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Sweden Democrats in 'honour crime' ad retreat

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TT/The Local/pvs - [email protected]
Sweden Democrats in 'honour crime' ad retreat

The Sweden Democrats’ Women's Association (SD-kvinnor) has announced that it has edited a campaign film released last week that it claimed was intended to highlight honour-related violence.

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The controversial film has been amended after the Sweden Democrats were contacted by STIM (Swedish Performance Rights Society) and threatened with legal action over the use of a rights-protected psalm.

STIM informed the Sweden Democrats that the psalm had been used without the permission of the copyright owner, according to a report in the Dagen.se news website.

The party has now re-released the film without music in order to conform with STIM's demand.

The film, which was released to coincide with International Women’s Day last Thursday, shows a young immigrant woman who is beaten by what appears to be members of her family and other relatives while a mournful tune is played.

The violent scenes are concluded by a blonde and pale-skinned woman wiping up blood from the floor.

The narrative, which is all in rhyme, poses questions such as ”what if tolerance is just naivety” and ”what if culture kills”.

The film was quickly slammed by influential feminists and other commentators who argued that the message was simplistic.

In an interview with The Local last week, Carl Emanuelsson of the Feminist Initiative (Feministiskt Initiativ, FI) said it was regrettable that the Sweden Democrats attempt to make men’s violence against women into a race issue.

SD-Kvinnor spokesperson Therese Borg, however, said that the Sweden Democrats wanted to create awareness of a phenomenon that they claim is lost among other feminist issues such as equal pay and affirmative action.

The Local's attempts to reach the Sweden Democrats on Saturday for comment were unsuccessful.

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