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| Jimmie Åkesson Photo: Björn Söder |
The Public Radio Station P1´s programme ´Kaliber´ has scrutinised the political party Sweden Democrats with hidden microphones. The result shows some racist statements from some of the party´s members. The Party leader, Jimmie Åkesson does not however agree with Kaliber´s conclusion.
Three of Kaliber´s reporters claimed to be members of the party and recorded internal meetings from Stockholm, Gothenburg and Skåne.
The purpose is to test whether Sweden Democrats has really washed off their racist elements which they stubbornly claim to have done. The party was founded in 1988 by people with xenophobic and in some cases nazi background. In the last ten years it has however become more mainstream and is careful with this new moderate approach.
The three reporters recorded around thirty meetings and there were racist statements in a third of them approximately.
Here are some examples from the programme:
"Did you know that an immigrant, coming to Sweden from countries like Afganistan and Africa sometimes has 2000 parasites in their body. Our dogs do not have that many, but they are put in quarrantine."
"The people who come from these countries are real barbarians. They have it in their blood."
"One wonders why they do not eat pork. Then someone said it was because they had them as mistresses and then they could not eat them later, he thought."
Another example was when a man said that his son wanted to bring home his friend which has Somalian origins. He did not allow that. If the son had done it, he would have to change the whole floor.
Party leader Jimmie Åkesson does not believe that a few clips can prove that these racist statements are accepted in the party. But he also says that the party will analyse these programmes and reflect if something should be done.
Mats Öhlén
mats.ohlen@stockholmnews.com