Anti-immigration politics in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Australia. Far-right gains.
Norway is one of the world’s most generous donators of foreign aid, but is generally considered the least welcoming in the region towards immigrants. Actually, in 2013 Norway was second only to Sweden in the per capita number of refugees it welcomed (the largest number from Eritrea, followed by Somalia and Syria), but things have changed dramatically since the election that year, after which the rightwing Progress party – of which Anders Behring Breivik was a former member – was admitted into the ruling coalition for the first time. Its leader, Siv Jensen, a vocal Islamophobe, was appointed finance minister. Today, Norway is deporting people at a record rate: more than 7,000 this year.
In Denmark, next year’s election is expected to bring a record vote for the far right Danish People’s party (it won the highest number of votes in the recent European elections). This is not the first time the party has tasted success: it was the powerbroker in the right-leaning government for the first decade of the 21st century, and forced through numerous controversial immigration laws, largely to prevent family repatriation.
Sweden has long accepted more immigrants than any other Scandinavian country, and continues to do so: last year it admitted roughly 20% of all EU asylum seekers. This year it is predicting a record number of refugees will apply for asylum, the majority from Syria. ... Meanwhile, a compliant media has sidelined anti-immigration voices, leading to accusations of self-censorship (mostly from the Danes who have grown tired of Swedish sanctimony regarding the prominence of the Danish People’s party). This kept the far-right out of the political mainstream for many years, but at the last general election in September, the Sweden Democrats – which has its origins in neo-nazism – won 13% of the vote, doubling its previous tally. The party’s support is predominantly among working-class voters in the south.
Australia has a curiously contradictory attitude towards migrants: at once welcoming and hostile, depending almost exclusively on mode of arrival. Fundamentally, Australia prides itself on being multicultural. It is a nation of immigrants. One in four Australians was born overseas, and in nearly 20% of households, a language other than English is the dominant tongue. Net migration is forecast by the government to increase each year to 2017, the last year of projections. India and the UK provided nearly a third of new Australian citizens last year.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/30/hardline-australia-confused-scandinavia-and-tense-russia-the-global-immigration-picture
Of course, our tea party focuses on opposing 'amnesty' and immigration in general as a threat to white, Christian power in the US.