The truth about refugees in Sweden

[Nitro Fun]

It was the early 1990s. I was prime minister of Sweden and near Christmas I was visiting our soldiers serving with the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Croatia. War was raging in Bosnia, and so I ventured down to the bridge on the border between the two countries. Bus after bus with desperate refugees was crossing over. The ethnic cleansing of western Bosnia was in its final stages.

At home we struggled with both an economic crisis and a more massive influx of refugees than we had ever had. One year brought in about 100,000 women, children and men fleeing the carnage of the Balkans. Most of them were from Bosnia, and most of them were Muslims. The combination of that inflow and increasing unemployment made for a toxic debate. Some rallied with whatever argument possible against the refugees. And, sorry to say, some even resorted to violence.

A couple of years later at a public gathering in the northernmost part of Sweden, I was approached by a young woman named Anna Ibrisagic. She was from Bosnia, and she knew that I had been there and that I had wanted to help. Her family had been forced to flee, and they went over the bridge at Bosanska Gradiska exactly when I was visiting. Not knowing what to do, they saw the Swedish flags on my vehicles and, in the absence of any other alternative, asked to go there.

That young woman’s road from Sanski Most to Luleå turned out to be only the beginning. Ibrisagic entered business and politics, was elected to Parliament and then to the European Parliament, becoming the first from Bosnia there. She served for a decade, elected from and by Sweden.

Of course, we had difficulties with the massive influx of refugees from the Balkan wars. Years later we faced organized crime gangs originating in the tight Balkan smuggling networks that grew up during the wars. There were some brutal shootouts between them in Stockholm.

Yet today, some decades later, the story is one of success. Numerous studies have shown that the Bosnian refugees have integrated well in Swedish society. On average they do as well, or even marginally better, than those born in the country. And they are everywhere: in sports, culture, business and politics. They have given an added flavor to our country — but it’s still very much Sweden. They wave the flag and sing the songs. I believe they have made Sweden a better country.

They are, of course, not the only group that has come to Sweden. No less than 17 percent of our population is from Finland. And I believe we have even more people from Persia than from Bosnia. They are as successful in Sweden as they are in California. Now, many from Syria have also come, although we have had Syrian communities for years.

Some groups have sometimes taken longer time to integrate. And the strict structures of our welfare society are more geared to protecting insiders than opening up to outsiders. We need to do better. Sometimes we see the conflicts from far away reflected also in our society, although far less so than what you might encounter in Manhattan.

I regret that President Trump is slandering our country in his attempts to find reasons for what he wants to do in closing off the United States. I suspect that his actual knowledge of the issue is extremely limited. If it were not for the massive turmoil that could ensue, I would urge him to skip one of his golfing weekends and come to us and see for himself.

He wouldn’t find paradise. Every country has its share of challenges. And, in much the same way as when we received the refugees from Bosnia, there are certainly those today with different views of how Sweden is managing the latest influx from the Middle East. But Trump would certainly find one of the more vibrant and innovative small countries of our times. He might have heard of Spotify and Minecraft. There is a lot of creativity around.

And I’m personally very proud of what my country did during some difficult years to offer a new future to some of those fleeing the horrors of the Balkan wars. That it turned out to benefit our society is, of course, also part of the good story of Sweden.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ees-in-sweden/

To the Swedes on this forum, how much truth is there to this?

[Wells]

That's basically the story of every immigration wave in the US. Some turmoil at first and then everything smooths out just fine.

[infinit]

Bosnian refugee on Trump and Sweden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1_viPSD-bY

[Deleted]

Wrong numbers.

We received around 70k at the most in a year with the balkan war and less than 50% were granted asylum.

17% finns? More like 1.8% unless you count kids who have a parent who has immigrated from there which is 2.6%.

[NED funded]

I never got the obsession over refugees, Sweden and Europe. For the most part we live in a country that does not care what happens elsewhere, except when its involved in the conflict. But now there is a weird obsession on what happens in Europe as if that mattered in the US.

[Independent voter]

Lot of refugees from the former Yugoslavia are really pro Russian and anti US for some reason.

[announced]

Bosnian refugee on Trump and Sweden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1_viPSD-bY

interesting.. Trump was right

[Macaquerie]

I never got the obsession over refugees, Sweden and Europe. For the most part we live in a country that does not care what happens elsewhere, except when its involved in the conflict. But now there is a weird obsession on what happens in Europe as if that mattered in the US.

Honestly, it's probably all down to Swedes essentially being, for lack of a better term, the pinnacle of whiteness, and the thought of all those nubile Aryan maidens being ravished by a bunch of hirsute, swarthy Arabs is enough to make any racist's blood boil.

[Deleted]

I never got the obsession over refugees, Sweden and Europe. For the most part we live in a country that does not care what happens elsewhere, except when its involved in the conflict. But now there is a weird obsession on what happens in Europe as if that mattered in the US.

Sweden is a prime example of being a better US then the US is. It takes US moral stances, such as Human Rights, Democracy, Freedom of the Press and stands by them.
-Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!. Something that the US has printed on a Statue in NY but does not stand by. As we see in its effort to avoid taking Refugees in Wars that it started. This is not a new event, they did the same during the American-Vietnam war.

-Sweden rates higher on the Economic Freedom index and the Democracy index, Press Freedom Index then the US does.

-Sweden has signed Human Rights treaties, the US has been avoiding doing that. Such treaties include topics such as protecting Women, Being against torture and the a famous treaty about Child Rights. It is a slap in Americas face.

Sweden represents everything America claims to stand for, and at the same time does a better job then the US at doing it. As the US descents further into Right Wing spectrum, their behaviour will only get worse. We have seen recent examples of this on US media. Were they have been producing fake news about Sweden.
It will only get worse as the US heads further right.

[Gully Man]

He mentions Syrians there but from the recent refugee crisis it's not really that group who are the problem. When the riots happen in these ghetto areas it's mainly East Africans involved who have been here for a while. In Stockholm city centre there's a problem (not huge but it exists) with North African "children" who get refused asylum and live on the streets. The gang stuff is a mixture of Balkan gangs, Turk gangs, Swedish gangs etc. Afghan "boys" are the group from the current refugee crisis who seemingly go around sexually assaulting.

[saidolol]

swedistan is no nice place to be in anymore, i think its maybe too late.


[Infracted]

[kail]

I never got the obsession over refugees, Sweden and Europe. For the most part we live in a country that does not care what happens elsewhere, except when its involved in the conflict. But now there is a weird obsession on what happens in Europe as if that mattered in the US.

People use examples in Europe to support their political stance. Much of the examples are cherry picked, trying to promote the idea of nationalism or open borders.

- - - Updated - - -

swedistan is no nice place to be in anymore, i think its maybe too late.

Like this one.

[Keosen]

Lot of refugees from the former Yugoslavia are really pro Russian and anti US for some reason.

*some reason.
I wonder what it could be.

[Shibito]

Listen to swedish cops revealing the truth .

[Malacrass]

Sweden is a country many look up (or down) to because it's one of the most progressive countries in the world.

Not just when it comes to refugees, but topics like education or cashless shopping.

You do the first step, we observe. If you succeed, then we want to be like you. If you stumble, we will try to not repeat your mistakes.

Of course, even if you succeed, the progressive approach to anything automatically pisses off the far right in pretty much every country anyway.

[Deleted]

Meanwhile, in Sweden:

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/...book-Stockholm

Sweden gang rape ‘live-streamed on Facebook’

THE gang rape of a woman in Sweden has been live streamed on social media site Facebook, according to reports.

Police have launched a full investigation after the group of men, said to be from Tunisia, are alleged to have gang raped the woman in her 20s in Stockholm.

The footage was handed to officers after a man, who is of Arab origin, spotted the live footage on a Facebook group dedicated to Tunisians living in the west.

He recorded the footage on his mobile phone on January 26 and alerted police.

But since then he says he has received death threats.

He told Sweden’s Free Times: “Many Tunisians are defending these men and looks like I hate the Tunisians because I hung out my countrymen.

“I see it as a serious crime, but they see it as something normal.”

Although it hasn't been fully confirmed yet, it certainly wouldn't be the first time when these bright soldiers of Allah would film their rapeventures for other pigs like them to watch on social media.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.a7cfbd81a69c

[unfilteredJW]

Although it hasn't been fully confirmed yet

The important part.

But don't let that stop ya.

[Deleted]

Odin and Loki was slain by regional racists. Religion failed them, politics failed them - anarchy is all what's left.

[NED funded]

Every time there are refugees or immigrants, people claim the Apocalypse is near; the country is doomed.
Why should this time be any different?

The last time such event occured was in America, with the rapid increase in latin american immigrants entering illegally during the 90s and early 2000s and from there onwards coverage of the aftermath wasn't so prevalent. The refugee crisis was what 2 years ago?

[NED funded]

We've had the same whining with Polish workers coming here.

From british mostly. And it wasn't as covered by media as much as Sweden is.