During the second half of the 20th century, many terms coined by psychologists were picked up by the general public and developed currency in popular discourse. One of the most frequently used is the word “projection”. It is now commonly understood to mean “unconsciously ascribing to others negative characteristics which you yourself possess”.
Never has the power of projection been more evident than in the political culture of Sweden. From an outsider’s perspective, Sweden displays all the attributes of a fascist state: only one political point of view is considered acceptable, and any dissent against it is vigorously punished, by both official and unofficial means. Those who oppose the reigning ideology may lose their jobs or be prosecuted. They are vilified and scapegoated in the (largely state-owned) media to the point where compliant Swedish drones are made to understand that all dissidents are fair game, and deserve anything bad that happens to them.
Yet all of this is acceptable, you see, and even commendable, because the Sweden Democrats are fascists. As you will learn from the article below, this “fact” has been proven by scientific research, so we know it must be true.
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Before presenting the translated article, some background is necessary. A scandal surrounding Sverigedemokraterna arose last fall, when an incident that occurred more than two years previously came to light through the release of a video to the press.
In the summer of 2010, Kent Ekeroth and Erik Almqvist — both later elected to the Swedish parliament for Sverigedemokraterna — became involved in an early morning brawl in the city of Stockholm. In a movie clip filmed with a mobile phone, Erik Almqvist was heard to shout abuse at a 21-year-old woman, and used the derogative word babbe about the immigrant comedian Soran Ismail.
Later in the video, the two politicians were seen picking up iron rods for their defense, an incident that caused a major Twitter campaign and media uproar in Sweden. After this incident Islam-critical blogs became known as “iron rod blogs” in Sweden.
As a consequence of the affair, Erik Almqvist resigned his seat in the Swedish parliament, while Kent Ekeroth resigned from his positions in the parliament, but retained his seat.
This incident, which was immediately seized on by the media powers-that-be as a welcome “gotcha” moment concerning SD, is what is referred to in the article below (which was published last November) as “yesterday’s events”.
Many thanks to our Swedish correspondent Skånska for translating this piece from Dagens Nyheter. Skånska’s commentary and explanations have been placed in square brackets:
“The Sweden Democrats are a fascist party”
by Henrik Arnstad15 November 2012
Problematic terminology. A new fascism celebrates triumphs in Europe. This applies not least to the Sweden Democrats, who advance in a country where fascism has up until now been weak. Today’s confusion of concepts must end and it is time to name SD properly in the public discourse, writes historian and journalist Henrik Arnstad.
The Sweden Democrats (SD) are gaining even more sympathizers, and thus it is time for Sweden to leave the widespread ignorance of fascism behind. Sweden — as well as all of Europe — needs to confront the presence of an ideology that has the potential to dominate the 21st century.
The core of the fascist ideology is nationalism. A popular ultra-nationalism, with the aim of saving the nation from decay and degeneration with national rebirth as a real political objective.
First, however, the cancer tumor on the nation’s body must be fought. For Hitler, it was about the Jews and the solution was the Holocaust. [Typical Swedish academic nonsense: the definition of die Judenfrage and die Endlösung were not synchronous; they were more than six years apart, partly during wartime. Auswanderung came first, even to Madagascar!]
For SD, it is about Islam, which has to be cleared away - if nothing else, by means of genocide.
If we are to understand SD, it is of the utmost importance that we realize the optimism in this. Today fascism is Sweden’s only political movement that is confident of the future. For the voters, SD paint in beautiful colors an ethnically cleansed, mythical and revitalized nationalist Sweden. Compare, for example, the Social Democrats’ pessimistic nostalgia. Therefore fascism is advancing in the polls.
Today we live in a Europe where a new fascist politics celebrates triumphs. This applies not least to SD, advancing in a country where previously fascism was weak. This new politics is called by international research “neo-fascism”, and is the result of an intellectual work which began in France in the years after 1968.
Under the intellectual leadership of the philosopher Alain de Benoist the movement Nouvelle Droite (the New Right) formulated the future of fascism — it was about building a new political brand after Adolf Hitler, after World War II and Auschwitz-Birkenau. The fight for one’s own “biological race” was condemned, not least because science left racial biology behind.
Instead the new fascism was formulated:
Strategically, the very word “fascism” should be fought — it should not be used due to its nature as a term of invective. When France as the new fascist pioneer country put into practical politic service — through the party National Front — the political thoughts of Nouvelle Droite, new standards were created, which today apply to neo-fascism. All references to interwar fascism are clinically removed, as well as all open violence. The riding boots have been replaced by polished shoes, the leash by a necktie.
- The pluralistic and multicultural society shall be abolished in favor of an ethnically homogeneous society.
- Western democracy — based on universal human rights and individual freedom — shall be replaced by a democracy based on the idea of an “organic society”.
- The cosmopolitanism of the modern era shall be defeated through a celebration of authentic national culture.
- Insight must be reached that European cultures find themselves facing an acute threat; they have almost gone off the rails. Multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity undermine homogeneous cultural and ethnic identities in Europe.
- The new fascism shall be presented as an innovative third way between the traditional left and right.
Even the Swedish SD eventually learned the lesson (even if yesterday’s events show that the traditional biological racism remain underneath the cleaned surface).
However, ideologically speaking, fascism is still fascism. Racism is manifested — then as now — deriving from ultra-nationalism, in an ongoing negotiation about who is included or excluded. In the 1930s, the Jews were diverse and in a whimsical fashion alternately included and excluded in the concept of “the nation” (prime example is Mussolini’s Italy).
In the past, SD members were hatefully anti-Semitic and the party leader spoke of “Jewish pigs”. Today, SD includes Swedish Jews in “the nation” — which may change tomorrow.
The neo-fascists of SD do not want to abolish parliamentary democracy, unlike, for example, Adolf Hitler. Instead, the tyranny of the majority society shall prevail, and, via democratic decision, vulnerable minorities shall be racially oppressed. Neo-fascism does not threatens the parliamentary system, but the basic idea of every human’s equal value in a liberal democracy.
How then might the traditional parties take action to handle SD and neo-fascism? I think we can actually learn from history.
1. Never cooperate. Swedish politicians have done the right thing, never having collaborated with SD. The moment when in particular the traditional Right is tempted to form alliances to meet the Left, fascism will win score really big successes. That was how both Hitler and Mussolini gained power. 2. Never any political leakage. Every now and then you hear voices about “daring to debate,” [våga ta debatten] which means buying into SD’s formulation problem. This is a path dangerous to life. That Germany accepted Hitler’s idea of “the Jewish question” meant no setback for his party, on the contrary. That the “Jews” were discussed as a social problem rather than what they really were — a community resource — set a course towards disaster. 3. Dare to use the correct terminology. Consensus is total in the community of international experts on research into fascism: the new European parties are fascist. Today’s conceptual confusion must end; it’s time to begin naming SD properly in public discourse. The last point is the most difficult one. It seems painful, distressing and traumatic for the West to accept the return of fascism.
Nevertheless, it is important. The entire Swedish political spectrum need to rethink the issue. Both the bourgeois bloc [MFCK-borgerlig] and the Red-Green [SMV vänster] bloc have a new main enemy — whose goal is not to defeat the Right or the Left. SD’s party secretary Björn Söder today talks about reaching more than fifty percent of the voters.
Fascism does not share political power; fascism wants the power all to itself. Fascism has always been underestimated, but fascism should never be underestimated. We have moved into a new fascist era, but have historical experience that we may take advantage of in this new era. If we — this the second time — dare to look the black and brown ideology straight in the face.
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Henrik Arnstad is a historian and a journalist.
For five years the author has been studying the ideology of fascism based on modern international research. In the spring his book will be published: “Beloved fascism: The ideology and history of the black and brown movements.”
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