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MULTICULTURALISM

Swedish neo-Nazi site charged with hate speech

Charges have been filed against the publisher of a website affiliated with a Swedish neo-Nazi movement for allowing a reader comment containing racial slurs to remain on the site.

The site is the online version of Nationellt Motstånd (‘National Resistance’), a quarterly print magazine put out by the Swedish Resistance Movement (Svenska motståndsrörelsen), one of Sweden’s most active neo-Nazi groups.

The comment was in connection to an article published in April on the subject of global finance. The comment, which was entitled “time is running out for the finance Jew”, described the Jews as parasites, among other things.

As “Nationellt Motstånd” reviews reader comments before publishing them, the comment falls under the jurisdiction of Sweden’s libel laws.

Following a preliminary investigation, the Chancellor of Justice (Justitiekanslern – JK), has now concluded that the comment amounts to agitation against ethnic groups (hets mot folkgrupp), and has filed charges against the site’s publisher Emil Hagberg for violating Sweden’s press freedom laws.

Pär Öberg, the site’s owner and author of the article in question, told The Local that “Nationellt Motstånd” regards the law as a “means to suppress dissenting opinion”.

“Just like in North Korea it is unclear what is a breach of the law. Not even JK knows where the line goes,” he said.

Öberg explained that the charge, which follows a similar charge against Hagberg filed in November 2010, will have no effect on the site’s policy of monitoring comments on its articles.

“No because we would then have all sort of irresponsible comments,” Öberg said.

“This comment concerned the financial power of Jews and we would very much like to see a discussion of the concentration of power maintained by Jews in the finance world,” he said.

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NEO-NAZI

Spain probes anti-Semitic speech at ‘horrific’ neo-Nazi rally

Prosecutors in Madrid on Tuesday said they had opened an investigation into anti-Semitic comments made at a neo-Nazi rally held at the weekend which drew ire from Spain's Jewish community.

Spain probes anti-Semitic speech at 'horrific' neo-Nazi rally
File photo of a man making a fascist salute in Madrid. Photo: AFP

The incident took place Saturday when around 300 people gathered at La Almudena cemetery, with footage on social media showing several people in the crowd repeatedly giving the Nazi salute.

The rally, which was also attended by a Catholic priest, was a commemoration of the so-called “Blue Division”, a unit of Spanish military volunteers that fought for the Nazis during World War II.

At the cemetery, they laid flowers in front of the memorial to the fallen Blue Division soldiers.

During the rally, a young woman gave an inflammatory speech echoing rhetoric from the 1930s.   

The region's prosecutors confirmed they had opened “criminal investigation to gather information about the anti-Semitic statements” which could constitute an offence relating to the exercise of fundamental rights and public freedoms, according to a statement received by AFP.    

“It is unacceptable that such serious anti-Semitic manifestations go unpunished,” said Isaac Benzaquen, head of the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities, indicating that a complaint had been filed.

Israel's ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, also tweeted her condemnation, saying the statements were “repugnant and have no place in a democratic society”.

And the American Jewish Committee (AJC) described the rally as “horrific”, calling on the Spanish government on Twitter “to censure these groups endangering democracy”.

At least 200,000 Spanish Jews were forced into exile by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. Known as Sephardim — the Hebrew term for Jews of Spanish origin — many fled to the Ottoman Empire or North Africa and later to Latin America.   

Today the Jewish community in Spain numbers around 40,000 people, community sources say.

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