Thursday, June 12, 2014

The racial tensions behind Sweden's idyllic facade

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/6/sweden-refugees-racismstockholm
.html


Last month, I went to Stockholm on a reporting trip. The city seemed
idyllic: bicycles aplenty standing unlocked outside at night, Volvos with
their doors open and engines running, and not a cigarette butt in sight. In
trendy Hornstull, bearded bros high-fived each other over Brooklyn craft
beers. But everyone, it seemed, was white.

I got chatting with some of these happy hipsters and asked where I might
find some of the million Somalis, Kurds, Iraqis, Chileans and Syrians who
began arriving in the '70s seeking asylum in what many perceived to be a
Scandinavian "paradise." Ever since, Sweden's immigrant population has
largely reflected wherever there has been conflict or unrest in the world.
"They live in the suburbs, at the end of the blue metro line," Karl informed
me, adjusting his sunglasses in the dimly lit bar. "Don't go there now,
though, it's pretty dangerous. They're pretty angry, and it's nighttime;
black people get pretty angry when there's no sun."

"Don't you think that's pretty racist?" I asked. Karl hesitated for a
moment, shooting a look at his drinking companion before removing his
Ray-Bans and turning back to me. "I'm not racist," he said. "I'm Swedish."

"This revealed another sad truth about the Left. What matters to them above
all is that they are seen to be virtuous and compassionate. They simply
cannot deal with the possibility that they might not be.

They deal with any such suggestion not by facing up to any harm they may be
doing, but by shutting down the argument altogether. That's because the
banner behind which they march is not altruism, as they kid themselves. It
is narcissism."

Melanie Phillips, British Columnist, 2013

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