About Racially Pure Pre-Schools In Sweden
By
on
May 2nd, 2007
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I've gotten a few emails asking about this short article discussing racially pure pre-schools in Sweden and I think an explanation is in order. Thank you for asking about this important topic. If I wasn't living here myself I would also be wondering if the Swedes had gone crazy after reading that "Sweden's far-right National Democrat party has announced plans to open a number of pre-schools for ethnic Swedish children only." Is Sweden turning into some kind of Nazi Germany? Don't worry, the country has not gone mad and you shouldn't believe everything you read in the papers.Before I started getting emails from left and right I had never heard of this bizarre proposal. Racially pure pre-schools? In the country where human rights are sacred, equality between men and women is outstanding, and children are priority number one in society?
The "National Democratic Party" (Nationaldemokraterna in Swedish) does sound like a huge political party. Its not. It's actually so small I had never heard of them before my mailbox filled up with questions. The party is a tiny breakout of another small right wing party, "Sweden Democrats" (Sverigedemokraterna).
The National Democratic party, which proposes these kind of pre-schools and sound like a huge force, is a nationalist party with extreme right wing views. Anti gay, anti immigration, keep Sweden white, etc. are their core ideas. I would barely call them a party since they only got 0,1% of the votes in the election 2006 but did manage two seats in some local municipality.
Members of this party come from the Sweden Democrats, another small right wing party with less immigration as a goal but not so extreme views. They did quite well in the last election and got 2.5% of the votes. Not enough for congress or sharing of power but they did get seats in some local municipalities.
This idea with racially pure pre-schools is basically bullshit that someone in the National Democratic Party dreamed up in their basement. Probably after a couple of bottles of Swedish Absolut vodka and some crack. It barely reached the papers, few have even heard about it, and no one cares about it since it's a stupid idea by trolls looking for attention. But I like that people are asking about this horrible idea. It means others are paying attention.
Schools here all have immigrants even though non immigrants are in majority. In my son's bilingual pre-school we have kids from Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America. I think that's great for our son and everyone else.
In the 70's we accepted lots of refugees from Chile, because of the dictator Pinochet, and also Argentina with their brutal junta that killed thousands of innocent people. We have also accepted lots of people from Iraq, Asia, and other Nordic countries. Overall it works very well. We never have any riots, like France, and it seems like the immigrants are integrating better in society today. But there is still lots of room for improvement by immigrants, the people of Sweden, and government.
I don't really have a problem with people expressing their racist views. That's what a democracy is all about. Expressing opinions. I would have a huge problem if this idea of racially pure schools got support and the party had lots of power. Sweden is all about democracy, ranked as the most democratic country in the world by the Economist and much more democratic than nations like for example U.S. (which is always the symbol of democracy). You can thank Bush, Patriot Act, NSA, and others for that.
Racism is something I care much about despite growing up in a small town absent of foreigners of any kind. My parents never discussed race or gave me any lessons, but I always felt like everyone was equal. Racism around the world seems to be growing, my own feeling is that the previously low levels here are decreasing. But there is still much work to be done and racism does occur.
Sweden has a history of accepting large amounts of immigrants throughout history because of our foundation of being a social democratic country with strong views on social welfare. We're a capitalist country but have maintained very high ethical and social standards for our population. If you are in real trouble and need help, this country will take care of you.
20-30 years ago, before the welfare system was fine tuned, we simply let in too many asylum seekers, refugees, and gold diggers. Not only did we accept all the ones who really needed help, we also let tons of "financial refugees" into our country. People who weren't in trouble but didn't like where they lived and wanted to hang out in Sweden for a few years on the expense of our people and government. You see, when you arrive in this country without nothing we give you everything. Apartment, clothing, food, education etc. It's a great idea. but many people misused it. Worst case scenario for many was to apply for asylum, live nicely for a few years until the case was decided, and possibly get thrown out. Not a lot of downside.
In the early nineties we cut back on many benefits even though they are still amazing. But misuse during previous years caused some older people to stereotype immigrants. Some still believe they come here to take advantage of the situation but reality is we closed that loophole many years ago. My experiences are immigrants today come here to work or are in real trouble. There are no more free rides for gold diggers. I really like the immigrants who come here today. Most are hungry to work and increase the competitiveness among the lazy and heavily union protected Swedish workers.
Sweden accept the second most asylum seekers in the world (per capita) and the government also give away more money than anyone else (per capita) to the needy around the world. I'm privileged and don't need any extra money but this kind of thinking is something I value highly after having children myself. I really like that the country have been able to maintain capitalistic views, make the economy boom the the past 10 years, but at the same time also care for the less fortunate.
To make a long boring story short, racially pure pre-schools is not something the people of this country want or plan to implement. Except for a tiny amount of wackos. The party that's advocating this nonsense is too small to even be counted and their racist views are ignored by the Swedes. Racism does occur here but it's not what the Swedish people is all about.
Interesting article. Isn’t it amazing how a short blurb in a paper can get everyone riled up over something that represents the ideologies of a fraction of a percent of the population? Blech.
Hope you guys had a great Valborg. It snowed here today. :)
AD,
Thanks for the post. When I saw that article, I wondered if it was major, minor, or fringe political party that was advocating this stuff.
Thanks for clearing it up. I plan to visit sweden when my boys get a bit older.
Hello Hakan!
I think this is great writing.You say you didn´t get any teaching on the issuis interesting ande of racism but it was simply not actual at that time and in our small town. I can although still remember that you referred to one of your classmembers at the highstadium as a “svartskalle”. Anyway Hakan, I go completely with yoy on this issue! I think you have a great blogg and that your writing overall is of high class! Pa and Ma