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SWEDEN 2002-3

 

Antisemitic crime, in contrast to race crime, increased in 2002, from 115 offenses in 2001 to 131, including one case of serious assault. Extreme right-wingers were responsible for 17.6 percent of antisemitic crime in 2002. While there are no specific statistics on incidents related to the Middle East, there appears to be a correlation between escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the number of offenses committed. Leftists were involved in some of the acts recorded in 2002, notably at pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel demonstrations. The Sweden Democrats emerged from the September 2002 elections as the undisputed nationalist alternative on the Swedish political scene.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

Sweden has a Jewish population of about 18,000 out of a general population of 8.9 million. The majority, approximately 10,000, live in the larger cities – Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö. Smaller Jewish communities can be found in Boras, Uppsala, Norrköping and Helsingborg. The various communities are independent, but linked through the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities.

A Stockholm-based magazine, Judisk Krönika, appears bi-monthly, as well as Tachless, the magazine of the Jewish congregation. Shechita (Jewish ritual slaughter) is prohibited and kosher meat is imported from abroad.

 

POLITICAL organizations and GROUPS

Political Parties

Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats – SD) have emerged as the undisputed nationalist alternative on the Swedish political scene. With a nation-wide organization and a disciplined cadre of young activists, the party polled 76,300 votes and gained 50 seats in local councils, more than half of them in the southern Scania district. In a few towns, such as Kävlinge and Landskrona, the SD won almost 10 percent of the vote, eclipsing several traditional established parties. Nationally, the party won 1.4 percent of the vote, thus becoming the single largest party outside parliament.

SD propaganda focuses on three populist themes:

  • Anti-immigrant rhetoric claiming that immigrants are behind most violent crime and that Muslim fundamentalism is a threat to Swedish culture as well as to the Swedish judicial system.
  • Conspiracy theories alleging that mainstream democratic organizations, media and politicians are “betraying” or “selling out” the nation to a foreign “army of occupation” – the immigrants. Much of the rhetoric is directed against individual politicians, such as Minister of Integration Mona Sahlin.
  • Anti-European Union campaigning in which the EU is perceived as a threat to democracy in Europe.

Mikael Jansson, the party chairman since 1995, has invested considerable effort into cleansing the fascist image of the party, in order to make it more attractive to populist voters dissatisfied with the mainstream parties (see ASW 1998/9).

Nationaldemokraterna (National Democrats – ND), which polled 7,000 votes and won four seats in local councils in the greater Stockholm area, is a breakaway group formed in 2001 by hardcore SD activists who were expelled after clashing with Jansson’s faction over “liberalization” of the party. The nominal ND leader is Anders Steen, previously a SD councilor in south Stockholm, but power is actually in the hands of Tor Paulsson, previously a national party organizer of the SD.

The ND views the SD as the main enemy and is extremely contemptuous of former comrades and party leaders. Nevertheless, the ND remains a marginal neo-Nazi party which attempts to present a respectable veneer.

 

Extra-parliamentary Groups

Sweden remains a major producer of white power music, although a growing portion of records, videos and other merchandise is produced for overseas markets. The two leading Scandinavian white power companies in the 1990s were Nordland, owned by the late William Pierce, and Ragnarock Records, run by Erik Blücher and Blood & Honour/Scandanavia. The death in 2001 of the German-born Marcel Schlif, a key organizer of militant Nazism and a founder of Ragnarock, caused severe organizational problems to the record company and to B&H. Besides being anti-Jewish and anti-ZOG (Zionist Occupation Government), Ragnarock/B&H are militant defenders of neo-Nazi violence and terrorist activities.

For many years the fastest growing national socialist organization in Sweden, Nationalsocialistisk Front (National Socialist Front – NSF) suffered a serious setback when its founder and charismatic party leader Anders Högström defected from the Nazi movement in 2000 (see ASW 2001/2). The party has re-grouped under a new leadership headed by propaganda chief Björn Björkqvist.

Ideologically, the NSF official line marks a departure from the revolutionary “Holy racial war” romantics of the Nazi movement in recent decades. Vehemently anti-Jewish, NSF calls for a return to a more traditional national socialism, and has adopted much of the style of the original Brownshirt ideology of the 1930s. The NSF is based in Karlskrona in south Sweden. In March 2003 Björkqvist visited Baghdad for an “international peace seminar” funded by the Iraqi government.

            The Svenska Motstandsrörelsen/Nationell Ungdom (Swedish Resistance/National Youth – SMR/NU) is one of the most professionally organized and impenetrable groups on the extreme right. Svenska Motstandsrörelsen (SMR) was formed in 1997 as an umbrella organization for pro-terrorism hardliners of the splintered Stockholm Nazi milieu. Among its founders was the convicted criminal, former White Aryan Resistance (VAM) activist Klas Lund. After its merger with Nordland Records, SMR expanded rapidly. The death of Nordland owner, US white supremacist William Pierce, in 2002 was a setback for the group.

National Youth (NU) was originally launched to pose as a “patriotic” and “nationalistic” youth club. Its cover was almost immediately blown and NU has become the leading neo-Nazi organization in the greater Stockholm area. Several members of SM/NU were convicted of involvement in various violent crimes and terrorist offenses in 1999, among them the assassination of an anti-Nazi trade unionist.

National Youth activities diminished in 2002 after the majority of its activists joined the National Democrats. Internal conflicts within the SMR/NU movement have left Swedish Resistance isolated. SMR has since joined forces with its Norwegian counterpart, the notoriously violent Boot Boys, who form the Norwegian Resistance.

SMR/NU is closely aligned with the so-called Anti-AFA, a secretive organization claiming to be the “intelligence apparatus” of the neo-Nazi world. Anti-AFA, compiles lists of “anti-nationalist enemies,” including journalists, police officers, politicians and anti-racist activists. Police raids have secured several files from the computers of neo-Nazis, containing hundreds of these names. A key individual in the Anti-AFA network is believed to be Robert Vesterlund, a former skinhead and SD youth leader, and publisher of the magazine Info-14 (see ASW 2001/2).

Since the murder of 17-year-old skinhead Daniel Wretström by a youth gang of mixed Swedish and immigrant background in the town of Salem, south of Stockholm, in December 2000, the town has become a key rallying point for neo-Nazis and extreme rightists in Sweden on the anniversary of his death, drawing up to 1,000 activists. The Salem Fund, set up by the Nazi prison organization Yellow Cross, together with the pro-terrorist Info-14 and Blood & Honour, in order to organize the annual commemoration, is supported by the entire nationalist spectrum, with the exception of the Sweden Democrats. Both the National Democrats and the National Socialist Front participated in the 2002 Salem march.

Led by Curt Linusson, a former UN peace-keeping officer in Bosnia, the Legion Wasa is a paramilitary unit made up of a criminal Nazi hardcore, many of whom are associated with the NSF. Linusson says his force is preparing for a “forthcoming racial conflict” against the Jews. The Legion, which holds maneuvers in forests in central Sweden, has organized several rallies against the building of a mosque in the town of Skövde. In early 2003 Linusson held abortive negotiations with the Iraqi embassy in order to send an armed volunteer squad to assist Saddam Husayn in his conflict with the US.

The up-market New Age magazine Nexus, owned by Holocaust denier Lars Adelskogh, did not appear in 2002, but announced that it would resume publication. The magazine, which was sold through various New Age bookstores, contained an admixture of themes ranging from para-medicine (“Flowers Can Read the Human Mind” and “AIDS Can Be Cured by Ultra-Violent Light”) to virulent conspiracy theories about Jews, often referred to as “Illuminati.” Adelskogh has launched a book company, Nordiska Förlaget, which distributes several antisemitic titles. He also wrote a Holocaust denial book, An Empty Sack Cannot Stand (2002), which summarizes contemporary antisemitic arguments concerning the Holocaust.

 

Race Crime

Annual statistics compiled by the Office for Defense of the Constitution of the National Police Board (NPB) indicate a decline in the number of race crimes committed in 2002, after a steady increase in the late 1990s and especially in the early 2000s. The total number of recorded hate crimes decreased from 3,968 in 2001 to 3,736 in 2002, but still remains substantially higher than figures for the mid-1990s. Since 2002 was an election year in Sweden, racist groups may have focused more on campaigning than on crime. Of the total, 1,374 crimes were linked to the far right wing in 2002, compared to 1,377 in the previous year. Homosexuals remained the largest single group likely to become victims of Nazi-related violence.

 

ANTIsemitic activity

Antisemitic crime increased from 115 offenses in 2001 to 131 in 2002, a peak reached also in 2000, following a steady rise since 1997. Statistics are based on cases reported to the police and it is widely believed that the actual number of antisemitic offenses is considerably higher. “White Power” elements were responsible for 17.6 percent of antisemitic crime in 2002, down from 18.2 percent in 2001, 21.4 percent in 2000 and 28.8 percent in 1999.        

As in 2001, there was one case of serious assault. There were also five cases of minor assault, 47 cases of harassment and 11 cases of vandalism of Jewish sites. Most offenses were committed in the metropolitan areas of Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö where the majority of Jews reside (see below).

While there are no specific statistics on incidents related to the Middle East, there appears to be a correlation between escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the number of offenses committed. Leftists were involved in some of the acts recorded in 2002, notably at pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel demonstrations (see below). There was a sharp increase in incidents seemingly connected to developments in the Middle East in the first months of 2002, when banners equating the Star of David with the swastika were displayed and several Jewish offices and congregations received telephone threats (16 to the Göteborg community alone).

 

Violence, Vandalism and Harassment

The one reported case of serious assault occurred outside the Stockholm synagogue in September. A woman who interrupted two skinheads urinating on and near the Holocaust memorial was stabbed with a screwdriver by one of the youths, but not seriously injured. They also shouted “Damn Jew – go back to Palestine!”

In Stockholm a rally organized by the Liberal Party Youth Organization (LUF), with a large Jewish turnout, was attacked by masked demonstrators who had participated in a pro-Palestinian rally that same day. They physically assaulted some of the LUF demonstrators and shouted slogans such as “Kill the Jews.” Some of the most aggressive attackers were Swedish left-wing activists. The LUF participants were calling for peace and an end to antisemitism and islamophobia.

            There was a spate of attacks on Jewish locations during the New Year/Yom Kippur holiday period in September/October. For example, there was an apparent arson attempt on the Stockholm synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur, when traces of a flammable liquid were discovered on the door of the building. On the same night, the Jewish cemetery in Malmö was desecrated when memorial candles on about 15 of the graves were smashed and stearin liquid spilled on others. The Helsingborg synagogue was stoned at Yom Kippur and the Malmö synagogue was desecrated twice in October.

            Of the 47 cases of harassment 27 were threats by telephone, Internet, SMS or regular mail, and 18 involved face-to-face contact between perpetrator and victim, only one of which could be termed an extreme right incident. Among the others, a Stockholm rabbi and his son were harassed in March by two men, reportedly of Middle Eastern origin, who shouted antisemitic slurs, and a Göteborg rabbi received several bomb threats, forcing the police to evacuate his building in April.

 

Propaganda

Since the September 11 attacks antisemitism has remained a cornerstone of neo-Nazi ideology while islamophobia is disseminated primarily by the more “respectable” Sweden Democrats. The National Democrats propagate both, although when discussing conspiracy theories, Jews are usually referred to indirectly as “Illuminati,” “Free Masonry” and “international capitalism.” Jews are seen as “the threat from above,” controlling the political establishment, the media and the police, while Muslims are viewed as “the threat from below,” seeking an immigrant takeover. The white population is therefore perceived as being squeezed in a grip between these two dangers.

            The adoption of anti-Jewish rhetoric by some seemingly respectable xenophobic organizations and academic right-wing groups is a disturbing tendency (see ASW 2000/1). The “radical-conservative” Salt, for example, launched in 1999, is typical of this kind of intellectualism, promoting David Irving and Pat Buchanan while ridiculing government initiatives such as the 2000 Living History seminar in Stockholm.

Holocaust denier Ahmed Rami, the operator of Radio Islam, remains the main disseminator of propaganda denying the Holocaust, although most of his activities in recent years have been limited to the Internet. In spite of his Moroccan background, Rami has gained the approval of several white power groups, including the NSF.

 

RESPONSES TO EXTREMISM AND ANTISEMITISM

By hosting the January 2000 Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, Sweden became a leading force for raising awareness of the Shoah. Its Living History Project has become a model for Holocaust education. Paideia, the European Institute of Jewish Studies in Sweden, was inaugurated in September 2001 with an academic conference. In January 2001, Stockholm was the venue for the Second International Forum for Combating Intolerance.

The Swedish Committee against Antisemitism (SCAA) continued to arrange lectures on antisemitism, Holocaust denial, neo-Nazism and white power music throughout the country, mostly for teachers and school personnel. It cooperated for a second successive year with the Stockholm school authorities and the University of Uppsala, in giving an in-service training course on the Holocaust for high school teachers, including a study tour to Poland.

In November 2002 historian Dr. Heléne Lööw, one of Sweden’s foremost experts on right-wing extremism, was appointed chief of the Living History Project, initiated by Prime Minister Göran Persson. Seminars and other events were held during the year under the auspices of this project.

Educational seminars on antisemitism and islamophobia were an important part of the anti-fascist Expo Foundation’s activities in 2002.