CASTELBUONO, Sicily (CN) — It's Sweden's turn to reckon with the rise of nationalist, anti-immigrant and anti-European Union sentiment sweeping across Europe. Swedes vote Sunday in national elections and polls show the Sweden Democrats — a right-wing anti-EU party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement — will make significant gains and possibly become the nation’s largest party.
It’s a scenario that leaves many observers incredulous: The image of Sweden as a model of social cohesion, liberalism and Social Democratic politics is being shattered, even as it boasts low unemployment and crime rates, a strong economy and a generous welfare state. On international surveys, as usual, Sweden still ranks as one of the happiest places in the world.
But if you listen to the slick and ominous campaign ads of the Sweden Democrats, you’d think Sweden was a failed state: a land of violent gang warfare where social services have collapsed and Swedes live in fear.
How did this come about? For the Sweden Democrats, the culprits are clear: They are Sweden’s mainstream politicians and the refugees and immigrants they’ve welcomed to the Nordic country of 10 million people.
“You've created a Sweden where there isn’t law and order,” intones Jimmie Akesson, the 39-year-old leader of Sweden Democrats, in one ad. “Where people move away due to violence and fear; welfare is collapsing; friends and family die waiting for healthcare; a Sweden where women are raped, gang raped, mutilated and married off against their will. … Sweden is a disaster; Swedes are being attacked, murdered, on the street.”
Traditionally, Sweden has welcomed refugees, and the nation's modern history is full of such examples.
For instance, Harald Edalstam, the Swedish ambassador in Chile during the military coup d’etat in 1973, famously welcomed thousands of persecuted Latin Americans to Sweden.
“He said: ‘We will take anyone from Chile — they have a new home in Sweden.’ And 20,000 or 30,000 came,” said Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research in Lund, Sweden, in a telephone interview with Courthouse News. “That was a fine Sweden we were proud of. I am not proud of the Sweden today.”
In that tradition, Sweden opened its doors to Syrians and Afghans fleeing conflict and in 2015, at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe, it took in nearly 163,000 asylum seekers, the most per capita of any EU member.
Anger over crime and immigrants is not entirely without basis. Gang violence has been on the rise, including shootings and killings, in impoverished parts of Sweden’s cities where there are concentrations of immigrants. In 2016, Sweden was rocked by immigrant riots.
But it’s not all about immigration. Economics too are triggering discontent.
Sweden, like so many other places, is experiencing a widening gap in income and this has led to the rise of the radical right, according to a new study by researchers at Stockholm University and the University of California at Berkeley.
The study found workers flocking to the Sweden Democrats after the financial crisis in 2008 because they felt their jobs threatened.
The study also found a center-right government’s economic policies between 2006 and 2010, including spending cuts and welfare and tax reforms, “triggered a dramatic increase in income inequality.”