Comments:

1. 

    

   Harry:

   wow!, very interesting article, actually I like most of your writings, just the proper words, and well..about the topic, it’s really alarming, since there are tons of people loving sweden, foreign people, as me, and there’s a lot of factors for it as well that cannot be disregarded in this actual situation….it’s a surprise for me that being such a beautiful country, there are still people thinking like that, but what’s more is what you mentioned, the people’s supporting….hmmm, I don’t know really know how hard is for you to live with muslims, don’t know if there’s a factor about culture you’re losing, but there are many ways to change that..and I’m sure most of them don’t have any bad intention, and even more, most of them didn’t even want to immigrate, but now is a fact, and I just hope this kind of chauvinism get out of their mind as soon as possible, because we’re supposed to help each other not abandon….

   PS: sorry for using ”you”, I don’t even know about your situation … ;), cheers!

2. 

    

   katja:

   Hey Harry, I too find it hard to understand that anybody anywhere could have such thoughts about any group of people…

   I don’t find it hard to live with foreign people at all. I am quite sure that crime stems from being uneducated and not from your religion.

   The “you” thing is quite all right. Sometimes the best way of expressing something can be misinterpreted. Very kind of you to think of it though.

   Please don’t think all Swedes are like this, there have been a lot of very upset people about the Swedish Democrats and I personally am ashamed that something like that could even occur in 2010.

   What country do you come from? Is there a political party there with similar views?

   Is there any topic you would think was interesting to read about? Our blogging team is going to have a brainstorming about topics and any suggestions are very welcome!

3. 

    

   Charlotte:

   Great post, Katja! It’s a tricky thing, I think there are lots of other countries having similar problems involving immigration and awkward reactions to immigration. It’s definitely very extreme to just kick all immigrants out!

   I myself am an immigrant currently living in the USA and even though I am here legally, it feels like I get lumped in with ”undesirables” when immigration policy is discussed. That’s not a nice feeling at all, and it is one of the many reasons I will be moving elsewhere within the next few years.

   On one hand, I can understand that countries want to preserve cultural identity and traditions. I think it’s important for immigrants to be respectful of this, too. Living in another country can be really hard, and if one can’t bridge the cultural gap enough even when one has tried their best, then it seems prudent to find a country that will be better-suited. I sure don’t expect the whole USA to change just to suit me!

   On the other hand, it’s silly to throw the baby out with the bathwater (as we say) in a knee-jerk reaction – immigrants can offer a lot and mostly just want to fit in and live happily ever after! That is what I want as an immigrant, and I would feel very hurt if I were turned away or kicked out _just_ for not being born in the right place. After all, we don’t choose where we are born!

   I hope these ”Swedish Democrats” fail, there are much smarter ways to reform immigration policy than this, and I am sure that more level-headed politicians can come up with sensible solutions.

4. 

    

   BM:

   When the Swedish Democrats talk about immigrants, what they mean is visible immigrants. They mean muslims, they mean black people. East asians for them are “okay”. They follow the same racial hierarchy the rest of the world threw away in the first half of the last century.

   If you’re white, you can be as poorly integrated as can be (not able to speak Swedish or communicate with Swedes, live in an immigrant bubble), and they would never point at you and say “you are an immigrant”, because their definition of an immigrant is based on race.

   The sad thing is that by framing things like crime rates or poor educational achievement in terms of race, the real reason for these problems (i.e., poverty) is never addressed. Worse still, it moves the political center further to the right, so solutions to the problem which were once center-left, are now radical, and solutions which were once right-wing become acceptable.

5. 

    

   katja:

   Hey Charlotte, You have said many true words and I’m sure a lot of people feel just like you. I too hope the Swedish democrats fail, but the problem lies deeper than that. The “people” have to understand or at least respect each other to make it impossible for parties like the Swedish Democrats to rise to power. I really wish I could vote!

   Are you thinking of moving to Sweden? A tip; (for anybody who is planning on moving to any city, anywhere in the world) is to move to a “university city”. There are more educated and tolerant people there. Foreign people are recruited to the university for their skills and are valued just a little bit more than anywhere else.

   Just never forget that where you are born does not determine who you WANT to be. Don’t let idiots get you down!!

6. 

    

   katja:

   Hiya BM, Your a pro at analyzing these social problems, what did you study? Excuse me, did you study any special subjects to become so educated within these areas?

   What you say is as true as it is spoken (in this case written). The visible immigrants are the ones causing the problems according to most of the right-wing parties. Why have the solutions become acceptable? How have they moved from centre-left to right?

7. 

    

   katja:

   Btw, I am a second generation immigrant and nobody would ever “accuse” me of being an immigrant, I speak English at home so I have only ever spoken Swedish at school and “dagis” (daycare). I have the best Swedish grades in my class and I have mastered the language just as well as anybody else. I’m only writing this to clarify that just because you are an immigrant or a second, third or forth generation immigrant does not mean that you will be treated the same… Very sad, to say the least…!

8. 

    

   Ed Gawlinski:

   Thank you for that interesting information and insight. Related to that is the recently approved amendment to the Swiss Constitution banning the building of minarets. Fear of what is different often elicits extreme responses and irrational reactions. It is appropriate to ask if the changes that may be occurring in one’s society as a result of immigration are, indeed what the current members of that society want to happen. However, immigration issues often provide platform from which demagogues have an opportunity to inspire their followers with fear and hatred towards one group or another. I believe that many Europeans looked at the racial problems in the United States during the twentieth century with a feeling of superiority. It is easy to be tolerant of other races or ethnic groups when such relationships are for you a theoretical proposition. I is not always so easy when living in a multi-racial or multi-ethnic community is a day to day reality. The examples of Sweden and Switzerland suggest that white Europeans are not inherently superior to white Americans when it comes to immigration and integration issues. I do, however, hope that Sweden will be spared the violent reaction that sometimes results from these issues.

9. 

    

   katja:

   Hi Ed, Looking at another part of society and thinking that we have somehow managed to escape the problems that prejudices bring we are gravely mistaken.

   I too hope that nothing will get worse… Is education the solution? And how can we provide education as a good thing?

10. 

     

    Luke (Sydney):

    In Australia, we have something close called One Nation (talking about this political party I have to mention Pauline Hanson, but that’s another story) which is initially famous for being anti Asians.

    Would education make racism disappear? Well, racism has its root in slavery. Although the term racism is a new invention, slavery is not. Like slavery the economic gains from legalise racism is too high for politician to resist. It’s a cheap shot but sadly very effective to give people a sense of justice to treat a selected group of people unequally. Not all politicians are bad, but like cops there are some bad ones. And those bad politicians don’t always have bad education.

    PS. Pauline Hanson is a bit dim and didn’t quite finish school (lol) but her political advicers are all highly educated clever people.

11. 

     

    katja:

    Hmmm…

    Now I’m kind of feeling at a loss. Would education and a tiny bit of morality stop racism? What would stop racism? If people with the education that should KNOW better exploit other groups of people then HOW ON EARTH are we going to make a difference?

    How can we stop racism?

12. 

     

    Scott:

    Racism in Swedish is an interesting case, and in many ways it has a lot in common with attitudes about race and immigration you also see in other ethnically and racially homogenous countries.

    The problem in nations that are relatively homogenous (such as Sweden, Norway, Japan, and China, and others), is that people have not been taught to make a distinction between race, ethnicity, culture and nationality. Generally speaking, racism is addressed much more openly and honestly in countries which have always been racially and ethnically diverse, like Canada and USA.

13. 

     

    Luke (Sydney):

    Katja, I am sorry to make you feel down especially in a glummy winter, but that’s just my thoughts and I could be wrong.

    However, I think it will become illegal one day after a long while just like slavery today. Disappear it will not, probably mutates into something less irritating for its time. Hmmm…I don’t think I am really helping here. Anyway, don’t worry too much about it and just do your bit not vote for them.

14. 

     

    BM:

    @Katja:

    I studied the particularly unsuitable Computer Science, but being an immigrant myself, I have particular interest that immigrant-fear is kept to a minimum, so I’ve thought a lot about integration, and how far I myself want to integrate, etc.

    Far-right solution to immigration become more acceptable because when a far-right solution presents itself, it shifts the centre-ground two steps to the right. Thus, what was now a five-point scale, with three in the middle, now becomes a seven-point scale, with four in the middle. So what was the centre, has no shifted right. Political parties like to position themselves on the centre ground, because that’s where the most votes are. Center-left parties are particularly hurt by far-right parties, by the way, as the jobless “working classes” feel betrayed by a liberal immigration policy which they see as the reason behind their joblessness (more competition, fewer jobs). To combat loosing votes to the far-right, the other political parties adopt milder versions of the far-right’s views (putting Swedes before immigrants in housing queues, or hospital queues, for example). The problem is, the right will just become more radical, and the parties will end up putting into place policies that they don’t really support, and that don’t really have the support of the people at-large. It creates a continual creep right-wards.

    —

    @Luke:

    The roots of racism are not to be found in slavery. Racism is a justification for the enslavement of a people.

    What, may I ask, are the economic benefits of being a racist? It is legal today to hold racist viewpoints, but I see very few people benefiting from these views, and many more benefiting from the opposite.

    —

    It is perplexing for me that one can be well-educated and still be racist, but it is, unfortunately the truth. The leader of the British National Party is Cambridge educated. We can’t simply say “be nice to each other” in primary school and magically find ourselves in a post-racial paradise, but we can look at the experiences of racist/less tolerant people, and stack them up against the experiences of more tolerant people.

    Luckily, I don’t have to do this, as this job has already been done for me by some researchers in the US. They found that the primary difference between prejudiced and inpredujiced people is how frequently and on what terms they come into contact with people who are different from themselves. People who have friends or work colleagues from lots of different backgrounds tend to be more tolerant. Those who have little contact, or negative contact with people of different backgrounds tend to have grater prejudices.

    The solution, ironically, is more imigrants, better integrated, which is a whole post in and of itself.

15. 

     

    katja:

    @Scott, as a matter of fact I’m going to be going to Japan for a year in August. I suppose I’ll learn how it is to be a foreigner, and will probably encounter some racist views.

    Luke, Don’t worry, Sometimes I get faced with sense of hopelessness when encountered with a difficult and not so easily solved problem like “How do we exterminate racism?” or “How do we end all wars?” The answers might be quite simple, but the “doing” of it seems quite hard and thats were things start getting depressing… I’m so glad we can get a discussion going because just knowing other people are thinking about these questions makes me feel a little bit happier and more hopeful. As soon as I turn 18 I will vote, and guess what everybody… It won’t be for the Swedish Democrats!

    @BM, Good explanation. I understand a bit more now. I like the solution to solving racism!

16. 

     

    M1510:

    From a racism stand point, it is as BM stated that it derives from people who are not in contact with races,religions, etc.. other than their own, and it mostly brings fear of someone or something that is different to what they are or believe in. No matter how much education a person has, will take the fear of something not familiar to them, by all means there are more tolerant people out there thank goodness, or this world would be a terrible place to live in, and i personally am a very tolerant person myself, but i have friends and family members that are not..sadly and most cannot be dissuaded from these thoughts which cause a domino effect with a lot offspring,friends etc.. that produces more hate and fear..
    as i am an immigrant myself, i don’t see as much racism as a lot do, i tend to keep to myself, and appreciate the beauties around me..in the new world that i live in.. always a pleasure reading interesting articles such as this, it really puts in perspective of how the world would be with less tolerant people at the wheel so to speak.

17. 

     

    katja:

    I’m so pleased to hear that there are tolerant people out there! Go for it! Just the same as the negative domino effect we can create a positive one too. It may be harder to do but the effect is so much more rewarding!

18. 

     

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