Sweden’s hypocritical and unjustifiable stance on Islamophobia
Sweden has essentially demonstrated moral bankruptcy by tolerating such barbaric acts. It has also violated its tripartite agreement with Finland and Turkey where one of the clauses specifically mentions preventing terrorist organizations and evil propaganda.
Sweden is often seen as a state that promotes social welfare and instills racial and religious tolerance as part of government policy. Its social fabric is also globally acclaimed for espousing utopian principles of prosperity and inclusion for all communities living within its borders. Yet the heinous, disgusting, abominable and barbaric act burn the Holy Quran which is sacred to millions of people worldwide has exposed Stockholm’s inherent tolerance for Islamophobia. As the protests shook Sweden and throughout the Muslim world over the extremist Rasmus Paludan’s burning of the holy book, Stockholm’s reaction to the unrest was completely indefensible. The Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson thought it was legal even though it is inappropriate. The truth is that Sweden’s reaction is completely unjustifiable and it has flaunted its credentials as a country that tolerates Islamophobia.
The barbaric act was committed by far-right extremists Rasmus Paludan, who is the founder of Tight course or “Straight course” party. He has a history of anti-Islam activism and spews repugnant propaganda that denigrates the second largest faith in the world. The fact that he was allowed to carry out such savagery with impunity is a testament to the nature of the Swedish state which, despite all its hype about tolerating immigrants, allows such acts to pass unnoticed. A simple statement that does nothing to indict Paludan or hold him accountable will not be enough for a country that claims to condemn all forms of hatred based on ethnicity or religion.
It’s not the first time either. Paludan has been allowed to openly call for the deportation of foreign citizens in Sweden to North-East Greenland in prison camps. His ethno-fascism continues unabated as Swedish authorities give Paludan permission over its lax, controversial, statutory “freedom of speech laws”. What this essentially means is that citizens of Sweden are free to perform any act that denigrates another religion, desecrates its edicts, violates its principles, slanders its scriptures and mocks its beliefs and believers. The message being sent across is that Muslims in Sweden and all over the world must tolerate abuse and normalize it as standard discourse. This constitutes state-sponsored hatred.
Sweden has essentially demonstrated moral bankruptcy by tolerating such barbaric acts. It has too violated its tripartite agreement with Finland and Turkey where one of the clauses specifically mentions preventing terrorist organizations and evil propaganda. An attack on religion is also typical white supremacist terrorism. Given that the Swedish authorities remained spectators throughout the episode, Ankara also suspended the defense minister Pal Jonson’s upcoming visit to Turkiye underlines the serious damage the Swedish state has inflicted on diplomatic relations between states. Turkish President Erdogan said further that Sweden’s bid for NATO membership is in jeopardy and few can blame him as a country that is inherently tolerant of horrific acts by religious, intolerance should not be allowed in any global military alliance, let alone NATO.
Sweden’s indifference also supports earlier observations by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who stated at the end of 2022 that white supremacy and neo-Nazism constitute the greatest threats to Western societies. When rising populism and nativist ideologies take hold in countries like Sweden, controversial demagogues like Rasmus Paludan who in other states would have been banned for disturbing public order are revived, rejuvenated and encouraged. The toxic link between anti-immigrant rhetoric, policies that seek to demonize Muslims and other ethnicities with the rise of far-right extremism is evident in Sweden’s case.
Parallels can also be drawn to what happened in India in June 2022. The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party with its Hindu supremacy agenda eventually witnessed one of its firemen, Nupur Sharma spews unacceptable comments who demeaned the sanctity of Prophet Muhammad (S). Her comments were met with a massive uproar with economic boycotts in some countries. But in India’s case, the BJP expelled Sharma as a party member. There is no such precedent in Sweden where Paludan was or will be banned.
Religious institutions such as Al Azhar Al Sharif have been quick to do so call on world leaders to stand up against all actions that violate religious sanctity. The truth is that failure to call Sweden out internationally for its apathy will only sanction such countries for using plausible deniability while witnessing holy books being burned in broad daylight. As the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al Sabah, aptly said, such actions will incite Muslims worldwide which constitutes a dangerous provocation. The unanimity of the Muslim world in its condemnation of such heinous acts is proof of how Sweden and Paludan’s silent supporters have defied public opinion. This continues to portray Sweden in a negative light, especially in the Muslim world as a provocative state that has little regard for protecting human rights.
The problem also lies in the whole of Europe’s orientation towards Islam, which is based on delusions, myths and conspiracy theories. This includes the theory of “Eurabia” where the European population is supposed to be replaced by Arabs. The stereotypical portrayal of the Arabs as savages, illiterates and engineers by Renaud Camus’s discredited “Great Replacement” theory encourages and encourages far-right demagogues like Paludan to commit crimes against humanity with impunity. The so-called freedom of expression narrative that is hailed as a necessity by Sweden translates into an open field for hatred to take hold.
Sweden’s government can therefore be considered as complicit in the Holy Quran burning incident as the authorities were impersonal to yet another nasty display of Islamophobia.