On Sunday I watched some of the Sverigedemokraterna/Sweden Democrats Congress on Kunskapskanalen and was pleasantly surprised that it was very much like the other party congresses that I’ve watched before. To begin with, no special uniforms or national costumes. Their gentlemen neck-tied and the ladies also conservatively dressed as if going to church or congress – but most importantly since it was the Sweden Democrats and one was on the lookout for such things, there was no trace of what could remotely qualify as hate speech or xenophobia – or Islamophobia – at least not the parts I listened to.
It seems that after Barack Obama’s success with waving the banner for CHANGE, every major politician - including SD’s Jimmie Åkesson is now on the same bandwagon, banging on the same drum and preaching one main intention : Change. And this too is at the top of the SD’s programme : their key words : Change – Forward - Together
Well, I’ve heard the bard sing,
“They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings
Steal a little and they throw you in jail
Steal a lot and they make you king
There’s only one step down from here, baby
It’s called the land of permanent bliss
What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this ?”
And so I was prepared to believe the worst and to fall off my chair – just the thought that the Sweden Democrats were going to change from NATIONALISM to to – and I thought what next ? I thought that I saw Adolph H’s NATIONAL SOCIALISM on the board – but thankfully – the change in the SD was not about to be that drastic……their new ideology is called Conservative Socialism – and Conservative-Socialism spontaneously suggests to the politically uninitiated & naïve, some cross-breeding by which we arrive at a mid point/equilibrium between the Reinfeldt philosophy (the New Conservatives) and the beleaguered Håkan Juholt’s Social Democracy with a Human Face. It would seem that the SD perhaps has a secret ambition to steal votes from – not the die-hard party faithfuls but the peripheries (the lukewarm adherents) of both the Conservatives and the Social Democrats, with a name like Conservative Socialism.
We are to suppose that in the coming weeks and months we will be hearing more about the ideological contents and practical applications of this Conservative Socialism to the exigencies of the Swedish scene…..
The latest Dagens Nyheter’s savvy editorial is devoted to evaluating the Sweden Democrat’s Congress and talks about SD striving to present an image of normalcy in the eyes of the electorate – and if I remember correctly, I heard Åkesson or one of the other delegates say that they are working towards establishing themselves somewhere in the 30%+ region….. that is, they intend to be one of the major parties, and JÅ is saying this at a time when the Social Democrats are below 30% according to the most recent opinion polls.
EXPO’s headline proclaims that “SD’s ideological change of name does not change policy” . SD will probably want to modify that perception of EXPO’s, anyway Expo does give their assessment of what this change means …
Here’s a more dramatic presentation of the SD Station
Meanswhile, 35% of Sweden’s unemployed are foreign-born – 41,000 guest workers – 31,000 applying for asylum
Billion kronor question : How do the Sweden Democrats intend to solve unemployment?
We should like to hear more about that. On the way to answering that question, I suggest a good look at this must see video which could slightly modify our economic world view: Peschardt’s Business People: Kishore Mahbubani
“12 000 immigrants to Sweden, leads to an increase in Swedish exports by 7 billion Kronor” according to Eva Björling, Sweden’s Minister for Trade
cf Sweden’s 100 most powerful – cf Reefat El Sayed etc
After Mississippi and apartheid this is disturbing in the extreme and thank goodness that we don’t have any such outrageous tendencies in Sweden.
More incredible bad news:
UNESCO elects Syria to human rights committees
Still on the bad streak, just see how dangerous it is for Iran to have nuclear weapons- it could lead to the next Sunni- Shia war in the region.( The last one was the Iraq – Iran war) :The Kurds and the Sunnis must be united to stop Iran from taking over in Iraq and alQaeda in Syria
Elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Egypt where the turnout is expected to be less than 50% today…
That’s what some commentators had been saying earlier on, but it’s been a high turnout, with long queques…present and future complications about the army’s future role in Egyptian politics