I've had a headache all day. The results of the election are in and have spelled huge loses for those who are anti-racist, feminist and socialist. Four more years of a conservative government and the extreme right-wing racist party the Sweden Democrats have entered the Riksdag.
Over the weekend we were treated to some interesting news about an SD candidate in Malmö, David von Arnold Antoni. This is a man who on September 10th went to the police and said that some men speaking an Arabic-sounding language tried to cut a swastika into his forehead. It turns out it was all made up and all evidence points to self-inflicted wounds. (Seems like they're taking a page from the rightists in America -- Sound familiar? Or maybe they just like bad movies from the US?) From the time the supposed attack happened until September 18th, when the wounds were revealed to be self-inflected, SD party leader Jimmie Åkesson used the farce to create attention for his little racist party, criticize "extreme left violence" and draw votes. Another intended effect of the farce was to spread fear and suspicion for non-white men.
What happened? How could so many people vote for a party with roots in Nazi and extreme nationalist parties, a party filled with bizarre, racist ideas about immigration? How can we put a stop to them?
I'm tired of Swedes who hear the word "immigrant" and automatically think "poor, brown and 'strange.'" I am an immigrant. I am white, I am from a Western country, in a position of privilege, but I am still an immigrant and that does not make me any less of a person. In fact, most immigrants in Sweden are from Finland. In order to fight SD, Swedes need to see the real faces of immigration. They should look a bit closer and get to know who we are, what we're doing here in Sweden (it's not living off of their dying welfare system!) and that we're not afraid to get involved in politics.
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