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Sweden Democrats attack on Islam criticised

Politics | 2009-10-19 | 14 comments
The impact from Islam on the Swedish society is the largest foreign threat against Sweden since the Second World War. This writes Jimmie Åkesson, party leader for the Sweden Democrats in an opinion article in tabloid Aftonbladet today.

Yesterday was the final day of the Sweden Democrats party congress in Ljungbyhed, in the south province of Skåne, a traditional stronghold for this nationalist party. Today Sweden’s largest tabloid Aftonbladet published an opinion article by party leader Jimmie Åkesson, where he strongly attacks Islam, immigration from Muslim countries and how this affects the Swedish society.

Åkesson writes that “the multicultural Swedish elite of today are totally blind for the dangers of Islam”. He among else holds there to be around ten Muslim terror organisations established in the country, that Sweden has the largest amount of rapes in Europe and that Muslim men is over-represented among the perpetrators’.

Kent Ekeroth, international secretary of the Sweden Democrats, also attacked Islam and Muslims in a speech at the party congress. Among else he said that Islam must be fought down and that the Koran “incites violence against non-Muslims”.

Strong reactions

“This is the same type of propaganda as the Nazi anti-Semitism”, says Jan Hjärpe, professor in Islamology, to Aftonbladet. “It has racist undertones, since this rhetoric presuppose that religious affiliation is decisive in how people act”.

The allegations that Muslim is over-representation as perpetrators are denied by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, and the Swedish Security Service denies that there are around ten Islamism terror organisations in Sweden.

The leaders of all parties currently represented in the Swedish Parliament have today spoken out in Swedish media against the Sweden Democrats and the opinion article by Jimmie Åkesson.

Prime minister and leader of the Moderate Party, Fredrik Reinfeldt says that the article shows that the Sweden Democrats only have one issue.

“It’s the core of their ideology. They only have one political issue, to divide people into groups. Every attempt from power holders to distinguish the right religion, the right nationality or the right sexual orientation has always ended in horror”, Fredrik Reinfeldt told news agency TT during an informal press conference at Gothenburg University earlier today.

“When that view on society is made into politics, a sectioning of people into groups is made and that is neither manageable nor desirable. That is the consequence, in the long run, of what Jimmie Åkesson describes”.

”I believe in a different path. I admit that there are tensions in the Swedish society, rooted in different ideological and religious perceptions. But to me the conclusion can never be something else than that we must work harder to increase tolerance and curiosity between people who got somewhat different starting points”, Reinfeldt said.

Also the leader of the Red-Green political opposition, Mona Sahlin, today renounced the Sweden Democrats and the controversial opinion article.

“This is a party that has built their ideology on distance, hate and animosity against a whole religion and a large part of the Swedish population”, Sahlin told public radio SR.

Critique against Aftonbladet

Aftonbladet, with Editor-in-chief Jan Helin, is now questioned by some of his colleagues’. Especially since Aftonbladet one month ago declared that they will not accept any ads in Aftonbladet from the Sweden Democrats.

Helin defends his decision to publish the opinion article since it shows “the real face and values” of the Sweden Democrats, that their attempt to appear as an ordinary, non-fringe, party never has been sincere.

Peter Wolodarski, political editor at daily Dagens Nyheter, in a debate in public radio SR accused Jan Helin for publishing “a racist article” that hurts a lot of people and compared it to when Aftonbladet published an article that accused the Israeli Army for harvesting organs from Palestinians.

Lawyers that Aftonbladet consulted before publishing the article warned that it was close to or even outright hate speech, a crime that the responsible editor, Jan Helin, then could be prosecuted for. Something he says he has been prepared for.

The police so far today have received four notifications where Aftonbladet is accused of hate speech.

 
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Readers' comments

2010-06-09 20:06 Doug Malone wrote:
Sweden...please stand up for your culture and rights!! We support you and you can always find a home here in the USA if you are overrun by these cultist Islamic fanatics. **New Islamic cult tactics..use words like *race, and islamophobia against the west...the suckers will not know the difference between a political cultist religion and race...
2009-10-28 11:50 Birgitte wrote:
The attack is not on Islam (the religion) but on Muslim immigration. Aftonbladet manipulates the terms.
2009-10-28 04:56 David wrote:
The so-called ´Middle East conflict´ is not about land at all. It is a conflict about ideologies; a battle between Islam and freedom. It is not about some land in Gaza or in Judea and Samaria. It is about Jihad. To Islam the whole of Israel is occupied territory. They see Tel Aviv and Haifa as settlements too.
2009-10-27 14:08 David wrote:
The so-called ´Middle East conflict´ is not about land at all. It is a conflict about ideologies; a battle between Islam and freedom. It is not about some land in Gaza or in Judea and Samaria. It is about Jihad. To Islam the whole of Israel is occupied territory. They see Tel Aviv and Haifa as settlements too.
2009-10-27 14:06 Per wrote:
There is a second problem, a problem that is called cultural relativism. Our entire Western elite, whether they are politicians, journalists or judges, has lost its way. Their sense of reality has vanished. Those cultural relativists believe that all cultures are equal. They think that the Islamic culture is equal to our culture which is based on Christianity, Judaism and Humanism. Our culture adheres to freedom, human rights and the equality between men and women and not to violence and hatred.
2009-10-27 13:48 Leif wrote:
It is my opinion that Islam is more an ideology than a religion. To be precise, Islam is a political, totalitarian ideology, with worldwide aspirations, just like communism and fascism, because like those ideologies Islam does not intend to assimilate in our societies but wants to dominate and submit us all. In Islam there is no room for anything but Islam.
2009-10-27 12:50 Kjeld wrote:
Steve Bronfman is right. Read: "ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ" By Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez (*) I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz. We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world. The contribution o
2009-10-27 07:01 Steve Bronfman wrote:
Europe; You reap what you sow. You killed and displaced your Jews, now you´ve replaced them by Muslims! Hope you´re happy!
2009-10-26 17:46 Marjorie White wrote:
The greatest danger to democracy is the death of free speech and sharia law that would defeat it is a threat posed by traditional Islamic immigrants. The USA faces the same danger and needs to support our constitution which states that equal rights come from our creator no matter the name. To quote from the founders, I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Benjamin Franklin said that freedom dies without a free press. Oppose all threats to yours.
2009-10-26 16:17 UlfT wrote:
I don´t think that the problem is Islam, but that the society accepts extreme rules of fundamentalist Islam. Sweden should put limits on what is permitted and what is forbidden for its society. I find a serious contradiction between living in Sweden and wearing burka or broadcasting Islamic hate speech. These practices should be outlaw.
2009-10-24 11:52 Racism wrote:
Euqal than the Jews in the 30s, we all know how it ended, Are humankind taht stupid?; I hope not, and I think not, this party is fighting for a 4%, meanqhile all the rest despise them, good for Sweden, in Germany Hitler won, adn we all know what happened
2009-10-22 18:29 Alex wrote:
Swedish government had no problems with the anti Semitic blood-libel but it has a problem with "anti Islam" comments - is this just a hypocrisy or a true face of anti Semitism tolerant Sweden?
2009-10-21 13:16 Piotr wrote:
There is nothing nothing more pathetic than these weak, ultraliberal technocrats running our countries. I wonder really what sort of idiots vote for such neuters. In 50 years Europe is going to be a disaster! There will be so many muslim immigrants and it will start looking like any of their seventh-world countries (aside from UAE, Qatar and Bahrain), and nobody wants that, but unfortunately neocon propaganda has already taught people to hate themselves and their countries in favour of this.
2009-10-19 18:39 Kaj wrote:
Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it. The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain´s population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe´s Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by


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