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‘We can talk about multiculturalism without devolving into hatred’

OPINION: I don't want my love for Sweden, and feeling of being loved, to get stolen by far-right politics.

Published: 20 December 2016 06:59 CET
'We can talk about multiculturalism without devolving into hatred'
'Sweden is home for me and it is where my heart is.' Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

Earlier this month, I wrote an article which came across as very angry. It was angry and yes, I am angry at racism, but my anger is not a reflection of how I feel towards Sweden. It is rather a reflection of how I feel about a mentality held by a certain clique of people; one which dehumanizes other people based on their appearance or their origin. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there is now a heightened sense of race because of far-right politics.

Sweden, as part of Europe, today, is grappling with the rise of extreme right-wing politics thriving on feigning hate because of the refugee crisis.

Finding a balance between being an open society and embracing immigrants and their diverse cultures can be challenging. But it can be done without sowing hate.

The problem with the race conversation is that it has been hijacked for political gain. Far-right politics is gaining ground by incensing genuine concerns that citizens may have regarding refugees and turning them into negative energy which then spirals into hate in no time. Therefore, people have to take a position on race rather than get an understanding on the complexities that come with increased inward immigration.

But as history shows, if we listen to, and take political rhetoric literally, things do not always end well because politicians use extreme positions to tap into our emotions in order to coerce our votes. Politicians cannot just be taken at their word because, more often than not, they charm or lie their way into office. That is just the nature of political campaigning. And that is why exclusionary rhetoric has become an appealing narrative and distorted the conversation on immigration, and its implications on racism in Sweden in particular and Europe in general. Far-right politicians are exploiting people's vulnerabilities and turning them into anger and hate. They are offering immigrants as sacrificial lambs in order to gain popularity.

So if the rate of employment goes down because the population has increased why talk economics when you can talk race and say it's the immigrants stealing your jobs. But my wish is, as a people, we have to interrogate the politics that we are offered before we get cheated out of our humanity for political gain.

Political polarization on immigration has paved the way for political grandstanding and now makes it difficult for politicians on the left to talk objectively about the challenges which arise when there is a surge in immigration because that can be seen as aligning with the far-right. Simultaneously, far right-wingers will feign hate and convince their supporters that immigration-related challenges cannot be addressed any other way but by hating refugees or foreigners.

But the truth is we can talk about – and address objectively – the challenges that arise as a result of multiculturalism and diverse ethnicity without devolving into hatred. The European society, with its rich history of fighting for open societies and democracy, is being driven towards the destruction of the values that it stands for by the greed of far-right politics.

Having said that, it's not enough to talk about how people hate and not talk about how they also love. The sporadic racially hateful incidences that I encounter get drowned in the sea of love that I also swim in every day. So for me to just write vociferously about the bad and not scream loudly the good that I experience is to blindly contribute to negativity and can be used as a dishonest representation of the values that Sweden stands for. The values which I enjoy unreservedly. The values which make my life so much better, differently good, enjoyable and worth living. I am grateful for that and I cherish it every day with all my heart.

The first question I normally get when I meet new people is “where do you come from?” To which I always reply “Söderhamn”, even though I am aware they will be asking about my homeland (the last word should really read country of origin but writing it as homeland is a beloved contagion effect of the Swedish language on my English).

I say I am from Söderhamn because home isn't where I was born. Home – to me – is the place where I am free to go at the end of a long day. Home is where I am allowed to criticize, contribute, thrive and enjoy unlimited freedom of expression. Home is where I write an article to critique and contribute to a much-needed discourse on race and still be able to go about my life without fearing the police will come and snatch me in the thick of the night.

In Söderhamn, I have seen the ugly side of racism but I have also largely felt the overwhelming power of love. I have known what it means to be home and felt the joy that comes with it. So for that, Sweden is home for me and it is where my heart is. This feeling of love, and being loved, must not be allowed to be stolen by far-right politics.

Edinah Masanga is a Zimbabwean journalist living in Sweden. Follow her on Twitter or read her blog here.

SWEDEN DEMOCRATS

REVEALED: Sweden Democrats’ secret social media ‘troll factory’

A Swedish reporter went undercover for a whole year to confirm the existence of a far-right troll factory, run by the Sweden Democrats to spread content of benefit to the party and degrade its political opponents.

Published: 7 May 2024 15:34 CEST
REVEALED: Sweden Democrats' secret social media 'troll factory'

In the Kalla Fakta programme for broadcaster TV4, a reporter spent five months working undercover for the Sweden Democrats, first on the YouTube channel Riks, previously owned by the party, and later for the party’s communications team.

“I was undercover for a whole year, five months of which I was working [for the party],” Kalla Fakta’s reporter Daniel Andersson told The Local. “Two of them I was on Riks, the YouTube channel, and three of them I was in the communications department.”

During this period, Andersson wore a hidden camera to show how the YouTube channel, which the party claims is independent, is in fact closely linked with the party.

Andersson said he found out about the troll factory just before moving over to the communications department.

“They are in the same office building, Riks rents their office from the Sweden Democrats, so during lunch the departments often met, ate lunch together and talked a lot about it. That’s where I overheard secretive talks about anonymous accounts on social media, and they didn’t want to say what their name was or why they had them.”

The Sweden Democrats are also Riks’ largest source of financing, with daily meetings taking place between the channel’s owner, Jacob Hagnell, and Sweden Democrat head of communications Joakim Wallerstein.

Kalla Fakta’s report revealed that the party’s communications wing has been tasked with managing a large number of anonymous social media accounts, referred to within the party as a “troll factory”, an organised group of fake accounts with the aim of influencing public opinion and debate by spreading pro-Sweden Democrat content.

“We’re going to talk a lot more about how they operate in the next episode, in a week,” Andersson said. “But what we saw very early was that it was very, very systematic, it’s organised. And the purpose is to create a huge load of posts on different social media to create an illusion of the fact that the Sweden Democrats and their image of the world and of Sweden is larger than it is.”

“The boss is Joakim Wallerstein, the communications chief of the Sweden Democrats. He’s also the mastermind behind this – we also identified Riks as a part of it, where he is creating a conservative ecosystem, troll factory, to manipulate people’s views of the world,” he added.

Back in 2022, the Sweden Democrats were accused of running a “troll factory” by left-wing newspaper Dagens ETC. At the time, the party rejected the accusations, calling ETC’s article “unserious and obvious activism” in an email to SVT, while admitting that a group called Battlefield, responsible for moderating the party’s comments boxes on social media, did exist at one point.

In the new Kalla Fakta programme and in another interview with Dagens ETC, Wallerstein admits that these anonymous accounts exist, although he rejects the term “troll factory”.

“I don’t think I’ve been running so called troll sites, for the simple reason that I haven’t been spreading false information,” he told Kalla Fakta.

Andersson believes this is nothing more than damage control from the party.

“He doesn’t want to acknowledge that it is a troll factory. He doesn’t see a problem with the fact that they are anonymous, or the fact that the connection to the party is hidden,” Andersson said.

By Paul O’Mahony and Becky Waterton

Hear TV4’s reporter Daniel Andersson explain more about the investigation in the next episode of The Local’s podcast, Sweden in Focus. Out on Friday, May 10th. 

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