Today Cavatus’s blog proudly presents the guest blogger S R Larson, known as author (some books are: America Occupied, Remaking America, Arla Gryning) and research fellow with the Wyoming Liberty Group (read more here). He runs the blogs larson4liberty, Hayekinstitutet and Frihetslarson, where the two latter are in Swedish and the last lies fallow at the moment.
On September 11, 2003 Ms. Anna Lindh, the foreign minister of Sweden, was fatally wounded by an attacker while shopping at a department store in downtown Stockholm. Her death sent shock waves through Sweden and expressions of sympathy came from everywhere.
While her assassin was later arrested and convicted, the motive behind it was never entirely clarified. It was fairly clear, though, that political factors were behind the killing. Ms. Lindh had been actively involved in the political process to stabilize the Balkan in the aftermath of the end of the Balkan War. Some political factions with one foot in Sweden and one in former Yugoslavia were allegedly unhappy with her efforts.
International media coverage of the Lindh murder never quite reached the level that followed the assassination of Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. But it was nevertheless a rare exception to the coverage – or, more appropriately, lack of coverage – of political violence in Sweden.
Unfortunately, the international perception of Sweden as being largely saved from political violence is dead wrong. A slew of incidents through last year’s election campaign were only the tip of the iceberg: for a number of years radical totalitarian groups, Socialists/Communists and Nazis, have fought each other with increasing determination and violence. This violence has also spilled over into the realm of established parliamentary politics. Since at least 2006 representatives for the Sverigedemokraterna, or Swedish Democrats, have been victims of intimidation and assaults on both their persons and their property.
Since 2006 the Swedish Democrats have had elected officials at the city and county levels. In 2010 they won seats in the Riksdag, the national parliament. It would be fair to expect the attacks against them to die out as they become part of the established political scene. However, this has not happened.
Quite the contrary. A telling example: on May 12, Mr. William Petzall, member of the Riksdag for the Swedish Democrats, was within an inch of being seriously hurt during an event at a high school in Gothenburg. Mr. Petzall has just left the building after having participated in an information session for students when he was attacked in his car. He was sitting in the front seat when someone threw a large piece of rock through the side window. The piece was large enough to cause serious trauma if it had hit Mr. Petzall, who escaped physically unharmed.
Only days later, Mr. Petzall was in the Riksdag directing a question to Mrs. Beatrice ask, Sweden’s Attorney General and member of the Prime Minister’s cabinet, about what she planned to do in order to curb politically motivated violence. At the very moment she was presenting her response to his question, a group of anarcho-leftists attacked five members of the Swedish Democrat youth league. The Swedish Democrats were handing out fliers on a downtown street – a common practice for Swedish politicians and political parties – when the anarcho-leftists encircled them and attacked.
In addition to disrupting the Swedish Democrats in their legitimate exercise of free speech, the anarcho-leftists went so badly at one of their victims that he ended up in hospital.
These examples barely scratch the surface of political violence in Sweden. While no member of the Swedish Democrat party has thus far had to pay with his life for his political choices, the escalation of assaults on members of the party begs the question how long it will be before that happens.
When Ms. Anna Lindh was assassinated there was a rightful outcry of sympathy from the entire political establishment in Sweden. On the rare occasions when less serious attacks by the anarcho-left have been directed at members of other political parties than the Swedish Democrats, there has been an equal outcry of frustration and calls for “political civility”.
When, on the other hand, politically charged violence hits the Swedish Democrats, the political elite is silent. During the aforementioned session in the Riksdag, Ms. Beatrice Ask declared that the government was not planning to do anything in particular to curb that type of violence. Her view that violence against members of the Swedish Democrats is of no consequence echoes the views of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who in September last year said that those who are active in the Swedish Democrats should not be surprised that they are the targets of attacks – because of their political viewpoints.
Not only is the Swedish Democrat party duly elected into the Riksdag, but their criticism of the country’s extremely generous immigration policies are in no way racist or authoritarian. On the contrary, they are close to the Danish People’s Party – well established both in Denmark and the EU Parliament – and more moderate than, e.g., the OVP in Austria, the British National Party and the Pim Fortuyn party in the Netherlands.
It is difficult to tell whether the Swedish political elite is naively ignorant about the seriousness of the political violence, or if they genuinely believe that some political viewpoints represented in the national parliament are legitimate targets of violence. Regardless, the effect is that the scope for free speech is steadily shrinking in Sweden, and the dark shadows of totalitarianism grow ever more ominous.
st, st, st, bt, bt, db, db, gd, gd, ek, ek, ek, ek, mnd, mnd, mnd, mnd, mnd, al, al, al, al, al, al, al. bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, bs, ln, ln, ln, dm, svt, svt, svt, sr, sr, sr, sr, kj, kk, cc, ai, tg, tg, tg, tg, vg, vg, vg, vl, vl, vl, po, po, po, ft, ft, ft, ft, nr, nr, nr, nr, va, bm, bm, dn, dn, dn, dn, dn, dn, svd, svd, svd, svd, svd, svd, svd, ex, ex, ex, ex, gt, gp, gp, gp, dn, dn, dn, kt, kt, lt, lt, nsk, nsk, smp, smp, bv, pin, pin, sh
Welcome back to the swedish debate, Larson, and thank you for an excellent summary of what is happening to our poor country.
An interesting legal question is if some members of SD today would be entitled to political asylum in the USA ? I think they would, not least becuse the statements from Ask and Reinfeldt are very similar to what you normally hear from totalitarian regimes when they are asked about their reaction to dissidents that gets attacked by “youths” or some group that is “not governement controlled. As a matter of fact, I think that Mugabe has used this same tactic. The thugs that attack their opponents are not under their control and it is a normal police matter. And of course, if people stand up and speak out against Mugabes wonderful policies, they are clearly trying to harm everybody and should not be surprised if they are met with violence.
You have political violence in the United States as well. It comes primarily through the Democrat party via labor unions. There have been numerous examples of busloads of activists showing up at the private residence of a targeted individual. The SEIU are the current champion bad-actors. hat is most disturbing abut this violence prone group is that they represent public sector (i.e. government) workers, so we are seeing the beginnings of corruption of the government from within.
American society is infected with the same malice virus as exist in Europe, it’s just not as badly. Physical violence seems limited to union thugs at rallies – for now.
Though there is no active equivalent to the AFA here the United States, symptoms of the disease are evident to those paying attention, as a quick skim though the comments sections of any political blog will show. And the current Obama administration could be one of the worst America has ever seen when it comes to thuggery and political corruption. It is quite worrisome to witness the negative trends in America, so be cautious in making any assumptions.
Americans would so well to learn more from Mr Larson’s writings about Sweden’s dark side, the one that lurks behind the facade they present to the world.
Frihetskampen är inte slut i amerika.
Hi, Utlandssvensk,
Good to hear from you. Writing in English for a broader audience is far better than writing for a Swedish audience. My very first blog was actually in English. It makes a lot more sense to write for an English-speaking audience than to be restricted to Swedish. Cavatus runs a well respected blog with good outreach, so this is a very good opportunity for me.
As for political asylum for SD’ers: there have already been cases where Swedish women have come here to seek asylum, because Swedish law enforcement could not offer sufficient protection. It would therefore make sense that they could come here and seek protection.
Thinking back to our many debates at your Swedish blog, I think that it is fair to say that things are developing more or less along the lines that that we discussed, i.e a breakdown of Sweden as a “regular” western democracy is well under way.
Also, it would appear that we are seeing some serious cracks in the local real estate bubble. When that implodes, watch out…What we see in Greece today may well seem like a picnic when the average swede realise that the only good things going on, i.e higher property prices and somewhat lower taxes, are reversing.
Cavatus & Larson
It would really be great if you could get a dynamic debate about Sweden going in English. Maybe you should try to contribute some post to larger blogs? I remember that this blog was linked once at GoV and that resulted in large numbers of readers.
My guess is that both GoV and Brussels Journal would be happy to give you space for articles about the same topic as this post, i.e. political violence in Sweden. You may also be able to get in to the very popular american blogs that are run by Pam Geller and Michelle Malkin. I know that the have all written about Sweden in the past and this subject would, I think, interest them a lot.
Furthermore, S.R Larson is a serious and credible contributor that also has the courage to write about Sweden under his own name. Not many of those around….
Bare Naked Islam is another alternative. It’s always worth a try.
It’s a sad fact that but for the posts on this blog, I wouldn’t hear a thing about Sweden from my North American vantage point.
Well, here you get the truth, anyway.
Yes, it’s unfortunate that there is such a dearth Iof news in English. Cavutus’ efforts to fill this void are appreciated.
Now you could do as I’ve done and learn Swedish in order to read more news, but be forewarned that the news you will be able to read is not exactly uplifting. One becomes far too familiar, far too soon in one’s learning with with words like våldtäkt, misshandlar, invandrare, and arbetslös on honest, forthright alternative media sites like Politiskt Inkorrekt. The other more mainstream media sites, are a bit disconcerting in that they present either idealistic fantasy or a sorry drumbeat of political correctness groupthink. That’s the impression I take away. at any rate.
At least you have the sense not to take ‘The Local’ English language news website seriously. Unfortunately, there’s not much else in English beyond that.
Still, learning Swedish is something you should consider if you really want more news – and in doing so, you’d be making your own little contribution keeping the language alive in this increasingly (and tragically) homogeneous global world that’s drifting towards the lowest common denominator.
Thank You for learning Swedish! We really need more people like you in order to spread the news about what is almost starting to look like genocide agains the etchnic swedes.
[...] Author: S R Larson (presentation) [...]
[...] July 2, 2011 by Cavatus Author: S R Larson (presentation) [...]
[...] by S R Larson, Ph D [...]
Same thing in Norway. I’m not aware of any organized violence perpetrated by right-wing groups in years, but leftist groups frequently attack political dissidents on Islam and immigration. These leftist thugs from AUF, SOS Racisme, Blitz, Tjen Folket, and other groups are funded by the Norwegian government. They effectively function as a quasi-private militia for the ruling Labour party to silence public dissent and break up rallies of political opponents.
Labour party politicians never criticize these groups for their violence, harassment, and intimidation. I don’t believe I’ve even heard any of the top leaders mention these incidents, let alone say they will do anything about them.
Several of these groups have also been involved in major financial fraud and narcotics trafficking, but they just rename themselves and are more or less allowed to carry on with business as usual.