‘White Book’ reveals the Sweden Democrats’ dark past
Less than two months before the parliamentary elections on September 11, the Sweden Democrats published the first part of a “White Paper”, a study of their own history from the foundation until 2010.
But skeletons related to their history came out of the closet, and the party admitted that they originally consisted of Nazis, fascists and skinheads.
“For several years, the Sweden Democrats have had plans to launch a white paper project. Jimmie Åkesson [the leader, Ed.] announced the plans ahead of the 2018 election and the starting point has been to be able to present an independent, research-based review of the party’s history,” the party announced in a press release on July 15, 2022.
Their intention is to prove that the party has changed and is different today.
The party recruited university lecturers Tony Gustavsson in 2021. “Gustavsson’s work has been carried out independently without any party representative being involved in the work”, according to the same press release.
And it must be true if we consider his statements to the press.
As thelocal.se Professor Gustavsson reports to Sveriges TT The Newswire Party was the result of the unification of various groups in 1988.
One came from the fascist Nysvenska movement, another from the skinhead movement and some members had neo-Nazi connections.
According to the conservative daily newspaper Swedish daily newspaper, “at least one in three of the founders of the Sweden Democrats is connected to Nazism or fascism.”
The White Book mentions 30 people from the founding generation who played a leading role in Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg.
During the last ten years, a part of Swedish society has been fascinated by the rhetoric of the Sweden Democrats, who violently copied hate speech, anti-immigration and xenophobic slogans from other European far-right parties. The party is now the third largest party in Sweden.
However, the Sweden Democrats minimize the political significance of the findings.
“The report identifies around 30 people who participate in the formation of the party in various ways, but it will be difficult to draw any clear conclusions about the importance of different people”, according to SD’s press release.
“The report provides no support that the party was part of a movement linked to fascism… Although the report has great historical value, the political value is non-existent. The report cannot be used to draw any conclusions about how to view the party that entered the Riksdag in 2010.”
The second part of the report should be ready at the end of 2022 at the beginning of 2023 and will contain an analysis of the Sweden Democrats’ ideological development.
Racist roots
For more than 20 years, the Sweden Democrats have tried to revise their image, hide their real political identity and present themselves as a party that aims to protect Swedish values and national interests.
The party emerged in 1988 from the dark world of white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups. In 1988, at least two founders were directly related to neo-Nazism. The party’s first auditor was a Waffen-SS veteran and former member of the National Socialist Party and the first chairman was a member of the Nordic National Party. Members wearing Nazi uniforms during party meetings was not an uncommon occurrence.
The party is a direct descendant of the racist organization Bevara Sverige Svenskt (BSS, “Håll Sverige svenskt”) which was active in the 1980s. The Sweden Democrats used the BSS slogan “Keep Sweden Swedish” in the 2000s.
But in 1995, a significant change took place. In the coming years, the party worked more to raise its image by abandoning the European far-right family and expelling radical members. Their new leader, the 39-year-old Jimmy Åkesson, the party leader since 2005, tried hard to convince public opinion of that. In 2006, the neo-fascist torch symbol was replaced with a “cheerful” design of an Anemone hepatica flower.
In 2010, the party managed to enter the Riksdag, the Riksdag, with 5.7% and 20 seats. Two years later in the new election, they received 12.9% of the vote and secured 49 seats.
Under the new leader, the Sweden Democrats directed their action against minority groups in Swedish society such as Sami and Jews. Among other things, the party wants measures against the indigenous population to abolish the Sámi Parliament.
[The leader of Sweden Democrats Jimmie Åkesson speaks at a party rally, July 2015. FLICKR/PER PETTERSSON/CC BY 2.0]
Using fake news, they criminalized Muslims and migrants. They repeat time and time again that Sweden was safer before the 2015 wave of refugees and that crime increased after the 165,000 refugees the country received. However, the police’s information contradicts them.
Furthermore, since 2010, a large number of their elected municipal representatives have resigned due to racist comments and actions.
Their policy aims to overthrow the entire ‘Swedish model’. They want strong restrictions on abortion, oppose adoption rights for singles or same-sex couples and claim they are targets of a “homosexual lobby”. The Sweden Democrats prefer nuclear power plants as an energy source and they want to increase defense spending. It is not a surprise that they do not hide their dislike of the EU, rejecting both its values and structures.
However, the party avoided joining the traditional far-right family of the Democracy and Identity Group in the European Parliament, which includes the Italian League Party, the French National Assembly and the Austrian Freedom Party, among others. The SD chose the “soft” far-right group European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which includes the ultra-conservative Polish PiS, the Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist origins, and the Spanish anti-immigration party VOX.
The Sweden Democrats still attract voters
“The so-called refugee crisis of 2015 then sent this process completely out of control and increasingly large segments of the electorate were given the impression that the so-called ‘system collapse’ was imminent,” Professor Andreas Onnerfors said in an interview with European Interest published on February 21, 2020.
Sweden Democrats “bought and bought into conspiratorial stories about treacherous domestic elites selling out Sweden’s social stability to “globalist” interests. SD has taken advantage of the situation by framing itself as the ultimate representation of “the people’s home”, the social democratic vision of a consolidated Swedish society where access to welfare is based on notions of “nationhood”, he added.
The Sweden Democrats are still in third place after the ruling Social Democratic Party and the liberal conservative Moderates. The latest poll (July 8–11, 2022) shows 31.5% for the Social Democrats, 18.5% for the Moderates and 16.6% for the Sweden Democrats.