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Anti-Semitism row rocks top Social Democrat

Former party leader Mona Sahlin has questioned her Social Democrats peers for electing a member with ties to anti-Semitic propagandists to the governing board (partistyrelsen).

Published: 11 April 2013 10:24 CEST
Anti-Semitism row rocks top Social Democrat

“One has to go public and say that you cannot act the way he has done,” Sahlin told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Sahlin’s comments came after Omar Mustafa was chosen to sit on the governing board of the left-of-centre opposition party at last weekend’s party congress. He is also chairman of the Islamic Association (Islamska förbundet) in Sweden, a group which has invited speakers to Sweden with known anti-Semitic views.

“I cannot state clearly enough that I distance myself from all anti-Semitism, everything that would qualify as racial agitation, or that would collectively condemn the Jewish community,” he told the TT news agency.

But Mustafa’s claims are not good enough for Willy Silberstein, chairman of the Swedish Committee Against Antisemitism (Svenska kommittén mot antisemitism – SKMA.)

“No, I don’t think it does. When you are an established organization and invite speakers, you give them legitimacy,” Silberstein told The Local.

“It’s the same when Islamophobes invite haters from Britain. You have to say no to racism regardless of where it comes from.”

It was the Swedish anti-racism magazine Expo, known internationally as the publication of Millennium trilogy author Stieg Larsson, that revealed that one speaker invited by Mustafa, Egyptian Salah Sultan, has previously slandered the Jewish community in an interview with al-Jazeera by saying they kill Christians at Easter. Another speaker invited by the Swedish Islamic group, Ragheb Al-Serjany, has publicly said Jews control the international media.

SEE ALSO: Swedish Defence League demo sparks violent protest

As the political storm brewed, Social Democrat party secretary Carin Jämtin said she was convinced that Mustafa respected the party’s views on human rights.

“I think her comment was not sharp enough, it tried to smooth things over,” Silberstein said.

“It’s not my job to say whether they should choose him to sit on the governing board, but I am surprised the Social Democrats picked him. It’s no secret where he stands in this matter.”

Neither does former party leader Sahlin seem to think the top brass is taking the situation seriously enough. On Wednesday, she pondered whether her colleagues did enough research before choosing Mustafa.

“I would be greatly surprised if it turns out they didn’t ask questions about this,” she told Aftonbladet on Wednesday.

“It seems like they’ve been caught out and I find it very worrying.”

On Thursday, the tabloid Expressen published a photograph of Mustafa with Palestinian visitor Azzam Tamimi, who they say has given voice to anti-Semitic views in the past. The newspaper claims the photograph was taken at a conference in December of 2011.

The Moderate Party MP Abdirizak Waberi reportedly also attended the event.

“A lot of people in Sweden say that we don’t have anti-Semitism here, but we do,” Silberstein told The Local.

“The fundamental problem is mixing up Jewish Swedes with Israel, as though Swedish citizens can be held accountable for what another country does.”

Ann Törnkvist

Follow Ann on Twitter here

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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