An eye on the far right extremists in Europe post Norway attacks

[Skidmark]

This thread is dedicated to focus on and follow the reactions of the new and uprising far right political parties in Europe to the recent terrorist attacks that took place recently in Norway and what kind of an effect this event will have on their popularity.

Sweden Democrats:

The Sweden Democrats is a political party in Sweden, it describes itself as a nationalist movement although others use the term far-right. Since 2005, its party chairman is Jimmie Åkesson, while Björn Söder is the party secretary and parliamentary group leader.

In the 2010 general election, the Sweden Democrats for the first time crossed the four percent threshold necessary for parliamentary representation. This increase in popularity has been compared by international media to other similar anti-immigrant movements in Europe. The party polled 5.7% and won 20 parliamentary seats.

According to the February 2011 poll of United Minds, SD reached 8.5%, which represented an increase of 1.3% compared to the preceding analogue poll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Democrats


In the News:
Sweden Democrat: 'Islamisation' to blame for Norway attacks
Sweden Democrat Erik Hellsborn has written on his blog that the twin attacks in Norway are the fault of "mass immigration" and "Islamisation", denying that he feels any shame for sharing the same views as the perpetrator.
http://www.thelocal.se/35078/20110721/

"If there hadn't been any Islamisation or mass immigration then there wouldn't have been anything to trigger Behring Breivik to do what he did," wrote Hellsborn, who represents the party in Varberg in western Sweden.

"The ultimate responsibility is with the perpetrator, but if you are to discuss the underlying reasons which motivated him then it was caused by multiculturalism," Hellsborn explained to the local Hallands Nyheter daily.

Hellsborn furthermore writes that he feels no shame or guilt that he and Anders Behring Breivik share the same nationalist ideology. Those who should feel guilt are those he calls "cosmopolitans" and argues that "in a Norwegian Norway this tragedy would never have happened".

The political agenda detailed in Anders Behring Breivik's "manifesto" bear striking similarity to the ideology professed by the Sweden Democrats and when asked if the the party should shoulder some responsibility, Hellsborn replied:

"No, Breivik is a product of the multicultural society. If Europe had not become multicultural then the shootings would not have happened," he told Hallands Nyheter.

Blog:
http://erikhellsborn.blogspot.com/2011/07/massakern-ar-ett-resultat-av.html
Google translate:
http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ferikhellsborn.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F07%2Fmassakern-ar-ett-resultat-av.html

Sweden Democrats' party secretary, Björn Söder, renouncing their party members blogging about the terrorist attacks in Norway.

- The party does not stand behind that analysis. One should be very careful to do analysis at a so early stage. And we have also announced that to Hells Born, says Soder said.

- It goes without saying that no one but the attacker is responsible for what happened.

SD has already begun to be blamed in some debates in order to contribute to the political climate that attacker fostered in.

- I find it sad that you are trying to do politics of what happened and try to attack us, says Björn Söder.

http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/utrikes/article1517168/SD-politiker-delar-Breiviks-asikter.html

Sweden Democrat MP Kent Ekeroth also courted controversy on the evening of the attacks when used his twitter to ask:

"Anyone care to guess who is behind the bombs in Norway?.

He was warned by party secretary Björn Söder not to speculate before the cause of the attacks was known, but proceeded to write:

"No I am not going to call you Islamophobes".

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/kentekeroth/status/94415632686268416

Press secretary to Jimmie Åkesson, Linus Bylund, was also quick to draw conclusions, tweeting:

"The next bastard who gushes about how sad it is for the nice Muslims when bleeding Norwegians are all over the streets will be blocked".

Jimmie Åkesson response to the events in Norway:
"An attack on the entire democratic society"

Google translation:

It is with horror and sadness that we have followed the reporting of what has befallen our neighbor. Our thoughts now are with the victims, their families and among all the Norwegian people. There is still much investigative work before we get a clear picture of what happened, but we can already see that this is an attack on all democratic societies. In these moments, it is essential that we are consistent with that we will never accept that violence and terror to take root in our democratic and open society.

http://politisktinkorrekt.info/2011/07/23/ett-angrepp-pa-hela-det-demokratiska-samhallet/

Attack on Sweden Democrats after Norway attacks
Sweden Democrats' office in Kristianstad has been subjected to extensive graffiti. Probably in connection to the terrorist attacks in Norway.

- Sorry, there are left-wing extremists who seek to exploit this situation and make us accomplices to the attacks in Norway . I imagine that there could be a driver for them, but Anders Behring Breivik has more in common with anarchists than with us and other democratic parties said party leader Jimmie Åkesson 's spokesman Linus Bylund .

This is a mentally ill man who directed their hatred and their sympathies to everyone and everything, but we know that some use it for a drive against us. It's a completely different tone in Norway. He was for many years a member of the FRP , but there is no one accusing them of involvement. It is a more respectful tone there. There, all the democratic parties are working hand in hand instead, says Linus Bylund.

In the Sweden Democrats nationwide office in Kristianstad, someone has scribbled down the front walls and windows.

"We remember Norway" and a large anarchist label was scrawled at the entrance to the office.

Henrik Gustafsson at the party office tweeted:
Some idiots have scribbled down the whole party office with shit.

Vandalism has been reported to the police and Linus Bylund would not comment on the threats to the party is higher now than before the terrorist attacks in Norway.

http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/kristianstad/article1516899/Klotterattack-mot-SD-efter-terrordaden.html

Feel free to contribute with similar local news articles from your part of Europe on the events from a political perspective.

[Skidmark]

I would also like to add this:

Jimmie Åkesson, the Sweden Democrats party chairman has written an article in 2009 before his party entered the Swedish parliament, about the dangers of Islam on Europe, it was published in Aftonbladet and gained a lot of media and public attention and controversy.

Islam 'Sweden's biggest threat': far-right leader

An article by the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats claiming that Islam is the biggest threat to Sweden since World War II is tantamount to hate speech, according to legal experts.

A number of jurists believe the text, published in the opinion section of the Aftonbladet newspaper, qualifies as agitation against an ethnic group (hets mot folkgrupp).

The Sweden Democrats concluded their annual congress on Sunday in the town of Ljungbyhed in Skåne in southern Sweden.

On Monday, Aftonbladet published an opinion piece by party leader Jimmie Åkesson in which the prominent far-right politician slams Islam.

According to Åkesson, “today’s multicultural Swedish power-elite are totally blind to the dangers of Islam.”

He goes on to claim that more than ten Muslim terrorist organizations have established themselves in Sweden, that Sweden has the most rapes in Europe, and that Muslim men are highly overrepresented among the perpetrators.

“As a Sweden Democrat, I see this as our greatest external threat since World War II and I promise to use all my power to change the trend during next year's election,” writes Åkesson.

Åkesson’s claims prompted academics and legal experts to draw parallels between the Sweden Democrats and the Nazis.

“This is the same sort of propaganda as the Nazis' anti-Semitism,” said Jan Hjärpe, an emeritus professor of Islamic Studies at Lund University, to Aftonbladet.

“This also has racist undertones, because the rhetoric assumes that religious affiliation determines how a person acts.”

Several leading lawyers who spoke with Aftonbladet believe the article borders on qualifying as agitation against an ethnic group.

“I think that the Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern - JK) should prosecute it. The article is uniformly directed against and is hateful toward Muslims as a group,” said attorney and media expert Peter Danowsky.

“To single out an entire religion as the greatest external threat is very close to agitation against an ethnic group,” attorney Peter Althin told Aftonbladet.

“A tough jury assessing the boundaries of free speech would condemn this article. It’s an expression of disrespect towards Muslims as a group,” said Per Hultengård, a lawyer with the Swedish Newspaper Publishers’ Association (Tidningsutgivarna).

But Chancellor of Justice Göran Lambertz said he has no plans to launch a preliminary investigation himself as to whether Åkesson’s article violates Swedish rules governing the freedom of expression.

“This isn’t an obvious case of agitation against an ethnic group. If it had been, I would have launched an investigation myself. But I’ll probably receive complaints about the article and then I’ll look more closely into the matter,” Lambertz told TT.

One controversial claim in Åkesson's article is that Sweden has more rapes than any other country in Europe.

According to Sweden’s National Crime Prevention Council (Brottsförebyggande rådet – BRÅ), researchers agree that it’s impossible to assess and compare the actual number of violent crimes and rapes across different countries by comparing the number of crimes reported to police.

“The differences between countries’ judicial systems and their systems for gathering statistics regarding crimes reported to police isn’t just big – it’s really big,” council head Jan Andersson wrote last spring in comments on an EU study on the matter.

“Firstly, we in Sweden have an obvious legal definition of what is considered rape. That means that more cases in Sweden are tried and registered as rape than in many other countries. Secondly, we in Sweden began putting a lot of effort into registering all cases which could be suspected of being rape at a very early stage in the process, which means that we even count cases which later turn out to be some other sexually-related crime, no crime at all, et cetera.”

In Sweden, every individual act reported to police is registered, not just the most recent or primary criminal act. In many other countries, authorities want and remove many cases from statistics.

There is also no basis for Åkesson’s claim that Muslim men are overrepresented among rapists.

“I haven’t seen any scientific articles dealing with this which have reached that conclusion. It’s based on an assumption,” Brå researcher Klara Hradilova Selin told TT.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Åkesson’s article makes clear what the Sweden Democrats want to achieve.

“They have an interest and that’s to differentiate between people, to create an us-against-them way of thinking, cast suspicion on ‘them’ and in that way lay the groundwork for policies by which ‘they’ are thrown out or deported,” Reinfeldt said at an informal press conference on the margins of a Monday morning visit to Gothenburg University.

“Every attempt by those in power to single out the right religion or right nationality, right sexual preference, has always ended horribly. Because as soon as practical policies are to be made using that approach, a dividing up of people begins which is neither manageable nor desirable.”

http://www.thelocal.se/22738/20091019/
Original article in Swedish:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/debatt/debattamnen/politik/article12049791.ab

[Cerveza mas fina]

I think far right neo nazi's are idiots, but I don't entirely agree with the multicultural society either. The new rise of the far right was to expected with Europe for the first time ever being a place people migrate to and not from, also lots of internal migration for the first time ever. If you want to peer into the future just look at the USA, even a 100 years after they arrived people are still being made out to be irish, italian, polish etc. Conflict is a characteristic of migration.

On one hand I am all for freedom of people moving wherever, doing whatever to improve their lives. Nobody is "stealing" jobs. You can't "steal" a job. But it is very frustrating to see rise of crime, people not being able to speak properly in the language of the country they are in (or English even) and people behaving generely against the culture you were raised in.

I also really, deeply, hate the sense of entitlement some people in rich countries have. They think (usually poor, uneducated people, nazi types who are of no added value) that they are entitled to shit by birthright. Makes me furious. But it's logical ofcourse, since the foreigner are doing the same labour as them.

Situation reminds me of American history, where in the South the landowners riled up the populace against the blacks, when in fact the poor southerners had more in common with black slaves then with the white landowners that were exploiting both.

[Skidmark]

I think far right neo nazi's are idiots, but I don't entirely agree with the multicultural society either. The new rise of the far right was to expected with Europe for the first time ever being a place people migrate to and not from, also lots of internal migration for the first time ever. If you want to peer into the future just look at the USA, even a 100 years after they arrived people are still being made out to be irish, italian, polish etc. Conflict is a characteristic of migration.

On one hand I am all for freedom of people moving wherever, doing whatever to improve their lives. Nobody is "stealing" jobs. You can't "steal" a job. But it is very frustrating to see rise of crime, people not being able to speak properly in the language of the country they are in (or English even) and people behaving generely against the culture you were raised in.

I also really, deeply, hate the sense of entitlement some people in rich countries have. They think (usually poor, uneducated people, nazi types who are of no added value) that they are entitled to shit by birthright. Makes me furious. But it's logical ofcourse, since the foreigner are doing the same labour as them.

Situation reminds me of American history, where in the South the landowners riled up the populace against the blacks, when in fact the poor southerners had more in common with black slaves then with the white landowners that were exploiting both.

Here is the thing, multiculturalism is nothing new in Europe, it's not a failed project as some people like to think of it.

When it comes to SD, they claim that they want to keep Sweden Swedish, they want to protect the culture from being washed down by Muslims.

Now there are certain things that Jimmie Åkesson has said that I agree with, for example:

Sven: Sweden, the problem as a declining population. Immigration solves this problem. To cope with pensions, we must have high work-age population. Why do you want to reduce immigration?

Jimmie Åkesson: The problem is not shortage of labor, the problem is that the existing workforce is not matched to labor market needs. We currently have close to half a million people in the untapped labor supply, while companies are screaming for workers. We must become better at converting and adapting the workforce to structural change. That Sweden has been good at history, but this government has failed miserably.

http://www.dn.se/chattar/chattarkiv/chatt-med-jimmie-akesson

But when you look at the bigger picture, let alone the history of the party and it's members. This party is just going after the Muslims in Sweden, nothing else really, and their tactic is a hate and fear spreading tactic.

Here is their campaign tv commercial when they were running up to the Swedish Parliament.
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]
[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

Now multiculturalism is nothing new in Europe, there has always been several cultures within the countries here, just have a look at the origins of languages here for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_languages_of_Sweden

In 1999, the Minority Language Committee of Sweden formally declared five minority languages of Sweden: Finnish, Sami language, Romani, Yiddish, and Meänkieli (Tornedal Finnish).

The minority languages have been legally recognized to protect the cultural and historical heritage of their respective speech communities. These communities are given certain rights on that basis, such as school education in their language, and its use in dealing with governmental agencies.

¤ Standard Finnish:
Standard Finnish has been spoken in Sweden ever since the (then provincial) borders were drawn in the 13th century. Sweden has always had a significant migration to and from Finland.

¤ Meänkieli:
Meänkieli or Tornionlaaksonsuomi or Tornedalian language is spoken by a population in northern Sweden. Meänkieli is not intelligible to Swedes. The number of speakers amount to 50,000 or so.

¤ Sami languages:
The Sami languages are actually not one language, even though they are commonly referred to as such. In Sweden, three Sámi languages are spoken, with the other 7 Sámi languages being spoken in Norway, Russia and Finland.

The history of the Sami languages can be traced back at least 2,000 years. In total, they are spoken by a minimum of 40,000 people throughout the four countries.

As a minority language, Sami may be used in government agencies, courts, preschools and nursing homes in the municipalities where it is most common: Arjeplog, Gällivare, Jokkmokk and Kiruna and its immediate neighbourhood.

¤ Romani
Romani chib, the language of Romani people (Gypsies), has been spoken in Sweden since the 16th century. Today about 9,500 people speak it in Sweden. It does not have a geographical center, but is considered to be of historical importance.

¤ Yiddish
Yiddish was historically a common language of Ashkenazi (Central and Eastern European) Jews. The first Jews were permitted to reside in Sweden during the late 18th century. The population has since grown to 20,000, of which an estimated 3,000 speak Yiddish.
Romani and Yiddish have the position of "historical minority languages" throughout the country, and thus the Swedish state acknowledges a certain obligation to preserve them.

Now let's have a look at the culture:

Sweden Democrats to restrict immigration sharply since "the multicultural social order" is said to threaten the Swedish welfare model. The party wants to "safeguard the Swedish cultural heritage and the Swedes' right to develop their culture on their own terms."

What is meant by "the Swedish cultural heritage"? Perhaps we think of Astrid Lindgren. If the SD's party leader Jimmie Åkesson looking through her ​​books, he finds drawings of Ilon Wikland, who is a refugee from Estonia. Åkesson singing "Ida's summer show" he does it to a melody composed by Georg Riedel, who was born in Czechoslovakia.

An orthodox sverigedemokrat is probably royalist. The Swedish ruler length has not added a drop of Swedish blood since Frenchman Jean Baptiste Bernadotte became king 1818th Silvia is the fifteenth Swedish queen who was born in Germany.

Particular to the Swedish history - and the Swedish heritage - is that we have always received valuable impulses from immigrants. The first Swedish coins were issued by the English master of the mint in Sigtuna just over a thousand years ago. The Swedish city system was built up by German businessmen in the Middle Ages. Louis De Geer, who was born in Liege, created during the 1600s the first major Swedish export industries.

The Swedish government was built up by foreign experts. Conrad von Pyhy was a German advisor to King Gustav Vasa and laid the foundation for government offices and the judiciary. That the Swedish state finances are in such good order, we can partly thank the Dutch businessman Abraham Cabiljau for. He was summoned by King Gustav II Adolf to settle government accounts. He introduced "the sincere arithmetic", then double-Italian book, which was groundbreaking for Sweden.

Rows of well-known Swedish companies have been created by immigrants, including ABBA and Ballograf, Becker and Bukowski, Bonnier and Gleerups, Cloetta and Marabou, Felix and Findus, Göteborgs Kex and Göteborgs-Posten, Svenska Handelsbanken and Swedbank, Hoganas and Perstorp, Expressen and Swedish Film Institute, as well as Sweden's largest company, Securitas.

Among today's active entrepreneurs, we have such Fernado Di Luca. He came from Italy as a tourist immigrants in 1961 and founded the food company Zeta. Before he launched the olive oil in food shops could only buy it as a laxative in the pharmacy. Akbar Seddigh from Iran have made great efforts in the medical industry.

The recording Scheduler Dorotea Bromberg came as a refugee from Poland, and has introduced several prospective Nobel Prize winners in Sweden. Indian Bicky Chakraborty has saved a number of fine old Swedish city hotel through his company Elite Hotels - where you can really tell someone who cares the Swedish cultural heritage.

http://www.dn.se/debatt/sa-bevarar-vi-sverige-svenskt

So yeah, Multiculturalism is nothing new in Sweden.
What is new is Islam, and that's who people are really referring to.

Now to immigration:

Population Statistics:
Sweden household census 1990  ........... Sweden household census 2005
..................



Demographics
As of 2010, 1.33 million people or 14.3% of the inhabitants in Sweden were foreign-born. The largest groups were:
 Finland (172,218)
 Former Yugoslavia (152,268)
 Iraq (117,919)
 Poland (67,518)
 Iran (59,922)
 Germany (47,803)
 Denmark (46,002)
 Norway (43,819)
 Turkey (40,766)
 Somalia (31,734)

The number of Assyrians in Sweden is about 100,000 – 120,000.
Christian Assyrians are in fact the majority of people from Iraq in Sweden.

The fastest growing groups of foreign-born residents in Sweden between 2000 and 2010 were the following nationalities:
 Burundi (+3031%)
 Gaza Strip (+2542%)
 Mongolia (+2028%)
 Uzbekistan (+1439%)
 Cameroon (+1165%)
 Kyrgyzstan (+1115%)
 Myanmar (+1022%)
 Azerbaijan (+1015%)
 Lithuania (+758%)
 Central African Republic (+627%)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Sweden#Migration

The types of immigration - 2010:

So, total - vists, adoption, EEA residence, students, labour market, family reunification = about 16 000.


Source: PDF: http://www.migrationsverket.se/download/18.46b604a812cbcdd7dba80008288/Beviljade+uppeh%C3%A5llstillst%C3%A5nd+och+registrerade+uppeh%C3%A5llsr%C3%A4tter+2010.pdf

So basically, Islam is not invading the west, SD and it's similar groups and parties are just trying to portray an image that doesn't really exist.

Now I am not going deny what you mentioned about crime statistics, but that is no reason to single out foreigners, or to be closer to the picture that they are trying to portray, Muslims, and treat them differently. Men are also over represented in crime but that doesn't mean that all men should be treated as potential rapists and criminals.

Islam's culture is unique to the west which is why it stands out, but I do believe that Muslims can coexist with other Europeans. They key here is tolerance from all sides and that is something achieved through education for example and not political parties such as SD.

[Skidmark]

Bill O'Reilly: Media Labeling Norway Killer Breivik 'Christian' Because 'They Don't Like Christians' (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/bill-oreilly-media-breivik-christian_n_909498.html

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]

[Oblivion]

Sweden Democrats? And yet once again we have proof that it is fact Democrats who are the real racists.

[Brehvolution]

Bill O'Reilly: Media Labeling Norway Killer Breivik 'Christian' Because 'They Don't Like Christians' (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/bill-oreilly-media-breivik-christian_n_909498.html

Bill must have conveniently forgotten about the crusades.

[Don Flamenco]

ok, maybe this is a bit off topic, but between middle eastern terrorists and these guys and other terrorist attacks...it's kind of a silver lining that none of these have come close to rising into something like the Third Reich.  Despite subtle tensions between many parts of the world, it seems like there's an overload of firepower on the non-terrorist side to suppress anything before it gets totally out of hand. 

So, these groups have to resort to these cowardly surprise attacks that are terrible but they're just one instance at a time and no indication of gaining any real power (aside from heightened security at airports and shit.)  They have to do these because they could never gain enough support to fight a real war. 

[Great Rumbler]

Bill O'Reilly: Media Labeling Norway Killer Breivik 'Christian' Because 'They Don't Like Christians' (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/26/bill-oreilly-media-breivik-christian_n_909498.html

Bill must have conveniently forgotten about the crusades.

Not likely.

[Skidmark]

KDU-top made a bet that Islamists were behind the terror
Stockholm City KDU-chairman Andreas Braw bet a month's salary that Islamists were behind the terrorist attacks in Norway, can Nyheter24 reveal.
- A rare immature statement, said Mats Odell, the Christian Democrats group leader.

After the worst atrocity suffered by Norway since World War II speculated Stockholm's KDU-chairman Andreas Braw of who was behind the attacks.
- As all must be broad-minded and say that we do not know for sure who asked for the carnage in London: I bet a months salary that it's Islamists. With bonuses, said Andrew Braw on his Facebook page .
Andreas Brawse distasteful statement may be Christian Democrat group leader Mats Odell to respond effectively. And now he hopes that Andrew Braw take the monthly salary he has bet on and donate it to charitable anti-racism.
- It is rare, immature and reckless. This was a very sad statement. I have never experienced anything like it, says Mats Odell, the Nyheter24.
Second Deputy Chairman of KDU's förbundsstyrelse Christian Carlsson also condemn the statement, saying that there is something KDU endorses.
- Yes, it is obviously a very inappropriate statement. We will of course talk about this with him, said Christian Carlsson.
When Nyheter24 calling Andrew Braw to ask why he made a bet a month's salary he says that he can not talk on the phone at work.
What do you have to say about what you posted on Facebook?
- What I have to say about it is that I am at work now so I can only take a service-related calls.
But we're talking of course now and I just want to know why you wrote it?
- You get respect if you want any kind of thoughtful discussion with me so we get to that later.
Andreas Braw choose anyway to answer the questions. He says that he regrets what he wrote on the Facebook and took it off early on Saturday morning after Anders Behring Breivik's name appeared in the media.
- Yes, because I was wrong so I regret it. While I believe it's natural to react.
- Now I have to explain to my boss why I'm talking on the phone at work. Fine, good luck, says Andreas Braw.
Andreas Braw is joined in his views of Zeth Arkö Gogman from KDU-Södermalm. On Facebook, he writes:
- I put a pack of chewing tobacco that no one will want to take that bet because everyone really think it's Islamists.
When Nyheter24 calling Andrew Braw again to ask if he will follow Mats Odell's call and thus give a month's salary to charitable anti-racism, he says that he finds no reason for it.
- No. I will not do. I see no reason to do so.
Although Odell as a group leader for the Christian Democratic Party invites you?
- I understand that you are a journalist and have to write and publish things. He invites me, so no, I will not do, says Andreas Braw to Nyheter24.

http://nyheter24.se/nyheter/inrikes/article594352.ece

[Skidmark]

I found this to be an interesting article by The Irish Times:

Far-right 'internet warrior' is armed with online hate
LISA BJURWALD

ANALYSIS: ‘GOVERNMENTS HAVE a tendency to dismiss extreme-right terrorists as crazed loners.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0726/1224301382343.html?via=rel

[Cormacaroni]

Integration into a democratic society is THE BEST, MOST EFFECTIVE means of culture/race war there is. not sure why the racists don't just embrace it.