"Warning! There are racists in our parliament =("
Hanna Lidström (Grön Ungdom): "I promise you that we will do all in our power to get rid of the racists in the parliament by the next election!"
Follow Hanna Lidström on Twitter: @hannalidstrom
In summertime, there are a lot of tourists in Stockholm. Of course, that's great fun and we're all hoping that you have a great stay.
Today you might have seen something very disturbing in the subway. The racist party the Sweden Democrats is spending a lot of money to spread hate about beggars. Sorry about the mess in our parliament =(
The people begging on the streets of Stockholm are mostly Roma from Rumania and Bulgaria. In their home countries, they are very repressed and have small chances of creating the life they want. Thanks to the free movement in the EU, they can come to Sweden and other countries and try to make a better life for themselves and their children. Today, we are all very ashamed that a political party takes up space in our subway spreading hate about them.
Unfortunately, the beggars are not treated very well at all here. There have been a few accidents where someone has put fire to their settlements, poured water on them in the wintertime and one time a man actually poured caustic acid in a beggar's face.
To stigmatize the beggars, like the Sweden democrats do, is only worsening the situation for the beggars. Stockholms Stadsmission, an voluntary organization working with helping EU-migrants, says that spreading lies about the beggars being organized gangs, are related to them being treated worse and worse on the streets. And you can almost start to wonder if they wrote the advertisement in English just to make sure the beggars know that they are unwanted.
I promise you that we will do all in our power to get rid of the racists in the parliament by the next election!
But of course, most people in Sweden are for more openness and think that people being able to move is a good thing, no matter if you come here on vacation to celebrate the Pride-festival, to watch our beautiful nature, to beg for some coins so that you can feed your children, to escape from war or repression, to work or to be with the person you love. No matter – you are all welcome.
