Circus Bazaar Magazine
Penned from the crooked timber of humanity
The Swedish Democratic Party (SD) has launched an English language anti-immigration campaign directed at foreign tourists visiting the capital Stockholm. The campaign features a series of signs put up in subway stations reading among other slogans – “Excuse the mess here in Sweden. We have a serious problem with forced begging” In a Facebook post the party referred to the display of the signs in the Stockholm underground station as a “much needed facelift.”
The campaign was met with anger by various activists who on Tuesday removed the signs from the station. The Swedish Democratic Party released a statement late Tuesday night stating “extremists have stormed the station in Stockholm and attacked both police and spectators and ruined our materials that were there. But remember Swedish friends, we will become sweden’s largest party and we shall ensure that the country ports turnaround. We will never allow ourselves to be silenced. Today we ask ourselves, however, how the Swedish democracy really feel?
The Swedish Democratic Party has progressively become more popular within the country riding on the back of anti-immigration sentiment. With their 2014 results up 21 electoral seats from the previous election, they received 9.7% of the total vote. This makes them the 3rd largest political party in the country.
Reports of violence against EU migrants are increasing in Sweden. In August 2014 a 41 year old father passed away in fire in a Romanian migrant camp. The same camp was displayed in an online forum that called for arson in previous days. In June 2015 a Romanian man was attacked when corrosive acid was thrown on his face in a central park in Stockholm.
The advertising campaign claims that “International gangs are making money on people’s desperation”. Earlier in 2015 a independent research foundation named Fafo released a comprehensive study refuting what has become a one of the permitting modern myth’s in relation the tartgetted foreign migrants in Scandinavia. The study “When poverty meets affluence: Migrants from Romania on the streets of the Scandinavian capitals” addressed both the assertions that Roma migrants are “not really poor but spend the money gained in Scandinavia on ‘palaces’ in Romania” and “the money does not reach those who really need it, but goes to organisers and traffickers”. With a participation of 1269 migrants between Scandinavia and other countries the conclusions largely refuted such stereotypes.
France’s vocals are intent, holistic and purposeful. The lyrics are as they need to be, at times urgent, also reflective, on time or in the moment. The writing is mature and scripted and leaves openings for improvisation. The old school...
