SWEDEN
2008/9
A
total of 159 antisemitic hate crimes were registered in 2008 by the Swedish
National Council for Crime Prevention, compared to 118 in 2007. A further
escalation in antisemitic hate crime was recorded during Israel's operation in Gaza.
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
The number of Jews in Sweden is
estimated at 18,000-20,000, according to the Council of Swedish Jewish
Communities (Judiska Centralrådet), representing about 0.2 percent of the
total population of 9.2 million. Approximately half of all Swedish Jews reside
in the larger cities such as Gothenburg, Malmö and Stockholm. Smaller Jewish communities exist
in Borås, Eskilstuna, Helsingborg,
Jönköping, Karlstad, Lund,
Norrköping, Uppsala,
Varberg and Västerås. The various communities are independent, but
linked through the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities.
The
Jewish communities in both Gothenburg and Stockholm
are unified, with their synagogues − Conservative as well as Orthodox and
Progressive − belonging to the same organization. There is a Jewish
elementary school, a junior high school and a variety of communal
organizations. The Jewish library in Stockholm
provides 23,000 titles. Paideia, the European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden offers a
one-year intensive study program. The bimonthly Judisk Krönika (Jewish Chronicle) and weekly Jewish radio
programs provide information about Jewish cultural events. There is an annual
Jewish film festival in Stockholm.
Shechita (Jewish Ritual Slaughter) is
prohibited and kosher meat is imported from abroad.
POLITICAL PARTIES AND EXTRA-PARLIAMENTARY
GROUPS
Extreme Right-Wing Parties
Since its founding in 1988, the Sweden
Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna − SD) have grown from a small group of
marginalized neo-Nazis into a political party that won several municipal seats
across Sweden
in 2006 (see ASW 2006).
SD have demonstrated support for Israel and denounced antisemitism
on several occasions; however, their stance toward the Muslim population has
become increasingly islamophobic. With a populist agenda modeled after Denmark’s Dansk
Folkeparti, the SD seeks to gain parliamentary seats in the 2010 election.
Their campaign includes projecting what could be termed a "conservative
yet concerned" image, thus distancing themselves from more vocal racist
and extremist groups on the subject of immigration.
The
National Democrats (Nationaldemokraterna − ND), a breakaway group from
the SD, are represented in the local government of Södertälje and
Nykvarn south of Stockholm.
In recent years the party has undergone further radicalization as activists
from several neo-Nazi groups, such as National Youth (Nationell Ungdom − NDU), have been signing up as
members.
Founded
in 1994, the National Socialist Front (Nationalsocialistisk Front − NSF)
gradually filled the vacuum created in the extreme right movement after the
demise of the White Aryan Resistance (Vitt Ariskt Motstånd −VAM
–White Aryan Resistance, a militant racist group formed in the 1980s). Led by
Anders Ärleskog and Daniel Höglund and with close to 500 members, the
party is Sweden’s
largest white power organization, whose ideology includes virulent antisemitism
reminiscent of the Nazi era. A large number of NSF members have been convicted
of violent crimes. Besides their web magazine Den Svenske Nationalsocialisten, the NSF cooperates with the
publishing house Logik Förlaget, a distributor of Swedish and foreign
antisemitic books and music. In 2008 NSF was reorganized under the name
Folkfronten (The People’s Front) and their organ was renamed Realisten (The Realist). Cosmetic
changes were made in policy documents; for instance, specific references to the
National Socialist ideology were removed in an attempt to attract more
supporters.
Extreme Right-Wing Groups
and Activity
The anti-racist magazine Expo reported a total of 1,946
activities carried out by right-wing extremist groups in Sweden during 2008,
1176 of which were attributed to the NSF, 404 to the Info-14 network, including
so-called Independent Nationalists, 185 to the SMR and 105 to the Nordic Union
(Nordiska Förbundet) (see below). Of these, circulation of propaganda
amounted to 90 percent. The other 10 percent consisted of demonstrations, parties,
concerts and lectures.
Under
the banner of holy racial war, the Swedish Resistance Movement (Svenska
Motståndsrörelsen − SMR), founded in the mid-1990s, has become
the most militant of Swedish right-wing extremist groups. SMR is led by Klas
Lund, one of the most notorious neo-Nazis in the country. Internecine conflict
within the Nazi movement resulted in attacks by SMR members on members of a
local Nazi network in Helsingborg. This led to
the exclusion of SMR from one of the largest demonstrations of the Swedish
extreme right, the People’s March (Folkets Marsch – see below). SMR has been
trying to regain its reputation within the Swedish Nazi movement by
radicalizing its image), apparently with some success, as former critics, such
as the Info-14 network (see below) have expressed solidarity with the group. In March 2008 the police found weapons and
explosives in the residence of a SMR member. He was sentenced to 2½ years in
prison.
Info-14,
established in 1995, describes itself as an "independent patriotic news
medium," which seeks to replace the traditional group structure of
right-wing extremists with a network of independent groups modeled after
similar networks in Germany.
In 2008 the Independent Nationalists (Fria Nationalister) network was
established for this purpose. Some of the Independent groups have connections
to the National Democrats. In 2008, Info-14 and the Independent Nationalists
initiated a campaign in support of the National Democrats' publication, Nationell
Idag. The Info-14 website, established in 1995, informs of right-wing
extremist activities and incites to political violence. Daniel Vesterlund may
be regarded as the informal leader of Info-14, the "14" of which refers
to the popular neo-Nazi slogan, "We must secure the existence of our
people and a future for White children," coined by American white
supremacist David Lane (d. 2007), who was inspired by Hitler’s Mein Kampf.
Info-14
arranges the two largest annual meetings of neo-Nazis in Sweden: the People’s March in Stockholm
on Sweden’s National Day,
June 6, and the Salem
March on December 8 or 9, organized in memory of a youth with links to
extremist right-wing groups who was murdered in 2000. Both these events are met
with strong opposition, mainly from AFA (Antifascistisk Aktion) activists. In
2008 roughly 700 activists participated in the Salem March and the People’s March attracted
some 1000, making it the largest white power manifestation of 2008.
The
Nordic Publishing House (Nordiska Förlaget), founded in 2002, became an
organization, the Nordic Association (Nordiska Förbundet), in 2004.
Influenced by the US National Alliance, it has thousands of registered users on
its Internet platform (Nordisk.nu). It describes itself as an ideological
association of various enterprises, projects and private individuals, aimed at
maintaining the interests and survival of the people of the North.
The
Nordic Publishing House is by far Scandinavia’s
largest distributor of extremist right-wing propaganda, literature and music.
Its list includes David Duke’s Jewish
Supremacy and Holocaust denier Lars Adelskogh’s En tom säck kan inte stå (An empty sack cannot stand),
of which a new edition was published in 2007. The Nordic Association and Nordic
Publishing House circulate the magazine Folkets
Nyheter. They also run the White Power movement’s imitation of Wikipedia, Metapedia and the blog portal Motpol (Opposite Pole). The Nordic
Association created a web portal, Motstånd
(Resistance), for their independent activists in 2008.
ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITY
Violence and Harassment
The governmental Swedish National Council
for Crime Prevention (BRÅ) groups hate crimes into subcategories by
motive. According to the council there was a 35 percent increase in antisemitic
hate crimes in 2008 − 159 compared to 118 in 2007 − the
highest number recorded by the organization since 1999. Of these, 80 were cases
of violence, verbal harassment and threats against individuals, 21, incidents
of vandalism of cemeteries and Jewish institutions or their defacing with
graffiti, 37, acts of incitement against an ethnic group (the Jews), 17,
defamation and 4 were miscellaneous incidents (including unlawful
discrimination).
Mainstream Antisemitism
Torbjörn Björlund from the Left
Party (Vänsterpartiet) said in a debate held in the Swedish parliament on
foreign policy and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that "the victims of
the Holocaust are the ones who today conduct this system of state
terrorism." Björlund added that the Holocaust was the worst crime
ever committed against human beings and that one should learn from it. He
underscored his inversion by claiming that "today, many settlers function
in the same way as the guards did during the time when there were camps for
Jews during World War II, when Jews were captured and murdered."
Björlund was criticized by Fredrik Malm and Birgitta Ohlsson from the
Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) for equating Israeli policies with the Holocaust.
However, Björlund insisted that there were "clear parallels"
between the two.
A
debate was initiated in early 2008 when a member of the advisory group of the
Swedish Arts Council objected to continued public funding for the periodical Mana, a left-leaning journal which
describes itself as anti-racist. On a number of occasions it has demonized Israel and the Jews
when discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The editor-in-chief before
and during the debate, Babak Rahimi, redefined the word
"antisemitism" to mean Israeli oppression of Palestinians. Rahimi
also claimed that Israel
was conducting a Holocaust of Palestinians and dubbed the accepted narrative of
the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II "the Zionist version."
According to Rahimi, "the Zionist version" makes it possible for Israel to
conduct a Holocaust today. Another contributor claimed that throughout its
history Israel
has blackmailed the western world’s economies. Mana has also published antisemitic author Israel Shamir/Adam
Ermash (see General
Analysis).
Mana was criticized by the anti-racist
organizations Expo and by members of the Swedish Committee against
Antisemitism. The chairpersons of the Swedish Arts Council and the advisory group
claimed that only a court could decide if Mana
was antisemitic. Some opinion makers (mainly liberal) criticized Mana for having published antisemitic
texts while others (mainly on the left) defended it and claimed that what was
termed antisemitism was merely criticism of Israel. Mana did not lose its public funding.
The
Palme Center,
an organization associated with the Social Democratic Party, invited author
Ghada Karmi and Azzam Tamimi of the British Muslim Initiative to a conference
on "alternative peace roads" in the Middle East.
Karmi insinuated in her book Married to
Another Man, which was sold at the conference, that the Jews control America.
Tamimi, who has previously claimed that Israel is a "cancer" that
should be "eradicated," repeated his views at the conference. Liberal
editorial writers and some Social Democrats criticized the Palme Center.
Anti-Zionism
and Antisemitism in Left-Wing Circles
Anti-Israel
sentiments are common in Swedish left-wing circles. Statements from left-wing
politicians and intellectuals sometimes incorporate hostile anti-Zionism and
even antisemitic expressions.
In response to Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations in 2008,
the hall in Stockholm
where an event was held was vandalized on May 13. In addition, AFA
(Anti-Fascist Action) wrote on their homepage that Israel is "a state
built on the ethnic cleansing of those who once lived in the place where the
leading imperialist states decided to establish an Israeli state after the
Second World War", and concludes: "The capitalist states in the world give
Israel their support. Now it's time for us in the international workers'
movement to boycott, block and sabotage Israel's
attempts to legitimize its occupation of Palestine"
(http://www.antifa.se/index.php?p=1&id=214).
Proletären linked
Israeli attacks in Gaza to the anniversary:
"A few days ago Israel
once again fired its advanced rockets against Gaza – and killed among others a mother and
her three small children in their home. It can be seen as a part of the
preparations for the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel on May
15 this year. There will be great pomp and circumstance – and various kinds of
rockets" (http://www.proletaren.se/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1372&Itemid=49).
Following the start of Operation Cast Lead, many bloggers reacted with similar
expressions.
Operation
Cast Lead
According to police in southern Sweden, the
number of antisemitic incidents in that region in the first half of 2009 more
then doubled that for the year 2008, while the Jewish communities claim that
there was an escalation in antisemitic hate crime during this period throughout
the country. Among the more severe incidents that occurred were four fire
bombings in the south of Sweden.
Two were directed against the Jewish community building in Helsingborg
and two against the cemetery chapel in Malmö.
There
was also an intensification of antisemitism on blogs and forums, as well as in
newspapers and other media. Per Rehnberg, a representative of the Left Party in
Helsingborg wrote two articles on his party’s
local website in which he accused the Jews of having destructive and
disproportionate power in American as well as in Swedish politics and the
economy. He also demonized Israel
as a threat to the future of the world. The local party organization supported
Rehnberg while the regional board demanded that the articles be removed from
the party’s website.
Ingalill
Bjartén, vice chairperson of the regional Social Democratic women's
organization in Skåne, claimed that Israel was doing "exactly the
same as the Nazis."
Because
Israel’s war in Gaza took place close to
International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27) some connected the two.
The former archbishop of Sweden,
K.G. Hammar, asserted that Israel’s
actions made it difficult for him to honor the memory of the victims of the
Holocaust. The annual memorial procession in Luleå, in the north of Sweden, was also
canceled. The director of a play about the Holocaust based on the book by Primo
Levy If This Is a Man, in Helsingborg, canceled his participation in preparations
for the play due to Israel's
actions.
Some
newspaper articles, including in mainstream papers such as Sydsvenska
Dagbladet and Nyheter 24 described Israeli actions and the driving
forces behind them as motivated by the biblical saying "an eye for an
eye."
Text
messages claiming that McDonalds and other companies had donated money to the
Israeli army were widespread, and eventually forced McDonalds to repudiate such
allegations.
Myths
about Jewish control gained momentum as antisemitic bloggers spread the idea
that people were not being told the truth about what was happening in Gaza because of
"Zionist" manipulation of Swedish public debate.
Hans
Linde, foreign policy spokesperson for the Left Party, quoted the lyric
"who will the chosen ones burn next?" in his blog.
The Communist Party made an official
statement on December 29, 2008, denouncing Israel,
which they call "the criminal colonial state": "The attack
against Gaza is
not directed against any group in particular, but is rather an attack against
all of the Palestinian people – it's a terror attack aimed at forcing the
Palestinians to silence and submission under the Zionist occupation."
In an editorial comment, Arbetaren
wrote (January 13, 2009) that Operation Cast Lead once again proved that the
State of Israel must be dismantled and replaced by a bi-national state for both
Israelis and Palestinians, and that the international community should force
such a solution upon the unwilling Israelis.
On January 9, 2009, the tabloid Expressen
published an article by Mohamed Omar, a well-known intellectual, known for his
emphasis on the importance of coexistence between Islam and Christianity in Europe. He has published in many of the most respected
papers and magazines in Sweden
such as Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, Kyrkans Tidning,
Axess and he was also the editor-in-chief of Minaret, the leading
Swedish Muslim magazine. The article was Omar's declaration to the world that
he was an Islamist and that he supported Hamas and Hizballah, "the Islamic
resistance movements." He blamed his turn to Islamism on Israel, stating that "the
latest bloodbath was quite simply too much." He described Operation Cast
Lead – "the current massacre" – as "the peak of 60 years of
ethnic cleansing." Omar then said that "the demonization of Muslims
has been an important part of Israel's
psychological warfare," since Islam is considered the only force that can
oppose the American and Israeli colonial project in the Middle
East.
Omar wrote additional articles and
blogs during 2009 further clarifying his new worldview. His support of
antisemitism, homophobia and anti-feminism has made him persona non grata in
the Swedish public discourse; he has grown increasingly close to various
right-wing extremist groups, and has announced his intention of establishing an
"anti-Zionist" party in Sweden to run in the 2010
elections.
RESPONSES TO ANTISEMITISM
In October 2008 five parliamentarians
from the Liberal Party raised the issue of persistent antisemitism in Swedish
society and the importance of combating it. Liberal Party leader Jan
Björklund delivered a speech in a Stockholm
synagogue on Israel’s
60th anniversary (May 2008) in which he underscored that antisemitism was still
pervasive and was being articulated in new ways. Björklund stated that
"the fight against antisemitism is one of the most important tasks we can
undertake." Social Democrats leader Mona Sahlin stressed the importance of
educating about antisemitism and other forms of intolerance.
In
a formal question to Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Birgitta Ohlsson (Liberal
Party) asked what he intended to do to ensure that the Durban Review conference
of 2009 would not be a repetition of the 2001 Durban one (see General
Analysis 2001-2). Carl Bildt responded that Sweden and the
EU would focus on review and application of the action plan adopted in 2001. He
added, "of course, all manifestations of antisemitism are completely
unacceptable."
