Get over it: Sweden is not the socialist utopia some believe

[Codger]

Sweden and the Myth of Benevolent Socialism
by David Dieteman

"I was walking through Gamla Stan, the Old Town in Stockholm, when it struck me that Sweden was the only country I’d ever been in with no visible crazy people. Where were the mutterers, the twitchers, the loony importunate?"

P.J. O’Rourke, Eat the Rich, Ch. 4

Sweden is the poster state for those who believe in the power of the government to solve all problems.

Frequently referred to as a "benevolent" socialist or social democratic state, to distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill socialist butcher shop, such as Cuba, China, North Korea, the USSR, and most of Africa, Latin and Central America, and Asia, Sweden is the Promised Land of the Left. Where the USSR was a departure from the genius of Karl Marx, Sweden shows the potential.

(As an aside, O’Rourke notes that the US ambassador to Sweden at the time of his visit was Thomas Siebert. He was Bill Clinton’s roommate at Georgetown. O’Rourke also notes that Mrs. Siebert is a friend of Hillary Clinton. Americans can stop wondering where the most intelligent and courageous female politician ever known finds inspiration for her collectivist dreams.)

As usual, the rosy picture painted by the Left could not be farther from the truth.

First, assume that everything the Left has to say about Sweden is true. This would only make Sweden the exception which proves the rule. In other words, even if Sweden were heaven on earth, this fails to answer the question of why Cuba, China, North Korea, the USSR, and most of Africa, Latin and Central America, and Asia are much more akin to Hell on earth.

Second, it must be noted that the touted stories of Swedish socialism, if not generally false, omit important facts.

For starters, unlike the godless state to which American leftists aspire, Lutheranism is the state-supported religion of Sweden. (Despite this fact, less than 10 per cent of Swedes regularly attend church).

With respect to claim that Swedish socialism shows the "success" of socialism, as O’Rourke notes, free trade reigned in Sweden from roughly 1846 until the Social Democrats were elected in 1932. After 1932, Sweden was helped by its neutrality in World War Two. Unlike Germany, Sweden’s major cities were not bombed flat. The Social Democrats, then, had a great deal of wealth produced by capitalism and undamaged by war to share as political spoils.

According to a Swiss federal government statistical comparison of Switzerland and Sweden, the percentage of Swedish unmarried pregnancies in 1996 was 54% percent – roughly equal to the black community in the United States. The reason for this high rate of unwed pregnancies is apparent in both cases, and it is not illegal drugs: the state gives incentives to unwed mothers in the form of social benefits, with predictable results. Why go through the hassle of getting married or staying married when a government check means that such a decision has no practical consequences for your life? Over the long-term, a 54% illegitimacy rate can only undermine Swedish society.

Worst of all, the Swedes have not always acted benevolently, as reported on page A1 of the August 29, 1997, Washington Post,


From 1934 to 1974, 62,000 Swedes were sterilized as part of a national program grounded in the science of racial biology and carried out by officials who believed they were helping to build a progressive, enlightened welfare state...In some cases, couples judged to be inferior parents were sterilized, as were their children when they became teenagers.

Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs, told the Post that "there was nothing secret about the sterilization program. It was carried out in the light of public debate at a time when Swedes believed they were creating a society that would be the envy of the world." The Swedish Institute for Racial Biology, founded in 1922, was the first national institute of the kind. The Swedes were also the first to sterilize the mentally ill, beginning in 1934.

One woman, aged 72 at the time of the Post article, was sterilized "because she couldn’t read a blackboard because she did not have eyeglasses and was deemed to be retarded."

The Post also reports that Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish newspaper which ran a multi-part documentary of the sterilization program, contended that the ruling party at the time – the Social Democrats – "accepted the policy as an essential part of their overall philosophy." This claims is supported by the fact that, as noted above, the Social Democrats came to power in Sweden in 1932. In other words, they waited a mere two years before embarking on a program of eugenics. This would appear to make the eugenics program a high priority for the Social Democrats, as Dagens Nyheter contended.

The Irish Times of August 30, 1997, meanwhile, reports that "90 per cent of [those sterilizied] were women," and that "the practice, which predated and outlived Nazi Germany, started as an attempt to weed out perceived genetic weaknesses, mental or physical defectsand ended as a method of social control." According to Professor Gunnar Broberg, "Young girls were told they would be set free from [mental] homes and prisons ‘if we are allowed to make you calmer.’"

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dieteman/dieteman33.html

For decades Sweden was the premier welfare state. Progressives touted its smorgasbord of subsidies that ranged from government-run day care to nearly unlimited sick leave. But to pay for all that Sweden imposed taxes that at one point consumed 56 percent of the nation's output. The Swedish people, saddled with inefficient monopoly services and two decades of low growth, finally voted the Socialists out of power last fall.

Carl Bildt, Sweden's new 42-year-old conservative prime minister, aims to steer Sweden back into the family of freemarket nations. "Collectivism and socialism have been thrown on the scrap heap of history," he told us during a recent visit. "There is no compromise worth having between state control and capitalism."

After only six months in power, Mr. Bildt has already abolished taxes on wealth and inheritance, cut government spending by two percent in real terms, and begun an aggressive privatization program. Services from medicine to child care are being opened up to private competition.

But nowhere is the break with the past as sharp as it is in education. Swedish schools have been touted as the most progressive" in the world, relentlessly pursuing equality at the expense of excellence. Grades were abolished for students under the age of 15, because they were said to foster competition rather than cooperation among students.
All that is changing under the instruction of Beatrice Ask, Sweden's new 35-year-old education minister. She says that although Sweden spends $7,000 a year per student on education - more than any other country - its young people have only middling scores on comparative international tests and are slipping.

Ms. Ask has a bold reform agenda which begins with reintroducing grades, requiring that English be taught from the first grade on and encouraging the study of Christian ethics in schools.

Ms. Ask says Americans should think carefully before they follow Sweden's former example and view schools as a center for the delivery of social services. "Swedish schools have diluted the quality of education by trying to do too much," she says. "They may then neglect their basic function - educating children."

The government will also end the state's virtual monopoly on education. Government education money will go to individual students instead of schools, allowing parents the freedom to send their children to any private or public school. "Free competition will provide better value for the money spent, increase the role of parents in education and lead to more innovation, says Ms. Ask. She is a fan of Poland's educational reforms, which include a voucher program to encourage the formation of a private-school sector.

After being praised for six decades for supposedly finding a "Third Way" between socialism and capitalism, Sweden's new leaders are amused that their bold reforms aren't getting more attention in the West. "Now that we have decided the Third Way is actually a blind alley, we had hoped the world would want to learn from our pioneering example," says Finance Minister Bo Lundgren.

http://www.sntp.net/education/sweden.htm

 

[Codger]

Paradise Lost: Swedish, European Economy Muddled in Mediocrity
By Dale Hurd
CBN News Sr. Reporter



CBN.com – STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- The good times just keep rolling along in Sweden's social-democratic paradise. Welcome to a veritable welfare wonderland, where everyone is taken care of from the cradle to grave; where alcoholics can retire on government pensions; where the average worker calls in sick one day a week, even if he or she is not sick; where drug addicts get disability checks and the where the real unemployment rate is close to 25 percent. If all this sounds like a recipe for disaster, congratulations for grasping some basic economic principles that most Swedes, and in fact, most Europeans, still haven't figured out.

If Sweden ever was an economic paradise, welcome to what is turning into paradise lost. Economists here seem to think that all that is needed are a few tweaks. But this bloated welfare state needs more than a tweak. That's not likely, because most Swedes, and most of the world, assume Sweden has found a combination of socialism and capitalism that works. But does it work?

“Uh, No,” comments Frederik Erixon. “It's quite simple. No, it doesn't work.”

Erixon, one of the few free market economists in Stockholm, says Sweden's standard of living continues to fall farther and farther behind.

“Sweden is much poorer today in comparison to other countries than say 10, 20, 30 years ago,” Erixon continues. “The GDP (gross domestic product) growth has been declining for a number of decades.”

Sweden's official unemployment rate is six percent, but that figure is "cooked", to use an economic expression. Because it doesn't include another six percent on sick leave, at least 10 percent on disability, and a significant chunk of the nation's high school and college graduates are well, just loafing. This according to top Swedish Economist Stefan Folster:

“If one adds all that together, it's probably fair to say that one in four people is not in work but could be,” Folster says.

All Swedish workers get a minimum of five weeks of vacation every year. Not enough, apparently, because, as we mentioned, the average worker also takes one sick day a week, often to work a second job, because taxes take at least half of their first income.

Sweden's welfare state has even managed to turn alcoholism into a career option, since government policy effectively pays people to stay home, drunk.

But if you want to be a Swedish entrepreneur, then you have a problem. Most small businesses in Sweden consist only of the owner. It's too expensive to hire employees and too difficult to fire them. Just ask Trucking Company owner Lars Jansson.

"Somebody said it's easier to divorce your wife than to terminate an employment,” explains Jansson. “When you hire someone it's extremely difficult to fire him if he's not doing his job."

"Economically productive behavior is very difficult to pursue," agrees Erixon.

But it's a similar situation across most of Europe, which continues to fall farther and farther behind the United States.

A study by the Swedish free market think tank Timbro found that the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy now have a lower per capita Gross Domestic Product than all but four U.S. states.

So you might think that would make Europeans want to change their economies to be more like ours, and you would be wrong.

First off, most Europeans don't know that they're poorer than Americans are. Their media, which is largely anti-capitalist, and people like Michael Moore, tell them that the quality of life in America is awful.

In fact, there are so many European misconceptions about America that it took a book to hold them all. In “Cowboy Capitalism”, German journalist Olaf Gersemanna, a business reporter who lives in the U.S., demolishes the strange myths that many Europeans believe about America: that most of us have to work three low-wage jobs just to make ends meet; that America only has low unemployment because we throw so many people into prison, and that most Americans don't have healthcare.

Even the head of one of Germany's most pro-business parties has said that in America, "…freedom is the freedom to sleep under bridges."

Our cameraman discovered that's also a freedom enjoyed by Europeans.

But Swedish economist Folster says Swedes would rather be poor than have an American-style economic system, which is so cruel.

"Poverty is to a greater extent than in most European countries,” points out Folster. “Homelessness, wide income distribution, and things like that that many Swedes are afraid of."

They should be afraid of their own future. Mauricio Rojas, a free market economist from Chile, who has lived in Sweden for 30 years, says the welfare state is turning what was once one of the hardest working nations in the world into a nation of idlers, which is also killing the welfare state itself.

Says Rojas, "Because the welfare state needs people paying taxes, working, behaving in a moral, responsible way. But people say, ‘I don't need to go work. I have too much. I'm tired. My children need me.’ And the state's going to pay."

And Sweden's problem is Europe's problem: high taxes, low growth, huge welfare payouts, and a shrinking population.

http://www.the700club.org/CBNNews/News/041206a.asp

 

[Codger]

The Future That Didn't Work
Among those countries afflicted with the more advanced stages of welfare statism are Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden -- especially Sweden. In the past, Sweden has been held up by some as the model mixed economy -- how to combine a vigorous capitalist industrial base with a lavish social welfare system. It was even touted as "market socialism" -- a future that seemed to work. Not any more. The negative consequences of decades of the heavy welfare state burden can no longer be postponed. The May 24, 1993 issue of FORBES reported on Sweden's welfare state ("The Swedish Disease") -- and the condition it has left that country.

"The Clinton Administration's liberals who are pushing for more taxes, a bigger welfare state, bigger labor unions, currency devaluation and an industrial policy should take note: The Swedish model is doing abysmally.

"Sweden's industrial production has plunged 15 percent since 1989. The jobless rate is 12% and rising. The budget deficit accounts for a third of the central government's spending and 13% of the country's GDP (compared with 5% in the U.S.). The currency is sinking even faster than the dollar."

What is Sweden's problem? "The Swedish model is Sweden's problem," observes Ian Wachtmeister, a former aluminum company executive who heads the recently formed, market-oriented New Democracy Party, and who was elected to the Swedish parliament in 1991.

"People are sick of the Big Brother-type of state. It's all connected with what's happening in Eastern Europe, because they had 100% socialism and we had 70%," reports Wachtmeister.

"Sweden's welfare state has all but destroyed the country's work ethic. The absentee rate in Swedish industry reached an astounding 25% several years ago before recent welfare cutbacks encouraged people to work more. Many companies used to overstaff themselves by 25% just to make sure that they had enough workers on the production line."

When the Swedish welfare system was at its peak a few years ago, the national health care system tended to encourage people to become sick. According to the statistics, Sweden was the sickest society on earth at that time. LIke anything else, when medical care is "free", an increasing number of people find ways to take advantage of it. Sweden's national health care system became a national scandal.

As Forbes points out, by becoming every Swede's rich grandfather, the state has destroyed most peoples' incentive to save. According to Sweden's current Finance Minister, Anne Wibble, "Most households in our country do not have any private savings, and that means they are not independent of either employers or or politicians."

Meanwhile, another hangover from Sweden's socialistic welfare binge is that some of the world's highest taxes on capital and income have driven Swedish entrepreneurs to less hostile environments in continental Europe and America. The productive private sector began to shrink at an accelerated rate. Three years ago Swedish banks collapsed, real estate prices plunged fifty percent, and the government's budget deficit exploded. The semi-capitalistic goose that had been laying the golden eggs had finally keeled over. Sweden was in a hell of a mess. A Soviet-style economic collapse was eminent.

"In 1991 Carl Bildt's conservative coalition was elected to clean up the socialists' mess. Like some ancient hero of Norse legend, Carl Bildt has been swinging a mighty ax to clear away the tangles of the welfare state. Government expenditure has been cut by $11 billion (80 billion kronor, equal to 6% of GDP). Welfare payments have been cut. Inflation has been tamed to an underlying rate of 2%. A voucher system had been introduced in the public school system. Capital gains taxes are 30%. The top marginal tax rates on income are still 50% -- high, but that's a big improvement over the 85% of the recent past."

But, will it be too little too late to turn Sweden around? Many of Bildt's more ambitious reforms and privatization attempts have been stalled partly by political opposition from the old-line reactionary Social Democrats who held power for so long and brought Sweden to its crisis situation.

The Forbe's article concludes with the following: "Sweden may or may not recover fully from its socialistic experimentation. But this isn't just a story about Sweden. It's about any country where politicians believe in the infinite ability of the private sector to fund an ambitious social agenda, be it through high taxes, mandates, regulations or other forms of state interventions.

"The New Democracy Party's Wachtmeister worries that Sweden's experience with market socialism has been lost on many of the liberals in the Clinton Administration. The key lesson, as Sweden is now finding, is that once in place this kind of socialism is very hard to dislodge."

"Right now I'd rather be in Sweden than in the U.S., because we have seen the problems and are moving away from the welfare state," says Wachtmeister. "On your side, you are moving right into it, and you risk destroying your country."

http://www.laissez-fairerepublic.com/Sweden.htm


Socialism, like communism does not work!

 

[Vance]

Let's put Sweden and America on the scale and stand 50 feet away from it. The picture is pretty obvious...

Codger, you are entitled to your own opinion. After all, these comments you posted are just -- opinions by these Extreme Rightists who apparently are living in their own world. hehehe.... So I totally understand that they are angst about Democrat Liberals are being power in Sweden. Wow, what the losers.

Nice links by Extreme Rightists. Yup.

I already visited Sweden and I LOVED it. Shrinking population? ROFL. Several medical articles said otherwise.

Edit: Oh btw, thanks for the links. It got me laugh so hard... whew, I really need it.

 

[Codger]

But... you don't dispute the facts from a National Socialist view? Just the information source? I see. If you don't like the message........

 

[Vance]

There are plenty, plenty numbers of articles by different magazines, organizations, federals, even National Socialist (I was in Sociology class once and they said nothing but lots of positives) etc etc that praise Sweden for pro-family community, pro-people, etc etc...

I never say that Sweden is perfect country, they have several things that need to iron out. But on the national scale, they are by far very good in many things. I see that you don't like it when I was laughing at these links by Extreme Rightists.... Ahhh, I see.....Right.

btw, nice personal attack I must be doing right thing which made you post this topic. Nice. It does warm my heart that you actually do that. Don't tell me that it isn't personal attack. It is pretty obvious. I mean from logical point of view, why Sweden? Indeed. No, no... I didn't say that you are not entitled to share the angsts by Extreme Rightists about Sweden but well, in fact, I was chuckling when you posted this topic.

 

[Vance]

Codger, on the contrary... with these angsts by Extreme Rightists, it made me want to move in Sweden even more than before. I am really, really grateful that you posted these links. That's what I need to know, I mean these angsts by Extreme Rightists. I always wonder what they were saying about Sweden... now I finally know the other side.

Thank you so much! That's what I really need to know. You rock, Codger!

Edit: Please post more angsts by Extreme Rightists. I need some more laughs. Please? Pretty please with a red cherry on it?

P.S. I am posting these links at Political Community where I usually post & discuss about politics for good laughs. Thanks!

 

[Vance]

Rightwing violence in Sweden

Rightwing violence in Sweden

The actions of neo-Nazis in Sweden have for some time been taking more violent forms. In 1999 alone there were three murders and a bomb attack:

* In June 1999 a journalist and his eight-year-old son were seriously hurt by a car bomb. Together with a colleague, the journalist had been investigating and reporting Nazi activities in Sweden.

* In October 1999 fascists murdered the trade union leader Bjoern Soederberg, who had been seeking to remove right-wing extremist Robert Vesterlund from his post as a shop steward. Vesterlund is thought to be a member of the violent Swedish fascist organisation, the Arian Brotherhood or Nationalsocialistisk front (NSF — National Socialist Front). After he was removed from office Vesterlund was heard to say, "it is time to take drastic measures". He requested, and received, a photograph of Soederberg from the passport authorities.

* During a bank robbery in Malexander, two policemen were shot from close proximity. The culprits came from the periphery the Arian Brotherhood. They received logistical support from Svea SA, an organisation that maintains close relations with the NSF.

* The Swedish ex Justice Minister Leila Freivalds received a letter bomb, which did not explode.

* Criminal offences by right-wing extremists are increasing, with 2,703 registered in 1999. Since 1990, 16 murders of foreigners, homosexuals and policemen are on the record.

What is new is that the neo-Nazi violence is now openly directed against representatives of the state, the legal system and the press. Death threats against judges, state attorneys and journalists are increasing. Witnesses in criminal proceedings against neo-Nazis are being intimidated, so they do not make any statements or withdraw those already made. The actions of the extremist right are facilitated by the so-called "principle of public openness", under which it is legally possible to obtain information and even photos from the authorities of other persons and their families. The police are obligated to provide information about anyone if this is contained in "public documents".

Sweden's immigrant population has been exposed to violent assaults, arson attacks and racist insults for years. The situation intensified in the early nineties, when the number of asylum-seekers rose sharply due to the civil war in Yugoslavia. Official political discussions stirred up the topic of immigration. Asylum-seekers and immigrants served as scapegoats for the country's worsening economic position and the government issued harsher regulations concerning immigrants.

In 1992 there were 79 arson attacks on asylum-seekers' hostels. Not all these racist attacks could be ascribed to organised fascist groups. Studies showed that violence was often committed against asylum-seekers by drunks and backward young people, who were encouraged by official propaganda to believe that the increase in asylum-seekers was responsible for rising unemployment at the beginning of the 1990s.

Official policies were not only an important cause of neo-Nazi violence; it also ignored it, played it down and encouraged it for a long time. Already at the beginning of the 1990s offences by right-wing extremists were being registered. However, instead of being regarded as a political problem it was seen as a sign of misled youth or mindless thugs, which would be counteracted by re-socialisation measures. Although this was dropped, later the courts treated neo-Nazis as harmless fools. In the meantime, the authorities started to act somewhat more harshly, because the ruling circles feared Sweden's economy and image might be damaged as a consequence of right-wing violence.

[snip]

The policies of the last ten years hit the socially weak—the unemployed, families with children, young people, immigrants, refugees and the sick. A study published in the medical journal, the Lancet, in 1999 points out that health inequality is more pronounced in Sweden and Scandinavia than in the rest of Europe. Responsibility lies not only with the conservative parties, but above all with the political force that was identified with the development of the Swedish welfare state - social democracy.

The social consequences of this are regarded by many as a cause of the increasing right-wing extremist tendencies in Swedish society. Without doubt there is a connection, but what must be examined is why the hollowing out of social gains has not resulted in a rebellion by working people against capitalist society.

Many more... http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/swe-n29.shtml


Codger, read on... Huge thank to my former Sociology Professor for this link (who posted the link right after the posts that I copied/pasted yours at Political Community). These problems in Sweden caused by *gasp* Rightwings/conservatives. That may explain why these angsts by Extreme Rightists in your posts.

In any case, I wouldn't be surprised about these problems in Sweden because of that anti-family/anti-people party a.k.a. Extreme Rightists (or shall we call them, Fascists?)

Edit: New post by poster who lives in Sweden said that almost 80% of problems in Sweden caused by Extreme Rightists. He will post the link about that as soon as he can find it. Anyway, ah.... that may explain everything about these articles that you posted, Codger, no?

 

[Vance]

Racist and Right-Wing Violence: Patterns, Perpetrators, and Responses (In Sweden)

Interesting! Another link by my former Sociology Professor. Huge, huge thanks to his vast knowledge in Sociology. He rock!



Racist and Right-Wing Violence: Patterns, Perpetrators, and Responses (In Sweden)

Racist and Right-Wing Violence: Patterns, Perpetrators, and Responses ...
considerably higher level of xenophobic and far-right violence in Sweden than in Norway and Denmark.


I couldn't copy/paste due to PDF -- Google's HTML version didn't work right in Firefox so check this link: http://www.nupi.no/IPS/filestore/Dissertation_Leiden.pdf (Acrobat Reader required)

Codger, again that may explain everything about these violences, sick people, etc... in Sweden.

 

[Vance]

Right-wing and Racial Terrorism

Another link by different poster:


Right-wing and Racist Terrorism

During the last couple of decades, terrorism from racist and right-wing groups has emerged as an increasing threat. This has been particularly noticeable in North America and Europe. Some of these forms of terrorism have long traditions: violence against ethnic, racial, sexual and political minorities has been going on for decades, and even centuries, in some countries. Lynchings of blacks in the USA, and violence against gypsies, refugees, and labour migrants in several European countries are almost part of the local lore. However, recent waves of immigration and asylum seekers have been met by alarming amounts of violence in some countries, prompting the political system and the public to respond — although sometimes rather hesitantly.

However, the public was mentally unprepared for a new form of right-wing terrorism that virtually exploded with the car bombing of the Federal office building in Oklahoma City in April 1995, killing 169 persons and wounding more than 400. In peaceful Sweden, neo-Nazis in 1999 murdered two police officers, assassinated a labour union activist, bombed a journalist and his son in their car and, in 1998, Nazis also sent a letter-bomb to the Swedish Minister of Justice.

This shift in targets of hatred and violence from the extreme right towards representatives of the government and the political establishment was a trend that had been noticeable for years to observers following the ideological writings and behaviour of the far-right scene. American racial militants have gradually transformed old anti-Semitic ideas into a terrorist doctrine about the ‘racial war* against ‘Zionist Occupation Government* (ZOG), and the ‘racial traitors* or the ‘ZOG agents*.

European traditions of fascism have sometimes used terrorism with the aim of instigating a demand for a stronger state. This new form of terror, however, identified the state apparatus itself as the enemy, and a main target for terrorist attacks.



Ideological Developments

These ideas gained increasing popularity not only among parts of the American far right, but were also increasingly adopted by neo-Nazis and other racial revolutionary groups in Europe. This ideological transfer took place in the late 1 980s and even more so during the I 990s. At first, it appeared to be mere hate speech. However, some of these activists went from violent rhetoric to terrorist action.

An important and — in racist circles — highly influential representation of the ZOG ideology is presented in literary form through the novel The Turner Diaries, written by the US racist leader William Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald (1980). The novel describes — in blood-dripping detail — the apocalyptic revenge taken on the so-called racial traitors after the white resistance movement has seized power in a coup. A subsequent novel by the same author, Hunter (1989) describes how an individual white man, the ‘lone hunter*, can wage his private war against powerful Jews, media people, politicians and others considered ZOG lackeys and racial traitors. The sinister thing about these novels is that they can serve in many capacities: as exciting entertainment, as propaganda for a racist woridview, as ideological instruction, as handbooks of terrorism, and as models of action for young activists in the militant neo-Nazi and racist sub-cultures.* One of the scenarios from The Turner Diaries served as the exact blueprint for the Oklahoma City bombing. Swedish neo-Nazis have also modelled some of their actions on these novels, and on the real-life US terrorist organisation during the mid-1980s, the ‘Bruders Schweigen*, also called ‘The Order* after the Turner Diary models.

Within the framework of the ZOG ideology, immigration is presented as a strategic weapon in the hands of the Jews in their ongoing race war against the Aryans. Through their ‘malicious scheme of racial mixing* — and with the help of their Liberal lackeys — ZOG disseminates perverting humanistic ideas of ‘a common human race*, tolerance and multi-cultural societies. This idea — that it is really the Jews who are behind the immigration problem and the wave of refugees — is fundamental to the way most neo-Nazis perceive the issue of immigration. These racial revolutionaries therefore claim that in the race war it is more important to fight the Jews and their obedient servants within politics, the bureaucracy and the media than going after individual immigrants, who are seen as mere small pawns in a large game. Back in 1992, the Swedish Nazi cell Werwolf declared in its magazine:

Let us once and for all state clearly that the primary targets of the national revolution are not refugee camps or individual ******s. Attacks on these are generally a waste of our resources. Attacks must be aimed at newspapers, politicians, journalists and the police/prosecuting authorities. They are the ones who constitute a great but not insurmountable obstacle in our fight for freedom. Far too long have these traitors escaped unpunished, despite their misadministratiori of Sweden, with mass immigration, increasing homosexuality, assaults on minors, giving Sweden away to the EU, etc.

After every article harassing national movements, heavy attacks must be aimed at the newspapers and journalists who are responsible. Everything from bomb threats to grievous bodily harm and murder. For every national soldier who is sentenced to imprisonment we shall extract bitter revenge. We shall attack judges, jurors, prosecutors, witnesses and policemen.2

Some years later, this scenario is gradually turning into reality in Sweden. Journalists have been bombed along with their children; political opponents were assassinated; and police officers killed by Nazis. A survey conducted jointly by Sweden*s four largest newspapers.3 showed that in a number of cases, threats caused police officers, prosecutors, jurors and witnesses to withdraw from investigations and court-cases. As a result, criminal cases sometimes had to be dropped. Several journalists and politicians were intimidated into silence. Although the threats from the neo-Nazis and the MC gangs do not represent a threat to the stability of democracy in Sweden, these threats are certainly undermining several important aspects of the democratic process.



New Tactical Doctrines of Terrorism

The Turner Diaries promoted the idea of a large terrorist organisation fighting a racial war against ZOG. This was also the model of action followed by the US terrorist organisation known as ‘The Order*, or ‘Bruders Schweigen* as they called themselves. This group carried out an extensive terrorist campaign in 1983-84, but was soon uncovered by the FBI, which had managed to infiltrate the organisation. More than 100 of its members were arrested, several jailed for life. Leading members, like David Lane and Richard Scutari, later concluded that their main error was that too many knew too much: ‘If ‘The Order* had functioned as small, autonomous units, preferably one-man units, they would still have been in action ‘~ This was also the tactical doctrine espoused in a later ideological novel by MacdonaldlPierce, Hunter (1989). Another leading American militant, Louis R. Beam, promoted the principle of ‘leaderless resistance* in the struggle against ‘state tyranny*, and argued strongly against any form of structured organisation which has been shown to be easy to penetrate by state agencies. The demise of ‘The Order* in the mid-l 980s demonstrated to American militants the vulnerability of such large organisational structures. Beam*s doctrine boils down to saying: ‘You know who the enemy is, you know what you are against, so get out and start attacking. Act alone or in very small groups, without any central organisational structure that the authorities could uncover.

This was the doctrine followed by the British Nazi who bombed gay bars and multicultural communities in London, April 1999, in a campaign that killed three people and injured more than 100. The perpetrator seems to have acted alone, but he had a background from neo-Nazi circles, and was strongly influenced by both Nazi ideology and American racism, including the Turner Diaries.6

Racist Violence from Youth Gangs

These more spectacular acts of racist terrorism were committed by persons and groups guided by a racial ideology. However, most of the violent acts against immigrants and ethnic minorities have been carried out by teenagers — frequently belonging to skinhead gangs or informal groups of friends without much organisation, and only a skin-deep ideology. However, their mode of expression is often blatantly racist, even if what drives them may be a mixture of other motives — often a need to show off to their peers, a search for excitement and attention, and sometimes a wish to revenge negative experiences with immigrants or other enemies.

More.... http://academic.udayton.edu/race/06hrights/WaronTerrorism/racial03.htm


I may will have to research on the link between terrorism and Right-wing in the future, the result will be VERY interesting. The more posts by different posters plus Sociology Professor.... the more I understand why these problems in Sweden escalating every year... only because of these Extreme Rightists. Violence & Terrorism and Extreme Rightists -- that does request a long-term study in these criminals.

 

[Vance]

The Case of Sweden’s Neo-Nazis

Wow more link by another member. I gotta love Political Community and its 160,000 members (I created a topic with Codger's posts in approx 20 mins ago [I guess?] and there are already 29 posts with different links about these problems caused by Right-wings) 28 links in only approx 20 mins about Right-wings (one poster didn't post the link, just informed me that 80% of problems in Sweden has been caused by Extreme Rightists). Jeez, they are truly criminals in Sweden.


The Case of Sweden’s Neo-Nazis (Extreme Rightists)


A critical level of extreme rightwing activity has brought a sense of terror to Sweden. Virtually unreported in the United States, killings and threats of violence from an estimated one-thousand active Nazi-style militants recently led the four major Swedish newspapers, normally highly competitive, to join in publishing an appeal to the public to speak out and report any indication of such activity. The papers considered it necessary to do this, because in trials of some of the rightwing criminals, witnesses either refused to testify or recanted what they had earlier reported to the police. The papers also published mugshots of 62 "active Nazis" to help the public identify and report them.

The terrorists are mostly young, have killed immigrants, mistreated a Jew, seriously wounded a journalist by placing a bomb in his car and murdered a trade unionist in his house. This crime and the murder of two policemen in the town of Malalexander triggered a major outcry and led to the joint newspaper appeal.

The criminals, whom the Swedes openly call Nazis ("National Socialists"), have built a network, buttressed by Internet communication, and accumulated substantial funds by robbing banks. They have been able to develop their current strength and impact in a society that gives a wide berth to the most extreme and unpopular ideas. As Per Ahlmark, a longtime human rights activist in Stockholm, put it: "Swedish intellectuals are unsophisticated. The country has not experienced war and terror, and does not realize that words can lead to murder."

Thus, Sweden’s most famous playwright, Lars Noren, established a relationship with an imprisoned young "Nazi", upon release housed and befriended him, wrote a play for and with him and his rightwing friends, in which these had a chance to spell out their anti-foreign, anti-Semitic, anti-gay propaganda and calls for violence. The "actors" then turned out to be the murderers of the two Malalexander policemen. Playwright Noren said that he simply wanted to show how these people think and feel, and was utterly surprised when they proceeded to move from acting to killing. A Swedish journalist, Anna-Lena Lodenius, who has written four books on Swedish rightwing activities, wrote in a German paper (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung): "Sweden’s situation is absurd: The government has spent millions of crowns on printing and distributing a million copies of a publication about the Holocaust, yet is unable to recognize, understand and combat present-day nazism."

Why the sudden current intensification of Nazi activity? It seems that the number of activists has not increased substantially. But the Nazi activists operate more deliberately and more violently. They committed 2,000 crimes in 1998-- twice as many as the year before. The planning of these acts is illustrated by the murder of trade unionist Bjoern Soederberg in a Stockholm suburb. Soederberg had identified a fellow worker as a Nazi, who was then ousted by the union. The Nazis took revenge.

Today’s high levels of rightwing extremist actions were preceded by almost ten years of less frequent incidents. In the late eighties, British skinhead influence began to develop. Skinhead music-- "white noise"—and the "White Power" movement gained adherents in Sweden. It was then that the Nazis murdered a homosexual Jew. American rightwing influence then made itself felt. "Brothers Silence" and the "White Aryan Resistance", which had a record of violence, were models for a Swedish counterpart, "Vit Ariskt Motstand", which in the early nineties robbed several post offices and banks.

In 1993 the first big Swedish rightwing band, "Ultima Thule", moved on the rock hit list. It avoided outright racist propaganda, but spoke of the pride of being Swedish and of fighting unnamed enemies. The implication was that the chief "enemies" were immigrants. Ultima Thule’s success led to a series of rock productions in the style of "White Power." A 1997 survey of listening habits showed that more than 12 percent of Swedish pupils were listening to rightwing rock and that 17 percent had read right extremist publications.

The next stage was the development of new group activity by those who had been convicted and used their time in prison to make contacts and establish organizations. Two of the accused in the case of the Malalexander police murders met in prison. Self-glorification seems to play an important role. As Ms. Lodenius puts it: "Nazism presumably is the perfect ideology for a criminal. He has a motive, has found a justification (for his beliefs and actions), and sees himself as an actor in a larger context."

While it is punishable in Sweden to wear or display actual Nazi symbols like Swastikas, the Swedish extremists manage to show Nazi-style emblems that make them unmistakable yet not subject to arrest. The Swedish case is one of blurred lines between free speech and terrorist activity. The tension between democratic principle and its misuse for crime is unresolved in other democratic societies. But in many, it is an issue for sustained public debate and legislation that face up to the public interest. In Sweden, the question is whether the society will come to grips with the issue and find a balance between the exercise of freedom of speech and its protection against obstruction of justice through violence.

Source: http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/Case_of_Sweden_Neo_Nazis.asp


Codger, does it strike the familiarity in your mind when you read this? It sounds almost like Right-wings/conservatives in America, no? More killing and killing in Sweden by right-wings.... no wonder why you, Codger, said that Socialism is not working... you looked at one side. Now you have another side by these links that I posted above and in this post. That may explain why Socialism is not working only because of these murders/criminals (conservatives) who kept peeing on Sweden and its society.

Now, does that answer your Rightist-bias links?

 

[Vance]

Hate-Motivated Violence

Note: This post didn't talk much about Sweden but it explained the violence and hatred behaviors & cases by Right-wings in Sweden, Canada, England, France, etc. Read on... Only reason why I posted this because of problems in Sweden by Right-wings that kept interefering the progress in the beautiful country.


Hate-Motivated Violence

2.1 Methodology

In researching the issue of hate-motivated criminal conduct, this study examined existing criminal law practice in Canada and certain foreign jurisdictions, relevant case law, legal periodicals relating to the topic, government publications (e.g., in England, documents published by the Home Office), proposals for reform in this area by national reform-minded agencies (e.g., the Law Reform Commission of Australia), publications by interested private organizations (e.g., the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada and the American Anti-Defamation League), and recent, selective newspaper articles about specific incidents of hate- motivated criminal conduct.

This examination was not confined to Canada for two reasons. First, the problem of hate-motivated criminal conduct is not confined to Canada. As recent events in other parts of the world have shown_from attacks on immigrants in Germany to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia_this is a problem that plagues the world. Confining the study only to Canada in light of these recent international events would lend an air of unreality to discussion of the problem. Secondly, the purpose of this paper is to consider carefully to what extent Canada's criminal law needs to be reformed to address the problem. In considering reform, it is necessary to examine how other jurisdictions have acted, or are considering acting, to combat the problem; they may serve as useful guides for reform of Canadian criminal law in this area.

An important question, however, is: What jurisdictions should be selected in examining possible avenues for reform? Those chosen were the United States, England, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany and Sweden. The United States was chosen, not simply because of its geographic proximity to Canada, but because it is often a fertile source of reform in criminal law. The United States has most aggressively pursued a policy of combatting hate-motivated violence through the use of specific hate crimes legislation. England, Australia and New Zealand are Commonwealth countries with legal traditions similar to that of Canada, and whose legal responses to criminal law issues are often studied to assist in developing proposals for reform of Canadian criminal law. Germany, France and Sweden were selected as being reasonably representative of the approach of Western Europe in combatting hate-motivated violence.

2.2 Literature Review

Although little legal literature exists on the issue of hate- motivated crime in Canada, much has been written on this subject in recent years in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, England, and Australia. In the context of creating specific criminal legislation to combat bias- motivated violence, the most exhaustive and even the most critical literature is found in the United States.

This chapter focusses on certain aspects of the material studied: what is known about the incidence of hate-motivated conduct both in Canada and in some of the other jurisdictions studied, what is known about those who engage in this conduct, and what problems arise for those who favour increased use of the criminal law in this area, given this information. Other chapters will explore in greater detail other issues raised in examining this problem.

2.2.1 Data on Hate-motivated Violence

2.2.1.1 A Brief History of Hate-motivated Violence in Canada

Canada has a long history of hate-motivated violence towards racial or ethnic minorities. For example, in 1907 in Vancouver, a mob of whites attacked the Chinese and Japanese communities, causing at least extensive damage to stores and, it was claimed by one report, "several fatalities".<16> During World War II, members of the Japanese Canadian community were interned and their property confiscated.<17> In the 1970s, a series of subway attacks against members of the South Asian community in

Toronto helped to result in creation of a task force to study that problem.<18> In a 1980 study on interracial conflict in Canada,<19> Dhiru Patel pointed out that:

Historically, ... established leaders in Canadian society (both individual and institutional) have made key contributions to interracial violence, for example, to the anti-Chinese riot of 1887 and the anti- Chinese/Japanese riot of 1907 in Vancouver. In both cases, the local newspapers, respectable individuals (businessmen, clergymen, politicians) and organizations played a very prominent role in at least preparing the groundwork and instigating the violence, which claimed "scores" of Chinese lives. The timing of the riots seems to have been related to white workers' alleged fears of economic competition, especially at a time of recession ....<20>

Patel agreed with studies which suggested that:

[R]acial violence in Canada cannot be explained sufficiently in terms of the "deviant-individual" or the impersonal "social-forces" perspectives alone. The earlier violence initiated by the dominant community against the Japanese and Chinese and the more recent violence against nonwhites in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver are two cases in point: prominent, respectable individuals and social institutions and organizations played an important, if not a critical, role in the former case, and the strength and pervasive nature of at least latent racism is indicated in the latter.<21>

2.2.1.2 Recent Canadian Data

One of the major difficulties in determining the extent of hate-motivated violence in Canada is that information on such incidents is not systematically collected and reported on a national scale. Thus, available data about such violence provide, arguably, a limited view of the scope of the problem. As noted earlier, the 1992 Audit of Anti- Semitic Incidents stated that 196 anti-Semitic incidents across Canada were reported to the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada that year. Although there was a 22 percent decrease over the preceding year, this decrease was expected, given the rash of anti-Semitic incidents that occurred during the Gulf War. These figures still constituted an 11 percent increase over 1989.22 Of the incidents reported in 1992, 56 involved acts of vandalism and 150 involved acts of harassment.<23> Of the acts of harassment (defined as any incident of abuse or threat directed against an individual, group or institution, including incidents of hate propaganda), three involved acts of violence and eight involved threats of violence, the remainder being incidents of slurs and hate propaganda.<24> The 1992 Audit also reported that a significantly large number of all types of incidents were directed at individuals, and that there was a disturbing rise in incidents directed at non-Jewish institutions, the latter indicating the increased efforts of hate groups to target high schools and universities and the average person on the street.<25>

In the context of compiling incidents of hate-motivated conduct, it is useful to examine a 1991 research report prepared for the Economic Council of Canada, Economic and Social Impacts of Immigration.<26> The report analyzed the data of anti-Semitic incidents compiled by the B'nai Brith League for Human Rights from 1982 to 1989, a total of 615 incidents. The results of this analysis showed a strong positive correlation between the raw frequency of anti- Semitic incidents and the proportion of Jewish residents in the region. While the uncorrected number of antiSemitic incidents showed no significant change over time, there was evidence of an increase over time in the number of incidents reported, once the effects of other variables (e.g., proportion of Jewish residents, unemployment rates) were taken into account.<27>

In addition, the B'nai Brith League for Human Rights, in its report, Skinheads in Canada and Their Link to the Far Right,<28> outlined several incidents of neo-Nazi skinheads engaging in anti-Semitic activity (including assaults, threats, and desecration of synagogues) and concluded:

The Skinhead movement has become a serious threat to the Jewish community and the multicultural fabric of Canadian society. Their activities have become more organized, open, violent and pervasive. Communities from coast-to-coast are threatened.<29>

Of course, evidence of anti-Semitic activity is but one aspect of hate-motivated activity in Canada. What about incidents of hate-motivated violence directed against members of visible minorities because of their race or colour of their skin?

To begin with, there are indications of systemic discrimination against members of visible minorities. In his recent report to the Ontario government following the riots in Toronto in the spring of 1992, Stephen Lewis asserted that, while every visible minority experienced the wounds of systemic discrimination throughout Southern Ontario, the root kind of racism to be dealt with was anti-black racism.<30>

More..... http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/canadian/canada/justice/hate-motivated-violence/hmv-002-00.html


Argh, new 10 links more recent by posters about Right-wings and their problems in Sweden! Only 5 mins! F**k it.

 

[Codger]

Stories about the failure of socialism in Sweden were aimed at you? My, but we have an enlarged ego! Nazi is National Socialism. It is amusing to see you dither and twitch over the truth about the goings-on in Sweden. FYI, socialism in Canadian medicine is on the rocks too! (stir stir stir)

 

[Vance]

Stories about the failure of socialism in Sweden were aimed at you? My, but we have an enlarged ego! Nazi is National Socialism. It is amusing to see you dither and twitch over the truth about the goings-on in Sweden. FYI, socialism in Canadian medicine is on the rocks too! (stir stir stir)

Nice ditch! but like certain people, I can read the line between these comments. So good try!

Here's a beer for you!

btw, it was amusing to see you post these links by Extreme Rightists as well! After all, I did what you do. Keep that in your mind, you started it and I used your 'attitude' and 'behavior' in this topic.

Edit: It was also amusing that you avoided to use 'Exreme Rightist' in your post who caused the nazism-problems in Sweden. Socialism is not necessarily 'nazi'... it is a popular term by Extreme Rightist to 'save' their faces because their ideals never work. Not even in million years.

 

[Vance]

Addition: One thing that you seemingly try to avoid to add or even mention.... Nazi ideal is fascism, not socialism. That may explain why you have been avoiding to discuss about that issue. Your comment may work on other people but good try, it does not work on me at all.

Well, it was fun for me to discuss with you, Codger. Honestly, I had some good laughs when I read these links in your posts. Thanks!

I am going to discuss about these right-wings (fascists, not socialists, Codger) in Sweden more at Political Community so enjoy your time around this topic. I really appreciate that you created this topic, I learned lots about Right-wings (Fascists, not socialists, Codger) in Sweden than I would admit... Thanks! This topic is yours to alter, spin, ditch, rant, rave, etc etc.. now. I am done with this topic because these links that I posted said lots about these Right-wings (Fascists, not Socialists, Codger).

I bid you a farewell and have a nice weekend!

 

[Codger]

I agree that Sweden is a beautiful country. And all the Swedes I have ever known have been wonderful people. But it is a shame they are overrun with all these Nazis. And your posts still did not refute the fact that socialism is failing in Sweden. I write nothing between the lines. Perhaps that is just your imagination seeing a conspiricy where none exists? I dunno. And thanks for the beer icon, but I don't drink!

 

[Reba]

"For starters, unlike the godless state to which American leftists aspire, Lutheranism is the state-supported religion of Sweden."

I guess Sweden doesn't have separation of church and state.

"...the percentage of Swedish unmarried pregnancies in 1996 was 54% percent – roughly equal to the black community in the United States."

Wow! That is awful!

"From 1934 to 1974, 62,000 Swedes were sterilized as part of a national program grounded in the science of racial biology and carried out by officials who believed they were helping to build a progressive, enlightened welfare state..."

This is the worst news. It reminds me too much of the Nazi "final solution". Chills.....

..."the practice, which predated and outlived Nazi Germany, started as an attempt to weed out perceived genetic weaknesses, mental or physical defectsand ended as a method of social control."

I wonder if deafness was a "perceived genetic weakness(es)" or "physical defect(s)"?

... "But to pay for all that Sweden imposed taxes that at one point consumed 56 percent of the nation's output."

Ouch!

"Government education money will go to individual students instead of schools, allowing parents the freedom to send their children to any private or public school. "

That's a good idea.

 

[Reba]

... "Right now I'd rather be in Sweden than in the U.S., because we have seen the problems and are moving away from the welfare state," says Wachtmeister. "On your side, you are moving right into it, and you risk destroying your country."

That is scary.

 

[Reba]

The actions of neo-Nazis in Sweden have for some time been taking more violent forms.

Awful. Neo-Nazis are more bad news for Sweden.

These problems in Sweden caused by *gasp* Rightwings/conservatives. . . In any case, I wouldn't be surprised about these problems in Sweden because of that anti-family/anti-people party a.k.a. Extreme Rightists (or shall we call them, Fascists?)

You can call them neo-Nazis or Facists if you want. Whatever you call them, it is awful that Sweden allows the neo-Nazi type groups to continue. I am surprised that you brought up such a negative aspect of your beloved Sweden.

 

[Reba]

...considerably higher level of xenophobic and far-right violence in Sweden than in Norway and Denmark.

I guess Sweden is less tolerant of diversity than the United States.