Sweden stunned by third night of Stockholm rioting

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

More riots going on tonight, now in Botkyrka and Malmö as well.

Sigh, obviously these people will only end up making things worse for themselves, why don't they understand that?

It's hard to imagine a better course of action for the rioters. They're systematically excluded from society and as a result face tremendous limitations in the political sphere that prevent legal action. Protests would presumably be met with jeers and insults; a party based on immigrant identity would be powerless. Not an insight but I think it's important to point out.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Based off of my understanding of Sweden's response to migration, there was no "gross exaggeration" in my post. Immigrants in Sweden are sequestered into housing developments constructed when the Million Programme was implemented. In many of these suburban neighborhoods, the unemployment rate approaches fifty percent. This leads to welfare dependence, crime and a increasingly uniform perception of immigrants as an irreconcilable class in Swedish society. This stereotype, reflected by reduced inter-marriage rates, contributes to the trap faced by Swedish migrants as reports of discrimination in hiring decisions increase year after year. As stereotypes become bolstered and the expectation of immigrants is criminality and laziness, societal tension increases dramatically leading increased attacks on immigrants. This is a positive feedback loop that has spiraled out of control. Even if Sweden is not an apartheid state, its response to migration has produced a situation in resembling one. And yes, Sweden is largely at fault for these riots because its policies have prevent integration as emigrants are effectively barred from the labor market.

Of course riots aren't the answer but unemployment, policy brutality and diminished expectations that place immigrants as an out-group in Sweden all contribute to an atmosphere where I can't imagine other mass action as feasible. Perhaps I am uneducated but it appears that there are numerous barriers that prevent immigrants in Sweden from integrating and so long as these barriers exist, current policy is unsustainable.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

To DFB: Most of the stuff you write is hyperbole and immigrants, like everybody else, are responsible for their own lives. There are plenty of opportunities in Sweden and its generally a tolerant country.

Police brutality is quite low in Sweden compared to most other countries.

The high differential unemployment rate between immigrants and Swedes of native origin suggests otherwise and results suggest applicants of native-origin are discriminated against during the hiring process.

http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/publication/wcms_201428.pdf

Of course there are plenty of opportunities for immigrants in Sweden, why else would they emigrate there? Yet these opportunities remain distant and Sweden's current policies are ineffectual at removing existing barriers that prevent immigrants from reaching them. Placing responsibility for policy change on those at the bottom strata of society is absurd.

The fact that these problems can exist in a country as tolerant and egalitarian as Sweden is disturbing.  It really calls into question how the idea that the Nordic model and mass immigration are reconcilable in their current configuration. The two need not be exclusive. Inflexible labor markets could be reformed and different approaches towards integration could be taken.

re: police brutality claim, this is true yet minorities in Sweden are certainly targeted/profiled by the police.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I never called the Swedish state racist, I said that its policies has created an outcome that breeds racist sentiments. Policy reform that would successfully integrate immigrants is now an impossibility due to this xenophobia. It appears that you disagree with immigration and the idea of achieving inclusivity/tolerance through multiculturalism. Your policy prescriptions are not working towards this goal but rather coming as close as possible to the idyllic post-war Nordic nation which is futile and inane. Perhaps this is a strawman attack but your post reeked of bigotry that reminds me of straight-R voters in the states. You do not care about the situation facing immigrants, you'd like to expel them as quickly as possible from your borders.