Stockholm riots leave Sweden's dreams of perfect society up in smoke

[FarCenter]

Like the millions of other ordinary Swedes whom he now sees himself as one of, Mohammed Abbas fears his dream society is now under threat. When he first arrived in Stockholm as refugee from Iran in 1994, the vast Husby council estate where he settled was a mixture of locals and foreigners, a melting pot for what was supposed to be a harmonious, multi-racial paradise.

Two decades on, though, "white flight" has left only one in five of Husby's flats occupied by ethnic Swedes, and many of their immigrant replacements do not seem to share his view that a new life in Sweden is a dream come true. Last week, the neighbourhood erupted into rioting, sparking some of the fiercest urban unrest that Sweden has seen in decades, and a new debate about the success of racial integration.

"In the old days, the neighbourhood was more Swedish and life felt like a dream, but now there are just too many foreigners, and a new generation that has grown up here with just their own culture," he said, gesturing towards the hooded youths milling around in Husby's pedestrianised shopping precinct.

"Also, in Sweden you cannot hit your children to discipline them, and this is a problem for foreign parents. The kids can feel they can cause whatever trouble they want, and the police don't even arrest any of them most of the time."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/10080320/Stockholm-riots-leave-Swedens-dreams-of-perfect-society-up-in-smoke.html

[Nika]

1. It's too bad this problem has hit Sweden. This is a problem that is sure to increase as time goes on

Unless Sweden can figure out how to be more of a melting pot where cultures integrate and lean to assume a single one that takes the best attributes of all of the ones mixing.

[closeupready]

2. Oh, nonsense. No society anywhere is unrest-free.

Every society has to deal with this kind of thing. It's not like this happens every month.

[Warpy]

3. Bottom line: Austerity DOES NOT WORK

Add it in with other social pressures, and people tend to explode.

Don't worry, it's coming here, too.

[FarCenter]

7. Austerity is coming everywhere due to exhaustion of cheap hydrocarbon sources

All the big oil and gas fields have been found, since there is a well developed geology that tells exploration drillers where to look.

The new developments of energy sources come at ever increasing costs. Because of the size and fundamental nature of the energy sector, this offsets any benefits coming from innovation in other areas, such as information technology.

In two or three decades things will explode globally.

[Warpy]

8. More because the wealthy are sitting on everything they stole from us

and are forcing austerity on us so they can keep it all.

The longer they play this game, the more violent it will get.

[War Horse]

4. These are very real issues in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe

There is actually a grain of truth to the claim that the Left is sweeping those issues under the rug over here.

But these issues are way, way too serious for us to let the far right deal with them. These issues need to be dealt with by adults, not by EDL/Sweden Democrat types. But those folks seem to get more support than I'm comfortable with.

[Quantess]

5. This is why Sweden Democrats are gaining in popularity.

Even though SD's other RW stances, such as restrictions to abortion and anti gay rights are not typically swedish sentiments, SD's dedication to anti-immigration is becoming increasingly appealing to voters.
The other parties are tone-deaf to the public's dissatisfaction with immigration policies, and they will end up losing votes because of it. That's my prediction.

[sabrina 1]

6. Sweden hasn't been a perfect society since they began cooperating with the War On Terror

and since the elected, with the help of Karl Rove, a right wing Prime Minister who is known as 'Europe's Ronald Reagan.

Thanks to the right wing government and their right wing tabloids, Sweden shamefully participated in the war against Wikileaks. Most people around the world learned quite a while ago that Sweden is just another US puppet at this point in time. Hopefully, now that the people there know that Karl Rove has been 'advising' their government, (which they kept secret for quite a while) they can start throwing out that puppet government and return to some semblance of a democratic nation.