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Post by Stephen on Sept 10, 2018 12:58:46 GMT
Sweden heads for a hung parliament after an election on Sunday that saw support for the nationalist Sweden Democrats surge, as one of Europe’s most liberal nations turned.... The ruling centre-left Social Democrats and Greens and their Left Party parliamentary allies had 40.6 percent of the vote, while the opposition center-right Alliance was at 40.3 per cent. The Sweden Democrats won 17.6 percent up from 12.9 per cent from the last election four years ago, the biggest gain by any party in Sweden’s parliament. The Centre-Right say they will not go into government or any such thing with the Far right! But my bet is they will! following the trend of other European nations.  |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 10, 2018 13:01:57 GMT
David Quinn tweeted this:
Could someone please explain which of the current policies of the Sweden Democrats are 'hard right'? (Aside from wishing to curb immigration which even Angela Merkel is now in favour of).
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Post by Stephen on Sept 10, 2018 13:26:46 GMT
Wikipedia to the rescue
The Sweden Democrats' party programme is based on nationalism and "social conservatism".The Sweden Democrats' ideological basis is described in their manifesto, first published on 4 May 2003 during the Jansson leadership and then revised on 8 May 2005.
Immigration
The Sweden Democrats believe that the current Swedish immigration and integration policies have been a failure. They oppose integration because they believe that integration involves "meeting in the middle" and do not think that the Swedish people should have to bear the burden of what they claim is a reckless immigration policy.
SD feels that the current situation, with a large number of immigrants living in cultural enclaves, is not beneficial for the country. They argue that the immigrants themselves are rootless, that there have been rising antagonistic tensions between various population groups (socially, ethnically, religiously and culturally), and the immigration in itself, SD says, has caused social and economic strains on the country.[citation needed]
As the party considers Sweden to have had too much immigration in recent years, which it claims has seriously threatened national identity and societal cohesion, SD wants to reinstate a common Swedish national identity, which in turn would mean a stronger inner solidarity. SD rejects the policy of multiculturalism. SD wishes to strongly restrict immigration, and give generous support for immigrants who instead of wanting to assimilate in Sweden voluntarily prefer to emigrate back to their country of origin. As more state funds are made free from funding mass immigration, SD believes that Sweden will be better able to help refugees in their own nearby locations.
SD has referred to the recommendations from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which state that the return of refugees should be the solution to refugee problems. Torbjörn Kastell (former party secretary from 2003 to 2004) said in 2002 that the party wanted "a multicultural world, not a multicultural society".[61] In a 2008 survey, a significant minority of 39% of all Swedes thought that there were "too many foreigners in the country", and in 2007 a survey showed that 49% of all Swedes wanted to restrict the number of asylum-seekers. In recent years SD has tried to approach the immigration policy of the Danish People's Party, which from 2001 to 2011 provided parliamentary support for the former Danish liberal/conservative government in return for a tightening of Danish immigration policies and stricter naturalization laws.
According to Aftonbladet, 14% of SD members are of immigrant origin,[73][74] which corresponds to the proportion of foreign-born in Sweden. For the 2010 election in the municipality of Södertälje (Stockholm County), SD was the only party with a majority of immigrants on its electoral list, mostly Assyrians from the Middle East. Polling 7.31% (3,447 votes), SD's municipal list in Södertälje got 5 of the 65 municipal seats. Nader Helawi and four other Swedes of immigrant origin will sit as municipal councilors.
The elderly
SD wishes to lower the tax rate for the elderly, as well as increase subsidized housing for the elderly. SD also wishes to allocate additional resources to municipalities in order to provide seniors with greater food assistance and, in general, improve their quality of life. SD has also emphasized a desire to crack down on abuses and crimes of which the elderly are particular targets.[79]
Sami people
The Sweden Democrats are critical of the special rights given to the indigenous Sami people of northern Sweden. In 2008 the party accepted a motion against the rights to reindeer husbandry. They have argued that those "who do not involve themselves with reindeer husbandry are treated as second class citizens" and that the privileges the herders have are "undemocratic". They want to restructure the councils and funds that are used to benefit the Sami population, so that they are used "regardless of ethnic identity and business operations". They also want to abolish the Sami Parliament, which claims special privileges for an "ethnic minority while the society claims equal rights for others".
Views on national identity
In an interview for Dagens Nyheter, Second Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag and then-party secretary Björn Söder elaborated on the SD party programme with respect to its views on national identity by saying that he personally did not think people with dual national identities in Sweden would necessarily identify themselves as Swedish. Although an immigrant of any ethnic background in theory can become a Swedish citizen, they would have to adapt and be assimilated in order to be considered Swedish in the cultural sense.[81][82] Björn Söder stated that the officially recognized Swedish minority peoples (e.g. Sami, Tornedalians and Jews) in many cases have dual cultural identities and that they probably would be proud of both heritages. It was widely interpreted that Söder had stated in the interview that Jews cannot be Swedish unless they abandon their Jewish identity.
Söder's comments were understood to be anti-semitic and caused Swedish parliamentary groups and party leaders to call for Björn Söder's resignation.The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed the statement as number six on their list of the top ten most anti-semitic events of 2014.Söder responded in the Jerusalem Post, denying the charges of anti-semitism and claiming Dagens Nyheter had taken his statements out of context.
Law and order
SD wishes to instate the possibility of life without parole for the worst crimes and to repatriate foreign citizens found guilty of serious crime. SD also wants to establish a public register of convicted pedophiles.
Foreign policy
In its foreign policy, the Sweden Democrats reject joining the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union and are opposed to the accession of Turkey to the European Union. The party want to hold a referendum on Sweden's European Union membership and renegotiate the Schengen Agreement.
Culture
The Sweden Democrats advocates a cultural policy that would strip funding for multicultural initiatives and strengthen support for traditional Swedish culture. This agenda has often manifest as opposition to state funding of immigrant cultural organizations and festivals, and support for traditional Swedish craft, folk music, and folk dance groups. The party also tends to oppose state support for cultural initiatives deemed provocative or elitist. A 2014 letter signed by 52 Swedish anthropologists, including Ronald Stade, criticized the Sweden Democrats' use of the terms "culture" (kultur) and "anthropology" (antropologi), claiming their views on culture were "essentialist and obsolete", clarifying that culture is "dynamic" and "in constant change".[94] After years of campaigning for a Burka Ban in 2018 the party dropped that policy.
Family
The Sweden Democrats considers children raised in a traditional nuclear family as the preferred option for the child's development. Those not raised by their biological parents should have the right to associate with or at least find out who they were. SD opposes government sanctioned adoption to single people, same-sex couples and polyamorous relationships unless the adopting party are close relatives or already have a close relationship with the child. Insemination for same-sex couples and polyamorous groups is also discouraged, though weddings should be decided by each religious institution.
Although SD strongly criticizes what it calls a "Homosex Lobby", the party claims that it is not hostile to homosexuals. Furthermore, party leader Jimmie Åkesson expressed concern that what he describes as Islamization of Sweden will eventually lead to the rights of sexual minorities being violated.
Published by SD Party secretary Björn Söder on 1 August 2007, a blog article titled Botten måste snart vara nådd[98] (Soon enough we'll hit rock bottom) led to intense debate and criticism.
Environment
The party argues that other countries should reduce their emissions instead of Sweden which they believe is already doing enough on that front. The party advocates keeping nuclear power plants as a prominent energy source in Sweden.
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Post by Tomas on Sept 19, 2018 20:08:17 GMT
The Centre-Right say they will not go into government or any such thing with the Far right! But my bet is they will! following the trend of other European nations. Sorry for being so late in looking in here. Seeing that this little phenomenon is raising some curiosity I take the chance to state a few things that might be helpful to understand some parts that are not obvious if you don´t know the political landscape well that we have in Sweden, other than the basic that it´s been formative by the Social Democratic Party for most of the last century and in revised form even up till now (they are more to the centre during the last three decades but still a rather odd mixture of sufficiently acceptable mainstream economics broad views on the one side and some notoriously ultra-strange ideological offsprings on the other; all this power characteristics is within the "centre-left" government very much dominated by the SDP itself with the Greens as a tiny leftist enclave along with the half-extremist odd "little brother" support, outside government, from the Left Party that is former real communists but later on a mix between mainstream "ex-communists" that are still communists but not using the name and also some percents left leaning ex-SDP voters now taking the Left party for their general agenda ... and the major block besides is the traditional opposition in the equally strong "centre-right" block alliance that´s lead by the Moderate Party, our conservative-turned-neoliberal equivalent to the Tories, also - like "everywhere else" more or less - open to major economics policies that are positive to the EU and to a rather high extent also for modern developements in economic globalism). This Sweden Democrats is a tragic story altogether, and I´m sorry to disappoint to say so. They are a nauseating thing in so many aspects (racism, lies, cult-like), yet they gets good/bad publicity 24/7 and has had a most easy ride exploiting the corruption and stagnation etc of the two establishments. The quick rise has its own story. It´s not inspirational, to be blunt. Parliament is now in a stalemate even more than before. It´s not due to their skills or qualities (the only skills they have are in negative tactics for taking advantage of the current situation and using cheap but efficient everchanging propaganda tooling etc). Problems abound in this whole mess! As answer to David Quinns question: he would probably not find anything at all in their official programme! They are adjusting it to suit the mainstream tastes and succeeded in doing so (some few right wing are in the party but mostly their politicians and voters are either working class or middle class individuals simply disappointed due to immigration and our dismantling of various services). Some of the most high voiced does claim that every move in Swedish politics is due to THEIR propaganda in whistle blowing. It´s so easy to say and only slightly harder to confront by common sense. But that´s just how it is, politics is only a game more or less, and no one will get away from taking on all the real problems. They dominate the public spaces, and lack all credibility as a Saviour party for the country... |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 19, 2018 20:15:16 GMT
The lovely wikipedia picture reads only like a bad joke. If you just look on that surface it would be much ado for nothing indeed. Off that record are the much more nasty parts. I can´t complain about every line in their scandalous records but it´s not just a "fresh force" against multiculturalism. Not at all would be more like it. The practical problem, and a huge problem really, is that when you dismiss them altogether (like my writing here) it only have the effect to fuel the myths as well as the "populace" voting machinery. Of course people just don´t care and only get more and more irritated by anyone insinuating that they "don´t know what they are doing" or any such like!
Only new changes in sight, and less hopeful challenges when it comes to power politics in the long term. The centre-right block are in minority so there will be cow dealings. Still the SD dealers will take advantage again since they can tip down otherwise. The "natural way" will probably be to see them voting for most major government decisions if the centre-right forms the new government (as they probably can do).
Stephen´s comparison to other countries is absolutely relevant. My bet is they will not go into government now though. But there may be many new alliances or dealings along the next few months by different fractions among the more radical elements in the modern conservative right wing, all outside SD but most keen "careerists" inside the power block.
As for David Quinns "hard right" I´m not sure if that species could have much to do with Swedish politics in the near future at all.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 19, 2018 21:27:20 GMT
Well, you would obviously know Swedish politics better than anyone. But every populist party gets accusations of being racist, xenophobic, Nazis etc. so my tendency is simply not to believe any of that stuff.
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Post by Tomas on Sept 20, 2018 5:10:13 GMT
Naturally there are some genuine populist qualities to the scene as well. Otherwise they would never had any supporters at all apart from a few odd hardcore nazis which may be more like 0,33% or so! The basic reason that so many voted for them is that we feel it gets nowhere when the block politicians tend to go for easier targets than to take on the problems in society. Millions Swedes are heartfelt tired of "everything" so if you think that´s good enough motivation to protest vote for ANY lousy opportunists it could be said to be positive. Still this just sucks and the majority of the issues are much bigger than what our own variety of populist reaction can even address and less so give input to. Global economics are the Elephant in the room while an elephant puppy could be basic national economics. In both cases this SD party has just nothing to contribute. The serious players har rather some tiny islands here and there among the others, stupid as it sounds.
Stuck with all this, and the more than obvious failure to flee from an overwhelming rampant PC-hbtq-compulsive mindset on the part of so many socialist and liberal people represented in parliament and government, we have - a Secular Paradise! |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 20, 2018 6:46:10 GMT
What is your outside impression on the Sweden Democrats? Does my simplistic views make any sense or do you see it more like a positive Trump-like force?
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Post by Séamus on Sept 20, 2018 7:26:30 GMT
The Centre-Right say they will not go into government or any such thing with the Far right! But my bet is they will! following the trend of other European nations. Sorry for being so late in looking in here. Seeing that this little phenomenon is raising some curiosity I take the chance to state a few things that might be helpful to understand some parts that are not obvious if you don´t know the political landscape well that we have in Sweden, other than the basic that it´s been formative by the Social Democratic Party for most of the last century and in revised form even up till now (they are more to the centre during the last three decades but still a rather odd mixture of sufficiently acceptable mainstream economics broad views on the one side and some notoriously ultra-strange ideological offsprings on the other; all this power characteristics is within the "centre-left" government very much dominated by the SDP itself with the Greens as a tiny leftist enclave along with the half-extremist odd "little brother" support, outside government, from the Left Party that is former real communists but later on a mix between mainstream "ex-communists" that are still communists but not using the name and also some percents left leaning ex-SDP voters now taking the Left party for their general agenda ... and the major block besides is the traditional opposition in the equally strong "centre-right" block alliance that´s lead by the Moderate Party, our conservative-turned-neoliberal equivalent to the Tories, also - like "everywhere else" more or less - open to major economics policies that are positive to the EU and to a rather high extent also for modern developements in economic globalism). This Sweden Democrats is a tragic story altogether, and I´m sorry to disappoint to say so. They are a nauseating thing in so many aspects (racism, lies, cult-like), yet they gets good/bad publicity 24/7 and has had a most easy ride exploiting the corruption and stagnation etc of the two establishments. The quick rise has its own story. It´s not inspirational, to be blunt. Parliament is now in a stalemate even more than before. It´s not due to their skills or qualities (the only skills they have are in negative tactics for taking advantage of the current situation and using cheap but efficient everchanging propaganda tooling etc). Problems abound in this whole mess! As answer to David Quinns question: he would probably not find anything at all in their official programme! They are adjusting it to suit the mainstream tastes and succeeded in doing so (some few right wing are in the party but mostly their politicians and voters are either working class or middle class individuals simply disappointed due to immigration and our dismantling of various services). Some of the most high voiced does claim that every move in Swedish politics is due to THEIR propaganda in whistle blowing. It´s so easy to say and only slightly harder to confront by common sense. But that´s just how it is, politics is only a game more or less, and no one will get away from taking on all the real problems. They dominate the public spaces, and lack all credibility as a Saviour party for the country... Thank you. It's always of interest to get the closer view. I noticed that even the DiaLama got a bit of criticism for winking at European nationalism when in Sweden. Of course he was probably referring, not to Christian-based Europeans deserting their faith and traditions for Buddhism, yoga or Reiki but, rather, to Islamization... And Muslims are traditionally supposed to war with Buddhists,so..... |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 20, 2018 7:37:44 GMT
Séamus I saw him quoted and was a little surprised at first. Then also called to mind a tv programme where he told Michael Palin a hypothesis that he (Palin) had been an elephant in his "previous life" according to either some obscure insight or otherwise a kind of warped sense of humour? Another elephant in the room then, bloody colonial Englishman too! If Tibetan buddhist having clashes with Islam it may not be impossible for some enemies enemy factor in the display also. Who knows, perhaps no one apart from the Enlighted...
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Post by Séamus on Sept 20, 2018 7:44:37 GMT
What is your outside impression on the Sweden Democrats? Does my simplistic views make any sense or do you see it more like a positive Trump-like force? Possibly the fact that there are enough peoples wanting to be objective here and there around the world to be noticed politically would be seen as positive by some. The American conservative-to-the-point-of-being-odd REMNANT newspaper had an article recently with the faces of Geert Wilders, Marine LePen, Nigel Farange, Sebastian Kurtz and....a fifth person I can't recall with their National flags. It was an approval of these, but an earlier edition castigated LePen for her pro-abortion stance, making a point that the views weren't shared by her niece Marian Maréchal(-LePen) who has given talks to young Latin-Mass pilgrims at the Paris to Chartes walk (she was educated by- I THINK- completely traditional Latin Dominican nuns), so we see that even an apparent approval is often only a philosophical nod. |
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Sept 20, 2018 7:49:13 GMT
What is your outside impression on the Sweden Democrats? Does my simplistic views make any sense or do you see it more like a positive Trump-like force? As far as I can see, they are anti-EU, anti-mass immigration, and anti-multiculturalism so my view of them is positive. I am always in favour of nationalism against globalism. I know they have fascists roots but I don't care about the origins of parties, just what they are presently. |
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Post by Séamus on Sept 20, 2018 8:23:27 GMT
Séamus I saw him quoted and was a little surprised at first. Then also called to mind a tv programme where he told Michael Palin a hypothesis that he (Palin) had been an elephant in his "previous life" according to either some obscure insight or otherwise a kind of warped sense of humour? Another elephant in the room then, bloody colonial Englishman too! If Tibetan buddhist having clashes with Islam it may not be impossible for some enemies enemy factor in the display also. Who knows, perhaps no one apart from the Enlighted... I'd hate to think what MrLama would decide that I was. |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 20, 2018 8:59:10 GMT
As far as I can see, they are anti-EU, anti-mass immigration, and anti-multiculturalism so my view of them is positive. I am always in favour of nationalism against globalism.
I know they have fascists roots but I don't care about the origins of parties, just what they are presently.
Maolsheachlann that would be a stupendous naive stance and looks extremely optimistic and foreign in my honest opinion. If real nationalism comes back here it will only be becuase of popular fights worldwide and not to their credit. These types are not fascist roots but sinister and often terribly "nazified" jerks presently! Much much more fake martyrlike "anti-catholic villains" than pure nationalist. No one should take it seriously if it weren´t that they have grabbed the moment. The only popular cards they have are those three mentioned. Those three are no problem and shared by millions others here too. Playing them falsely does not help tackling the Islamist problem proper either. They provoke even more troubles than helping to build for good solid and certainly necessary changes. For that we need Conservatism, as well as the democratic spirit and genuine Swedish support from the broad people. How ever flawed the majority of people stands today, it´s not too good to let nasty opportunists get away with anything just because of adjusted propaganda machinery. SD is a deplorable tragedy. In terms of politics a mainstream complaints queue. (Sorry for getting upset.) |
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Post by Tomas on Sept 20, 2018 9:04:06 GMT
I´d hate to hear DonLama define me as a self-important Ass! Would prefer to be seen as an angry pathetic tearfilled ant if he HAD to type me in front of a tv sofa.
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