The Sweden Democrats: An Italian TV Report

Earlier today we featured a TV news video which presented Israeli viewers with a somewhat knee-jerk leftist perspective on the Sweden Democrats.

When it comes to tendentious knee-jerk leftism, however, Italian television is without peer. The Italian news report below features SD MPs Jimmie Åkesson (the leader of the Sweden Democrats) and Kent Ekeroth (the international secretary for the party). But the reporting is done through voice-over, and is obviously intended to alarm viewers about a party that has only recently and allegedly shed its “Nazi” components. The disturbing photos in the video are dishonestly included, since they are not images of Sweden Democrats.

The photo of the woman in Nazi regalia — a favorite of Charles Johnson’s in his war against Sverigedemokraterna — is a case in point. The picture of Tina Hallgren Bengtsson in a Nazi uniform was taken after Ms. Bengtsson had already left the Sweden Democrats and joined the Nationalsocialistisk Front (NSF), i.e. the Nazi Party. The event depicted in the photograph is most likely an NSF rally. The Sweden Democrats continued to purge the party of other members with neo-Nazi sympathies, with a clean break by 2000.

But this makes no different to the mainstream TV news outlets — they need Nazis to pair with Islamophobes in order to create the required “narrative”. Only by reaching far back in time — or outside of the Sweden Democrats into the real fringe groups — can the MSM create the desired case of Screaming Nazi Heeber-Jeebers in its target audience.

Strangely enough, however, Sverigedemokraterna’s real message manages to get through the filter. It’s hard to screen it completely out of the reportage without making up the story out of whole cloth.

Many thanks to Gaia for the translation and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling. Once again, in order to get around the Blogger/IE glitch, you’ll have to click “read more” before you can actually play the video:


A full transcript is below the jump.

Transcript:

00:00		In the district of Rinkeby, 30 minutes from the centre of Stockholm
00:04		you get a good idea about everything the Swedish Democrats hate.
00:09		Already in the metro you become aware that you are about to enter another world.
00:14		Almost all are immigrants, women with veils, Islamic centres,
00:18		and an infinity of satellite dishes so as not to cut the umbilical cord with the mother country.
00:22		In a bar in a commercial centre where they meet up,
00:25		practically no-one wants to discuss the formation of a xenophobic party which,
00:29		for the first time in the country where political correctness has been made religion, has entered Parliament.
00:35		He hazards a guess as to the explanation as to the recent electoral event:
00:40		black man comments (incomprehensible) ?
00:48		The fact is that the Social Democratic party, previously the most envied in Europe,
00:53		came out of the elections in September with the historic minimum vote in almost a century.
00:58		The Centre Right with 30% of the votes achieved a place in Government
01:02		for the first time with two consecutives mandates.
01:05		“We have simply become more European, more normal “
01:08		Says Hakan Bengtsson, Director of the progressive think-tank, Arena.
01:12		Which means fewer unemployment benefits and less sickness benefits but tax reduction for the rich.
01:20		Is this the end of an era?
01:23		The real news are the Swedish Democrats, obsessed with Islam.
01:27		To mention multiculturalism I put a pistol in their hand.
01:31		It was Jimmy Akesson who cleaned up their previous image of neo Nazis.
01:36		From 2006 until today they have doubled their support
01:40		and with 6% have gained 20 seats.
01:45		In Parliament I encounter Kent Ekeroth, appointed as his deputy responsible for international relations.
01:48		“The problem is not immigrants, but our policy of immigration,
01:51		under three aspects: economic (it is too much of a drain on the public purse),
01:55		social (it brings a lot of criminality) ; cultural
01:59		(because of them the Swedes feel less and less at home in their own country).”
02:03		He says that if they disappeared because of the economy it would not be a problem.
02:08		The low-paid unskilled jobs would be done by the local unemployed.
02:13		and they want to reduce by 90% the influx and only those with work will be able to enter.
02:16		The main targets are muslims.
02:20		“Islam is not compatible with democracy. It oppresses women and has never created a free society.
02:25		On the other hand Mohammed was a warrier who took prisoners of war, whom he tortured and killed.”
02:31		With regard to the neo-Nazi past, he pointed out,
02:35		“We did have people who should never have been in the Party , but we have cleaned them out.”
02:39		The party’s move to the right started 4 years ago during the first government
02:42		of John Fredrik Reinfeldt, leader of the Conservative Alliance.
02:46		He opined that the real workers’ party of the Social Democrats
02:51		took a counter-position in favour of the work-shy, against the interests of the collective.
02:57		Leif Pagrotsky, Minister in four Social Democratic governments,
03:00		objects to the direction the country has taken:
03:03		We have lost touch with the public mood
03:06		and our normal, traditional capacity to adapt to a changing society.
03:09		WHAT HAS CHANGED? Unemployment Benefit: the maximum drops from 90% to 80% of salary
03:12		Sickness Benefit: Terminates after 18 months, after which even those with cancer must seek work
03:15		These savings have financed tax reductions especially for the better-off
03:18		Whereas they have been more capable than in the past, especially with marketing and public relations.
03:20		But they have cut benefits for people in more difficult circumstances,
03:22		the chronically unemployed, the seriously ill, including those with cancer and who now, after a certain period must return to work
03:25		IMMIGRATION How many are there: foreigners make up 15% of the population (double that of Italy)
03:28		In proportion, Sweden welcomes more refugees than any other country in Europe
03:31		The Swedish Democrats want to reduce by 90% the influx of immigrants
03:34		and with these savings they have reduced the tax burden for the better off, a most unequal choice”
03:38		The change has been felt.
03:41		“I would speak more of evolution rather than revolution” says Martin Adahl , Director of liberal think-tank Fores.
03:47		With 9.5 million people, around 1:5 million receive some kind of benefit.and many voters view that as an injustice.
03:55		At the cultural centre “ABF Youset” (?) there is a public meeting to analyse the vote.
04:00		One of the foremost political scientists of the Left, Stif-Bjorn Ljunggren
04:04		cites the errors of the coalition partners including communists,
04:09		maximalists (?), greens who have been too intransigent.
04:14		Meanwhile the Swedish Left has lost bits,
04:17		especially the union, which has haemoraged membership.
04:21		He says “The Social Democratic party can even disappear, but not the ideology behind it”
04:26		and he adds “the Right has derailed its keywords but has also learnt the lesson
04:31		that to remain in power it must demonstrate that it really cares about welfare.
04:36		The system was far to generous and could not last.
04:39		On average, refugees take 7 years to find work, notes Adhal. In the meantime they live on benefits.
04:42		It is one of the favourite statistics of the Swedish Democrats, and they highlighted it
04:46		in one of their ads, subsequently censured, on national TV where a fragile old lady
04:49		is overtaken and nearly squashed by a hoard of women in burka rushing to obtain public funds.
05:04		All the political forces, including the government of Reinfeldt,
05:08		which also needs every available vote because he does not have a majority in parliament ,
05:12		have declared that they will not negotiate with “racists”.
05:15		No-one, however, denies their success, not ex-Minister Pagrotsky
05:19		– I don’t think it is a temporary thing – I fear that they will grow further still
05:23		Also for Bengtsson they are dangerous, because they are more intelligent that in the past.
05:25		Lars Linder, cultural critic of the daily Dagens Nyheter, warns They have done their democratic duty since when they were seen
05:30		in the streets with their skinheads and neo-Nazis, but their political base remains nationalist
05:33		like all fascists. It is the new symptom of Europe and nowhere can remain free of contagion.