This documentary is particularly interesting among migration studies because it discusses the integration of migrants in Sweden alongside the populist views of the far-right Sweden Democrats party. It also touches on the fact that Sweden is shifting from being one of the most tolerant countries for asylum seekers and refugees in Europe to a country with strict immigration restrictions.
In Sweden, to help migrants integrate better into society, the "Swedish for Immigrants" (SFI) program is offered to help them learn the language. What I noticed in the documentary during this segment was the age of the participants; most appeared to be elderly, with a visible lack of children or young migrants, which I found strange. Furthermore, the film did not mention how effective these language programs have been for people in this specific age group.
One of the integration programs in the town of Ronneby, in southern Sweden, was a 10-week fitness program. Henrik Lovgren, the director of the Ronneby integration program, believed that this initiative would help encourage healthy habits and teach new migrants that fitness is an important part of Swedish society. These programs are publicly funded, meaning the taxes collected from Swedish citizens are used to provide these services for migrants. This can raise questions among some Swedes who might wonder why this money is being spent on immigrants and how this spending will ultimately benefit the public.
Regarding the broader Swedish community, the documentary points out that the poverty rate increased from 13% in 2008 to 16% in 2016. There is also an increased demand for housing; according to reports, housing shortages will affect more than half a million Swedes by 2025. Additionally, there was a 2% increase in crime in 2018 according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. The number of reported rapes rose by 8%, while instances of sexual abuse declined by 3%.
The right-wing Sweden Democrats party utilizes these issues for their political campaigns, and support for the party has increased from 5.7% to almost 18% in a decade. One of these Sweden Democrats is Nicolas Westrup, the local leader in Ronneby. Having moved to Sweden from Spain when he was 14, he says, "We miss the past," and claims that people no longer intervene or say "it is not okay" when they see an illegal act because they are unsure of what is allowed. He remarks, "This is not the same Ronneby; this is not the same country as it was," adding that the population of Ronneby is slowly changing. He claims people arriving from Africa and the Middle (Africa, Syria, Palestine, Afghanistan) do not share the same culture as Swedes, whereas past migrants from Yugoslavia did. Westrup believes that migrants arriving from any part of the world with a culture different from Sweden's should assimilate. According to him, proper assimilation involves learning the language and securing a job to pay taxes. His extremist views on assimilation are clear when he states: "If you want a job in Ronneby, take off your hijab; if you do not want to, why are you here?"
An interesting part of the documentary occurs when Westrup is asked about his father, who was a Nazi. He responds, "I have done nothing like what Nazis did or said." He distances himself from this link, arguing he should not be judged based on his father's affiliations. This part of the documentary highlights a double standard: he wants to be judged solely on his own actions, yet when it comes to immigrants, he generalizes and views all migrants from Africa, Afghanistan, and the Middle East as a collective threat to Sweden.
Some of Westrup’s colleagues, such as Carina Aulin, argue that newcomers pose a threat to public safety. She states, "I moved from a big town to a small town, but I have to keep my 'big town goggles' on because of the robberies here." Gina Hellberg Johansson, another right-wing Democrat, claims that crimes such as rape have been rising since 2014. When asked about the cause of this increase, Aulin admits, "I don’t know exactly what the cause is; you read the paper, people talk, it was not happening before." This suggests that right-wing Democrats link crime and other social issues to immigrants without providing proper proof or research.
Media outlets like Nyheter Idag ("News Today") regularly publish stories linking migrants to ongoing crime. Chang Frick, the editor-in-chief, is also a Sweden Democrat. He argues that mainstream news channels hide the reality of the link between crime and immigration; therefore, despite lacking a journalism degree, he believes it is his responsibility to report on immigrant-related crime.
Ultimately, it remains a question of how much Sweden will change and distance itself from accepting asylum seekers in the future. Right-wing Democrats continue to gain support by linking societal issues to immigrants and by replacing the goal of "integration" with "assimilation." It remains to be seen if left-wing parties in Sweden can successfully highlight the positive aspects of immigration—such as the long-term vision of migrants becoming taxpayers—by raising awareness and promoting integration over assimilation. These are questions that require further research and currently remain unanswered.