Comment: Car-fires have been a steadily worsening problem in Sweden since the early 2000s, so the phenomenon has nothing to do with the newly arrived refugees per se.
There are lots of claims about what is going on in Sweden. On one side you have the Swedish main stream media that are very close to liberal press in the United States. We do not have anything like Fox News in Sweden, so there is not any big "right-wing" media. Instead of Fox News, there is an "alternative" scene with different kind of media outlets, some more serious than others. And some of them you can claim is based mostly in fake news.
But, you wont get the whole picture from the Swedish main stream media either. And you might just as well get fooled about specific claims about what is true and not.
My name is Chang Frick and I run this news outlet that you are reading right now. I've been reporting a lot about what's going on in the suburbs in Sweden. When I work I am very often on the ground with my camera, taking photos and filming. So everything you see in this video is produced by me. On top of that, I live in an area called "Hallunda" in southern Stockholm. That is an heavily immigrant dominated area, mostly people from the middle east.
I see myself as a libertarian and if I could choose whoever president I would like to see in the United States it would be Ron Paul. Yeah, I am that kind of guy. But, whatever my personal political opinions are, I always put a big effort to report my stories correctly. When I do an article about something that happened in an immigrant area, I call the police and ask questions. I am always very carefully with presenting whom I talked to and I write down quotes word-by-word.
I talk to people on the ground, I ask what they have seen or heard. I never ask them what they think is going on, just what they know is going on. I also check how they know it, did they see it themselves and so on. That is basic journalism, you have to check stuff very carefully. I am not saying I am perfect, everyone can do a mistake, but I would say I put a lot of an effort to get my reporting correct.
My news outlet is not very big, but I get a lot of traffic in Sweden every time I report about what is going on in the suburbs. I would say my readers trust me a lot in my reporting, and a lot of my readers are politicians. At the same time, some critics claim that even I am producing fake news, but so far I have not seen anyone represent any evidence for it. But of course, anyone is more than welcome to look for wrongdoings from my side - that will just force me to become even better.
So, I will make some claims based on my experience of what is going on in Sweden. This is in the light of what Donald Trump recently said about Sweden.
1. You can't get the whole picture reading Swedish MSM
The main stream media in Sweden is usually not lying or reporting fake news, even though it happens sometimes. But I would say it is mistakes and not anything that is done with purpose. A big news-outlet publishes lots and lots of stories every day, so of course you can find some wrongdoing once in a while. That does not mean the main stream media is a fake propaganda-machine. Mostly, what they claim, is usually true. There is references and all.
However, the main stream media in Sweden is not giving you the whole picture. That is a claim I can make. You see, by not reporting some issues, you are not lying. And that, I would say, gives you a better understanding how it works. And it is because of that I built my own news outlet, where I try to fill in the blank spots that you can't find elsewhere from Sweden.
There is a lot going on in the Swedish suburbs that I would say is totally out of control. I've seen it myself so many times, I have been talking to a lot of people living in these areas. After all, they are my neighbors.
Comment: Newsflash for you: most major cities in the West have such suburbs. Have you ever been to Chicago?!
2. No, we did not have any terror attack recently
Some people in social media even think that because of what Trump said, there have been a terror attack in Sweden. There have not been any such event in several years. It have happened once, but that was six years ago and nobody, except of the terrorist himself, got killed. What is true however is that Sweden got a lot of people who travel abroad to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS.
Comment: Most of them come from France, Germany and the UK, in that order, which would fit with the relative size of their respective Muslim populations.
Those guys get radicalized in Sweden and they also get recruited on Swedish soil.
Comment: Same pattern elsewhere.
I don't know the numbers, but there is estimates of about a couple of hundreds. Lots of these guys return to Sweden after their participation in Syria and Iraq. So, are those people dangerous to Swedish society?
Comment: Those guys, absolutely! They're not newly-arrived Middle Eastern Muslims; they're second and third generation Swedes born into a criminal underclass and who wouldn't know a Quran if you hit them over the head with one.
Well, if you look at what happened in Nice or in Berlin, it is essentially enough with just one terrorist to create a lot of mess. And dead people.
Comment: Or just two crazy people who the authorities then said were 'terrorists' because they can gain political capital from their crazy deeds...
3. Is there no go areas in Sweden? Well, it depends who you are...
Some claim that it is really dangerous to go to specific areas in Sweden. There is a term being used in Sweden that is "no go zones". I live in an area often described as that and well, I can go outside any time I want and walk around the area and nothing special will happen. But, at the same time, lots of people still does not feel safe in this area. Some of them is security personnel and police officers.
And car owners. There is a lot of cars being set on fire. I have not a perfect answer yet to why this is happening. Some cars that are set on fire is about insurance fraud. I would say that more of those fires is about keeping the police busy. Just a few blocks away, there is lots of drugs being sold on the streets. If there is a police with resources to act, it means bad business for the local drug lords. So lots of cars being set on fire is related to this, just to keep the police busy.
Comment: Therein probably lies the answer to Sweden's arson problem.
Some claim that cars being set on fire is about some Muslim takeover or some kind of jihad. There is no evidence at all for that. I have never really seen anything than confirms such a claim.
Comment: Exactly. But to listen to Fox News and Gatestone Institute, the US NeoCon think-tank that spreads much of these lies, it's 'FACT'.
But what is true is that the police get attacked in some of these no-go zones. I have seen, and filmed that, myself. Immigrant kids throw rocks and even Molotov cocktails towards police officers during riots. The most known riots was those in Husby in northern Stockholm in 2013. Such riots does not happen very often, but there is definitely tensions just below the surface in these areas, so we can most probably expect somewhat similar stuff going on in the future.
And working as a police officer in these areas means you often need back up from your colleagues. It happen more and more often that police officers are getting physical attacked. In an area nearby where i live someone threw a hand grenade towards the police who was sitting in a van. It was pretty much pure luck that they didn't get injured. At other occasions there is Molotov cocktails being thrown at the police and other stuff that can seriously harm, or even kill, a police officer.
So, well, you can't totally deny that for some people these areas could be considered "no-go areas". And, oh yes, some of these areas is pretty much "no-go" if you are trying to film or takes photos. There is a big chance that you will be attacked. It has happened to me and a lot of others as well.
4. Can Sweden handle the immigration?
This is a question where the answer is both yes and no. The migration, mainly from the middle east, is changing Sweden a lot. We have areas that are not even close to something we used to have. I am of course referring to the "no-go areas". And those areas are growing, mostly because it is really hard to get a job if you are born outside Europe. To get a job you have to learn the language, you need education and you also need to understand the social codes in Sweden.
And by social codes I mean that swedes are not very tolerant at all. For example, when I was hanging out in New York I could talk to anyone in the subway. People are open minded and curious in New York, no matter who you are. It is not like that at all in Sweden. In the subway you will find most people being quiet or just talking to someone they already know. I am just trying to pinpoint a small example why it can be hard to "get in" to the Swedish society. And to get a job, you need to know people.
So, lots of immigrants are living on social welfare. And they have nothing meaningful to do during the days. And the kids usually have their parents as role models, so you can figure out the rest.
This is the biggest problem Sweden is facing today. I base that claim on the political discussion but also where most of the government money is spent. Notice, the discussion about where tax money is going is a tricky one, so I am not presenting any exact numbers. What I am saying is that immigration is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cost for tax payers in Sweden.
The effect on the society is that the whole society is changing from what it used to be. Not everything with the "new" Sweden is bad, there are of course a lot of good examples, but as it is today - the sum of the effects - is going the wrong way. More and more people feel insecure, something I am pretty sure is related to immigration - even if I don't have any scientific paper showing it.
5. Is Donald Trump correct about his claim about Sweden?
Well, the claim i am referring to is the tweet below, a tweet that i think sums it up what Mr Trump has tried to say the latest days.
And yes, I would say he is correct. This is based on what I see myself, but also what different police officers tell me and other officials working with issues related in one way or another to immigration. The issue with immigrants is the number one political question and still there are no good answers how to deal with it.
And there is another thing that most people does not talk about. It is the law-abiding immigrants, which absolutely most immigrants are, that are the true victims here. It is those who are living with constant fear of what is going on. I know that because I talk to them almost every day. They are, after all, my neighbors.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter