"One
would think Sweden, a paradigm of coexistence and tolerance, would be the last
country to open its Parliament to a xenophobic and anti-immigrant movement.
That is, if The Netherlands, the previous such paradigm, hadn't succumbed and
given the party of Geert Wilders the
third-strongest political role in the country. To give you an idea of who
Wilders is, last week he was guest of honor of the Tea Party march, the
ultraconservative movement in America."
Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt: Many are viewing his country as a kind of canary in the coal mine in regard to xenophobia. His center-right coalition is short on support to form a new government, and some fear he may be forced to bargain with the Swedish Democrats, which most regard as an outright racist and anti-immigrant party with its roots in the neo-Nazi movement.
Once upon a time there was a
visit from a certain Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva to South Africa, who then went to Germany. The year was 1994,
and shortly before, Nelson Mandela had been elected the first post-apartheid
president. Therefore, this was a photo opportunity that was not to be missed
for a presidential candidate who led the polls. Unfortunately, the shadow of Lula's
opposition to the recently launched Plano Real hung over his
head (and as everyone knows, this eventually defeated him).
[Editor's Note: Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva is the current president of Brazil]. Plano Real was a neoliberal
program to reduce inflation and stabilize the economy].
In Germany, Lula and I
visited the headquarters of the SPD
(Germany's Social Democratic Party) in Bonn, still the capital of West Germany,
although the reunification that would return the seat of government to Berlin
was already underway.
Without even being provoked,
Lula told me something like: "if Brazil were able to get close to a German
or Swedish model, we'd be in very good shape."
Today, a statement like this wouldn't
even be worth repeating. But we're talking about 1994, when Lula terrorized the
bourgeoisie to the point that the-then president of the Federation of Industries
of the State of São Paulo, Mário Amato, said that 800,000 businessmen would
leave the country if Lula were elected.
Lula was elected just eight
years later, having changed so much that one of the patriarchs of Brazilian banking
went on to say that he would like to have a statue of him outside of his bank.
I now turn to Sunday's
election in Sweden: I'm not so sure Lula, either today's or yesterday's, would
be comfortable with that model. Not because Sweden's Social
Democrats had their worst electoral result in 90 years. The Swedish model
owes much to them, having ruled the country for 65 of the last 78 years.
Neither would the discomfort come
from the fact that the conservative alliance now in power has achieved, for the
first time, a second consecutive victory. Lula, at least today's Lula, has no
ideological bias.
The discomfort may come from
the fact that, for the first time in that country's history, the extreme right,
the Swedish Democrats,
overcame the minimum electoral barrier (4 percent of the vote) to gain access to
Parliament. They received 5.7 percent and will occupy 20 seats in a Parliament
of 157.
Worse: it is precisely due to
the performance of the extreme right that the alliance of Prime Minister
Fredrik Reinfeldt fell three seats short of an absolute majority, forcing him
to negotiate with other forces to form a government. Reinfeldt has already said
that, among the other parties, he is excluding the Swedish Democrats straight
away.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
From my point of view,
Sweden, a paradigm of coexistence and tolerance, would be the last country to
open the doors of its Parliament to a xenophobic and anti-immigrant movement. In
fact, they would be the second to last, if The Netherlands, the previous such paradigm,
had not succumbed and given the Liberty Party of Geert Wilders the
third-strongest political role in the country, moving in the June elections from
9 to 24 chairs in Parliament (not to mention breaking one of the oldest records
of tolerance that was one of the nicest characteristics of the Dutch).
To give you a, let us say,
more universal idea of who Wilders is, last week he was the guest of honor of the
Tea Party march, the ultraconservative movement in America. [click for video].
As it is, the Swedish
Democrats have roots in the neo-Nazi movement of the 1980s and 90s, even though
of late, they've somewhat moderated their extremist image.
In any case, one of the main
goals of the party is a significant reduction of immigration and a policy of assimilating
rather than integrating immigrants.
Extreme right-wing parties
are now part of the Italian government and occupy seats in the Danish,
Hungarian, Austrian and Bulgarian Parliaments, not to mention the possibility
that Wilders' Liberty Party could end up participating in the Dutch government
(negotiations for forming that government are creeping along). And that is to
say nothing of the anti-Roma actions of France's Nicolas Sarkozy government.
One gets the clear impression
that the flood of immigrants seeking European (or American) paradise will no longer
be tolerated. As long as they were needed to fill jobs that the locals rejected
because of low salaries or poor conditions, they were accepted. Now their numbers
haunt the citizenry. Looking at the Swedish case alone, 14 percent of their 9.3
million inhabitants are foreign. To that you can add 6 percent who, though born
in Sweden, are children of foreigners.
Judging by the Sunday's
Swedish election, that's enough to put at risk the generous Swedish model that
so seduced Lula.
Clovis Rossi is a special correspondent and member of the Folha
editorial board, is a winner of the Maria Moors Cabot award (USA) and
is a member of the Foundation for a New Ibero-American Journalism. His column
appears on Thursdays and Sundays on page 2 and on Saturdays in the World
Notebook section. He is the author, among other works, of Special Envoy:
25 Years Around the World and What is Journalism?
