Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World

Comments #9603929:


Living Hell 3 3, 1:58pm

@Nisse_Hult The beginning with the history and culture is great, in-depth, but not too time-consuming. Definitely learned a lot tonight.

I agree that the majority of Swedes are rather neutral to the immigrants. Most don't seem to care much about them: if they are good, then great, if not, then just ignore them. However, the fact is evident that Sverigedemokraterna are a rather major party in Swedish politics (2nd or 3rd largest, can't recall the stats), but based on the last two parliamentary elections, their share of support from Swedes is gradually growing. I spent the first half of 2016 in Sweden, Lund to be precise, and being in dead center of Skåne definitely gave me the chance to see the locals' opinions. While traditionally being anti-immigrant may be un-Swedish, there is clearly a growing trend in this behavior among the Swedes themselves. Of course, you can use the excuse that Skåne is not truly Swedish, unfortunately that way you are shutting off 15% of the Swedish population.

From what I observed over the course of 2016, the Swedish majority party-coalition has taken steps to curb the flow of migrants into the country, despite what far-right news sites (if you can call it news). So there is some success on the right side of the political spectrum with regard to immigration. I don't think I have excellent sources for this (I am not a master in reading Swedish news), but from them I learned that the government is trying to cut down on the migrant flow without shutting down immigration entirely; do you think that is a true Swedish move or not? Would like to hear your opinion on the border patrols on the Öresund Bridge too, it was a hassle for me whenever I traveled between Copenhagen and Lund.

The reassuring fact is that the nationalistic movements in Sweden aren't nearly as bad as they are in other countries. Born in Russia and raised in the US, I can assure you that Swedish nationalists are not as bad as the ones in the Cold War superpowers. That still doesn't mean that it can't exist in Sweden: the current facts state that nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment is growing, whether you call it Swedish or not. However, I've seen worse and it seems Sweden still has a ways to go before it even gets any close to that.

ALSO, nobody is talking about the feud between Sweden and Denmark with the postal services. What's that all about?