Political Cultures of Denial? Antisemitism in Sweden and Scandinavia

Henrik Bachner

I. Introduction

Prejudice and hostility towards Jews today, no doubt, has some novel qualities to it, but the label “new” with regards to contemporary anti- semitism in Europe is nonetheless problematic. This is shown not least by an analysis of anti-Jewish thinking in Sweden. If we study the ideas that again surface in political discourse and in the media, there is very little change. Whereas some important new images—shaped by cur- rent developments and needs—do emerge, stereotypes and myths are basically traditional. What has changed is primarily language, context and the way the message is being rationalized. This, on the other hand, has characterized also previous phases in the history of anti- semitism. What is relatively new, in a post-war perspective, is rather a growing attraction within the political mainstream for certain forms of anti-Jewish imagery as well as an increased tolerance for such ideas. Another element that can be described as relatively new is the influ- ence of antisemitism emanating from parts of the Muslim world. The principal aim of this article is to discuss the characteristics of anti-Jewish thinking in Sweden in the beginning of the 21th century. Even though more research is needed in order to gain a more com- prehensive and thorough understanding of current tendencies, a pre- liminary picture can be drawn on the basis of some recent qualitative and quantitative studies. A few references will also be made to devel- opments in other Scandinavian countries. The focus of this article is antisemitic tendencies and motifs in public discourse within the broader political culture as well as prevalence of anti-Jewish prejudice amongst the Swedish population. Antisemitism in the context of right-wing extremism and radical Islamism, there- fore, will be given less attention. It is important, however, to underline that parallel with more visible anti-Jewish tendencies within the Swed- ish public debate during the last couple of years, the development in terms of extremist propaganda and antisemitic incidents is worrying. 330 henrik bachner

There are also indications of a growing support for, and maybe influ- ence from, radical Islamist movements such as Hezbollah and Hamas among certain left-wing groups. This could be seen for instance during the Lebanon war in 2006 and during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. Amongst several right-wing extremist groups, today like before, anti- semitism constitutes a central element of ideology and propaganda. A 2006 study of web sites belonging to Swedish racist and Nazi organiza- tions points to the notion of a Jewish world conspiracy as a core idea. According to the propaganda disseminated, Jews, through the control of media and politics, promote immigration and multiculturalism with the aim of weakening Western societies and gain world mastery (Lagerlöf 2006). While some right-wing extremists cling to the conspiracy theory that Jews were behind the 9/11 terrorist attack, others hailed it as a successful strike against the center of Jewish world power (Lööw 2001). (For a description of radical right-wing organizations and parties in Sweden, see the Stephen Roth Institute Annual Report 2006). Sverige- demokraterna (Sweden Democrats), a populist and xenophobic party with seats in many municipal assemblies, is predominantly anti-Muslim. In recent years antisemitism within parts of the Muslim commu- nity have also become a more serious problem. On several occasions Islamists, Swedish and foreign, have attacked Jews in sermons and speeches, and in 2005, cassettes urging the killing of Jews were sold at the main mosque in Stockholm (Ekot 2005; Karam 2004; Hansson 2004; Malm 2003). A recent survey indicates that negative attitudes towards Jews are more prevalent among Swedish Muslims than among the population in general (Bachner and Ring 2006), and a previous report pointed to anti-Jewish sentiments among groups of pupils of Muslim or Arab background and the promotion of antisemitic pro- paganda on some Swedish Islamic web sites (Tossavainen 2003). An extreme example of the latter is to be found on the Radio Islam web site, run by a Swede of Moroccan origin, Ahmed Rami. There have been violent expressions of hostility towards Jews at some pro-Palestinian demonstrations. There has also been several cases of threats, harassment and violence against Jews as well as vandalism and cemetery desecrations (Bergmann and Wetzel 2003; EUMC 2004; Stephen Roth Institute Annual Report 2004 and 2006). During the war in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009 a number of such incidents were recorded (Olsson 2009). According to statistics from the Swed- ish National Council for Crime Prevention the number of reported