| Swedens Democrat Leader sings white power songs |
| Monday, 06 April 2009 10:53 |
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Leading members of the far-right Sweden Democrats (SDU) sang racist songs while on a party conference according to reports on the Local. The Sweden Democrats held a conference in January on board the ferry to Tallin in Estonia. Posing as a party member, an undercover reporter from Sveriges Radio's Kaliber programme, accompanied the party. The reporter, with the help of a hidden camera and microphone, also recorded informal interaction in the cabins and in the bar. One evening singing could be heard from one of the cabins, and the voice of SDU chairperson Erik Almkvist could be heard singing along to "Folkligt uppror" (literally: "People's revolt" by white power rockers Fyrdung). The conference delegates also sang songs by the neo-Nazi white power band Svensk ungdom, as a well as a few lines from "Friheten leve" - a song from the Swedish Nazi movement in the 1930s. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson and other leading members of the main party took part in the singsong. According to Kaliber's reporter it was Åkesson that took the initiative for a rendition of a song about the murder of the Swedish prime minister Olof Palme. The Sweden Democrat's press officer Mattias Karlsson denied that the Palme song was sung on Åkesson's initiative but not that he joined the sing-song. "It is in actual fact a sarcastic ballad about the mistakes of the investigation into Palme's murder," Mattias Karlsson explained to news agency TT. "Our young people are political and like music of this nature. It is fun after one has drunk a few beers," Almqvist told TT. "It is not serious, none of us have put any political value on this whatsoever." When asked by TT if the party plans to continue using white power songs during conference and meetings, Almqvist replied: "It can be construed as poor judgement, especially in the current media climate where we are misquoted and exposed for just one type of extremist music, but not another. We will therefore have to apply sounder judgement in the future."
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