‘We can talk about multiculturalism without devolving into hatred’

OPINION: I don't want my love for Sweden, and feeling of being loved, to get stolen by far-right politics.

Published: 20 December 2016 06:59 CET

'We can talk about multiculturalism without devolving into hatred'

'Sweden is home for me and it is where my heart is.' Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

Earlier this month, I wrote an article which came across as very angry. It was angry and yes, I am angry at racism, but my anger is not a reflection of how I feel towards Sweden. It is rather a reflection of how I feel about a mentality held by a certain clique of people; one which dehumanizes other people based on their appearance or their origin. However, we cannot ignore the fact that there is now a heightened sense of race because of far-right politics.

Sweden, as part of Europe, today, is grappling with the rise of extreme right-wing politics thriving on feigning hate because of the refugee crisis.

Finding a balance between being an open society and embracing immigrants and their diverse cultures can be challenging. But it can be done without sowing hate.

The problem with the race conversation is that it has been hijacked for political gain. Far-right politics is gaining ground by incensing genuine concerns that citizens may have regarding refugees and turning them into negative energy which then spirals into hate in no time. Therefore, people have to take a position on race rather than get an understanding on the complexities that come with increased inward immigration.

But as history shows, if we listen to, and take political rhetoric literally, things do not always end well because politicians use extreme positions to tap into our emotions in order to coerce our votes. Politicians cannot just be taken at their word because, more often than not, they charm or lie their way into office. That is just the nature of political campaigning. And that is why exclusionary rhetoric has become an appealing narrative and distorted the conversation on immigration, and its implications on racism in Sweden in particular and Europe in general. Far-right politicians are exploiting people's vulnerabilities and turning them into anger and hate. They are offering immigrants as sacrificial lambs in order to gain popularity.

So if the rate of employment goes down because the population has increased why talk economics when you can talk race and say it's the immigrants stealing your jobs. But my wish is, as a people, we have to interrogate the politics that we are offered before we get cheated out of our humanity for political gain.

Political polarization on immigration has paved the way for political grandstanding and now makes it difficult for politicians on the left to talk objectively about the challenges which arise when there is a surge in immigration because that can be seen as aligning with the far-right. Simultaneously, far right-wingers will feign hate and convince their supporters that immigration-related challenges cannot be addressed any other way but by hating refugees or foreigners.

But the truth is we can talk about – and address objectively – the challenges that arise as a result of multiculturalism and diverse ethnicity without devolving into hatred. The European society, with its rich history of fighting for open societies and democracy, is being driven towards the destruction of the values that it stands for by the greed of far-right politics.

Having said that, it's not enough to talk about how people hate and not talk about how they also love. The sporadic racially hateful incidences that I encounter get drowned in the sea of love that I also swim in every day. So for me to just write vociferously about the bad and not scream loudly the good that I experience is to blindly contribute to negativity and can be used as a dishonest representation of the values that Sweden stands for. The values which I enjoy unreservedly. The values which make my life so much better, differently good, enjoyable and worth living. I am grateful for that and I cherish it every day with all my heart.

The first question I normally get when I meet new people is “where do you come from?” To which I always reply “Söderhamn”, even though I am aware they will be asking about my homeland (the last word should really read country of origin but writing it as homeland is a beloved contagion effect of the Swedish language on my English).

I say I am from Söderhamn because home isn't where I was born. Home – to me – is the place where I am free to go at the end of a long day. Home is where I am allowed to criticize, contribute, thrive and enjoy unlimited freedom of expression. Home is where I write an article to critique and contribute to a much-needed discourse on race and still be able to go about my life without fearing the police will come and snatch me in the thick of the night.

In Söderhamn, I have seen the ugly side of racism but I have also largely felt the overwhelming power of love. I have known what it means to be home and felt the joy that comes with it. So for that, Sweden is home for me and it is where my heart is. This feeling of love, and being loved, must not be allowed to be stolen by far-right politics.

Edinah Masanga is a Zimbabwean journalist living in Sweden. Follow her on Twitter or read her blog here.

With the German far right coming out on top in two state elections earlier this month, the socialist-led national Berlin government has reimposed border controls on Western frontiers that are supposed to see freedom of movement in the European Union’s Schengen zone.

The Netherlands government, which includes the party of Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, announced on Wednesday that it had requested from Brussels an opt-out from EU rules on asylum, with Prime Minister Dick Schoof declaring that there was an asylum “crisis”.

Meanwhile, new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the left-wing Labour Party paid a visit to Rome for talks with Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni, whose party has neo-fascist roots, to discuss the strategies used by Italy in seeking to reduce migration.

Far-right parties performed strongly in June European elections, coming out on top in France, prompting President Emmanuel Macron to call snap elections which resulted in right-winger Michel Barnier, who has previously called for a moratorium on migration, being named prime minister.

We are witnessing the “continuation of a rightward shift in migration policies in the European Union,” said Jerome Vignon, migration advisor at the Jacques Delors Institute think-tank.

It reflected the rise of far-right parties in the European elections in June, and more recently in the two regional elections in Germany, he said, referring to a “quite clearly protectionist and conservative trend”.

Strong message

“Anti-immigration positions that were previously the preserve of the extreme right are now contaminating centre-right parties, even centre-left parties like the Social Democrats” in Germany, added Florian Trauner, a migration specialist at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Dutch-speaking university in Brussels.

While the Labour government in London has ditched its right-wing Conservative predecessor administration’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, there is clearly interest in a deal Italy has struck with Albania to detain and process migrants there.

Within the European Union, Cyprus has suspended the processing of asylum applications from Syrian applicants, while laws have appeared authorising pushbacks at the border in Finland and Lithuania.

Under the pretext of dealing with “emergency” or “crisis” situations, the list of exemptions and deviations from the common rules defined by the European Union continues to grow.

All this flies in the face of the new EU migration pact, agreed only in May and coming into force in 2026.

In the wake of deadly attacks in Mannheim and most recently Solingen blamed on radical Islamists, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government also expelled 28 Afghans back to their home country for the first time since the Taliban takeover of Kabul.

Such gestures from Germany are all the more symbolic given how the country since World War II has tried to turn itself into a model of integration, taking in a million refugees, mainly Syrians in 2015-2016 and then more than a million Ukrainian exiles since the Russian invasion.

Germany is sending a “strong message” to its own public as well as to its European partners, said Trauner.

The migratory pressure “remains significant” with more than 500,000 asylum applications registered in the European Union for the first six months of the year, he said.

‘Climate on impunity’

Germany, which received about a quarter of them alone, criticises the countries of southern Europe for allowing migrants to circulate without processing their asylum applications, but southern states denounce a lack of solidarity of the rest of Europe.

The moves by Germany were condemned by EU allies including Greece and Poland, but Scholz received the perhaps unwelcome accolade of praise from Hungarian right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Moscow’s closest friend in the European Union, when he declared “welcome to the club”.

The EU Commission’s failure to hold countries to account “only fosters a climate of impunity where unilateral migration policies and practices can proliferate,” said Adriana Tidona, Amnesty International’s Migration Researcher.

But behind the rhetoric, all European states are also aware of the crucial role played by migrants in keeping sectors going including transport and healthcare, as well as the importance of attracting skilled labour.

“Behind the symbolic speeches, European leaders, particularly German ones, remain pragmatic: border controls are targeted,” said Sophie Meiners, a migration researcher with the German Council on Foreign Relations.

Even Meloni’s government has allowed the entry into Italy of 452,000 foreign workers for the period 2023-2025.

“In parallel to this kind of new restrictive measures, they know they need to address skilled labour needs,” she said.