Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Free Speech, Swedish Style

Sweden is a bastion of free speech.

Just ask the Swedish government, or the Swedish media. When it comes to speaking out in favor of avant-garde gay lifestyles, or against Christianity, or in support of transgressive antinomianism, Sweden is in the forefront.

But there are limits, and criticizing Muslims crosses the line.

Don’t you know that free speech must be responsible speech?

From The Local:

Man sentenced for carrying offensive placard

A man who displayed a placard accusing immigrants of group rape at an anti-racism rally has been convicted of agitation against an ethnic group.

During a March 2007 rally organized in the south west coast town of Ängelholm by SSU, the youth wing of the Social Democratic Party, the man was seen holding a sign reading, “While Swedish girls are being group raped by immigrant gangs the SSU is fighting racism.”

The man was arrested and eventually indicted on charges of agitation against an ethnic group, according to the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper.
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During his trial, the man claimed he simply wanted to point out the absurdity of holding a demonstration against racism and hoped the sign would spark debate. He asserted he was simply expressing an opinion, which is a right afforded to him under the European Convention on Human Rights.

But District Prosecutor Lars Danielsson disagreed, arguing that the man “expressed disrespect for a group of people with reference to their national or ethnic background.”

The court agreed with Danielsson, fining the man 4000 kronor ($650).

In its decision, the court found the placard made gross generalizations that immigrants are inclined to rape Swedish girls, which falls under the legal definition of disrespect.

The court furthermore rejected the man’s free speech argument by pointing out that he could have expressed his opinions in a manner other than wandering around the Ängelholm central square on a Saturday morning carrying an offensive sign, and that even the human rights convention has its limits.

“Agitation against an ethnic group” (hets mot folkgrupp in Swedish) is the catchall offense for those who violate the norms of multicultural political correctness in Sweden. Dahn Pettersson was hoist by that particular petard for daring to assert that Kosovar Albanians controlled the vast majority of the heroin trade in Sweden. For that sin against Multicultural Orthodoxy he was convicted and fined.

The fact that what he asserted was true — just ask Interpol — had no bearing on his case. He was manifestly guilty of insulting a folkgrupp, so he had to pay.

The same is true in this case. The (unnamed) offender has spoken the simple truth — immigrants (mostly Muslims) are responsible for the majority of rapes in Sweden, in vast disproportion to their numbers, and their victims are mostly “persons of Swedish background”.

The authorities are prevented from gathering statistics on the ethnicity of accused or convicted rapists, but a statistical analysis of surnames or residential addresses for the convicted perps yields unambiguous results: newly-arrived Third World immigrants are far more likely to commit rape than is Svensson.

So the man’s placard stated a plain fact. But that fact constituted an insult to an ethnic group, and had to be punished.

O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! O brave new world that hath such people in’t!


Hat tip: TB.

16 comments:

Diamed said...

The truth is an incitement to hatred, because anyone who knew the truth would hate certain groups of people.

In fact, the more truth you know, the more likely you are to hate anyone. The truth is largely ugly, ignorance is largely bliss. Liberals who live in gated enclaves are free to love mankind and harbor no hatred for anyone, since they never live a single day in a place where the truth actually affects them. Those who live in the furnace of reality, in the hotspots of truth, are forced to hate, and then are blamed for doing so. It is an impossible situation. Even in south africa there are hand-wringing liberals who live in still pristine white areas blaming 'racist' afrikaaners who object to genocidal crime rates further north. It seems there is no limit to delusion even when destruction is at your very doorstep.

John Sobieski said...

"It seems there is no limit to delusion even when destruction is at your very doorstep."

Absolutely. Such delusion aided by propaganda by the state really leaves no hope for Sweden. And the Swedes, they overwhelmingly seem willing to go to their headwhacking or convert. It is amazing and disturbing to watch at the same time.

Mikael said...

There are times you get so sick and tired, you just want to throw in the towel.

But then you realize: This is not the fine art of self defense. This is the bloody reality. The enemy is swarming through the gates and they do not follow the Marquis of Queensbury's rules.

And even if your own leaders have chained your left arm to your back, you must pick up your sword with your right and get back into the fight.

Because there is nowhere else to go.

Chrissie said...

Meanwhile, over in merry olde England we have the government finally investigating fundamentalism......in Roman Catholic schools. Over sex education, no less.

Unbelievable topsy turvy world some people are determined to make us live in.

"An English bishop appeared today before a parliamentary committee, to answer questions about allegations of "fundamentalism" in Catholic schools."

For the rest go to -

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=57190

kepiblanc said...

Let's look at the flip side of this coin, shall we? - The fact that 'a person with a Swedish background' dared speak out the truth while knowing very well the consequences is encouraging. As a chinese philosopher once said: "A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step".

Not so many years ago we had a similar situation in Denmark too. A politician stated the obvious by saying "the Muslims multiply like rats, and when they're plenty enough, they'll kill us". He landed behind bars for some months.

And just this morning we learn from our MSM that even in the land of the free and the home of the brave things aren't any better either: it seems some aide for Mrs. Clinton told another truth, something along the line of "if Mr. Obama had been a white man, he wouldn't stand a chance". Sacked at once.

In vino veritas.

Defiant Lion said...

I've been arguing for a while now that the people who are responsible for incidents such as this know exactly what they are doing.

One of the threats the west faces that is just as destructive as Islam is marxism. From this comes PC, the EU, equality, mass immigration, multiculturalism and of course, the rise of Islam in the west.

The goal of marxism is to destroy the west. The marxists hate the west, they hate its judeo-christian culture, its traditions and its history. But most of all they hate the white people of the west and will discriminate and prosecute them at any and every opportunity.

The US is not immune either. Universities throughout the States are brainwashing students into believing that all whites are born racists.

Marxism is as real a threat and as destructive a threat as Islam. Both have to be fought and defeated if our societies are to survive.

In Sweden, the left and the liberals know full well what is happening to Swedish girls. They're happy about it and they know it will get much worse. It would be good if true Swedes could rediscover the viking spirit and start to protect their women by fighting back.

All they need to do is look at their Danish neighbours...

Unknown said...

"It would be good if true Swedes could rediscover the viking spirit and start to protect their women by fighting back."

Sweden has the best organized, entrenched in the elites, established and well-salaried feminist establishment in the world. Why, pray tell, should Swedish women not be "protecting" themselves in the country that comes up tops every time there's a comparison of gender equality being made? Suddenly they aren't the equals of men?

As an aside, it's worth noting that the society that could be best described as a established state matriarchy is also the one that works hardest to undermine itself by importing and deferring to a bunch of people who treat and think of women as human chattel. There's plenty of irony in that.

Defiant Lion said...

Derailed:

"Why pray tell.." Apart from yourcomment being condescending,I will attempt to "pray tell" you:

The feminist movement have been hijacked by marxists. They are no longer about equality but hatred of western men.

In other words, Swedish women are being brainwashed by an ideology that will not only destroy western family values but women themselves.

And it is deliberate.

That they are well-organised is no excuse not to fight. The nazi war machine with blitzkrieg was very well organised and superior to most other arnmies in 1939.

Thankfully, people stood up to them and fought for their beliefs.

The alternative "well, they're asking for it so leave 'em to it" is pure cowardice and not something I would like to be a part of thanks all the same.

thll said...

In British courts in respect of immigrant issues one can be prosecuted for telling the truth. In Britain "the truth is no defence" - quite literally.

Unknown said...

Defiant:

The fact remains - Swedish women overwhelmingly vote for pro-immigration parties, are the first to decry any attempts to stem the encroachment of islamofascism as racist and evil, make up the backbone of all "refugee" solidarity movements and overwhelmingly support lenient criminal policies as well. It is unclear to me why Swedish men should have to protect them from themselves. Last I checked they are full citizens in their own right and if they are, indeed, falling for indoctrination in large numbers... why, they will be the first to pay the price. In fact, given the rape and sexual assault statistics - that are exploding in lock-step with Mideast and African immigration, an immigration overwhelmingly supported and approved of by women, they are already paying.

Men are not the collective keepers of women, at least not in civilized societies. If women have an issue with the wholesale import of notions that relegate them to the harem, they have better start doing something about it themselves. I'm sorry, but Team Patriarchy is currently unavailable.

Defiant Lion said...

Derailed:

What you are saying to me is preaching to the choir. You and I both know about the hipocrisy allof the so-called Human Rights and equality movements show clearly when it comes to dealing with Islam. The Animal Rights would be another example.

But if we resort to a stance of "well they're equal now so leave them to their deserved fate" dooms us all.

The fight isn't about the flaws with equality is about defending our values and traditions against those who corrupt them, especially marxists and Islamists.

Robert Spencer and David Horowitz over at Jihad Watch have just won support from American feminists by using the very issue of female equality and female rights that are so wantonly abused by Islam.

That is the approach to take IMHO and we must not give up. To do so dooms not just our society now but the future generations who will never forgive us.

nikolai said...

"The truth is an incitement to hatred, because anyone who knew the truth would hate certain groups of people."

Which is why the MSM are so desperate to keep the truth out of the news. Thank God for the internet arriving (hopefully) just in time. Just think how little anyone of us would know about what was really going on if we didn't have it.

On the feminist thing. As mentioned feminism is just a branch of PC for women who wanted to be a big fish in a smaller female-only pool. Obviously there are some "fairist" exceptions but most feminists I've met can't stand non-feminist women. 90% of them will be no help at all.

Also, it's generally not them being raped. It's working class women in the poorer areas.

laine said...

Yes, the Internet is the Samiszdat of the PC age (the clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature or other media in Soviet-bloc countries.)

The feminist movement is part of the larger leftist agenda, just another form of class warfare. Western feminists are leftists first and foremost. As such, they allow multicult to trump feminism in the service of race warfare. In order for brown men to triumph over white men, brown women must be thrown under the bus.

It is true that the femnazis themselves are relatively cushioned in their middle and upper class existence from the bad policies they promote. Murphy Brown and her real life counterparts could support their out of wedlock kids and in the end, usually married before having kids but the licentiousness they preached left powerless women of the lower classes unwed, pregnant and trapped forever in a welfare ghetto. Similarly, the crime friendly policies of the left don't affect them in their cars and gated communities nearly as much as the average working man or woman.

The Left is so used to controlling everyone with the PC whip now that they can't seem to comprehend that their battering ram of multicult and particularly Muslim immigration is not going to be controllable by them. It's like the traitor who opens the gates of the stockade to ingratiate himself/herself with the invaders and is the first one killed for his/her troubles.

Bert Rustle said...

Baron Bodissey wrote Kosovar Albanians controlled the vast majority of the heroin trade in Sweden ... — just ask Interpol ...” Link?

Baron Bodissey wrote “... The authorities are prevented from gathering statistics on the ethnicity of accused or convicted rapists ...” Link?

Regarding Feeminism, see Feminist Public School System It describes the indoctrination in schools and teacher training colleges in Canada. Beyond belief.

Baron Bodissey said...

Bert --

Here's a post on the Kosovo connection.

This file has a mass of material about the involvement of Kosovars in the heroin trade.

As for the ban on gathering statistics about the ethnicity of perps -- that's in one or more of Fjordman's posts. It's well-documented, but I don't have time to dig it out now.

The same thing is true in other European countries -- Norway, France, probably others. The state does not gather census data on ethnicity or religion, presumably not wanting to make public what would inevitably be discovered.

Bert Rustle said...

Baron Bodissey wrote "... Here's a post on ..." Thank you.