy in Sweden should move back to Africa where they originally came from. If you really thought so then all the white that live in e.g. S. Africa should move back to European countries where their forefathers came from…
About 200 years ago it was Ok to think like that, but we are living in 2011 and it is better to think 2011 …than 1800s. If you face racism in Sweden, then expose it instead of pretending it is a land of milk and honey yet you suffer. You can only make your life better by understanding yourself first.
Racism is more serious than expected in Sweden. When I lived in New York state, whoever posted a similar poster would’ve faced a life-time ban by the school.
Most Americans have moved ahead of Swedes when it comes to fighting racism. But the Swedish politicians try to deny that racism exists in this country, and claim that whoever wants to fight racism are fighting the nonexistent. In the end, it’s better to fight an enemy that’s been lifted out into the light than lurking in the darkness.
First the Swedish government have to admit SD’s political advance, as well as all SD stands for. Only then you can face racism in day light to fight it!
I lived in several European countries and that gave me a good knowledge that makes me able to compare racism and discrimination in these countries. Unfortunately I don´t know much about racism in Denmark but I can speak about Sweden.
Sweden is the most racist and cynical European country. A humane country on the books given the numbers of refugees Sweden has taken in but one has to consider the interests behind any Swedish action for what Sweden gives with one hand it takes away with the other. They do not let refugees in because they are generous and nice guys.
Swedes are unable to accept others “as equal”. Swedes are xenophobes who are completely convinced that their country is the best in the world.
Sweden is a country of racism and intolerance.
Swedes boast about giving free courses in Swedish to all immigrants when in reality they make people attend no ending courses (terrible didatics and pedagogy) to let them out of the job market. It´s a trap.
Swedes boast about their excellent health care system but they do not say that when their health care system fails it is usually with immigrants.
Some will say that Sweden has been pretty homogenous and that immigrants and other minorities are a recent phenomenon but it is not true. What about the assimilationist policies that Sami people and Finns have been suffering for more than one century?
The Swedish judicial system is openly racistic with 95% ethnic Swedes as judges and lawyers. Swedish policemen are 99% ethnic Swedes and they discriminate and persecute immigrants.
Coming back to Sweden from UK I was stricken by a photo of an immigrant with an arabic name saying “Welcome to my city Stockholm”. How ridiculous! They need photos! In UK when you arrive at the airport you can see many immigrants or people with immigrant descent working in the airport, all kinds of people with strong foreign accents, women with muslim scarfs, sikhs with turbans working as immigration officers.
In Sweden they use “photos” of immigrants because they have no immigrants working in the airport. Oh…sorry, I forgot. Of course they have immigrants at the airport, immigrant engineers and doctors that are unable to find a job in racist Sweden can at least drive taxis.
Sweden boasts about giving financial aid to refugees but what Swedes do is to give refugees a miserable income to live in segregated areas where there is nothing to do. These poor people are constantly humiliated by social service workers and suffer from depression.
Swedes have an exceptional intrinsic skill of ostracizing and alienating their immigrants, making them pariahs.
Swedes make them feel unworthy and guilty even though all they want is a job.
Swedish media has made it a rule to associate immigrants with problems.
Swedes would say “The segregation in Sweden is not unique.” No, it is not but it is the most cynical! Swedes smile at you and stab you in the back.
And it is an illusion to think that Western Europeans are not discriminated in Sweden. The only criterium to be discriminated in Sweden is to be a “non Swede”! If you are not one of them “you are nothing”.
Even if you speak good Swedish (bra svenska) you have no chance in the racist job market. Swedes think they are superior and it doesn´t matter if you have education, skills or experience if these were gained outside Sweden. Even if you are a second, third generation of immigrant descent, Swedes will never consider you Swedish.
Other Swedes will say: “You are most welcome to come and study in Sweden. We are one of the few nations that has no fee for foreign students who comes here to study.”
But Sweden needs qualified personal so it is just a question of interests. The irony is that these foreing students after graduating go on unemployed because of Swedish employers´ racism and discrimination.
In line with this it is not so strange that onward migration to a third country has grown popular not just among foreign students and workers residents in Sweden but also among those with immigrant descent that were born and raised in Sweden.
Sweden is the most racist country in Europe. The Swedish race purity department was only shut down in 1976. Sweden had important connections with nazists that placed their money in Swedish banks.
Sweden is the country of double moral, saying one thing, doing another thing.
Besides, as Swedes themselves say ” Sweden is boring, cold and dark”, that is why they drink so much and behave like pigs. A very very depressing place.
Immigrants in Sweden, shout out loud! Improve your English and tell the World how racist Swedes are. Tell people in your countries not to give jobs to Swedes, not to buy Swedish products, not to let Swedes in… They are a minority in the World, just 9 million arrogant racists that think they are the best…
http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/151832
Well my friends kenyans,racists in Sweden is LIVE now.U dont know that person sitting next to u in the metro,bus or commuter trains. Kenyans u people need to wake-up and love each other and work together.I got very mad wen l heard that kuna mkenya phoned Polis ati kuna jamaa hana mapepa na anafanya job kwa saloon ya sister wetu mmoja.
U person who phoned,we know u by now,get ashamed,hapocrite.u wont stop been black coz umeuza mwenzako.kuku wewe.u pay skatt n that money is used to depot ua brother or sister back to kenya.jungu anaenda holiday akifikisha jomo kenyatta.
Just a little lesson to the next person thinking of phoning.
If somebody call u black nigga, say BLACK IS BEAUTY if u cant fight back.
Pls some of our sisters dont make uaselfs more swedish than the original swedish,thats another part that makes jungu hate us coz u tend to be fake person.
This attitude of ‘if you don’t like it here go back where you came from’ is just an excuse for racism. Whoever says that is saying, “it’s better here than it was where you came from, what, you want EQUALITY too???”
Anyone who moves to Sweden has the right to be treated equally, and if they are not treated equally, they have a right to complain.
This whole ‘race crap’ really bugs me, ofcourse there is racism and bigotry in Sweden as there is in other countries, what really cheeses me off is the fact that Sweden does not accept that racism does exist. I am NOT a racist and there is obviously a BUT coming, BUT why is it that other immigrants (not all immigrants and I do know that I am 1 also) seem to try and bleed the system for all they can get. I know social workers in the social welfare system and it amazes me that amount of money that is given to ‘some immgrants’ if they are refused social welfare then the race card is pulled out and threats are made of discrimination. As a new resident in Sweden it is so obvious that if things don’t change Sweden is going to suffer from hard racism and neo ‘nazi’s’: twisted.
Institutionalized racism, the commonly known and seemingly state ratified mode of racism in Sweden, is exhaustible and can potentially wear out all forces and targets. Racism inherent in a society’s system cannot be easily contested and subjected to a whitewash defeat. Therefore, all immigrants in Sweden share a common experience and a common disgust with the national Swedish “dish” of racism. When racism becomes an intrinsic part of a system, no group goes unaffected.
In Sweden, Swedes refer to their kind of racism as “structural racism”. As the name implies, racism in Sweden is a societal structure and a part and parcel of the Swedish society.
Sweden, a fast growing multi-racial society still holds fast to its system of institutionalized racism. Sweden as most Swedes pretentiously want to see it, to them, is still homogeneous. The Swedish system needs a general overhaul to reflect the multi-racial society it has been transformed into. Sweden, to the dislike of racists, has now become a multi-racial society and so it’s going to remain. This is a reality that opponents of multi-racial Sweden are forced to face up to. Institutionalized racism in Sweden needs a farewell party and instead welcomes a multi-racial society.
Racism engraved in the Swedish system has a broad expression in many aspects of the society. Immigrants in Sweden face signs and symptoms of racism from all corners and levels of the society. Discriminations on grounds of race and religion are hot and topical issues of discussions amongst immigrants in Sweden. All immigrants in Sweden have different stories of discriminations to narrate. The Swedish language being used as a tool to discriminate immigrants is a common experience of all immigrants.
The Swedish language, as almost all immigrants realized, is blessed with a unique dialect. To speak Swedish, with pure Swedish dialect, is an impossible endeavour no-matter how long immigrants have been resident in Sweden. The pure Swedish dialect belongs exclusively to native Swedes. Immigrants’ kids’ usually born or brought up in suburban towns in Sweden, like their parents, do speak Swedish with a distinct dialect. Immigrant kids, born or brought up in exclusively Swedish areas, usually very few of them, are blessed with a dialect free Swedish. Nature has endowed the Swedes with the possibility of distinguishing immigrants with both eyes and ears. Detected by both eyes and ears, immigrants endure the task of Swedish discrimination.
In telephone contacts with authorities, the private and public sectors of the Swedish establishment, immigrants normally exposed by their immigrant Swedish dialect “ID cards”, become recipients of Swedes unpleasantness, unlike the preferential treatment usually dish out to their fellow Swedes. Studies based on research, published regularly, reveal that immigrants receive undue treatment from Swedish authorities compared to native Swedes.
Despite structural racism in Sweden, the immigrant population is rapidly on the rise. Every fifth inhabitant in Sweden is either an immigrant or has immigrant background. Swedes together with other Scandinavians are the only whites with kids together with nationals from every corner of the globe. You name any country in the world; there is surely a citizen from there with a kid or kids with a Swede or a Scandinavian. Swedes production of kids with citizens’ world wide, has, so far, failed to impact upon Sweden’s institutionalized racism.
On a long term basis, Swedish racism will drastically diminish or vanish when the population gets to the extent where every other Swede will be of immigrant background. But until such a time that this becomes an unavoidably reality, Sweden will gladly continue with its institutionalized racism unabated.
Why dont you people use what is populary called The Law Of Moses>IE:An eye for An eye>That means you treat the Swedes in your Country Just the same they treat you in Sweden >In Thailand/Turkey/Greece/Tz/South Africa etc and perhaps this will force them to wake-up and have a discussion of the Raw-Racism being Practiced by both Authorities /Industries /Social and By the försäkringkassa etc.
Catholic Church Bishops & priests has been (raping) Molesting boys (Anal-sexualy)for so long and still go scot-free
As an American temporarily living in Stockholm; I can honestly say that Swedes are about 30 years behind inn race relations than Americans. I have notice Swedes saying openly racists things to foreigners who are just moving about and minding their own business. I was really surprised.
People talk about Germany and how extremely racist it is there. However, I spent and extended time in Germany too and I find most of the population very tolerant of foreigners. Sweden is much…much more intolerant when it comes to foreigners. It is horrible. The government wants to give the impression that everything is “hunky dory” as far as intergration. The reality of it is that there are many neo-nazi’s in Sweden.
As recent as 1976 this country had a scientific committee for determining racial purity. The heart of Nazi Germany’s ideology! Today in 2011, the Social Democrates hold seats in the house…can we all say this is a flashback to 1933 Nazi Germany. I can only anticipate how horrible race relations in Sweden will be in another 20 years! Will another Hitler come to power! Shame…shame Sweden!!!
Really, what can I say. Those youngsters don’t have a clue, and if they have a brain, they obviously never learned how to use it.
They just need something to belong to. Someone to think for them, make them feel safe…
God knows how they’ll suffer and what horrors will come to them if they had a backbone.
Hatred is always the easiest solution for the ignorant. Their stupidity and lack of reason and knowledge is poring through every word they say and every stupid self satisfied smile.
It’s sad. It’s scary.
I am a Jew married to a christian black. My beautiful, talented, smart black Jew kids will never stand a foot in Sweden. I am ashamed to be a part of the human race sometimes. Shame on Sweden. Shame on all of us. They are pathetic.
Ethnic discrimination in Swedish labour market
Considerable ethnic discrimination exists in the Swedish labour market, which cannot be explained solely by human capital factors, such as education or language skills. Discrimination can also be generated at community and institutional level. To help solve employment discrimination, information campaigns should focus particularly on people making recruitment decisions.
Evidence of migrant non-integration
Recent research from Sweden shows that there is extensive ethnic discrimination in the labour market. In Sweden today, approximately 11.5% of the total population were born abroad. The largest groups of migrants are Finnish and other Scandinavian nationalities, followed by residents of former Yugoslavia, and Bosnian, Iraqi, Iranian, Polish, Turkish, Chilean and Lebanese people. Migrants, particularly non-European migrants, have higher unemployment rates and lower wages.
Of the two waves of immigration – the labour immigration from the 1940s to the early 1970s, and the refugee immigration since then – migrants from the latter group have had the most difficulty integrating into the Swedish labour market. However, the labour immigrants who came to Sweden years earlier are, on average, less educated than the refugee immigrants. This strongly suggests that human capital factors alone do not explain the non-integration of migrants. The gap between native Swedes and migrants remains in unemployment rates and wage income, even when various background factors are controlled.Moreover, these differences persist for second-generation migrants or adopted children; this strongly suggests that other traits (such as skin colour or ethnicity) play a role in discrimination, in addition to the so-called ‘Sweden-specific human capital’ (such as language skills and cultural competence). It also implies that there is direct and transparent ethnic discrimination in the Swedish labour market. For those whose parents were both born in a non-European country, the unemployment risk is 11 percentage points higher than for those with two Swedish-born parents.
Three mechanisms of exclusion
Three mechanisms of exclusion are identified as particularly significant: stereotypical thinking (so-called statistical discrimination: e.g. ‘All Turks are…’); segregation of networks of native Swedes and migrants (networks are based on ethnicity); and institutional discrimination. In the latter, institutional settings have intended or unintended discriminating consequences for certain ethnic groups. These three mechanisms are interrelated in many ways, which means that a holistic approach is needed when thinking about possible solutions.
Stronger social integration, i.e. a fusion of networks of migrants and of native Swedes, is likely to reduce the power of ethnic stereotypes. The crucial policy problem that must be solved, therefore, is how to create a closer integration between different ethnic networks (which is not the same as arguing that migrants should be assimilated into native Swedish society and culture). To that end, it is argued that there should be a policy aimed at counteracting the emergence and consolidation of ethnic enclaves in urban areas.
Key role of gatekeepers
Certain key actors (such as foremen or work managers) hold ‘gatekeeper’ positions in the labour market and may discriminate against migrants in two ways:
•by making recruitment decisions based on stereotypical, often prejudiced, beliefs about group-specific characteristics;
•by choosing people whom they know or who are recommended by people they know (i.e. only using their own networks).
For example, a foreman in Volvo’s large car factory in Gothenburg said:
‘You could put it like this, as a foreman you’ll get a lot of preconceived ideas about immigrants, and about certain immigrant groups. Because it is always the fact…that if you have had two persons of a nationality that haven’t been good, then I, as a foreman, do not want to have two new ones of the same nationality (Augustsson, 1996, p. 81, according to Rydgren, 2004).’
In other words, immigrants are treated as a homogeneous group, while native Swedes are, implicitly or explicitly, seen as a much more heterogeneous group. To address this perception, information campaigns and education about other ethnicities should, in particular, be directed towards people in gatekeeper positions, as they may discriminate against migrants, often without being aware of it.
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/2005/05/SE0505NU03.htm
For me, the key take-away from the comments here, is that it seems to be a default predisposition with some people to feel subjected to racism.
Well, here are some news for you: if you fully internalize that notion then that will be your experience, no matter the actual cirumstances you face on a daily basis.
I say that, being of Ethiopian decent myself.
If life and people in general is treating you badly, the firfst and most obvious answer should be to take a look in the mirror, figuratively speaking.
If you let historical mischiefs and the odd rasict person stand in your way to make create a fulfilling life for yourself, then that is YOUR CHOICE.
Warm up to the concept that the world doesn’t owe you anything and that would be to do yourself a
Malmö mayor: time to try ‘temporary’ citizenship
7 Oct 11 12:39 CET
Social Democrat Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu’s proposal to combat criminality by deporting new Swedish citizens who commit serious crimes has been slammed by party colleagues as “pure racism”.
On Friday, Reepalu suggested deporting criminals and introducing ‘temporary’ citizenship as ways to help combat crime in Malmö in the wake of continuing problems in the city’s Seved district-
“I believe this should be applied more often; that more active criminals who are not Swedish citizens should be deported,” said Reepalu to the Sydsvenskan newspaper.
During the spring, the problems in Seved grew more extreme and a massive police surveillance programme was initiated. But lately the problems have returned.
Postal workers in the area now carry a personal alarm and many residents say they don’t dare go out at night.
A gang of young men has been identified as responsible for the violence and disruption.
“We cannot have a society where children who are struggling in school see these young men leading a criminal lifestyle and controlling the whole area just because everyone is afraid of them,” said Reepalu.
With the high police presence in the area during spring, crime decreased by 25 percent.
Now Reepalu is calling for a larger effort by the police.
According to police superintendent Henrik Stiernblad, police presence is already high although he told TT that there are plans to increase it even further.
“We must acknowledge the fact that there are individuals in the area who believe they can commit a crime without any repercussions,” he told Sydsvenskan.
Reepalu also wants to introduce a type of temporary citizenship for new immigrants as a way to curb crime.
“A model where it is relatively quick to gain Swedish citizenship, but which entails a few years’ probationary period in which someone who commits a serious crime doesn’t yet have protection against deportation,” Reepalu told the TT news agency.
“It seems many of the serious criminal gangs come here and keep a relatively low profile until they get their citizenship. Then, once established here in Sweden, they develop a platform for international criminal activity.”
Reepalu said that apparently jail time given for these serious crimes is not enough to deter criminals.
“According to those I have spoken to, the only real threat in this situation is deportation. And it is clear that we cannot do that today within the rules for Swedish citizenship, where all Swedish citizens are equal,” he told Sydsvenskan.
When asked whether the temporary citizenship amounted to some form of second-class citizenship, Reepalu said that immigrants are already treated differently.
“You are a second class citizen before you get Swedish citizenship and today there is a rather long period of time before that.”
Reepalu initially received support from Social Democrat judicial policy spokesperson Morgan Johansson.
“This is a measure worth trying. And it is of course linked with faster processing times,” he told the TT news agency.
However, prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt quickly dismissed the idea of having different “levels” of citizenship.
“We have proposed many ways to to tighten the penalties for serious crimes regardless of who the perpetrator is. The frustration in Sweden is that there are far too many crimes not leading to prosecution. But that should not get mixed up with citizenship, which can not be divided up into sections or subcategories,” said Reinfeldt.
“Either you’re a citizen or you’re not,”
Linus Bylund, press secretary to Jimmie Åkesson, head of the anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, told news agency TT that his party has been making a similar proposal for years.
The Sweden Democrats now applaud the Social Democrats for embracing this initiative.
“They called us ugly names for this yesterday, but today they stand behind it as their own proposal,” Bylund told TT.
Later on Friday, however, Social Democrat party leader Håkan Juholt distanced himself from Reepalu’s proposal.
“The solution to gang criminality isn’t temporary or second-class citizenship. Let me be clear on this point,” he said in a statement.
Mariam Osman, a member of the Social Democrat’s governing board, also slammed the Malmö mayor’s suggestion.
“This smells like pure racism,” she told TT.
“We can’t have have people divided into two categories.”
BY: TT/The Local
I have relatives in Sweden. My mother was an immigrant to the us in 1926 .I think the Swedes in trying to help the suffering of the worlds oppressed people have given away their country to social unrest and in 50 yrs they will have lost their identity black Swedes want to talk about slavery which was bad but that was 200 yrs ago. All the guilty are long gone. So why the guilt tripnow. Goodluck trying to put the genie back in the bottle Sweden.
Tintin comics ‘too racist’ for Stockholm library
25 Sep 12
Popular comic book series Tintin has been taken off the shelves at a Stockholm library after staff members slammed the portrayal of other cultures as “Afro-phobic”.
Tintin fans visiting the Kulturhuset youth library in Stockholm may be disappointed after the library announced that the books have been stripped from the shelves.
“The image the Tintin books give of Africans is Afro-phobic, for example. Africans are a bit dumb, while Arabs sit on flying carpets and Turks smoke water pipes,” explained Behrang Miri, who is in charge of the youth department in the library, to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper (DN).
When the children read books like Tintin, Miri argues that they don’t stop to consider the stereotypical characters featured within the pages.
“Children don’t read the fine print, they just get into the story immediately. The biased picture is stigmatizing. Tintin provides a caricature with a colonial perspective. Young children absorb the information uncritically,” he told DN.
Meanwhile, staff at the library is working on investigating the content of other children’s books in the department in the aim of giving a consistent image for their readers without stereotypes, genders issues, or homophobia.
Even the adult literature is getting a thorough re-reading, with Miri hoping to provide better role models for the immigrants in the area, and a better reflection of their culture for the readers.
“All children’s literature should be reviewed,” he told the paper.
“Even adult literature. Many people from African countries are living here today, but we don’t know enough about them.”
Tintin was created by Belgian artist Georges Remi and revolves around Tintin, a young investigative journalist who travels the world solving mysteries.
The comics, published between 1930 and 1976, have been translated into over 50 languages and sold over 200 million copies. Steven Spielberg directed a motion capture 3D film version in 2011, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.
TT/The Local/og
15 July 2013 Last updated at 01:31 GMT
Italy racism row: Cecile Kyenge compared to orangutan
An Italian senator has been pressured into apologising after he said the country’s first black cabinet minister reminded him of an orangutan.
Roberto Calderoli, from the anti-immigration Northern League, told a rally that the success of Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge encouraged “illegal immigrants” to come to Italy.
Ms Kyenge is an Italian citizen born in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is the latest in a series of rows over racism in Italy.
“I love animals – bears and wolves, as everyone knows – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I’m not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan,” Mr Calderoli said in a speech to a rally in the northern city of Treviso on Saturday.
He also said Ms Kyenge should be a minister “in her own country”.
‘Beyond all limits’
Mr Calderoli’s words ignited a storm of criticism on social media and from political leaders.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the comments went “beyond all limits” and he offered “full solidarity and support to Cecile”.
At first Mr Calderoli offered only a qualified apology, saying his words were part of a larger debate about immigration.
But by Sunday evening, he told the Italian news agency Ansa that he had called Ms Kyenge himself to apologise.
Ms Kyenge is a Congolese-born doctor who has lived in Italy since 1983.
The Northern League has expelled a local politician who suggested on Facebook that someone should rape Ms Kyenge so that she “can understand what victims of atrocious crimes feel”.
And a Northern League member of the European Parliament was expelled from his party grouping after he said Ms Kyenge wanted to impose “tribal traditions” in Italy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23310837
please. Blacks expect respect from people of Sweden?! When they turned Sweden into 2nd largest rape capitol of the World!! Only after Africa, obviously.. Stop rapeing Sweden’s women and than maybe they’ll treat you like human’s,instead of like the wild soulless animals that you are.. Don’t act like your treated that way just because of the color of your skin. Very few people are racist for no good reason.. With the epidemic number of white women being raped by black in Sweden,practically everyone there knows Someone who had a traumatic horrible experience being Raped by a black man. So if alot of people there hate you,well its Certainly for Good reason. . Stop being rapeist! Stop rapeing Swedens white women! Or don’t complain when they hate blacks. Sweden has the 2nd most rapes every year in the World! Statistics show its black men who beat a white women to near death and rape her. You people are disgusting. And even more disgusting that you seem to think its ok and normal. Cause if you knew what you were doing was wrong,then you wouldn’t be so confused
To why people there hate you!
Sweden admits endemic discrimination of Roma
Published: 25 Mar 2014 09:35 GMT+01:00
Updated: 25 Mar 2014 16:35 GMT+01:00
“This is an unknown and dark part of Swedish history, maybe even darker than what I thought when we started the work with the white book,” Swedish Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag wrote in the op-ed pages of the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper.
The white book is based on interviews with Roma and other traveling groups, plus archive material and independent research.
“When the country’s police at the beginning of the 1900s described Roma and travellers the answers were clear,” Ullenhag wrote. “‘Ugly’, ‘unreliable’, ‘and ‘good-for-nothings’ were common views.”
That perception, Ullenhag wrote, laid the foundation for an attitude that the Roma contributed nothing and should be “annihilated”.
As the report was readied for release, Ullenhag told the TT news agency that the white book would have recognized the many stories of abuse shared by Roma and travellers.
“We have a heritage of prejudice, and the racist and xenophobic currents in Swedish society, in particular the first half of the 1900s, still exist today,” he added.
“But today they are not (expressed by) the authorities but by racist websites,” the minister said, before concluding that Roma and travellers were among the most vulnerable groups in Sweden today.
Ullenhag said he had met many people who chose not to wear traditional dress.
“(They) are still not open with their identity as Roma or traveller because many are scared of the reactions,” he said.
TT/The Local/
Swedish store ‘sorry’ for dousing beggar
Published: 21 Mar 2014 14:55 GMT+01:00
Updated: 21 Mar 2014 15:11 GMT+01:00
A Swedish passer-by witnessed the event and quickly wrote about his shock and outrage on social media. The post soon made the rounds online.
The supermarket chain Hemköp on Friday said it had apologized in person to the woman in question.
“Hemköp in all ways wants to express regret that Vanessa Ileva was doused with water in connection to the store manager at Stigbergstorget washing the windows without paying due attention,” a statement read.
The heead of communications for the entire chain, which has 180 stores across Sweden, told The Local she made sure to have a translator with her so that she and Ileva would be able to communicate as well as possible.
“She was very grateful that I was there and that we apologized, but I also wanted to hear how she had experienced the event,” Maria Nobel told The Local on Friday.
Ileva, 28, who told local media she had worked in Spain before travelling to Sweden, yelped and started crying after the dousing, drawing attention from nearby florist Lillian Pekkari who walked over to comfort her. But the store manager showed up again, Pekkari told the Metro newspaper.
“He came out again with a new bucket of water that he threw at the next window pane just as aggressively,” she said.
When news broke of the dousing last week, several hundred people assembled outside the Hemköp store demanding an answer. The store manager was threatened and has since gone on sick leave, Sveriges Radio reported.
Spokeswoman Maria Nobel declined to comment on how the furore had affected the store staff.
“It’s of course been stressful, but out of respect for them I don’t want to comment further,” she said.
The story hit a raw nerve with Swedes, many of whom have mixed feelings about the surge of people asking for money on street corners.
Nobel added no further explanation to the conclusion of the internal review that the store manager had not shown “due consideration”, but she said that Hemköp understood why the incident had sparked such attention.
“Maybe because it’s a hot topic. We understand fully why it caused such commotion,” she said. “It was serious what happened and we take it seriously.”
Also on Friday, the Metro newspaper reported that an Instagram account had been set up to photograph and register beggars in Stockholm, with the aim to highlight what “politicians don’t give a s*** about”. And on Thursday, the Expressen newspaper also reported that a small Ica store in Fornåsa had put up a sign discouraging its shoppers to give money.
“Please! Don’t give the beggars anything,” the post read,
Local resident Sanna Käck at first didn’t believe the news and headed off to the store to check that the reporter hadn’t been fooled by a photo montage. Surely a company wouldn’t tell its customers what to do, she thought.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw it (the sign) with my own eyes,” Käck reported back to Expressen.
Ann Törnkvist