Sweden Democrat councillor resigns after outing as neo-Nazi propagandist
A Sweden Democrat town councillor has resigned after being outed as a former propagandist for the Swedish neo-Nazi site Nordfront. An investigation found she had used the racist N-word several times in posts, described gay pride celebrations as "disgusting" and called on women to live a "National Socialist life".
Rebecca Ädel was on Monday voted onto the town council in Nynäshamn, and got the most personal votes of any Sweden Democrat politician. In the campaign, she cited her core issues as "schools, education, and safety and security in and around schools."
But an investigation by the anti-extremist magazine Expo and the Expressen newspaper has found that Ädel has for nearly 20 years been active in Sweden's neo-Nazi movement, and between 2011 and 2013 even worked as a writer and sub-editor for the extreme-right Nordfront site set up by the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement.
In her articles, written under a pseudonym, she described herself as a National Socialist and warned of the "unavoidable defects created by the miscegenation of the races".
She called Sweden's schools "the worst indoctrination centres of all time", and said that the real purpose of schools in Sweden was to "con children into political correctness".
She frequently used the word "neger", which is a dismissive term for a black person, and praised another article which called for "a new Hitler".
She also wrote in one post that she wanted to "shoot the head off" a woman writer who welcomed an ethnically mixed population.
On Friday afternoon, Ädel resigned from her positions both in the town council and within the Sweden Democrats.
According to a letter attached to a press release from the local party, Ädel said that she now "strongly rejected" Nazism and racism, and now actively worked against all discrimination both in and outside her work as a schoolteacher.
She said she was resigning "firstly to protect my children and my family, but also because I don't want the Sweden Democrats to be associated with anything to do with Nazism or racism".
She said she aimed "to continue to fight against Nazism and for human rights".
In her letter, she said that she had been drawn into the Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR), a precursor to NMR, by a man ten years older than her with whom she started a relationship as a vulnerable teenager, traumatised by a severe beating she had suffered in the schoolyard as a 12-year-old.
"For three years, I lived in a cult-like relationship with a man who made me distance myself more and more from my own family and who kept me constantly on a tight leash," she said.
It had was only been when she started boxing, and met a younger man that she left this life behind her, she said.
"I am a teacher today, with a determination to show the way to youngsters so they don't take the same route I took myself," she wrote. "Who fights for democracy, and equal rights for all, who fights against Nazism and racism, because I've myself seen from the inside, how this slowly destroys people and how they work to put people in a dependent position."
The revelations will nonetheless be embarrassing for the Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson who at the end of the election campaign reiterated that the party had cleansed itself of neo-Nazi politicians.
"We have no Nazis on our [candidate] list," he said in SVT's party leader debate. "And if by some chance there are a few left, they won't be in a position to get voted in on Sunday."
According to the newspapers, Ädel frequently praised the leaders of Sweden's neo-Nazi movement on the blog, calling Nazi leader Simon Lindberg "an extremely talented speaker", and describing an article by Nazi veteran Klas Lund as "extremely well-written".
She also at one point calls on other women to find freedom and live a "National Socialist life".
When Expressen asked Ädel about the claims, she denounced them as lies, then locked herself in the toilet.
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Rebecca Ädel was on Monday voted onto the town council in Nynäshamn, and got the most personal votes of any Sweden Democrat politician. In the campaign, she cited her core issues as "schools, education, and safety and security in and around schools."
But an investigation by the anti-extremist magazine Expo and the Expressen newspaper has found that Ädel has for nearly 20 years been active in Sweden's neo-Nazi movement, and between 2011 and 2013 even worked as a writer and sub-editor for the extreme-right Nordfront site set up by the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement.
In her articles, written under a pseudonym, she described herself as a National Socialist and warned of the "unavoidable defects created by the miscegenation of the races".
She called Sweden's schools "the worst indoctrination centres of all time", and said that the real purpose of schools in Sweden was to "con children into political correctness".
She frequently used the word "neger", which is a dismissive term for a black person, and praised another article which called for "a new Hitler".
She also wrote in one post that she wanted to "shoot the head off" a woman writer who welcomed an ethnically mixed population.
On Friday afternoon, Ädel resigned from her positions both in the town council and within the Sweden Democrats.
According to a letter attached to a press release from the local party, Ädel said that she now "strongly rejected" Nazism and racism, and now actively worked against all discrimination both in and outside her work as a schoolteacher.
She said she was resigning "firstly to protect my children and my family, but also because I don't want the Sweden Democrats to be associated with anything to do with Nazism or racism".
She said she aimed "to continue to fight against Nazism and for human rights".
In her letter, she said that she had been drawn into the Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR), a precursor to NMR, by a man ten years older than her with whom she started a relationship as a vulnerable teenager, traumatised by a severe beating she had suffered in the schoolyard as a 12-year-old.
"For three years, I lived in a cult-like relationship with a man who made me distance myself more and more from my own family and who kept me constantly on a tight leash," she said.
It had was only been when she started boxing, and met a younger man that she left this life behind her, she said.
"I am a teacher today, with a determination to show the way to youngsters so they don't take the same route I took myself," she wrote. "Who fights for democracy, and equal rights for all, who fights against Nazism and racism, because I've myself seen from the inside, how this slowly destroys people and how they work to put people in a dependent position."
The revelations will nonetheless be embarrassing for the Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson who at the end of the election campaign reiterated that the party had cleansed itself of neo-Nazi politicians.
"We have no Nazis on our [candidate] list," he said in SVT's party leader debate. "And if by some chance there are a few left, they won't be in a position to get voted in on Sunday."
According to the newspapers, Ädel frequently praised the leaders of Sweden's neo-Nazi movement on the blog, calling Nazi leader Simon Lindberg "an extremely talented speaker", and describing an article by Nazi veteran Klas Lund as "extremely well-written".
She also at one point calls on other women to find freedom and live a "National Socialist life".
When Expressen asked Ädel about the claims, she denounced them as lies, then locked herself in the toilet.
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