As the Swedes Go, So Goes Europe

[Valin]

The Weekly Standard:

The populist backlash against immigration and the EU superstate continues.

DOMINIC GREEN

Dec 22, 2014, Vol. 20, No. 15

 

"The winner,” ABBA advised in 1980, “takes it all. The loser has to fall.” But not in Swedish politics, where proportional representation has created a smorgasbord of parties and has now contributed to a crisis of democracy.

 

Why should Americans care about Sweden, one of the many faraway countries of which we know little? Because where the Swedes go, Europe follows. Lightly burdened by war guilt, Sweden was the first European state to declare itself the moral monitor of the world. Sweden’s folkhem, or “people’s home,” was the gold standard of welfare states; it was also the first to run out of money. In the ’70s, Sweden pioneered the anti-Zionism that has become the only coherent element in the EU’s foreign policy. Today Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city, is becoming the first city in postwar Europe to expel its Jewish minority through mob violence. And last week, Swedish democracy broke down. The causes of the breakdown can be seen in every European state. As ever, Sweden leads the way.

 

(Snip)

 

Until last week, the Alliance, like the left-wing parties, had reviled the Sweden Democrats as racists and a threat to democracy. It is true that, like all of Europe’s “New Right” parties, the Sweden Democrats have an unsavory prehistory of racism and neofascism. * It is also true that, like the other “New Right” parties, the Sweden Democrats have purged their platform and leadership of these associations. Still, they remain a party of ethnic grievance. Like France’s National Front or the U.K. Independence party (UKIP), they’ve made immigration their biggest issue. Their sudden surge into parliament shows how their grievances have become mainstream in Europe. In 2014, by winning 12.9 percent of the vote and 14 percent of the seats, the Sweden Democrats became the Riksdag’s third-largest party. Neither of the coalitions wanted anything to do with them. They still don’t—but after last week, they may have to deal with them.

 

(Snip)

 

Nigel Farage of UKIP likes to be photographed holding a frothing pint of bitter and a cigarette. Jimmie Åkesson of the Sweden Democrats looks like a ’50s rocker. He longs for the days when the welfare state was strong and society coherent. It turns out that plenty of Swedes feel the same. Last week, the comments sections of Swedish press websites abounded in conversions from both left and right. All said the same thing: Mass immigration has dissolved Sweden’s social cohesion and overburdened the welfare system. The established parties are too cowardly or corrupt to stop the rot. The Sweden Democrats are not; and so, holding his or her nose, the voter backed them.

 

(Snip)

 

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* The Question Is, Have They Really?

[nickydog]

Interesting.