DrZoidberg
Contributor
Sweden just had an election. The results are interesting.
resultat.val.se
Sweden is an outlier in that it has a history of being extremely woke, extremely pro-feminist and extremely pro workers rights etc. Relatively... Sweden is extreme. So a beacon of leftist and progressive values. It's also has a history of a decent economy and a high standard of living. So we're also doing something right.
But the latest election has a worrying development.
The Sweden Democrats got 21% of the votes. This is a nationalist political party founded by SS volunteer to Nazi Germany. These were straight up Nazis until 2005 when they got a new leader who decided to clean up their image, insisting that Nazism is something of the past. He BTW has been caught on camera with a Nazi brownshirt at a Sweden Democrat rally. Charming guy. Sweden has proportional representation. This party is now Sweden's second biggest political party. Sweden's biggest party, Socialdemokraterna (mainstream left centre socialist party, like labour) got 32% of the votes.
The Sweden Democrats is an extreme party. They're not a normal mainstream party. They're deeply conservative and reactionary.
sd.se
My interpretation is that Sweden traditionally has been run by middle-class urbanites centered in Stockholm. Swedish media (mostly state run) was also centered in Stockholm. Sweden has traditionally an extremely Stockholm-centric political environment. By controlling the media (ie all communication between citizens) this fairly small social group could effectively control an entire nation. The Swedish left-right dichotomy was only the left right values of these middle-class urbanites.
The rise of the Sweden democrats is entirely parallel to the rise of the Internet and Internet literacy. I think Swedish culture is at heart highly moralistic, conservative and collectivistic. With the Internet all these rural conservatives have managed to get their voices heard. I think that this is the ONLY major political party that represents the values of non-urban working class Stockholmers.
Today my Swedish Stockholmer middle-class urbanite friends are in hysterics whining about how Sweden democrats are a threat to democracy. Me personally I see this in the exact opposite way. Now finally democracy is working in Sweden. Don't get me wrong... I think Sweden Democrats truly are Nazis, and a horrible political party. But them getting 21% of the votes is not undemocratic. Up until now conservative voices in Sweden have been suppressed.
Lot's of Swede's are worried about polarization and a country that will be ripped apart. I don't see that at all. I see a regime change. These guys will take over. None of the other parties represent all of the Swedes. These guys do. Without a monopoly on media, the old guard don't have a chance.
There's another worrying development.
A newly formed political party called "Nyans" took 0,5% of the votes. That's extremely high for a very recently formed party. Based on its politicians this is an Islamist political party. While their party has a standard conservative Swedish image, their politicians have been caught making anti-semitic, homophobic and generally Islamist statements. Worth noting is that Sweden has become the unofficial headquarters for the Muslim Brotherhood of Europe. Probably for the world. This is their squeaky clean front:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Council_of_Sweden
But nobody is fooled. This is the Muslim Brotherhood.
The party Nyans has close ties to the Muslim Council of Sweden.
www.partietnyans.se
Sweden now has 500 000 Muslims. Or 5% of the population.
Compare that with the numbers of Christians. It's very hard to calculate numbers of Christians in Sweden since membership in the church of Sweden gives you practical benefits. 60% of all Swedes are members of the Church of Sweden, while 80% of Swedes say they reject all forms of religion. 10% say they sometimes attend church services.
While a lot of the Swedish Muslims are liberal. A lot of them aren't. When Swedish Muslims answer surveys on how religious they are a vast majority say they're conservative Muslims. All evidence suggest that what they say and do are quite different. Lots of the Swedish Muslims who say they are conservative Muslims obviously fuck and drink like any Swede. So again... hard to calculate what these survey numbers mean.
I think Sweden is about to become a standard central European country. Deeply conservative, collectivistic with high social control. But I don't think it'll be less democratic. I think, for the first time ever, we're about to get a government that truly represents the will of the Swedish people. No matter how much I dislike the Sweden Democrats, there's no way I can, with good conscience, say that this development is undemocratic.
Lucky for me I now live in Denmark. Where liberal values are still going strong.
Valpresentation
Sweden is an outlier in that it has a history of being extremely woke, extremely pro-feminist and extremely pro workers rights etc. Relatively... Sweden is extreme. So a beacon of leftist and progressive values. It's also has a history of a decent economy and a high standard of living. So we're also doing something right.
But the latest election has a worrying development.
The Sweden Democrats got 21% of the votes. This is a nationalist political party founded by SS volunteer to Nazi Germany. These were straight up Nazis until 2005 when they got a new leader who decided to clean up their image, insisting that Nazism is something of the past. He BTW has been caught on camera with a Nazi brownshirt at a Sweden Democrat rally. Charming guy. Sweden has proportional representation. This party is now Sweden's second biggest political party. Sweden's biggest party, Socialdemokraterna (mainstream left centre socialist party, like labour) got 32% of the votes.
The Sweden Democrats is an extreme party. They're not a normal mainstream party. They're deeply conservative and reactionary.
Sveriges snabbast växande folkrörelse - Sverigedemokraterna
Det brukar sägas att Sverigedemokraterna inte är som andra partier. Det stämmer – och det är inte heller något som vi försöker vara.
sd.se
My interpretation is that Sweden traditionally has been run by middle-class urbanites centered in Stockholm. Swedish media (mostly state run) was also centered in Stockholm. Sweden has traditionally an extremely Stockholm-centric political environment. By controlling the media (ie all communication between citizens) this fairly small social group could effectively control an entire nation. The Swedish left-right dichotomy was only the left right values of these middle-class urbanites.
The rise of the Sweden democrats is entirely parallel to the rise of the Internet and Internet literacy. I think Swedish culture is at heart highly moralistic, conservative and collectivistic. With the Internet all these rural conservatives have managed to get their voices heard. I think that this is the ONLY major political party that represents the values of non-urban working class Stockholmers.
Today my Swedish Stockholmer middle-class urbanite friends are in hysterics whining about how Sweden democrats are a threat to democracy. Me personally I see this in the exact opposite way. Now finally democracy is working in Sweden. Don't get me wrong... I think Sweden Democrats truly are Nazis, and a horrible political party. But them getting 21% of the votes is not undemocratic. Up until now conservative voices in Sweden have been suppressed.
Lot's of Swede's are worried about polarization and a country that will be ripped apart. I don't see that at all. I see a regime change. These guys will take over. None of the other parties represent all of the Swedes. These guys do. Without a monopoly on media, the old guard don't have a chance.
There's another worrying development.
A newly formed political party called "Nyans" took 0,5% of the votes. That's extremely high for a very recently formed party. Based on its politicians this is an Islamist political party. While their party has a standard conservative Swedish image, their politicians have been caught making anti-semitic, homophobic and generally Islamist statements. Worth noting is that Sweden has become the unofficial headquarters for the Muslim Brotherhood of Europe. Probably for the world. This is their squeaky clean front:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Council_of_Sweden
But nobody is fooled. This is the Muslim Brotherhood.
The party Nyans has close ties to the Muslim Council of Sweden.
start - PARTIET NYANS
Do you want to make a donation to Partiet Nyans? Vill du donera en valfri summa? العربية Türkçe Till Nyanskvinnorna Gå till hemsidan Följ oss i sociala medier Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Tiktok
www.partietnyans.se
Sweden now has 500 000 Muslims. Or 5% of the population.
Compare that with the numbers of Christians. It's very hard to calculate numbers of Christians in Sweden since membership in the church of Sweden gives you practical benefits. 60% of all Swedes are members of the Church of Sweden, while 80% of Swedes say they reject all forms of religion. 10% say they sometimes attend church services.
While a lot of the Swedish Muslims are liberal. A lot of them aren't. When Swedish Muslims answer surveys on how religious they are a vast majority say they're conservative Muslims. All evidence suggest that what they say and do are quite different. Lots of the Swedish Muslims who say they are conservative Muslims obviously fuck and drink like any Swede. So again... hard to calculate what these survey numbers mean.
I think Sweden is about to become a standard central European country. Deeply conservative, collectivistic with high social control. But I don't think it'll be less democratic. I think, for the first time ever, we're about to get a government that truly represents the will of the Swedish people. No matter how much I dislike the Sweden Democrats, there's no way I can, with good conscience, say that this development is undemocratic.
Lucky for me I now live in Denmark. Where liberal values are still going strong.
