- Some native Swedes feel that Sweden’s immigration policy is a sociological version of creative destruction: “Out with the old, in with the new.” Various ethnic and religious identities have been formed, but Swedish national identity is being lost. If this trend continues, in a few years Malmö will become a city where ethnic Swedes are in the minority.
- Sweden has become a shattered society. Optimists say that some day a new common historical and cultural context, based on Swedish multiculturalism, will grow. But immigrant riots in Husby, and the jihadist elements growing in major Swedish cities, tell a different story.
- Officials in Sweden’s government say they want immigrants to integrate into the society, but in areas where the majority are immigrants, there is not much society for them to integrate into. There are buildings and traces of a society, but the people who built that society are not around. In many areas where the majority of residents are immigrants and their children, the only identity the community manages to forge is that the area has many social problems.
- The same racism, although in a different form, that immigrants may face in some parts of society, Swedes are facing in other parts of society — where the majority are immigrants. However, only one of these racisms gets attention. This attitude, where racism against ethnic Swedes is made invisible, is something that one faces daily in Sweden. Sweden calls itself a “humanitarian superpower,” but this humanitarian thoughtfulness is apparently not broad enough to include ethnic Swedes, especially those who once lived in areas where today there are large concentrations of immigrants.
The Swedish government is now preparing a law that will force all Swedish municipalities, against their will, to provide public housing for newly arrived refugees.
Well into the 20th century, Sweden was a homogeneous country, where there were hardly any immigrants. Today, given Sweden’s liberal immigration policy, and the rapid and radical demographic developments taking place, Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, is on the way to becoming a city where ethnic Swedes are in minority. Its immigrant population has gone from 27 percent[1] in 1996, to 42% in December 2012.
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What is missing, however, are other views. In areas such as Fosie and Rosengård, where ethnic Swedes are in the minority, they too have been exposed to racism. These range from derogatory terms such as “Svennehora”(Swedish whore) or “Svennebög”(Swedish homosexual), used in the schools to insult children with ethnic Swedish background, to hostile acts. When a soccer club in the immigrant-dominated area Biskopsgården put up a maypole at this year’s midsummer celebrations, for example, within 24 hours it was sawed down. In addition, in a form of institutionalized “reverse racism” against Swedes, the city of Malmö has a political goal in which the percentage of municipal employees with an immigrant background must match its proportion of Malmö’s total population; 42% of the population of Malmö has an immigrant background, then 42% of the employees of the city of Malmö must have one, too. The result is that the higher the percentage of people with an immigrant background in Malmö, the less likely is it that people with an ethnic Swedish background will be hired for a job in the city administration. [3]
Whatever one may think of these demographic changes or Sweden’s liberal immigration policy, some native Swedes may feel that Sweden’s immigration policy is a sociological version of creative destruction: “out with the old, in with the new.”
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The Schengen Agreement of 1985, of which Sweden is a signatory, abolished border controls between many European countries, making it possible for people from southern Italy to travel straight to Sweden with no passport controls or identity checks. At the same time, during the last ten years, many European nations, especially the Scandinavian countries around Sweden, have tightened their immigration policy — a change that makes Sweden’s immigration policy even more liberal relative to neighboring countries.
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If every ethnicity in Sweden creates its own history and culture, somewhere along the line people forget to come together as a country. In many areas where the majority of residents are immigrants and their children, the only identity the community manages to forge is that the area has many social problems.
If you talk with people in areas where the majority are immigrants, many do not see themselves as Swedish. Various ethnic and religious identities have been formed, but Swedish national identity is being lost.
Swedish national identity is rejected by many people with immigrant backgrounds, unlike in the U.S., for example, where American identity is commonly embraced by immigrants, who simply add it to their former culture.[4] To give some idea of the current attitudes against Swedish national identity, consider the comments of Sweden’s former Prime Minister (2006-2014), Fredrik Reinfeldt, who after visiting the area of Ronna in Södertälje (where most people have immigrant background), said: “The genuinely Swedish is only barbarism. The rest of the development has come from outside.”
This kind of statement from the political establishment — people in power telling immigrants that Swedish national identity is no good — is bewilderingly common, and undoubtedly does much to contribute to the reasons people with an immigrant background reject Swedish national identity.
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The local communities in Sweden that are losing their history by radical demographic changes are expected to accept these changes and keep silent, or as the old Swedish saying goes: close your fist in your pocket.
When ethnic Swedes are in the minority in certain areas, it means they may face discrimination. But most politicians and media outlets in Sweden are not interested in any discrimination faced by ethnic Swedes where they are a minority.
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Although they are not against immigrants, Swedish conservatives want a more restrictive immigration policy, mainly to prevent damage to the social fabric of local communities and cultures, as has happened in areas such as Rosengård and Fosie. Sweden calls itself a “humanitarian superpower,” but this humanitarian thoughtfulness is apparently not broad enough to include ethnic Swedes, especially those who once lived in areas where today there are large concentrations of immigrants. Many old Swedish communities and their histories have been lost, and replaced by something that can only be described by the term “ghetto.”
Those are the Swedes whose communities were broken and who lost their local history because of Sweden’s liberal immigration policy.
There are Swedes who, over a period of 20 years, went from being a part of the majority population to become a minority in the area that they saw as their own. These people do not believe that Sweden’s liberal immigration policy is humane. They may feel that Sweden’s liberal immigration policy had robbed something from them. If we really all are equals, as an oppressed group whose local communities have been destroyed, their view should also be equal and discussed.
In a country with a population of 9.5 million, it does not take much to cause communities to break down. The radical demographic changes that have been forced on poor neighborhoods such as Fosie and Rosengård are now going to be forced upon the rest of Sweden, whether the people want it or not. A liberal immigration policy may save many people from war and poverty, but it has its victims as well.
Full article: Sweden’s “Creative Destruction” (Gatestone Institute)
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