SWEDISH ELECTIONS
Malcolm
Brabant: More than any other
election in recent history, this is a battle for Sweden’s soul. Often idealized
as a model society, Sweden is now divided between those who want it to remain
generous, egalitarian and open to foreigners and others who vigorously oppose
immigration and multi culturalism. Gustav Kasselstrand heads one of the most
extreme right wing parties that advocates mass deportations
Gustav
Kasselstrand:
We have the Swedes on our side. And with our healthy political ideas, we
are starting a new phase, a renaissance in Sweden.
Malcolm
Brabant: For one face in the
crowd, this election has become personal. He’s a 23 year
old refugee from the Syrian city of Homs. Abed Allmugharbel left Syria when he was 17
before he could finish his high school education. In September 2015, we met
Abed at this mosque in Izmir on the Turkish coast, where hundreds gathered
before taking rubber dinghies to the Greek islands en route to Northern Europe.
Abed
Allmugharbel: I’m
planning to go to Sweden. If I study there, I’m willing to give back to Europe
what they gave me. They gave me shelter, I give them back my whole energy, to
build their country.’
Malcolm
Brabant: Abed managed to reach
Sweden before the refugee trail to Northern Europe was closed. Since then he
has almost finished his high school education. And did so in Swedish. He has
two jobs to pay for his tuition fees. He does not receive welfare benefits. He
hopes to study psychology at university but fears the rise of the right will
thwart his ambitions.
The anti immigrant parties are try to sell to the people that
the Muslims which are the majority of the immigrants who have sought asylum in
Sweden that they are trying to invade the country that the Muslims have
organised and are trying to invade the country, that Swedish traditional
culture is under attack which is completely false not true
The party Abed was protesting against may only be on the fringes
of the campaign. But what’s significant is that until recently supporters of
the so called Alt Right, like Lot-ten Peterson were shy about airing their
opinions. Now, being anti immigration is no longer taboo.
Lotten
Peterson: Oh it costs a lot
because they don’t work very much. I mean they have a very low percentage in
work if you compare it to Swedes. The Swedes pay the taxes. And welfare is free
for everybody and the left who have been screaming here say that no people is
illegal. I mean what kind of language is that.
Malcolm
Brabant: At the peak of the
European crisis, 200,000 refugees and migrants made it to Sweden,
encouraged by the government’s offer of sanctuary for Syrians.
Immigration
official: ‘398,399, very big
family.’
Malcolm
Brabant: It wasn’t just Syrians
who came. There were asylum seekers from across the developing world, lured by
the prospect of subsidised housing and generous welfare benefits. Malmo in the
south was a particular magnet. Sweden hoped other European countries would
follow its example. The then Migration Minister Morgan Johansson was frustrated
that many EU partners closed their borders instead.
Malcolm
Brabant: What do you say
to those people who think your immigration policy, your open door policy is
naive.
Morgan
Johansson: Just
turn on your television set and see for yourself what these people are fleeing
from.
Malcolm
Brabant: As Sweden found itself
overwhelmed by the influx, it sealed its formerly open border with Denmark to
the south, to try to stem the flow.
It was like closing the stable door after the horse had bolted,
say those on the right, like the Alternative for Sweden’s Gustav Kasselstrand.
Gustav
Kasselstrand:
The politicians have forced policy upon us, with mass immigration that we have
never ever voted for, never ever supported.
Malcolm
Brabant: Prime Minister Stefan
Loven presided over the influx, which has strained the hallowed welfare system.
And changed Sweden to the point where one in four of the population now comes
from a foreign background. His centre left social democrat party advocates high
taxation to pay for the cradle to grave safety net.
Stefan Loven: If we can continue
four more years, at least four more years, we will continue to invest in the
Swedish welfare system and that is what people need now. We need to build
solidarity and trust between the citizens of Sweden and that’s what we want to
do.
Malcolm
Brabant: This is a Social
Democrat campaign video.
Social
Democrat campaign video: What would I like? I’d like a society where security comes
before tax cuts and we can hire more people in the medical sector so
everybody gets the help they need in time.That the police get more colleagues
and better conditions.’
Stefan Loven: This is a referendum
on the Swedish welfare system.
Malcolm
Brabant: Isn’t it a referendum
on immigration.
Stefan Loven: No, it’s not
about crime.
Malcolm
Brabant: It is perhaps telling
that the Prime Minister responds to a question about immigration with an answer
about crime. On the day he was in Malmo, violence raised its ugly head.
Superintendent Glen Sjogren is based in Rosengard Malmo’s biggest ghetto. We’re
on our way to a murder scene in a neighbouring ghetto. Hundreds of gang members
are fighting for control of the lucrative cannabis and cocaine trade. According
to the police, almost all of those involved have immigrant backgrounds.
Superintendent
Glen Sjogren:
this year, so far, eleven homicides and shootings involved.
Malcolm
Brabant: And who are the
victims mainly?
Superintendent
Glen Sjogren: The
victims are for us, known people.
Malcolm
Brabant: Criminals?
Superintendent
Glen Sjogren:
Criminals that’s right.
Malcolm
Brabant: For many Swedes, the
gang war symbolises a failure of integration.It fuels resentment against
immigrants. The latest victim was 20 years old. He was killed next to a local
mosque. The fact that rivals are killing each other is of little comfort,
because the number of shootings is on the rise, and often there’s crossfire.
Superintendent
Stefan Wredenmark: And here we have a supermarket in a small square, and a primary
school over there. There were not lesson, but there were pupils and people
close to the murder scene last night.
Superintendent
Glen Sjogren:
The citizens of Malmo feel unsafe because the shooting(s) occur in the evening.
Not at night. Sometimes in the middle of the day.
Malcolm
Brabant: So it is having an
effect?
Superintendent
Glen Sjogren:
Yes, of course. People feel unsafe.
Sweden
Democrats campaign video: My name is Jimmie Åkesson and I will do everything in my power
to solve this chaos that you Social Democrats and you Liberals have created.
Malcolm
Brabant: Jimmie Akkesson’s is
benefitting most from Sweden’s growing sense of insecurity. He leads yet
another far right party, the anti immigrant Sweden Democrats. The party
has neo nazi origins, but it has jettisoned its more extreme policies and
members who espouse openly racist views. Despite becoming more mainstream, the
Sweden Democrats are widely regarded as pariahs. In one election video,
Akkesson paints an apocalyptic image of Sweden that critics say whips up the
climate of fear.
Sweden
Democrats campaign video: Mass immigration hasn’t paid off. . We know that today.
And we know that in reality it inflicts enormous costs and a huge burden
on our society.
You have created a Sweden where families are forced
to move because they no longer feel safe in their own homes.
Malcolm
Brabant: One reason why the
right is gaining ground is that many working and middle class voters have
abandoned the centre left Social Democrats, because they believe the
party ignored their concerns over immigration.
Malcolm
Brabant: According to the
latest opinion polls Prime Minister Loeven’s center/left Social Democrats will
get the most votes. But they won’t get a majority, which means that in order to
govern they’ll need to form a coalition. And even though the far right Sweden
Democrats are on course to become the second biggest party, the
Prime Minister intends to prevent them from exerting influence
Prime Minister
Stefan Loven:
For me one thing is very clear. No cooperation or dependence on the Sweden
Democrats.
Malcolm
Brabant: But that’s ignoring a
large percentage of the Swedish people who perhaps have those views isn’t it?
Prime Minister
Stefan Loven: This
is a party with values so far from mine. They do not protect, that each
individual has the same human value, they speak bad about minorities,they
threaten media, this is not just another party, this is an extreme party.
Malcolm
Brabant: A party with some unexpected support. Nima Gholam
Ali Pour is a rare creature. He’s both a refugee and candidate for the Sweden
Democrats. His parents fled from Iran thirty years ago to save his brother from
being conscripted as a child soldier. Despite the Prime Minister’s stance, Ali
Pour is convinced the voice of his party’s supporters will be heard.
Nima Gholam
Ali Pour: A lot of political
parties said they would not change on the migration issue. And they change
overnight. So we will see after the election. They need a government that
functions. And if we get a lot of support, you know they need support in
parliament, So they have to seek our support somehow.
Malcolm
Brabant: If the right wing
does as well as expected this will herald a substantial shift in the foundations
of a traditionally Social Democratic society.
It will provide a warning to the rest of Europe’s liberal elite.
If it can happen in cosy little Sweden, it can happen to you. Ignore the
working class at your peril.
|
TIMECODE |
LOWER
THIRD |
1 |
0:33 |
GUSTAV KASSELSTRAND ALTERNATIVE FOR SWEDEN |
2 |
00:58 |
2015 |
3 |
2:24 |
LOTTEN PETERSON ALTERNATIVE FOR SWEDEN SUPPORTER |
4 |
2:41 |
2015 |
5 |
3:54 |
GUSTAV KASSELSTRAND ALTERNATIVE FOR SWEDEN |
6 |
4:21 |
STEFAN LÖFVEN PRIME MINISTER OF SWEDEN |
7 |
4:40 |
CAMPAIGN AD |
8 |
6:37 |
CAMPAIGN AD |
9 |
7:09 |
MALMÖ, SWEDEN MALCOLM BRABANT SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
10 |
7:28 |
STEFAN LÖFVEN PRIME MINISTER OF SWEDEN |