The following article was published yesterday in the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende. Many thanks to Liberty DK for the translation, which was posted earlier at Vlad Tepes in a slightly different form:
Ikea killings open Sweden’s taboo debate on immigration
By Tinne Hjersing Knudsen
The murders in Vasteras have created broad discussion about Swedish immigration policy and the problems the concealment of the issues causes. The Swedish immigration authorities are now talking openly about the massive problems with integration. And many refugees no longer see Sweden as an attractive country in which to seek asylum.
STOCKHOLM: “It may well be that a mother and her son were stabbed in the kitchen department at Ikea, but the number of murders in Sweden has been declining since 1990.” That was the message in Swedish media two days after the seemingly random killings in the city of Vasteras northwest of Stockholm.
The national newspaper Dagens Nyheter was one of those that broke the story with an article that read that Sweden has generally become a safer country. The story got hundreds of angry Swedes to their keyboards, demanding an explanation: They wanted to know “How could the newspaper print these types of stories so soon after innocent people had been killed?”
Then the newspaper brought out a story that the security at the country’s asylum centers would now be increased. The perpetrator was a rejected asylum seeker from Eritrea, and the police feared that “dark forces” would avenge the murders.
Now the angry comments no longer only came from troubled Facebook users, but from bloggers and columnists from across the country. The Svenska Dagbladet editorial writer Ivar Arpi was one of those who responded on Twitter.
“Imagine that you are one of the relatives of the murdered people and go on the DN.SE website. These are the headlines you will be greeted by,” he wrote and attached a picture of the three stories, echoing each other on Dagens Nyheter‘s website.
The debate opens up
The Swedish Democrats (SD) also reacted promptly to the stories that had called neither for dialogue regarding Swedish immigration, nor had paid attention to the fact that the perpetrator was a rejected asylum seeker.
“In times like these, it may be appropriate to recall how Fredrik Reinfeldt wanted us to ‘open our hearts’, and being thankful ‘because you chose Sweden’. I hardly think the murdered mother and son would agree with the ex-minister,” Björn Söder, SD’s former party secretary and vice president of parliament, writes on Facebook.
Although the comment was immediately denounced by Söders political opponents as vulgar, the Ikea killings have led to a change of mood in the previously almost absent debate about immigration: right-wing politicians are now talking about giving refugees temporary residence permits and several columnists other than those from Svenska Dagbladet are now openly asking the question of how many refugees Sweden actually can handle.
Sweden no longer attractive
Most voices are still cautious about giving the double murder in Ikea fundamental importance. But beyond Västerås the tragic incident anticipatess a far greater and more fundamental problem with Swedish immigration — an issue which has received very little attention: integration in this great asylum country is running anything but smoothly.
For the first time in five years — and at a time when the number of refugees arriving in Europe is about seven times higher compared to the previous year — there is a declining number of asylum applications in Sweden. The massive immigration which has taken place over the years has made it increasingly difficult for refugees to integrate into Swedish society — which is why Sweden is no longer an attractive country in which to seek asylum.
That is what the Director General of the Swedish immigration authorities Migration Board, Anders Danielsson, believes.
“Sweden has of course been a primary recipient country, together with Germany, for quite a long time. Therefore, the waiting time to get a residency permit and family reunification has been longer. That’s one thing. In addition, integration into Sweden does not work well. It is difficult to find housing, and it is hard to find jobs. Those two things means that Sweden is not as interesting a country to consider as it has been,” he says.
It is especially the number of asylum seekers from Syria and the Western Balkans, the immigration authorities have forecasted there will be fewer of this year.
According to the calculations, the number will be 6,000 fewer applications compared to last year, so the final number of asylum seekers would end up at around 74,000.
“Increased border control in southern Europe has of course also played a big role. France’s control at the border with Italy stops some from getting further up into northern Europe. But while the total number of asylum seekers coming to Europe has increased dramatically, it is falling in Sweden,” says Danielsson.
He worries especially about what the wait and the limited opportunities for integration means for the refugees coming to Sweden.
“It’s never a good thing that people do not enter properly into society. Integration is essential so that they can create a life in Sweden. Without this, it takes a long time to get a job and to improve one’s personal social situation. But it is a political issue that politicians must deal with,” says Anders Danielsson.
Of the refugees who come to Sweden, a mere 10% find work after they have undergone the two-year integration program. Another 20% are enrolled in education courses, and thus 70% of them end up unemployed.
Berlingske tried to get a comment from the Social Democratic immigration minister, Morgen Johansson, but he declined to comment.
Would consider another country
In Södertäjle outside Stockholm sits 25-year-old Gabi Alwashy, who is one of the refugees who feels the problems in his own life. He has lived in Sweden for a year and four months with his mother and brother since they fled the civil war in Syria and Aleppo.
Like many newly arrived refugees, Gabi Alwashy was at first very happy to have come to safety in Sweden.
“But after a while I began to notice that there were no Swedes living in this area. There are only other immigrants, and then it’s not easy to find Swedish friends,” he says.
Half of the inhabitants of Södertälje were born outside of Sweden, and in the district of Ronna where Gabi Alwashy lives, there live virtually no Swedes at all.
Södertälje is included in a report made by the Norwegian police which is used as a horror example of a ghetto. The problem arises because there is a housing shortage, and the refugees cannot afford to rent space elsewhere other than in the cheap suburbs. But here there are very few job opportunities, and so the problem becomes self-reinforcing.
Different worlds
The 25-year-old Syrian has a bachelor’s degree in English literature and is passionate about becoming a part of Sweden. He is still in the Swedish integration program, so he will only begin to look for work eight months from now. But he is dreading it even now.
“If I had known that it was so difficult to find housing and jobs in Sweden, I would probably have considered trying another country in Europe,” said Gabi Alwashy. “If you allow so many immigrants to enter, you must surely have a long term plan for them.”
In his pursuit of Swedish friends, Gabi Alwashy found the organization Kompis Sweden, a private initiative that tries to create contact between refugees and Swedes. Here he found a friend named Simon, who he hopes can help him become a part of Swedish society.
The project leader of Kompis Sweden, Sofia Thorsmark, also sees the problems with integration as massive.
“There are many closed doors in Sweden. We live in a segregated society where Swedes and the newcomers have little to do with each other. We are trying to change this because otherwise integration will fail. Right now we live in the same country, but in two different worlds.”
‘And many refugees no longer see Sweden as an attractive country in which to seek asylum.’ Let’s see–could that be because those who have preceded them have made Sweden too much like where they have come from?
Your logic is perfect. But really, and with respect, you are only stating the obvious.
In fact the problem is so obvious it’s a puzzle that so many fail to see it. I wonder if received wisdom has anything to do with it?
Received wisdom goes something like this: “Taking everything into consideration the costs of immigration are outweighed by the benefits”. That’s the official line. Deviate from it and you risk ruin.
But this was all very well before the costs of immigration hit the fan, so to speak. Now that the problem is a bit more in your face it’s a bit more difficult to interpret it as ‘just one of the costs of immigration that, when taken together, are less than the sum of the benefits of immigration’. And as these costs become more apparent it becomes more difficult not to ask the question: Precisely what are the benefits of immigration and how do they measure against its costs?
The establishment must be acutely aware of its predicament. It got where it is today by strict adherence to the “Taking everything into consideration the costs of immigration are outweighed by the benefits” line and it’s now kind of tied to that interpretation of the world. And even as the evidence piles up against it they have no choice but to cling on. I am reminded of the Ptolemaic : Copernican clash of ideas.
The establishment is going to do what it can to hang onto power for as long as it can – but as an American might say, “It’s a busted flush.” And he’d be right. Everybody can see it, especially them.
I love your argument Salome. Sweden was a lovely place. This Summer when I visited it after so many years, I have found out that it’s not as appealing as it has been destroyed by the immigrants of the last few years more likely.
This is what the UK was like before the 2001 riots. It is now much worse. It is hoped that some sensible debate can now take place in Sweden. This has long been stifled by leftist claptrap and thuggery.
Thats what happens when a country becomes highly secularized. No sense of community. As a Jew I was able to find co-religionists and community almost anywhere in England, the US Australia, New Zealand and even Japan, where Christians think highly of Israel. This Alwashy, if he is a Christian, will find no succor in the empty Swedish church, and if he is a Muslim, all he will find is the cult of death and hatred propagated in the Masjid. Integration without faith does not exist.
“Integration without faith does not exist”? This makes no sense, Yuval; faith, and one variety in particular, is a major barrier to integration. I’ve never heard of nonbelievers having a problem mixing.
In China, people think Israel highly too !
Perhaps it’s the first sign of an awakening; unfortunately far too late to save Sweden unless their Viking genes take charge pretty quickly and even then it’s going to be damned difficult – and messy.
I really do believe the tide is turning – maybe it’s even turned. Is/was it not inevitable?
One factor that will definitely work against the great uncivilized brainwashed Muslim is that he she it is missing a couple of screws. Not loose – missing.
Who is brainwashed? Muslims are not. They are undertaking the invasion of the world. For them that’s good. Their duty. For the “western elected” That’s excellent.
To brainwash: (Camb dic)
to make someone believe something by repeatedly telling them that it is true and preventing any other information from reaching them :
Their government is trying to brainwash them into thinking that [western nations cannot survive without muslim invaders. ]
I wonder if all the Vikings left for America, way back
Most of the Scandinavians with good old Viking genes ended up in Russia. The US got the Scandinavians with the peaceful, farmer genes. They settled in Minnesota and turned it into
the leftist paradise that it is today – home of the largest Somali population in the United States.
I think we should stop talking about this phenomenon as “immigration”. It is not “immigration”, it is an “invasion”. “Immigration” is when I want to go live and work in the United States and follow the necessary procedures to obtain the required papers to enter the US legally.
There is only one solution. Europe has to close its borders. Whoever enters the territory without possessing the required papers will be sent back. No mercy. You can’t enter the US or Australia like this so why Europe? For those who really need asylum centers can be opened outside Europe’s borders.
BTW, whoever volunteers to help these poor “immigrants” should be sued; the lawyers, people who give them food, teachers who give them free language lessons. These stupid so-called idealistic folks are one big reason why so many “immigrants” keep coming. Along with the media who don’t stop telling us sad stories about the misery these “immigrants” had to endure in their homecountry. I know it’s bad out there but that is no justification for invading our territory. I don’t think it is our fault anyway. The best way Europe can help the countries in need is by having a strong economy and a cohesive society and this mass invasion is jeopardising this.
I have a friend who is looking for a facility for her seriously disabled adult daughter. The poor girl is on waiting lists and has to compete with other disabled people in the hope to get a spot. In the mean time her family has to take care of here since she needs constant help. THIS is who Europe should give its money to and who the volunteers should help. Guess it is not exotic enough…
I know one thing. At the next elections I will vote for whatever party takes the strongest stance against this invasion. I have no sympathy for extreme right but if they are the ones who have this on their agenda, I will vote for them. And I know I am not the only one.
There is a big difference between the ‘extreme right’ of media fantasy and the reality. The real ‘right’ is for small government as such. In most countries there are ‘small’ government parties labeled as ‘far right’ to try and associate them in people’s minds as Nazi. These parties are not collectivist as the Nazis were. Have a look here:
http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/about-libertygb/ideology
Most countries have political parties like this one somewhere, usuall suppressed as dangerous….
Thank you. Here in America you can even hear the right wing described as “anti-government Nazis.” That would be a neat trick alright, being anti-government and Nazi. In reality most right wingers as the left calls conservatives, believe in representative government as laid out by the constitution. But nowadays most politicians regards the constitution as an impediment to their naked lust for power.
Yes you’re right they aren’t immigrants but colonists. There’s a big difference. Colonists don’t integrate, they bring their culture and communities with them. In effect they are a occupying army.
That is what Muslims are in the West, a occupying army and behave like on as well. They are there to eradicate the indigenous culture and peoples. Their mosques are their barracks and centers of organization and resources.
And infidel volunteers who help them ought to be excoriated. There are plenty of people in their own countries who need help. But, that doesn’t have the cool factor as flying to Syria and helping people there or working in a immigrant camp in Calais.
I agree. It is an invasion. We do not see tanks, or uniforms, but we do see the soldiers, and these soldiers have weapons, only a whole range of other weapons than we had become used to expect.
You might call it an invasion in disguise, or camouflage.
From experience we know that many of the soldiers are not accepting of our civilization, and openly work to ruin it. That’s what invasion forces have been doing over the millennia. Nothing new here, really.
If you are not a Muslim resister at 10,000 you most certainly will be at 5,000,000.
Apartheid is establishing itself spontaneously in many suburbs in most large cities in Europe where ethnic division is based on the ‘ Birds of a feather flock together ” principle and as a consequence , white flight . Devaluation of property due to immigrant influx is a major factor angering the native population ,besides low standards , ethics , and crime including rape , the national sport of some immigrants and a drain on social funds .
Well done to the masochistic left wing slaves who sadistically oppose any “fair” minded person who disagrees with them. Your downfall is coming and the backlash will be severe.
Does that mean you do’nt celebrate diversity or rejoice at difference?
Screw diversity. It destroys the very fabric, the culture of the host nation.
I am an immigrant from an Islamic hell hole, I had no problem shedding that barbaric culture to adopt the more civilized one of the country of my naturalization.
The problem lies with guilt ridden western leaders and politicians who seem to be ashamed of their superior Jeudo-Christian values and are willing to sacrifice all that they themselves did not shed a drop off blood to attain, on the altar of diversity and multiculturalism.
I hate that the country I now live in is rapidly becoming more and more like the one I fled from decades ago.
Islam needs to be banned worldwide, and the Koran thrown in the dustbin of history.
I suppose the only time that we have seen an individual European nation come apart is France during the Revolution; where the forces of theoretical ‘good’ brought down the existing status quo and tried to impose that ‘good’ in its place. What they actually did was to destroy the means of production.
So it all fell apart, and those who were meant to have benefited, starved.
We only know the figures for those executed, we don’t know how many died of starvation and the diseases of malnutrition.
It strikes me that the same is happening (maybe it already has happened) in Sweden, and the first casualties of a collapse will be welfare recipients, who will then get violent, and make matters even worse as they loot and wreck even further the means of production (and those who are producing) thus fueling the downwards spiral.
One can almost hear the bewildered ‘do gooders’ saying, “why didn’t you stop us before it was too late?”
Maybe that will help the Swede’s know who they are again.
It does look like a turning point might be approaching in Sweden. A demo is planned for September 15 outside the Parliament. I cannot remember the last time the Swedes took to the streets.
Pay them to leave.
I do have sympathy for immigrants, or would-be immigrants like Gabi Alwashy. He seems to have the right idea of integrating into the host society.
I do believe in allowing a limited number of carefully-selected aliens into a country. This is for the benefit of the host country, as a very limited, very small number of people with somewhat different cultures can add to the interest of a community. Of course, they have to share the values of the community.
What we have now is no relation to controlled immigration, though, and a complete shutoff is vastly better than what we have now in almost any Western country.
There are a lot of desperate people out there. Many of them are clustered in Muslim countries, simply because of the Muslim ethos: suppress Muslims different from yourself, and act mercilessly towards the people among you who are not protected by a group, clan, or other strong males.
But, the primary duty of a country is to protect itself and its inhabitants. It is not the duty of a country to make sure all desperate people are taken care of. The Syrians caught in the Syrian civil war will have to fend for themselves, in Syria preferably. There will be an endless supply of Muslims oppressed by other Muslims…or other primitive peoples.
I am not an expert in the politics of the Middle-East/the Arab world. I would love to read more about it but with a fulltime job there is very little time to read anything.
However, by having followed domestic and international politics for many years, I sometimes notice that I have a kind of feel for these things. As in having a gut feeling that a certain situation will end in a certain way and I seem to be often right.
I remember that as soon as I heard people speak about the “Arab Spring”, among them the stupid idealists in the European Parliament, I thought “Yeah right, that will turn into an “Arab Winter” in no time.” Well I was right, even though I would have preferred to be wrong. The “Arab Spring” has opened all the boxes of Pandora and has done nothing to improve the fate of the average citizens of the countries in question.
I just hated the way the Western journalists were jumping on it as if they saw democracy unfolding. As usual we got the sentimental reports – live as it happened – devoid of any background of facts and history.
I think the West should have supported Assad against the rebels. I can imagine that Assad’s regime is not a democratic one, yet I think it was rather stable for a regime in the Middle-East. I don’t recall having heard a lot about Syria in the years before this mess started. As a matter of fact, Syria to me was a country where you went on a cultural holiday in combination with Jordan. But instead the West decided to support the rebels, who seemed to be divided into various groups, some very extreme.
I think that the big problem in that region is that the muslims are not capable to separate religion from state matters. And since they constantly quarrel among themselves (because one believes in Mohammed and the other one in Mohammed’s cousin or whatever) and can’t simply say “Let’s agree to disagree” that means that there can never be peace. So in order to have these countries make a bit of progress you need an oppressive regime. Instead of hoping that the rebels in Syria would come to power and chase Assad away, the West should have come to Assad’s rescue. Maybe they did not like to do it (and I have to read more about what could be the reason for that) but for the sake of the stability of the region (the most inflammable in the world) it was necessary. Help him reconquer his country and see with him what baby steps can be taken towards democracy. But there is only so much you can do. What is the chicken and the egg? Are people violent because they live in poor circumstances? Or do they live in poor circumstances because they are so busy waging war that there is no time and energy to actually work on a better future? And why would any of this be the responsibility of the West?
The obsession with removing Assad only seems to make sense in global strategic terms. In other words, if the goal is to remove Russian and Iranian influence in Syria and you don’t care if the country is completely destroyed then maybe it makes sense.
But one is left wondering exactly what is so important here because the cure is looking worse than the disease, even if all you care about is US interests. Perhaps this is why Obama has so many Secretary of Defense resignations.
All of this stuff going on seems to mainly benefit the Muslim Brotherhood.
Except for the Iran deal.
Yes, the west should have come to Assad’s rescue, but Assad tolerated the Christians, and Obama (the Christian?) would never tolerate that! Also the west (NATO) should have helped Serbia, instead they bombed Belgrade and gave Kosovo to the muslims, who are not just some ‘glamorous eastern culture,’ but who are, and always have been, the enemy.
Their terrorist training manual aka the Koran, demands it.
To those who say we should have, or should, assist Assad: I disagree. I think it was stupid to have sponsored the rebels and even stupider to think that any rebels we now support will not become affiliated with ISIS.
I think the US should have done exactly nothing. Assad was not a great guy. He ruled for the benefit of a minor sect of Muslims, the Alewites, he presented a constant threat to Israel, he supported and enabled Hezbollah in Lebanon, including the targeting of Israel by thousands of rockets. He kept the peace, kept his country together, suppressed the Islamists, and kept the Christians safe. So, what were we doing giving material aid to depose him, and why would we now give aid to keep him in power?
The foreign policy decisions of the United States are currently made by people either ignorant, stupid, or evil. Why would you think that giving US aid to one side or another would result in a more desirable outcome? Do you remember that idiot-in-chief John McCain complained that Obama wasn’t doing enough to help the rebels against Assad? If we’re extremely, extremely lucky, US aid won’t make a situation worse, so we might as well let our taxpayers keep their money.
There have been convincing arguments that money and oil are the main reason that the US, Turkey, and several Gulf states all seem obsessed with overthrowing the Assad regime.
The basic story goes that there is a Qatari-backed pipeline to Turkey that needs to run right through Syrian territory. Ostensibly this is intended to reduce some of the hydrocarbon-based leverage that Putin’s Russia holds over Europe, and by extension NATO.
There is a Swedish radio clip explaining a particular life for the young Fredrik Reinfeldt, where the mother allegedly was a controlling manipulative extreme leftist. The son is also described as having some of the same personality, whereas the father sounds more like a normal Swede.
Are we facing a revenge on the whole Swedish society – Folkhemmet – based on an extremely leftist ideological upbringing here?
Basically what we see today is also the result of the theoretical work of muslim thinkers like Prof. M. Ali Kettani, “Muslim Communities in Non-Muslim States“, London, Islamic Council of Europe, 1980”
When Muslims live as a minority they face theological problems, because classical Islamic teaching always presupposed a context of Islamic dominance; hence the need for guidance on how to live in non-Muslim states. The instructions given in the book told Muslims to get together and organise themselves with the aim of establishing a viable Muslim community based on Islamic principles. This is the duty of every individual Muslim living within a non-Muslim political entity. They should set up mosques, community centres and Islamic schools. At all costs they must avoid being assimilated by the majority. In order to resist assimilation, they must group themselves geographically, forming areas of high Muslim concentration within the population as a whole. Yet they must also interact with non-Muslims so as to share the message of Islam with them. Every Muslim individual is required to participate in the plan; it is not allowed for anyone simply to live as a “good Muslim” without assisting the overall strategy. The ultimate goal of this strategy is that the Muslims should become a majority and the entire nation be governed according to Islam. (M. Ali Kettani “The Problems of Muslim Minorities and their Solutions” in Muslim Communities in Non-Muslim States (London: Islamic Council of Europe, 1980) pp.96-105
While Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven opens up another center against racism, violence goes on as usual. Today’s focus, is on Norrköping. Knife of some sort, and a male holding it, three wounded, police, helicopter, etc in Norrköping.