Some reflections on populist right in the ongoing EU-election

At the time of this entry being written, the EU-election is ongoing in Sweden. Since about a month ago it have become known that the populist-right party the Sweden-democrats have employed a strategy of trolling online, which I have written a previous entry on. In the aftermath of this press unveiling the party employed a strategy where they frame themselves as part of a fight towards the elite. In an interview on state television their MP of the european parliament stated that the need of a troll army was the result of them being banned frequently from social media platform Tik-Tok which was due to a leftist elite operation. Thereby, it was according to the MP necessary to create alternative, none-party affiliated social media accounts to spread the party's message. 

The European parliament in Brussels. Picture from Wikipedia. 

The MP:s explanation can be seen as part of the party's ongoing efforts to frame their operations. In classical social theory framing is seen as a struggle for the correct interpration, were political actors according to Hunt, Benford & Snow tries to mediate the reality in a certain way. This mediation is manyfold both often contains the constitution of enemies and social practices, thus both diagnosing society with problem as well as contributing guilt to a actor. In the case of the Sweden-democrats the actor responsible for social problems is a unknown elite, which have been rather evident in their line of argumentation about a people exchange. 

The notion of a people exchange is a far-right conspiracy theory in which an invisible elite is trying to eradicate the white race by allowing significant global migration from the global south. Exactly which members this elite belongs to varies, from jews to central politician. In academic circles this idea is actually somewhat expressed in a doctoral dissertation in history from the early 2000's, were the author suggests that Swedens multicultural ambitions were actually the result of prime-minister Palmes efforts to eradicate the Swedish race. Needless to say, there are a few historians today that takes this dissertation serious and in my own dissertation I somewhat debunked it, by showing that the policy of multiculturalism were rather derived from notions of immigrants as unemployable rather than an effort to change the population. 

Still, that the Sweden-democrats have publically supported this theory comes as a suprise since it illuminates how far reaching the populist right actually have become. In the interview with the MP he did not dissociate the party from this idea, but were rather vague on how they have come to embrace an idea that mostly belongs to the nationalsocialist movements. In this regard it is also important to highlight that the Sweden democrats once formed out of Bevara Sverige Svenskt (Keep Sweden Swedish) which at the time were open nazi-movement. 

Drawing inspiration from Stanleys how fascism works, it is clear that the Sweden democrats election campaign of 2024 is highly connected to a fascist discourse. According to Stanley a typical mode of explanation in the far rights agenda regarding social change is that it is often orchestred by an invisible elite. This is part due to making it possible for racist and antisemitic undertones, but also that it enables a picture of the fascists movements as underdogs in the political struggle. Thereby, they goes from being viewed as a far right organization into a movement "for the people, by the people". What however is new is that this form of framing of reality is met with little resistance and that the state television in Sweden actually have special requirments for how they portray the Sweden Democrats, which a number of writers have called an immediate threat towards democracy since this will lead to a more positive portrayal. Back in the midst 2010's I was very active in leftist circles where we believed that the Sweden democrats were not a historical correspondent to past fascists movements, since they failed to create a mass-movement. What we however now is seeing, with a decreased criticism of their policies, is a turn towards mass-movements. And this is indeed quite worrying. 

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