Expo Puts Sverigedemokraterna in the Crosshairs

Last Saturday the Swedish newspaper Expressen published an article alleging that one or more members of the anti-immigration party Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats) had neo-Nazi affiliations, despite the party’s claim to be free of Nazi influences. The source of information for the story was the extremist left-wing group Expo, whose co-founder, as Fjordman has noted on several occasions, called for genocide of all whites and the destruction of Western civilization.

A reader summarized the Expressen piece in an email to us:

The newspaper article revealed, perhaps unintentionally, that Expo had used information from private bank accounts to snear opponents. This is illegal, even in Sweden, for everybody except for the Security Services, and even they need a court order to access this sort of information. If this story is correct, it resembles Gestapo or Stasi methods, and could potentially have very serious consequences. Nonetheless, opponents of SD outside of Sweden use Expo as their primary source regarding Swedish politics.

Last night Fjordman posted a detailed exposé of Expo and its fascist “anti-fascist” tendencies.

In effect, Expressen and Expo were saying, “Aha! Those Sweden Democrats are supporting Nazi organizations: their phone records and money transfer records show this.”

Kurt Lundgren, one of the most prominent Swedish bloggers, then pointed out the amazing fact that Expo have access to people’s phone and money transfer records, and that not even the police have such powers without a court ruling.

Yes indeed, an organization whose primary mission is to point a finger and cry “Nazi!” at any opponent who opposes Multiculturalism now uses methods borrowed from the Gestapo and the Stasi. Life is full of little ironies.

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Ted Ekeroth — who attended the Counterjihad Summit in Brussels last October, and is Sverigedemokraterna’s treasurer in Lund — sent the following information via email about the incident:
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I don’t know these guys. They are some pretty well unknown persons. Unfortunately it seems that they lied in their vandelsförsäkran, which is a form you fill out when joining the party, in which you have to promise that you have never been part of any undemocratic, racist, or Nazi movement, that you have no criminal record, and so on.

However, we have to trust what people say since we cannot investigate them all.

In this case it indeed seems like one person has given money to a Nazi group here in Sweden. That person is going to be expelled from the party during the next board meeting.

I don’t know anything more than this for now, since the persons in question are unknown to me (and to most people in the party).

Our next board meeting is on February 9th. There is no public statement yet, but there will be soon.

It looks very bad, of course, but there is no real “danger” in this. There were two unimportant small-time idiots somewhere in Sweden, who obviously lied in their assurance that they do not mix with racists or Nazis…

It’s hard to stop those nuts, unfortunately.

Not long afterwards, Sverigedemokraterna issued a statement, which our Swedish correspondent HL has kindly translated (the original Swedish version is below the English translation):

Concerning information given in connection with the Jimmie Åkesson interview on 24 January 2008:

The executive committee of the Sweden Democrats has opened an investigation into the cases in question, and at the party’s board meeting on 9 February recommendations for potential measures will be issued for each individual case. VU has still not succeeded in getting the information confirmed in all cases:

• The information for Jan Kassberg, Gävle, has been confirmed, and VU has because of this reason decided to recommend to the board that the issue of expulsion is raised at the PS meeting on 9 February.
  
• Peter Söderholm is said to have left the party before the 2006 election, according to the Gävleborg district. If that is the case no measures will be taken.
  
• Concerning Göran Anders Lagrot, Gothenburg, the information has not yet been confirmed. If the information is correct the VU will recommend that the board make another point of expulsion at the PS meeting on 9 February.
  
• Other cases will be further investigated via the party district concerned.

[VU = Verkställande utskottet, “executive committee”, PS = partistyrelsens, “party board” — BB]

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Angående uppgifter lämnade i samband med intervju med Jimmie Åkesson 24 januari 2008:

Sverigedemokraternas verkställande utskott har inlett en utredning av de aktuella fallen och vid partistyrelsens sammanträde den 9 februari kommer man att föreslå eventuella åtgärder i varje enskilt fall. VU har ännu inte lyckats få uppgifterna bekräftade i samtliga fall:

• Jan Kassberg, Gävle, har uppgifterna bekräftats och VU har av den anledningen beslutat föreslå partistyrelsen att ett uteslutningsärende öppnas vid PS- sammanträde 9 februari.
  
• Peter Söderholm ska ha trätt ur partiet före valet 2006, enligt Gävleborgsdistriktet. Om så är fallet vidtas ingen åtgärd.
  
• Göran Anders Lagrot, Göteborg, har uppgifterna ännu inte kunnat bekräftats. Om uppgifterna är korrekta kommer VU att föreslå partistyrelsen att ett uteslutningsärende öppnas vid PS-sammanträde 9 februari.
  
• Övriga fall kommer att utredas vidare genom respektive partidistrikt.

So, to summarize this whole non-story: a couple of people lied on their party applications, and as a result, after Sverigademokraterna’s due process runs its course, they will be expelled from the party.

If Sverigademokraterna are “Nazis”, they’re not very good at it.

Expo is determined to destroy SD by any and all means necessary. Their dishonest smear techniques, their disregard for the law, and their support for the violent suppression of politically incorrect opponents make it difficult to distinguish them from the “fascists” they supposedly revile.

It brings to mind of the end of Animal Farm:

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.