The Fiddle-Playing Emperor of Sweden

The subtitled video below shows a recent exchange of views in the Swedish parliament between Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats, and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. The two men are discussing last month’s immigrant riots in the suburbs of Stockholm and other cities in Sweden, and Mr. Åkesson compares the prime minister to the emperor Nero, who fiddled while Rome burned.

Notice the withering contempt Mr. Reinfeldt displays towards his interlocutor, whose points are simply dismissed out of hand:

Transcript:

00:00   Next questioner Jimmie Åkesson, from the Sweden Democrats (National Conservatives)
00:10   Mr. Prime Minister, there’s a lot of talk about the fires in the town of Husby here. But it is not just in Husby.
00:16   It is in Brandbergen, Bredäng, Farsta, Fittja, Flemingsberg, Fruängen…
00:21   Hagalund, Hagsätra, Hjulsta, Husby, Jakobsberg, Jordbro, Kista, Norsborg…
00:27   Rinkeby, Rågsved, Salem, Skarpnäck, Skogås, Skärholmen, Sollentuna…
00:31   Solna, Spånga, Tensta, Vårberg and Vårby. Majorna Göteborg, parts of central Malmö,
00:38   Skäggetorp in Lindköping, Stenhagan in Uppsala…
00:43   Cars set on fire, containers set on fire, police stations burning, train stations burning,
00:47   our cultural heritage burning, and schools are burning.
00:51   stones are thrown, firebombs are thrown, windows are smashed,
00:55   Police officers assaulted, firemen assaulted, normal decent compatriots assaulted.
01:01   Prime minister Reinfeldt, how long will this have to go on, before you realise
01:06   that these are the consequences of your irresponsible and divisive multicultural policy?
01:15   So now Jimmie Åkesson was on and all of a sudden it’s “the immigrants’ fault”
01:20   How surprising!
01:24   Has Jimmie Åkesson noticed those people standing next to the violent rioters,
01:29   who are trying to calm things down?
01:32   They are also foreign-born or have immigrant backgrounds
01:36   They are the ones who go out at night, and take on responsibilities in their local communities.
01:41   Do not let violent people take control our worldview!
01:45   Sure, there is a core of young angry men here, as we have seen before, and, yes, it is spreading.
01:50   It is spreading, when violent people do bad things.
01:53   And we should have a justice system in place to judge what is right and what is wrong,
01:57   and ensure that everybody is equal before the law in all of Sweden.
01:59   But it is these (immigrant) heroes you are trying to exploit politically.
02:04   The people who live there and are the real victims of these crimes,
02:08   and who would make the best medicine for calming things down.
02:11   These heroes of mine, you seek to paint as enemies.
02:14   This is the dividing line in Swedish politics.
02:17   I assign blame to no one, except Frederick Reinfeldt and his colleagues in government.
02:23   While listening to Fredrik Reinfeldt during these discussions,
02:28   it is hard not to draw parallels to the great fire in Rome 2000 years ago.
02:34   Not least to the fiddle-playing emperor Nero.
02:39   A lot could be said about that story, especially since the fiddle wasn’t invented till much later.
02:46   But this fiddle is but a metaphor representing inefficient, passive and pathetic politics.
02:57   This is simply not good enough. It is simply not good enough
03:02   to stand there and play “We shall overcome” on your fiddle, while the capital of our nation is on fire.
03:10   When is the penny going to drop, Fredrik Reinfeldt?
03:13   What is it going to take, before you see that it is your irresponsible and divisive policy
03:18   which is causing the chaos we are witnessing here in Stockholm and other areas of this country.
03:24   Mr. Prime Minister, go ahead.
03:27   Chairman, I hope you realize, that the suburbs listed by Jimmie Åkesson
03:31   was not a declaration of love to these places, nor the expression of a desire to see them flourish,
03:37   or a show of nearness and compassion for these human beings.
03:40   He is trying to score cheap political points.
03:44   From the moment he wakes up in the morning, over lunch and until he goes to bed in the evening,
03:50   his answer to all questions whereever they may come from, has always been: “It’s the immigrants fault!”
03:56   This was always your response; which makes your questions and reasoning un-interesting to us.
04:00   We already know which direction you are heading.
 

Hat tip: Kitman.

16 thoughts on “The Fiddle-Playing Emperor of Sweden

  1. I SEE SWEDISH POLITICIANS DISCUSSING THEIR ONGOING DOMESTIC CRISIS. IN THE US WE ARE FAST APPROACHING A MAJOR DOMESTIC CRISIS WHICH WILL LEAD TO BREAKUP OF OUR COUNTRY. THE LIBERALS AND THE DOGOODERS ARE DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS AND THEIR TIME IS COMING.

    • The same thing is happening in nearly all hitherto white or white majority countries. Strange that non-white countries escape unscathed. Here in England an Indian immigrant is demanding that the term English be extended to a form of civic nationality whereas hitherto it was an ethnic nationality with non-ethnic English being termed British. All this has been done without any consultation or consent from the host nations involved. It is genocide on a massive scale; but at the UN’s or others’ behest it is difficult to determine. Here in England I cannot see us being saved. Where we will go I cannot think as England turns into a mixture of the Indian Sub-continent and Brazil. Third world and Afro-asian in all but name. Why do these people hate their own people, Europeans, so much? Where would they have been without us and where will they be without us?

      • What a [derogatorily described inadequacy] your comment was. Shape up and show a bit of backbone.

        “Here in England I cannot see us being saved”

        Go and have a good long look in the mirror. There’s the person that can save you, so make sure he’s ready to do his bit.

        “Where we will go I cannot think”

        We’re not going anywhere. We’re going to stand and fight, and we’re going to win that fight.

        • Quite right, Pam M. Thanks for giving me a kick up the backside. There seem to be so few left with the will to fight. We used to call it the Dunkirk spirit. But then we had a leader, Churchill, who inspired us with it. Now we have leaders who would have us thrown into prison for possessing it. Already the English are showing the signs of those living in a totalitarian regime, a sort of resigned apathy to all the horrors that have befallen our once magnificent nation since the 1960s. Glad to see that you are still fighting; so am I as much as I can. I will heed the call!!

  2. Thanks for posting that, very interesting. I had not realized just how extensive the rioting was.

  3. What a stunning combination of idiocy and superciliousness! Not to mention the dishonest and unartful deflection: Akesson clearly points the finger at Reinfeldt for his irresponsible policies, and Reinfeldt (twice) responds with: “You’re always blaming the immigrants! How dare you!”

  4. The Swedish PM promotes immigration then takes no responsibility for the consequences. He has utter contempt for his people.

  5. ditto UnitedweStand – the MSM does not appear to have identified how extensive the riots have been. The Prime Minister’s comments are truly shocking – he just seems uninterested that several areas of his country are up in flames. Irrespective of the ’cause’ of the riots, he should be showing concern and a willingness to address and deal with the problem rather than blaming Mr Akkesson and scoring political points. I doubt that ‘the penny’ will ever drop with a such a Prime Minister. He is obviously not at all concerned about national security. He just wants to be nice to immigrants. If I was Swedish, I’d be very worried indeed

  6. The Swedes are the multi-culti zombie moron champions of Europe. And Barry wants the US to be more like Sweden? Got help you Americans…

  7. It comes as no surprise from a PM to look for social harmony and peaceful ‘convivio’. No wonder he considers heroes those involved in such a noble endeavour. Now here some tips to reward his heroes.
    – Establish sharia law in the enriched parts of Stockholm.
    – Create a new ministry for Embryonic Conflicts Development in which leftist thugs in partnership with the Ayatollah would scam for and develop every disagreement into full blown conflicts (unionized workers, disaffected ‘youths’, et al).
    – When conflicts spread, establish Sharia law in all Stockholm, what the heck, better all Sweden.
    – Force IKEA to build halal furniture, whatever it maybe.
    – Abolish constitution, make Islam compulsory and die.
    On the level, Scandinavians are becoming the laughing stock of the world.

  8. The Swedish prime minister has no choice but to continue ducking the issue because were he to address that issue he’d be compelled by force of fact to adopt a stance diametrically opposed to the one he currently favours. Fact is the undoing of the Western liberal/left establishment – hence its total reliance on sentiment and wishful thinking.

    Their undoing is on its way. The long term effect of sweeping facts under the carpet is that eventually one trips over the mounds forming beneath one’s feet.

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