Decided that Sweden would become a multicultural country: “I am still proud”

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Published 19 December 2021 at 10.11

Domestic. Anna-Greta Leijon (S) was the responsible minister behind the 1975 Riksdag decision that Sweden would become a multicultural country. She now states that she is “still proud” of the decision.

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David Schwarz (far right) with Olof Palme and others.

– It was a visionary investigation and I was proud that we could present it and I am still proud of it, says Anna-Greta Leijon in an interview with left-wing extremist Expo.

In the mid-1970s, she was Minister of Immigration and Gender Equality in Olof Palme's government. May 14, 1975.

– Mr President! Today is an important day for Swedish immigration policy. It can be argued that this is the first time we have set a long-term goal for society's efforts to improve the social and cultural situation of immigrants, said Anna-Greta Leijon from the rostrum when the decision was made.

The result was, among other things. that they abandoned the previous focus on assimilation – that is, that immigrants would adapt to Swedish society and culture in the country. Instead, they began to actively try to strengthen the immigrants' collective identities through home language teaching and contributions to ethnic activities. Basically, the same policy is still used today.

“Right-wing extremist conspiracy theory” is dismissed
According to the left-wing extremist Expo, however, “right-wing extremist conspiracy theories” spread about the Riksdag decision in 1975. The Sweden Democrats stated, for example, in their budget motion in 2014 that the decision meant that “Sweden should no longer be a Swedish nation, but a multicultural one”.

It is also claimed. that a debate started by Jews would have laid the foundation for the Riksdag decision, according to Expo. Parallels have also been drawn to countries such as the United States, where Jewish organizations have long been active in loosening immigration laws.

In the book “How Sweden became a multicultural”, for example, the pseudonym Meister Eckehart writes that the idea that Sweden would become a multicultural was launched in the 60s by the Jewish activist David Schwarz in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

“The process that transformed Sweden from striving for cultural homogeneity to becoming a multicultural was extremely fast. It began with Schwarz's debate post in Dagens Nyheter in 1964 and continued in the subsequent newspaper debates where mainly members from various minority groups, especially Jews, demanded the introduction of multiculturalism. “, writes Eckehart.

According to the book” there was no other ethnic group “than Jews” who acted as actively for multiculturalism, and in particular no other person who came to shape the debate on immigration policy in Sweden as clearly as Schwarz ” .

David Schwarz died in 2008. Uppsala lecturer Henrik Román, who wrote a debate study and biography focusing on David Schwarz, tells Expo that Schwarz was a “pioneer” in the immigration debate.

However, the policy that was later introduced went according to Schwarz not far enough, according to Henrik Román.

– My conclusion was that he had his voice and role in advocating a type of cultural diversity, the importance of having multiple identities and that it was part of a successful immigration policy. He felt in the 90s that this had not been achieved, says Henrik Román to Expo.

Anna-Greta Leijon herself rejects the “conspiracy theory” that the parliamentary decision would have been made as a form of “coup”. Instead, it was “a parliamentary inquiry and a comprehensive consultation process”, and the whole thing was “well prepared”, emphasizes the S-profile.

As for David Schwarz, Leijon states that he was a “very eager “and” active person who appeared in the newspapers “and that she” met him a few times “. That there would have been a “Jewish conspiracy” is, however, “just bullshit”, says Anna-Greta Leijon to the left-wing extremist Expo.