Winds of Change.NET: Sweden, Rape and Responsible Speech

March 4, 2005

Sweden, Rape and Responsible Speech

by Robin Burk at March 4, 2005 11:54 PM

Is there a way to talk responsibly about the possibility that religion, culture and violence are intersecting in a deadly way in some places? As I write towards the end of this post

These trends are deeply disturbing, dangerous and important. Yet how do we talk about them without unfairly stigmatizing all Muslim immigrants in Sweden and elsewhere - many of whom are victims of these trends themseves?

A few days ago I posted a short entry that quoted another blogger about an alarming rise in rapes and other violent crimes in cities such as Malmo, Sweden's second largest city which is home to many Muslim immigrants. Fjordman also noted a particularly notorious case elsewhere in Sweden in which a 13 year old girl was gang-raped by 4 Kurdish men.

In a moment I'll get to other criticisms of that post and of Fjordman's entry. I've spent about 6 hours yesterday and today researching the situation in Malmo and the response to that situation on the part of Swedish officials and of feminists (my primary point in the original post). I'll be posting a long entry about this on Sunday, when our Good News Saturday is over. But first I want to respond to an important question one of our readers wrote:

Why not just post, "They're coming for our women!" Isn't there enough tribal hatred and racism in the world, without us trying? Don't you know the history of its consequences? What do you want for your grandchildren, world wars and genocides or peace and prosperity. What are you acheiving by attempting to inflame hatred?

And then there's the less subtle comment at a liberal blog, calling both La Shawn Barber and me "KKK moms".

As it turns out, something similar to the Klu Klux Klan is actually active in the Malmo story, which is one reason our reader's question is a very important one to consider and to answer carefully.

Background

I make no apologies for my own outrage over rape. I volunteered at a rape crisis center when I was younger, in a very large U.S. city with a signficant immigrant population. I ached to see hard working, modest women suffer double violence, first the physical violence of being assaulted and then the more subtle violence of being invisible to the people around them. The Los Angeles area is home to a lot of wealthy white people, many of whom purport to care about social issues. And yet the Latina and black women I tried to help got little attention from the local National Organization of Women chapter, whose 25 year old president told me I was "sleeping with the enemy" as a heterosexual married woman. She was far more interested in abortion legislation and gay rights than those rape victims who had little money, sometimes little English and who were far from their extended families. Often they were totally dependent on the men from their own communities who abused them.

I've also worked with young women who were sexually assaulted as children, often by family members.

So when I noted the newspaper article about the leap in rapes of girls under age 15, my blood boiled and I posted an entry that was way too short for the sensitivity of the topic. Insofar as I failed to unpack my comments, back them up and make clear where my real criticism was aimed - at American feminists - the charge that I was attempting to inflame hatred against Muslims is understandable even though it is not correct.

What follows here, and in part 2 after our Saturday break, is an attempt to provide detail and context, to acknowledge what is being done by many responsible and brave people, and to discuss responsibly what I believe remains to be done about a serious problem.

Crime Trends in Sweden and the Marginalization of Immigrants

Crime issues in Sweden have been in the news and under discussion in the blogosphere for some time. In May 2002 Instapundit noted that the U.N.-sponsored International Crime Victims Survey reported that people in Sweden were in the group most likely to suffer from crime. You can read the whole study here.

More recently, last September and October, the Swedish city of Malmo came under specific scrutiny in response to translations of Swedish news stories posted at Robert Spencer's JihadWatch and DhimmiWatch blogs. Ali Dashti summarized, and then cited, stories about a signficant rise in violent crime in Sweden, especially in immigrant-populated suburbs of several cities. A series of articles then appeared in the US press, including the Washington Post and Fox News, both of whom interviewed people in Sweden.

The population of Malmo as a whole is about 25% immigrant or the children of immigrants, primarily from Bosnia, Iraq (especially Kurdish areas), North Africa and Turkey. These immigrants are concentrated in old housing in the suburban ring around the city center. There are few jobs there. The student body in some of the schools is nearly 100% immigrant, drawing very heavily from countries that are predominantly Muslim. Last September, Swedish newspapers reported that bus service in a Stockholm suburb similar to Malmo's was suspended in response to violent attacks.

This was reported in a dramatic way by Fox. But you can read a similar account of the school situation in this dry report of a visit by Spanish educators to the Malmo suburban schools in 2003.

The WaPo notes:

But the biggest problem in Malmo, and in other parts of Sweden, is what people here call "ghettoization": White Swedes typically live in certain areas, in this case the city center, while immigrants are increasingly clustered on the outskirts in their own communities. As Hosseinkhah put it: "People physically live in this area, but they mentally live in their former countries." "They don't feel they are a part of this community," he said. "They don't know this society. They don't know the codes. . . . There's that feeling of 'we' and 'them.' "

This ghettoization is only growing worse as the demographic makeup of Sweden changes. Ove Sernhede, a Swedish scholar, wrote back in 1990

Marginalised groups have during the last two decades been forming ghettos all over Europe. In Sweden this development is related to the rapid changes in economy and society during the last 5 to 10 years. The Swedish ghettoisation is most visible in the modern multi-ethnic suburbs outside the highly segregated big cities. Along with Moss Side (Manchester), Bobigny (Paris), Gutleutviertel (Hamburg) we can today also list Angered (Gothenburg), Rinkeby (Stockholm) and Rosengard (Malmo). In Gothenburg, to give one example, there are many areas where 75-95 of the population (neighbourhoods with of 5-10 000 people) are immigrants, the city is one of the most segregated in Europe.... The parliamentary committee on 'big city conditions' recently presented statistics about the 'exposed urban districts' - more than 50 of the children between 0-6 years of age have unemployed parents, in Gothenburg social entitlements increased by 100 between 1990 and 1993, the unemployment for certain 'exposed' ethnic minorities are more that 90 . - etc., etc. These circumstances have put Sweden more or less into a state of shock.

The problem of unassimilated immigrants in Sweden, mostly from Muslim countries, is especially acute because of differences in birth / arrival rates. As an official brochure notes:

There are 0.9 million young Swedes [out of a total population of 8.9 million - rkb] aged between 16 and 24 today, and by about 2010 the figure is expected to exceed a million. The majority of these young people were born in Sweden and have Swedish nationality. 10 per cent of them have one Swedish and one foreign parent. A further 10 per cent were born abroad, and of these 5 per cent still retain their foreign nationality. After Swedish the most common nationalities are Finnish, Bosnian, Iraqui, Turkish, Yugoslavian and Somalian. This means that slightly more than one young person in five living in Sweden was born abroad his/herself or has at least one parent who was.

At this point 2 out of every 3 new Swedes is from a non-ethnically-Swedish ancestry.

Both Sweden and France, the two European countries with the largest immigrant populations from Muslim countries, housed their waves of immigrants in the 70s and 80s in vast housing developments outside the main cities. While funds were available for generous welfare benefits, these neighborhoods were quiet (and quietly unassimilated). As Sweden and other countries suffered economic downturns however (around 1990 in Sweden's case) the young men who grew up in those concrete jungles, with no job prospects, no integration into the wider society and enough (but declining) funds to live on began in many cases to commit more frequent and more serious crimes.

In Sweden, whose social model is very much oriented to consensus and to non-punitive responses to youth offenses, this has led to a great deal of disagreement about how to characterize the situation with regard to juvenile crime and how to respond to it. That disagreement is carefully and reluctantly evident in this 2004 study .

But disturbing events keep happening, and not just in Sweden. In Norway a recent soccer altercation resulted in threats to decapitate and rape viewers in the stands.

Several of the Djerv 2 players acted aggressively towards both other players and the audience. According to the local paper Bergensavisen, one person was injured after being knocked to the ground by a Djerv player.
The sudden outburst of rage was also directed against several audience members, several received death threats and several were threatened with decapitation. Some of the women in the audience were threatened with rape.

The police had to be called to calm people down.

Neither the players nor the leaders want to comment the incident, but it has been reported to the police.

Section leader Roald Bruun-Hanssen said to the paper that it is not the first time this year that Djerv 2 has been in the media because of negative behavior. Earlier this year, a keeper from the team attacked a referee. He was later refused to play soccer for the rest of the year.
�These are threats of aggravated violence and we don�t want anything like this on the soccer filed,� Bruun-Hanssen said to TV 2 Nettavisen. �I haven�t either heard to anything like this before.�
However, he does not want to condemn the entire team which mainly consist of immigrants.

Copenhagen is having problems of late as well:

City police are concerned about the rising incidence of immigrant teens wielding knives - and using them. Children of immigrant families are dominating the capital city crime scene like never before, representing an increasing segment of arrests for violent crime, even as crime rates for their Danish-born peers are on the decline.
"The situation is extremely alarming. We've been aware of the trend for a while now, but things are moving in the wrong direction entirely," said Copenhagen Police inspector Per Larsen.

Larsen spoke with Jyllands-Posten after the release of pessimistic figures from Copenhagen Municipal Court. In the first seven months of the year, 63 juveniles were arraigned on charges stemming from violent crimes. 53 of these youngsters came from immigrant families, while just 10 were Danish born. The latest arrest figures represent the highest crime rate for immigrant youth in five years, and the lowest rate for native Danes.

According to Larsen, immigrant teenagers are typically arrested on assault and robbery charges, and these crimes increasingly involve the use of knives.

"We've gone back to the way things were around the year 2000, when the problem was serious. Young immigrant gangs have a much higher profile. And they're not just limited to parts of N�rrebro or the inner city late at night on the weekends - they're present wherever large groups of people gather, and gang members are increasingly quick to pull a knife in these situations," said Larsen.

Copenhageners have been shocked by a number of brutal stabbings over the past year involving immigrant teenagers. First came the killing of Italian tourist Antonio Curr�, who was knifed down in N�rrebro last August. Two young immigrants will stand trial for Curr�'s killing in two months' time.

Last month, a 21-year-old bystander became inadvertently involved in a fight in front of Vestergade discotheque Woodstock, and was stabbed in the heart by a 19-year-old youth of non-Danish ethnicity. Ten days later, central Copenhagen was the scene of yet another late-night stabbing, when an American exchange student sustained multiple stab wounds to the chest after an altercation with five immigrant boys on Kgs. Nytorv. Last weekend, a 29-year-old Norwegian was stabbed in the back by a gang of immigrant youths at Diskotek Barfly on L�vstr�de, after bickering with the youths on the street outside.

"And these aren't the only cases - they're just the stories that make the headlines. Violent crimes are on the rise throughout Copenhagen, and even though the most serious assault cases are at a more or less steady level, the assaults themselves are becoming more violent. This is primarily because immigrant youth are much quicker to pull a knife, so the consequences are far more serious. The reaction pattern in banal confrontations is more violent than we've been accustomed to. You can't expect to talk yourself out of a situation any more. Horrific things can happen - and last weekend's incident is a classic example. I would advise people not to play the hero in street altercations - watch yourself," said Larsen
.
Last year's murder of Antonio Curr� led to a change in city laws, which now prohibit individuals from carrying concealed pocketknives and switchblades. Police have been granted broader powers to search people for weapons without concrete suspicion, if they believe the probability is high that illegal knives are being used within a limited geographical area.
Copenhagen Police have reported a general rise in violent crimes, from 453 cases during the first seven months of 2003 to 553 this year

Other Trends

The second Fox article cited above highlights the dilemma facing Sweden:

Students arrive at age 10 or 12 from countries like Iraq, Iran and Lebanon with no knowledge of Swedish; some have never been to school at all and many classes require interpreters. Still, more than half won't graduate.
"They are not a part of Swedish society, so to speak. It is difficult for them to get inside society," said Torsten Elofsson of the Malmo Police Department.

However, they are the most rapidly growing segment of Swedish society � outsiders who are already inside, posing a challenge to legendary Swedish tolerance that has now been stretched to the breaking point.
Malmo's main mosque was recently set ablaze by arsonists. When firefighters arrived on the scene, they were attacked by stone throwers.

Crime is not the only increasing trend in these communities. Another Swedish researcher, Dr. Anne Sofie Roald of Malmo University, reports on the impact of Islamic preachers from overseas:

This study deals with the message of the two Islamic scholars, Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Ahmad al-Kubaisi. Both are frequently aired on Arabic satellite television. According to a survey made in Sweden and Denmark during autumn 2000, these two scholars have a big audience among Arabic-speaking immigrants.
Muslims living in western countries have few Islamic authorities to
refer back to and it seems therefore that the Islamic satellite television programs have a role to play to fill this void for immigrant Muslims. Globalisation is making a great impact upon the Islamic message and Muslims all over the world are reacting to social changes caused by globalisation. Immigrant Muslims in Scandinavia as well as in the rest of Europe make frequently call-ins to these programs, searching for fatwas as well as for practical advises for how to live as Muslims in the minority situation.
al-Qaradawi's programs often deal with political issues such as democracy, political participation, etc. al-Qaradawi's response towards these questions is very much within a contemporary framework. al-Kubaisi, on the other hand, concentrates on filling the Koranic concepts with new and daring content. In al-Kubaisi's new interpretations contemporary attitudes towards gender issues, tolerance (in the Islamic context: towards all Islamic denominations), and unity (in the Islamic context: of the Muslim Ummah) play a part.

Al-Kubaisi is a Sunni preacher from Ramadi, Iraq, who broadcasts from Dubai and is a member of Iraq's Association of Islamic Scholars, which is characterized by the Boston Globe as "an outspoken Sunni group close to Ba'athists and insurgents".

Last April, the Washington Post reported the arrest of 4 terror suspects accused of ties to the Kurdish group Ansar al-Islam.

The conversation led Swedish security police to open an investigation into Shahab. In April 2004, he and three other men were arrested in Stockholm and the southern Swedish city of Malmo on suspicion of engaging in terrorism.
Swedish authorities have accused the four men -- three of whom are Iraqi nationals -- of having "strong ties" to Ansar and of planning crimes that were "directed at the state of Iraq and were aimed at striking grave terror into a population," according to arrest warrants filed in Stockholm.
Swedish media have reported that the men are suspected of helping plan the bombings in Irbil last February

Meanwhile, Swedish TV reports that a quadrupling of drug deaths in Sweden during the last 9 years is tied in part to the popularity among Iranians of smoking heroin. The U.S. government says Russian organized crime groups are trafficking both amphetamines and heroin into western Europe and Scandanavia, including Sweden, via the Baltic states. Skane, the region including Malmo, had record drug intercepts in 2004.

The Danger of Talking About This

It surely is the case that some people do seem to be deliberately stirring up hate. A search on 'Malmo' and 'rape' brings up several disturbing sites. One is the American Renaissance site, whose editor Jared Taylor is accused by the Anti-Defamation League of promoting

"genteel" racism: pseudoscientific, questionably researched and argued articles that validate the genetic and moral inferiority of nonwhites and the need for racial "purity."

In criticizing the Bush administration for believing Iraqis want and could adopt democracy, Taylor has invoked the Nazi phrase Blut und Boden (blood and soil).

Taylor is not alone. Nationalist groups have emerged in Sweden during the last decade and they are not shy in their assertions about immigrants.

Scholar Bo Peterson notes the connection between globalization, the loss of national identity and the potential for a serious backlash:

As argued by Ulrich Beck, for instance, �globalization means one thing above all else: denationalisation� (Beck 2000:14). � What seems to be overlooked in much of the literature and above all in the general public debate, however, is that we may well be talking of processes that might take several decades to complete.
In this sense, the awareness seems to be missing that the sandwiched position of the nation-state might in the interim give rise to rather violent recoils, as national identities seek to assert themselves and stave off perceived dangers. � My own preference is instead to study the somewhat neglected national-local nexus, where I assume national and local identity structures to interact and reinforce each other, thus combating the unknown, which one way or the other is perceived as emanating from the global.
There are several examples one could cite here. Those familiar with the Swedish political scene will recall the case of the municipality of Klippan. There vocal ultra-nationalist neo-Nazis have firmly established themselves, propelled by their blend of ideological ultra-Right sentiments, chauvinism, and local patriotism (Wigerfelt & Wigerfelt 2000).

What Then?

I recoil from racism and Nazism. And so I understand the reluctance of many to talk openly about violence in the Muslim immigrant communities. This is not unique to the recent discussion about Malmo and Sweden. You can read the same dilemma and debate on Indymedia UK when discussing rapes in the French cit�s.

Next time: Honor violence against women, the vulnerability of young Muslim - and other - girls in immigrant communities and what some feminists are doing about it.

Original Post: Swedish Rape Stats: Where's The Outrage?

Sweden, Rape & Responsible Speech
Immigrants, Religion and Conflict - the U.S. Experience
Honor-Related Violence: The Feminist Response

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Comments

#1 from praktike at 4:09 am on Mar 05, 2005

I wouldn't call this "good news," but it's much better, thanks. Glad you took the time on this.

#2 from Robin Burk at 4:24 am on Mar 05, 2005

Thanks, Praktike. I needed to, after throwing out that short post without sufficient context.

#3 from Jim Rockford at 6:53 am on Mar 05, 2005

Particularly in Europe, the State holds the monopoly of the use of force to defend your person. When that monopoly is used to meet the social contract, i.e. to have low levels of crime and violence, it's an acceptable situation.

However, when the State noticably fails to hold up it's end of the bargain, violence, crime, and awful things happen, and there is no solution in sight, the people become frustrated and enraged.

This is exactly why the cities or outer slums all over Europe are festering. Political correctness keeps governments from a combination of Guiliani style crackdowns, long prison sentences, get tough attitudes, and a requirement for assimilation rather than merely migration.

European governments have only minor carrots to offer, no sticks, and wonder why the public, fed up with the inability to provide the most basic need (safety) turns to rightist groups with open/near open racist affiliations.

Ultimately the problem with immigrant related violence, honor killings, rapes, and the like is the failure of the state to enforce it's laws and make the enforcement stick. Ceding basic sovereignty to immigrant groups in a craven display of PC. Sadly, the political state of Europe is such that there exists no "Conservative" alternative ala Guiliani or other "Law and Order" urban conservatives, and all that's left is the rightists.

This situation is first and foremost a political failure of bad governance. All else stems from that.

#4 from Tom Roberts at 11:18 am on Mar 05, 2005

Joe K.- There are some differences between Canadian and Scandinavian social patterns, but also some close similarities. But I've not noted any big pattern of what Robin is noting in Canada. Is that because the immigration stats are only a fraction of the Scandinavian pattern, or is that because the US and Canadian jurisprudence is closer on crime than commonly thought?

#5 from Robin Burk at 12:40 pm on Mar 05, 2005

It's an interesting question. One dimension of the difference might be that few (if any) Canadian cities have massive blocks of stark concrete highrises on their outskirts, into which immigrants have been funnelled.

Another dimension might be that Canada has a more diverse immigrant population - for instance, I know people from Singapore and Hong Kong who are now Canadian citizens.

I'll touch in Part 2 on some issues that might also be different between the two countries.

#6 from HA at 12:56 pm on Mar 05, 2005

Gramscian Marxist inspired multiculturalism is a slippery slope with Balkanization, tribalism and sectarian violance waiting at the bottom. Europe is farther down this slope than America. It is only a matter of time before the European nations with large Muslim populations explode in violence. It can no longer be avoided. It is "when", not "if."

The only silver lining is that the coming anarchy in Europe will serve as an example for Americans to finally reject leftists who want us to keep swallowing the multicultural Kool-Aid.

#7 from USMC at 1:35 pm on Mar 05, 2005

Couple of things noted by the articles.

1) Nationalism versus Globalization.
2) Political correctness and tolerance versus reality.

Do these items relate directly to the actions required by a government institution to promote harmony among the populace?

Do we as a society have the means and where with all to address the issues of crimes and criminal activities? Certainly we do. In favor of political correctness society has turned the issue of enforcing penalty into an issue based on irrelevant factors such as gender, race, religion and culture. A crime, is a crime, is a crime regardless of who commits it. We can debate as to whether a particular group of society is more prone to crime than others all we want. We may even compile supporting statistics to validate the case for such beliefs. The issue that remains is getting past the blinders imposed by political correctness.

It can certainly be argued that one group or sector of society is being targeted unfairly in one manner or another. This however leads to analysis of perception versus reality. It is a falsity to assume that criminal rates will be equal across all sectors of society. (IE An equal amount of crime is prevalent among all divisions Muslim vs Christian, old vs young, rich vs poor, women vs men, black vs white, gays vs heterosexuals, Cubans vs Mexicans, etc..)

It is political correctness and tolerance that muddies the question of administration and execution of penalty. One can certainly ask whether the penalty is fair and just and applied equally to all. If the law is applied equally then political correctness doesn't enter the picture. If the law is applied equally then tolerance finds stability in the sense that a society now knows what to expect. From a Nationalism versus Globalization immigration standpoint this will require adaptability to a new environment. (IE when in Rome..) It should be noted this is true regardless of the existence of Nationalism.

What this all boils down to is I don't need to know that a criminal is Christian, Muslim, gay, woman, man, rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, Cuban (pick your favorite). All I need to know is this is an individual that committed a crime and the crime being addressed by the judicial system is conducted fairly with consistent penalty. Whether jails are overflowing with one particular sector of society or not is irrelevant. What should be of relevance is what must / can be done to abate or alleviate the underlying factors that promote criminal activity within a particular sector. In truth the situation is law abiding citizens versus criminals and not about law abiding citizens versus tolerance or political correctness.

#8 from Robin Burk at 1:47 pm on Mar 05, 2005

USMC (hey - I got the name right! LOL) and Jim:

I partially agree with you. Rape is rape and at one level what matters most is simply punishing whoever offended.

But there is another level of influence going on here and at that level we cannot ignore the effects of culture (including a self-embraced Muslim identity and rationale) on the situation. I'll be posting tomorrow about the role of traditionally-minded women in honor violence committed against their own daughters.

Both these women and some of the male rapists and murderers believe their actions are justified - indeed, required - by religious edicts, often coming from imams outside the country. This exacerbates the anger and frustration that young men, in particular, understandably feel in response to their economic and social position in places like Malmo.

So while I reject the argument that cultural differences must always override other considerations - i.e. that we need to be so respectful of other traditions that we reluctantly look the other way when women are raped and murdered - the mindset of the men, women, girls and boys in these places must be addressed if the situation is to be remedied without wholesale bloodshed and without giving a platform to the racist bastards of the world.

#9 from lurker at 2:29 pm on Mar 05, 2005

The issue is more fundamental. The left has turned away from individual rights and supports "group" or colective rights. The whold edifice is built on identifying groups and then basing policy on those groups, either for villification or special priviledge. Political correctness is only a tractic to force us to think about groups instead of individuals.

One could argue that the left is populated with cynics who only try to promote their own power, but this is only partly true. There is some moral weight to correcting injustice. This approach did help our civil rights movement for example.

The problem is that the individual gets lost and over time it gets worse. A society that continues to focus on group rights over the individual, will ultimately backslide from a liberal one to a tribal one. What we are seeing in Europe is the return of tribalism. Canada is walking the edge. Just look at their toying with Shari'ah Law.

We in the US have been inoculated to a degree because our Constitution and tradition upholds individual rights more than any other nation. This isn't a guarantee though. Afirmative Action has gone from needed medicine to a crack addiction and hate crime laws impose different penalties based on group identity. We're on the same road, but hopefully not as far down it.

#10 from USMC at 3:29 pm on Mar 05, 2005

"the mindset of the men, women, girls and boys in these places must be addressed if the situation is to be remedied without wholesale bloodshed and without giving a platform to the racist bastards of the world."

On this we both agree. The mindset must change and how to change the mindset is an issue for debate. Debate however should not be construed as a free pass until we as a society decide what to do. On this note Lurker is correct in the assessment concerning political correctness being applied to group mentality versus the individual.

I'll also agree that enforcing penalties for crimes is but a partial answer to the problem. Anything short of castration is not penalty enough for the crime of rape in my book. Where political correctness and society butt heads is the gravity of the punishment to be employed as a deterrent. Words alone are not enough and castration may be too harsh yet a common ground must be found that addresses the crime of rape. Which one is more effective in changing the mindset of a group?

#11 from Joel at 8:34 pm on Mar 05, 2005

I read your original article and wrote in to support but also to warn about making sure that an entire community is not stigmatized. I am an immigrant living in Sweden. I have lived as an African immigrant in the UK for 10 years too, working as a professional and loyal to the customs, people and culture of both countries including speaking the languages and taking part in the community (not that it makes me more acceptable as human being but I think it makes me a better immigrant. It is important for every immigrant to do so. Whether they do or not, they are human and deserve to be treated as such like Swede or American or any Swedish or American criminal).

It is also true that any person (Swede or Immigrant white or immigrant muslim) who commits hideous crime should be pointed, critisized and punished without fear of seeming racist if they are a minority, chauvinist if they are female or elitist if they are poor or uneducated. This is the bit where I especially agree with you. It is very difficult for anyone to have a debate without being branded racist or whatever. That needs to change. That must change. I think those who have something to say should and must do so. The danger is not by honestly saying so, the danger lies in other areas.

First, there are racist people out there, far-right violent people who always pick on these comments and use them thereby poisining the source of the comments (unfairly). I would not be surprised if one of them seized on your article and published it on their own site.

Secondly, members of racial minorities do usually get a siege mentality and respond unfairly to these concerns. I am African and I worked in the US for a few months on a posting from the UK. I noticed that racial dis-integration (where black people sometimes seperate themselves from the community and blame the community for it) is usually perpertuated by suspect leaders in their community who make them feel victimised and ask to represent them just to get ahead in politics. Many black American politicians would not be good enough to be in politics if things were better in the black community. This also applies to white politicians who exploit religion and other things to get into office.

Thirdly, governments are just not courageous enough to push past the first fear of being called racist. They want votes. A liberal democrat MP in england recently said "Each time I go on TV saying how much immigrants have benefited the UK, I know I lose a couple of votes somewhere". Votes always stand in the way of courage. I know from living in the Uk that without political courage, things get bad and then newspapers pick it up and "sensationalise it". Example of an English paper whose contribution to the popular immigration debate was to suggest that immigrants kill and eat Swans from the nations rivers - the English don't eat Swans. When this happens, stigma against immigrants increase it is the law-abiding immigrants like me end up paying the price anyway. So it's not in my interest for this debate to be stifled.

What can you do to avoid these if you just want to point out a trend that is not racist in itself but involves a racial minority group? Well that's the million dollar question. It is full of hurdles but it is always best to be sensitive. Always.

As an immigrant I would just like to say that white people commit crimes, rapes, terrorism, multiple murders with torture and imprisonment etc. Immigrants also do. Criminals (white, black and brown) commit crime because of evil and maybe contributed to by poor eduction, some because of poverty, some because of mental illness, some because they are shut out of the system and can't get in, some because they cannot deal with the culture they are immersed in. None of these makes crime acceptable but immigrant criminals rape just as white people do and the contributing factor besides being bad people may be poverty for one group and culture clash for another. But they are both criminals. White people commit crimes too. Always make sure that your readers know you believe that.

Whatever the reason for the crime, whoever commits it, where there is a pattern, it must be pointed out and you have every right to.

#12 from Joe A at 8:44 pm on Mar 05, 2005

That is the point, lurker! (#9) European continental political systems are focused on granting privileges to groups instead of defending individual freedom. This is the main political difference I appreciate between America and Europe (not UK or Ireland). I have always found it very hard to explain to an American.

In fact, the continental European political system is just the Ancient Regime revisited (see how this happened: Mises), where still exists an aristocracy and different favoured groups. Muslim inmigration is bringing out this BIG problem (I point out that the scarf use in the french public schools issue was just a privilege muslims demanded, a privilege not conceded to jews). Nevertheless many Europeans simply do not want to see it because they don't want to give up theirs. They just wait and hope that the Americans save the day, as always have done.

You are right again, lurker, the US have been inmune to many of these developments (nationalism, socialism...) because in America individual freedom is capital.

The political problem is very important indeed, but there is also a social and cultural one. This is more acute in European countries with small populations: the problem of identity.

During centuries, small populations have maintained their identity based on a language, tradition and a closed culture. Technical development and globalization weakened them in the last 150 years. Now inmigration comes to sweep away the rest. They are very angry, of course.

In bigger European countries (France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain...) this latter cause is not so critical because more population means more cultural inertia and usually the survival of the language is not in danger, as it might be in Sweden or the Netherlands.

Economic stagnation is another cause indeed. A low income but some freedom may be enough for a man that has fled from tiranny, but second generation inmigrants often feel themselves appart from both societies, the original and the host.

In my opinion, continental Europe is approaching to a turning point because the old privilege system, welfare state and nationalism is no longer viable. We'll see what happens.

#13 from Robin Burk at 9:12 pm on Mar 05, 2005

Thank you for saying that in so articulate a way. Before posting the Part 2 I have in mind on this subject, I will be posting a Part 1-A shortly that talks about some experiences the US has had with immigration from Europe where some of the same issues arose that we now see in Sweden.

By the way, when my father was a boy, the Ku Klux Klan burned several crosses in the front yards of Slavic immigrant families in our region of Pennsylvania. (My father's family is Ukrainian.) During WWII, despite a great need for workers, some Slavs could not get hired in the heavy industry of that region, either.

Violence and bigotry are not confined, either on the side of those who commit it or those who suffer it, to any one race or creed.

Neither is crime of a more mundane sort.

#14 from USMC at 10:07 pm on Mar 05, 2005

Joel

"As an immigrant I would just like to say that white people commit crimes, rapes, terrorism, multiple murders with torture and imprisonment etc. Immigrants also do. Criminals (white, black and brown) commit crime because of evil and maybe contributed to by poor eduction, some because of poverty, some because of mental illness, some because they are shut out of the system and can't get in, some because they cannot deal with the culture they are immersed in."

You are absolutely correct in your statement. I must say however you did tweak a light bulb in my brain. The criminal element has no bounds and is not corned by any particular sector of society. It does seem strange to me though that the notorious American criminal is generally white and often aggrandized in some fashion or another. People like Jesse James, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Jeffery Dahmer, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd etc... Although those of notoriety do span ethnic backgrounds I'm hard pressed to name American criminals of color that rate in notoriety and fame as with the people I just mentioned.

#15 from Robin Burk at 10:13 pm on Mar 05, 2005

Due in part, perhaps, to less opportunity and fewer minorities than whites?

One counterexample: the Beltway Snipers (John Allan Muhammed and Lee Boyd Malvo), although they haven't been aggrandized to my knowledge. (Unless within a small community to which I have no visibility ....)

#16 from USMC at 11:20 pm on Mar 05, 2005

Robin
Good point. I can say though the two you mention you have not been aggrandized at all. I live in northern Virginia near Washington DC so I am well aware of the cases brought forth against these two individuals. Possibly 9/11 had a lot to do with the way these two were handled it's hard to say but a safe bet if you ask me.

As for opportunity I would have to say opportunities for crime are equal for all. I would say that the possibility of exposure for some is greater than others. We don't need to look very far in the backyard concerning celebrities such as prominent sports, musical, and motion picture figures. Yet none of these tend to get the aggrandizement of which I speak. The next one on the list may well be Martha Stewart.

#17 from jinnderella at 12:53 am on Mar 06, 2005

Robin, excellent research and summation (thank you for doing this, you are completely redeemed in my eyes)-- but if i could i'd like to point out a couple of things:
1) 'Kay, based on my analysis of Robin's research, I think I can argue that the proximate cause of the crime wave is not Islam but "ghettoization", for lack of a better word.
2) I still object to fjordman's headline--Muslim Rape Epidemic.... How would this look? Black Rape Epidemic... aren't the same elevated crime statistics prevelant in ghettos all over the world?
3) Robin has unveiled the actual model for "Eurabia"-- the stats don't support a general replacement of indigenous european populations by muslims, but do support what I call "pocket eurabia", where high local maxima of immigrant populations exert disproportionately strong effects on the locals.

Just a heads up, Robin! ;)
We've been talking about honor-killings here, and surprise surprise! It is not just a muslim issue, it's a guy thing!

#18 from Robin Burk at 12:57 am on Mar 06, 2005

Jinderella, I think it's more complicated than you would like it to be.

You seem to think that the ghettoization of immigrants in Sweden is totally independent of their religious and cultural background. My own study in social systems and religion suggests otherwise - they are, at the moment, reinforcing one another in pathological ways for some parts of the immigrant community.

Which creates a difficult and dangerous situation for everyone - including and most severely for those in the immigrant community who are not committing these crimes but who are not free of the influence and consequences of these crimes either.

More on this in Part 1-A, which I will post this evening, and in Part 2.

#19 from Robin Burk at 1:19 am on Mar 06, 2005

Part 1-A is up here.

#20 from Norwegian kafir at 4:09 am on Mar 06, 2005

"I still object to fjordman's headline--Muslim Rape Epidemic

We've been talking about honor-killings here, and surprise surprise! It is not just a muslim issue, it's a guy thing!"

With all due respect, I strongly disagree. The rape statistics have a lot to do with Islamic mentality, where non-Muslim women are considered lesser human beings, and Muslim women not properly dressed (veiled) need to be punished for this.

And I want a personal apology as a man and a civilized human being for claiming that honor killings are a "guy thing". Who the hell are you to demonize 50% of humanity like that? Is it a mere coincidence that honor killings frequently happen to take place among Islamic communities across the world? I think not.

#21 from USMC at 12:31 pm on Mar 06, 2005

Jinderella

"We've been talking about honor-killings here, and surprise surprise! It is not just a muslim issue, it's a guy thing!"

Now we've jumped from honor killings to National Violence Against Women Survey, U.S. Dept. of Justice which is a survey that includes all genders and all relationships. I'll grant I haven't read all the supporting data but a cursory look shows surprise, surprise it is not just a guy thing. I'll grant you it is more likely that a male will commit the crime but females do commit the same crimes to a lesser degree.

To say rape is strictly a guy thing is totally unfounded. One need only look at the headlines to realize this fact.

Local Female Teacher Accused Of Sex With Male Student

The above article identifies no less than four cases in which males are the victims of female sexual impropriety.

To be fair in all likely hood sexual crimes committed by females against males do not get the exposure or attention as the vice versa. None the less rape is rape regardless if it is coerced or silver tongued. Machismo is a guy thing which may have some weight when it comes to exposing their own humility and shame. Are crimes of this nature any less important. Absolutely not

#22 from Usama at 3:27 am on Mar 07, 2005

Greetings.
I made a cursory look at violence of men on women in America. The statistics should demonstrate that Muslims, rape, 'honor killing', and similar violence in Europe are not the only crimes of violence against women. Nor are Muslims or Islam the sole causes of these phenomena. Rather, their appear to be far more fundamental causes involved.
In America in 2000, 1247 women were killed by intimates (term for spouses and boyfriends).
Incidents of violence on women by intimates range from 960,000 to 3 million.
Women are 5 to 8 times more likely to be victims of violence from an intimate.
So on average, 3 women a day in America are murdered by a male intimate.
1/3 of maternal mortality is a a result of homicide by an intimate or suicide.
The leading cause of death for pregnant women in America is homicide.
http://endabuse.org/resources/facts/

The problems of immigrant crime in Sweden are not caused by Islam- criminality, lawlessness, and violence between individuals in a society are all abhorrent to Islam and Islamic law. Rather the difficulties are multifaceted. If anything can be examined of Muslim immigrant crime in Europe, it can be tied to a lack of knowledge and intellectual understanding of Islam.
Can Muslim immigrants with limited education, limited interaction with Swedish and European societies achieve greater intellectual understanding of Islam that will enable them to better relate and interact with European society?
Most certainly. Can this help elevate the Muslim ghettoes of Europe from their current state? Intellectually and therefore behaviorally, yes.

#23 from Oscar at 6:51 pm on Mar 07, 2005

I am rather surprised that no one touched on this quote:
"While funds were available for generous welfare benefits, these neighborhoods were quiet (and quietly unassimilated). As Sweden and other countries suffered economic downturns however (around 1990 in Sweden's case) the young men who grew up in those concrete jungles, with no job prospects, no integration into the wider society and enough (but declining) funds to live on began in many cases to commit more frequent and more serious crimes."

Sounds like the payoffs stopped and the sense of entitlement kept on. Religion plays no part in that mechanism.

#24 from a at 10:24 pm on Mar 07, 2005

1/3 of maternal mortality is a a result of homicide by an intimate or suicide.

This statistic sounds to me as completely bogus. I may believe you is you said something for women in their 20's but even then i would i find it hard to believe.

#25 from Kevin at 1:14 am on Mar 09, 2005

Aggrandized criminals of color:
- O.J. Simpson
- Michael Jackson
- various rappers who've admitted a past as drug dealers. Off the top of my head, Snoop, Jay-Z, Biggie, and 50 Cent.

A difference between these men and USMC's list is his list is people who are famous because of their criminal acts, but even the rappers, for whom the criminal background is part of their persona, are famous for performances, not their crimes.

Someone who speaks more Spanish than I do, and hangs out in the right neighborhoods, can probably pull some pure-criminal names from the narcoballads, but until those songs cross over, those men won't be famous to mainstream America.

#26 from a at 2:03 am on Mar 10, 2005

If you believe the history various rappers claimed to have lived than you wonder why they don't like it when you download their tracks from the internet. They should all be so rich from their drugs business that they don't really need the album sales.

#27 from Rori Bell at 9:57 pm on May 19, 2005

I really like your well-researched, level headed article and responses on this. I came across the story and wasn't sure if it was entirely true due to the undertones of a lot of the articles. You're now bookmarked.

As a human being, I'm really outraged by this. I realize the rape statistics in the US are horrid, but in looking into this story, it seems as if rape and gang rape is growing world wide. I honestly did not know it was this bad, and to me, this is huge. Can you recommend any resources on this?

Thanks.

#28 from clever at 10:02 pm on Aug 30, 2007

The reason you can't think of black multiple murderes etc is because the evidence is censored.

Look on iamanenglishman.com for detailed refutation.

I'm surprised you'e so naive and stupid. But, hey, so long as innocent girls take the violence, and not you, it's perfectly ok.

#29 from Gentle Skeptic at 10:06 pm on Dec 26, 2007

Very thoughtful and fair minded analysis... Now, what exactly is to be done? Choosing not to do anything is one choice. Passivity seems to be a losing strategy though. If Western governments are unwilling and/or unable to protect their citizens, do those citizens have the right and obligation to protect themselves and their children?

But it's more comforting to just stay mellow. Take another toke and ignore what's going on. It's just too darned upsetting for people to have to deal with reality. Plus it's unfashionably "right-wing" to tell the truth.

As Jean-Claude Dassier, director-general of the French news station LCI, told a broadcasters' conference in Amsterdam, he has been playing down the riots on the following grounds: "Politics in France is heading to the Right and I don't want Right-wing politicians back in second or even first place because we showed burning cars on television."

As one blogger wrote recently, there's really nothing to worry about. All this concern with rape is nonsense. After all, Saudi Arabia reportedly has the one of the lowest rates of rapes in all the countries of the world (3 reported rapes per million people). (Or maybe, just maybe, could it be that rape isn't considered worthy of note in Saudi Arabia?)