Quran Burnings In Sweden Have Roots In The Rise Of Right Wing Politics
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
24 October
2023
Freedom
Of Expression In Sweden Is Not Unlimited
Main
Points:
1. Sweden does
have law preventing hate speech.
2. Far right
political parties have promoted Quran burnings.
3. A right wing
activist had advised Rasmus Paludan to burn Quran.
4. In January
2023, Paludan burned Quran in front of Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
5. Salwan
Momika burned Quran in front of central mosque in Stockholm in June this year.
6. On September
3, a riot broke out in Sweden after Quran burning by Momika.
7. On October
16, two Swedes were shot dead by an ISIS sympathiser.
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Demonstration by the far-right Sweden Democrats. Photo:
socialistworker.org. Inset: Hakan Blomqvist. Photo: Supplied
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In an
interview with Farooq Sulehria, Hakan Blomqvist an associate professor in
history at Stockholm Sodertorn University gives an insight into the rise of
Islamophobia and the reason behind the string of Quran burnings in Sweden.
He says
that the incidents of Quran burning in Sweden have seen a sharp rise after the
formation of government by the far right political parties with the help of the
right wing Sweden Democrats which has become the second largest party after
Social Democrats since their debut in 2010. Their popularity is based on
anti-immigration and anti-Muslim policies and ideas.
The present
government allows anti-Muslim actions as their policy. He says that that the
government presents the argument that the Quran burning is allowed on the basis
of the principle of freedom of expression but the truth is that freedom of
expression is not unlimited in Sweden and it has laws prohibiting hate speech
though criticising beliefs and religions is allowed. Islamophobia in Sweden has
witnessed a rise in 2023 after the right wing came to power in the elections in
2022.
In January
2023, Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan burned the Quran before the
Turkish embassy on the advice of a right wing activist. It was also said that
Russia was behind the Quran burning because it did not want Sweden to join
NATO. As a result of the Quran burning, Turkey opposed Sweden's entry into
NATO. However, later Turkey relented.
But Quran
burnings in Sweden does not have only one reason. The far right policies have
defended Quran burnings. On June 28, Salwan Momika burned Quran before the
central mosque in Stockholm on Eid-al-Adha. It sparked protests in Iraq and
other countries. He desecrated the Quran again on July 20 in Stockholm. Salwan
Momika is an Iraqi immigrant in Sweden. On July 24, the holy Quran was burned
outside Iraqi embassy by Danske Patrioter. On July 25, protesters burned the Quran
outside Egyptian embassy. On the same day, the Quran was again burned outside
Turkish embassy.
The string
of burning of Quran created a crisis in Sweden and media coined the term Kuran
krisen (Quran Crisis) . A debate was started on the issue and the Swedish
government hinted at its plan to ban Quran burning. But intellectuals and
rights activists opposed any move that might limit the right to freedom of
expression. On September 3, Salwan Momika again burned the Quran resulting in
the violent protests by the Muslims who threw stones at the police and burned
cars.
On October
16, two Swedish football lovers were shit dead on their way to stadium by an
ISIS sympathiser. The killings were apparently committed to avenge the Quran
burnings.
Hakan
Blomqvist says that the current government does not want confrontation with the
right wing Islamophobic groups and activists. It has presented the Quran
burnings a national security issue by linking it to Muslim immigration. He says
that the government argues that Quran burning is allowed under freedom of
expression but Swedish laws do not allow anyone to spread hate against
nationalities and ethnic groups. It does not allow propagation of paedophilia
and Nazi genocide. He says Sweden respects freedom of expression as its policy
after 1970. Sweden was a Protestant country since the,16th century till the
19th century.
During that
period, criticising religion was a crime punishable with imprisonment and even
death. Religion was protected from criticism under the law called 'trosfrid'
meaning 'peace for religion'. But in 1970, the law was abolished as the country
adopted secularism as state policy.
However, in
the 21st century, the large scale immigration of Muslims gave rise to
nationalist politics in European countries. Islamophobia rose because of
militant Islamism and identity politics. In 2015, Sweden closed its borders as
a fall out to refugee crisis.
However, he
says that the left wing in Sweden has tried to stop Quran burnings in Sweden.
It does not approve of the Quran burnings as a part of freedom of expression.
But such voices are weak as more and more governments are bringing laws banning
Islamic symbols and practices. Mosque ban, minaret ban, hijab ban, burqa ban
etc are being imposed in European countries. Muslims face discrimination on the
basis of religion and nationality. The riots by the Muslims on September 3 and
the killing of two Swedes on October 16 is only a manifestation of the anger
and frustration of European Muslims over the growing Islamophobia in Europe.
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Sweden: Far-Right Has Created A
Climate Of Racism, Islamophobia And Fear
Farooq
Sulehria
By
Farooq Sulehria and Hakan Blomqvist
October 22,
2023
Two Swedes
were shot dead in Brussels on October 16 on their way to a football stadium to
watch Sweden play Belgium. Another Swedish citizen was fatally injured.
Their
assassin, Abdesalem Lassoued — shot dead the next morning by the Belgian police
at a café — reportedly sympathised with Islamic State (ISIS). In a video
message he posted on social media soon after the incident, Lassoued claimed to
have killed the Swedes.
The Swedish
authorities and media have portrayed these killings as efforts to avenge Quran
burnings in Sweden.
Sweden has
been making global headlines owing to a litany of Quran burnings earlier this
year. Angry protesters in Baghdad burnt and ransacked the Swedish embassy in
July while Iraq expelled the Swedish ambassador. Elsewhere in the Muslim world,
agitation was recorded against the burnings of the Quran in Sweden.
Sweden
raised its threat level to four (out of five) last August after threats from
al-Qaeda and ISIS. While drawings of the Prophet Muhammad by visual artist Lars
Vilks raised a global storm in 2007, it was seen as an isolated event. However,
Quran burnings in Sweden have assumed a regular frequency since last year. What
explains this?
According
to Håkan Blomqvist, the formation of a right-wing government with the
support of the far-right party, Sweden Democrats, , has created the conditions
for a flurry of Quran burnings in recent months.
Blomqvist is an associate professor in history
at Stockholm’s Södertörn University, and author of several books on the Swedish
labour movement. He has been active in the left since the late 1960s.
He
explained what is behind the incidents of Quran burnings in Sweden in the
following interview with Green Left’s Farooq Sulehria.
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What do
you think suddenly led to this flurry of Quran burnings in Sweden — a society
and country otherwise known for liberal values and tolerance?
That image
is not very accurate. Sweden has changed. We have for a long time had
right-wing extremists, sentiments and organised groups opposing immigration,
foreigners from other cultures and Islam.
A
right-wing populist anti-immigration and anti-Muslim party, the Sweden
Democrats, which had its first electoral breakthrough in 2010, is now the
second-largest party in Sweden (next to the Social Democrats).
After the
so-called “refugee crisis” in 2015, Sweden has almost closed its borders to
refugees — both by the non-socialist as well as social democratic governments.
In the latest
general elections held in 2022, right-wing liberal parties formed the
government with the support of the Sweden Democrats. That has radicalised
right-wing currents who were already growing.
It was a
right-wing activist who advised the Swedish-Danish extremist Rasmus Paludan to
start burning the Quran during Easter in 2022. The example has been followed by
others, both by the right-wing extremists and anti-Islam actors.
What has
been the response of the Swedish left, particularly the Left Party and some of
the key far left organisations?
The general
reaction from the left has been an urge to stop burning of Quran. On certain
occasions, the left activists resorted to direct action (by physically trying
to stop the burners or acting as pretended fire fighters). Otherwise, the left
has demanded to invoke the “law of incitement against ethnic group”.
In Sweden,
one is not allowed to publicly wear a badge with a swastika or a picture of the
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, since it is considered antisemitic. Many spokespersons
of the left (as well as the chairperson of the Social Democratic party) think
that the abovementioned law should be invoked also in this case.
Recently, a
man in a small Swedish town was prosecuted and sentenced in line with that law.
However, the court made it clear that it was not only because of the burning
but also the “circumstances” (the convicted person played —at the same time —
threatening Nazi, anti-Muslim music).
What has
been the trade union movement’s response to these events?
In general,
the Swedish trade union movement is against such provocations that risk
splitting working class members. A big part of the Swedish working class
consists of immigrants, many with a Muslim faith. But I don’t think the union
movement as a whole has any proposals for the legislation.
The
leadership of the trade union umbrella called Lands Organisationen or LO (like
the Trade Union Congress in the UK), usually has the same opinion as the Social
Democrats (since they are a part of its leadership). I have seen that there is
a debate within the union movement around the same questions as in other
milieux about freedom of expression versus a ban on incitement.
How has
the present coalition government reacted? Is there a debate about changes in
freedom of expression laws?
The
incumbent right-wing coalition government avoids the available law on
incitement. Instead, it tries to make the burning of Quran a question of
national security. That is, if the police (and courts) consider a planned
burning of Quran a threat to national security, such actions should be
considered illegal, hence, prevented. The government in this manner avoids
confronting the anti-Muslim opinions held by the Sweden Democrats, thus turning
the issue into an issue of national interest instead of discrimination.
This
debate is definitely difficult. On the one hand is the question of free
expression. On the other, Islamophobia. How would you balance the two?
To me it is
not that terribly difficult. A society, at least of the Swedish type, always draws
limits. Not everything is allowed, even in the case of the right to free
expression.
You are not
allowed in Sweden to propagate for paedophilia, Nazi genocide or hatred against
different ethnic groups. You are allowed to criticise and even ridicule beliefs
and religion as well as atheism, but not to spread hate against nationalities
or ethnic groups.
Previously,
Sweden had a law called “trosfrid” – “peace for religions”. According to
trosfrid, insulting religion was illegal. But that law was abolished in 1970.
The reason was the secularisation of the society and the very strong opposition
from artists, writers and others who were prosecuted according to that law for
criticising religion.
Sweden was
for hundreds of years (since the 16th century) a protestant country with a very
strong and authoritarian state-church. To criticise Christianity and the church
often led to prison in the late 19th century (and earlier, to a death
sentence).
However,
during the 20th century, the grip of the church loosened as democratic
development became stronger. In 1951, the right to leave the state-church
without joining another religious faith was granted. From 1960, Christian
prayers in the schools were no longer compulsory and, from 1970, it was allowed
to freely criticise religion.
In 2000,
the state and the Protestant church were separated, and we no longer have a
state-church. One’s faith and congregation is a private affair.
But the
freedom of religion and expression is not the same thing, in my view, as
allowing hate-agitation against the believers, religious and ethnic groups.
Sweden
Democrats, the far-right party, has been defending the Quran burnings in the
name of free expression. Yet, the present government has been bent upon cutting
subsidies to the media that will hurt the radical press. How would you analyse
these contradictions in the stated viewpoints of coalition partners?
To them
that is no contradiction. Their defence of the freedom of the press is purely
rhetorical. They defend anti-Islamic actions in most areas since they think
Islam is alien to Swedish nationality and should be reduced to a minimum in
Swedish society. Hence, they object to any restrictions against Islamophobia.
Instead they are now — in line with the agenda of national security — turning
also the Quran-issue into an anti-immigrant theme. They propose that burners of
Quran should be expelled from Sweden.
Regarding
the withdrawal of subsidies to the press — radical or liberal — which oppose
Islamophobia, it is wholly in line with that orientation.
After
threats from al-Qaeda, the threat level was raised to maximum in August. Do you
think, there are real threats of al-Qaeda attacks?
Yes. On
Monday (October 16), two Swedish football supporters in Brussels — where the
Swedish team played against Belgium — were killed (and one wounded) by a
terrorist claiming to be a member of Islamic State (ISIS). The assassin
explicitly targeted the Swedes. So yes, that might be a real threat, perhaps
even stronger since the Swedish right-wing government is such a strong
supporter of the Netanyahu’s war against Gaza, cutting Swedish aid to
Palestinians and trying to withdraw the Swedish recognition of the Palestinian
state.
Source: Sweden: Far-Right Has Created A
Climate Of Racism, Islamophobia And Fear
URL: https://newageislam.com/interview/quran-burnings-sweden-right-wing-politics/d/130960
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