Popular Swedish artist Dine Malmström in an interview with a correspondent Federal News Agency named the USA and NATO countries as the main culprits of the migration crisis in Europe.
The conversation took place in the Malmstrom apartment in the Rinkeby district of Stockholm, which because of the huge number of migrants is called here "Mogadishu". Nevertheless, Dine considers claims against migrants exaggerated. She blames the Swedish state for their problems, conditional West or the collapse of the USSR, but not the migrants themselves.
Note, according to the official statistics of the Swedish Migration Board, of 200 thousands of migrants only 500 people work, what is 0,3% from all refugees registered in the country. The rest live on welfare and are increasingly committing crimes against their inner circle or even against their Swedish neighbors..
The FAN correspondent got the impression, that Dine Malmstrom is experiencing a full-fledged "Stockholm Syndrome", actually being held hostage by tens of thousands of their colored neighbors. The artist of these neighbors, by the way, draws, turning your apartment into a real art gallery.
People come to us from countries, where the USA is fighting
- Religion, tell us about yourself. What do you do?
- I've worked in medicine all my life, with mental patients. If you know, we have closed all mental hospitals, and instead of them, group apartments for the mentally ill are arranged. I worked here, near, several sick people lived there, and I worked there. My dad was an artist, my four daughters were born here. I studied art in my youth, but only now, when i'm already retired, began to paint. I live here with 1972 of the year, when there were new buildings everywhere.
- And what is this area? Whose houses are here, who lives here?
- This is one of the areas of the "millionth program" (The Million Program is the name of an ambitious housing program, implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 the ruling Social Democratic Party for years to provide every citizen with affordable housing. - Note. FAN). Live here 16 thousands of people, and the overwhelming number of apartments here are municipal. Average incomes in this area are the lowest in Stockholm. The population is young enough, and a very high proportion of migrants. At the very beginning, this area was called "Turkish Village", and now his name is "Little Mogadishu".
- It has always been this way? Since when did migrants appear here?
- It has always been this way, since the construction of the district there has been a very high proportion of migrants. Turks came here first, then the Greeks and Yugoslavs, Finns, of course. Some Swedes have always lived here. Some of them fled from here after a while.. But there are a certain number of veteran Swedes, who have always lived here, as I. And the nationality of those who come here reflects the events in the world. That is, there, where the United States is fighting, - from there we receive migrants. If the coup is in Chile, they come from Chile, from Argentina, from Latin America. Then - Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Somalia. Therefore, all these groups of refugees in turn, whichever, where there is a war, come to us.
- That is, the Swedes have an understanding of, that this wave of migration is caused by the war in Libya, war in Syria, in Iraq?
- It, of course, not the only reason, but it was an important moment all along, that all these people are mostly refugees from various wars in the world. And migrant activists hold rallies here in support of their own there, at home. Some entered into mixed marriages with Swedes and even began to involve Swedes in this activity..
But, Despite all, we all have a feeling here, what is "we", that we all live here together and share this place in the world. And here there were very few contradictions between different ethnic groups.. It was, of course, problems with rich and poor, but with different nationalities - less.
Migrants don't need to learn Swedish in Rinkeby
- From your words it becomes clear, that Sweden is a very tolerant country, and the Swedes are very hospitable people. But, eg, in Stockholm, all areas are equally populated by migrants? Or does your area stand out?
- I believe, that there is a fairly high tolerance in those places, where do foreigners live, where the population is highly mixed, and the fear of foreign migrants is primarily there, where they are not.
- I can say, what, first time coming here, in Rinkeby, and getting off the subway, I thought, that I ended up in little Africa — in Mogadishu, how do you say. I didn’t see here tonight, literally, not a single white person. How do you get along here? Are there any conflicts between you?
- May be, I am not that person, which should answer your question, because those, who are most afraid and believe, what is this migration, especially "black", lowers safety, feel fear of it, - they don't live here. I, who always lived here, went through all the waves of migration, I am now actively participating in the parents' union, actively helping students at school, I know, what is now in those national unions, popular movements, which are in Rinkeby, the driving force is the Somalis. Now the Somalis are playing that role here, which the Chileans used to play, and even earlier - the Greeks.
To me this is just a new chapter of an old romance. Since earlier they criticized Rinkeby a lot and called Rinkeby almost the main social problem in Sweden, people react to it. Some get away from here as quickly as possible, others stay here and dig in, held collectively and protected collectively. And all, what is there, they reached together.
- That is, some kind of integration is happening here?
- Of course, what, if the share of migrants is so high, like here, then integration, of course, suffers. Many people here in the area will not need Swedish, they can live here freely without knowledge of Swedish. And many Somalis talk about, that when they first got to Sweden, to other places - to small villages and towns, then there they studied Swedish, there they really integrated. And when they arrived at Rinkeby, to their own", then further learning the language was not required. let us say, working in restaurants is the only job, which is offered here. And if there your comrades speak Arabic and Spanish, why would you waste a lot of time learning Swedish? So this is a real problem.
But there is also a dependence on the profession.. If you are, eg, you work as a bus driver, then you have to speak Swedish, and if you don't communicate with the Swedes at all in a restaurant, then don't. There is some double morality on the part of the authorities. They tell migrants, what should you learn Swedish, you must be able to write a "novel" in Swedish, to get those certificates, that are required to get a good job. But in reality they will end up in a restaurant, to the kitchen or [will become] cleaners. At the same time, different companies can invite people from Poland, eg, to care for bushes or to repaint an area. Poles, who don't know a single word of Swedish. Therefore, migrants feel some kind of injustice in these exaggerated demands on them..
Migration: for and against
— In your opinion, Did the Swedish government do everything right?, letting so many migrants into the country? Is there any social injustice in relation to the Swedes??
- Of course, there are different points of view on this problem. maybe, i am not representative, to speak for the whole Swedish people. There are different groups of Swedes. There are groups, who do not communicate with foreigners and therefore feel fear of them, and tend to close all doors in front of them to Sweden. AND, conversely, there are people, who feel and fear migrants and are ready to open all the doors from the concept of humanity. And there are those, who live among migrants and share their problems, including those problems, which arise, when migration is not regulated, they settle in the suburbs of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. I myself think, that migrants come here to a large extent because of the wars, in which the West and Sweden itself took part and supported.
for example, the influx of refugees from Syria is simply a consequence of, that the West supported terrorists in Syria and the civilian population had nowhere to go. They first headed for Turkey, then to Sweden. And in this respect, can say, that this largest influx of refugees is a consequence of Western politics, and I condemn this policy. I do not condemn migration itself as a consequence, I condemn the reason - that someone starts these wars, and then we pay.
There is a kind of migration, which I am against. This is when employers are given the right to import labor without restriction.. for example, if you want to attract people from southern Europe or Africa, so that they do the cleaning or wash the dishes in the restaurant for 40 crowns per hour (about four dollars. - Note. FAN), - it is possible today. And since these are people addicted, poor people - they are ready to work for a penny. And this happens every day. And it undermines the Swedish labor market, everyone suffers from it.
And a completely different thing is the right to asylum, which is written in the provisions of the UN and so on. This must be respected. I believe, that Sweden respected these international rights very well, although liberalism, neoliberalism, badly affects our ability to host refugees. I know people, who live around, I know, that these are poor emigrants, they don't live in suites, in luxury in Sweden. They get about 2200 KRONE (about 220 dollars. - Note. FAN) per person per month plus apartment. there is, of course, and the Swedes, who live at the same level and even lower for some reason, but in principle this is not a luxury - this is not the level, which should be criticized. But since I live here for a long time, I can say, that life has become worse, than in the 80s. Many people live worse today, than in the 80s.
- And still, continuing the topic of benefits. Refugees immediately receive some subsidies from the Swedish state. Experts have counted, that subsidies for migrants, hosted by Sweden, cost the budget about 1,5% VVP. This is a large amount for any country.. Migrants get housing immediately, meanwhile, young Swedish families can wait 10-15 years for municipal housing. Doesn't this cause tension in Swedish society?
- This is not entirely correct. Coming, seeking political asylum, they receive 2200 CZK per month and this is not enough, to live normally. At first they live in barracks - not in Rinkeby, and somewhere in the country there are such barracks. And when they come here, they continue to live on 2200 CZK per day, they must eat with this money, usually, this is rice, canned food, eggs. They live poorly. the main problem, As I can see, Is the class distinction between those 20% the population, who own 90% of property, and the rest. As for various subsidies from the state - at first you get 2200 KRONE, then you get another allowance, a little more, but this is when you have already received political asylum. This is for those, who no longer have any other sources of income. You shouldn't have property, then you get this benefit. Later, when you integrate more into society, you get unemployment insurance, but this is also some kind of minimum. Until you earned anything, you are at the very bottom of the calculation tables. So all the money, what the government pays to migrants, they all go into consumption: they buy food and clothes and so on. It helps the economy.
And at the other end of society are the rich, who don't even know, what to do with your money. They renovate their mansions regularly., their luxury apartments, change the kitchen every three years and, by the way, they do it with government benefits. If I, eg, changing the kitchen for 10 one thousand dollars, I receive at least $ 500-1000 in the form of a subsidy from the state. So, in fact, wealthy families in the wealthier part of Stockholm receive much more government benefits.. This can be proven by numbers - this is not fiction..
I will give an example of luxury living at the other end of Swedish society.. for example, recently a famous person arranged a wedding in Israel and invited 60-70 people there, hired a plane, to take guests there. It was worth it, probably, several million, but for him it was absolutely nothing. At the other end of society, an acquaintance of mine is forced to live in a dacha. He lost his job and asked for benefits, because he has two children. And he was denied: stated, that first he must sell his car. The car cost 2500 KRONE, he sold it, but, Nevertheless, did not receive benefits. His old mom has to save him for her retirement.
So there are poor emigrants and there are poor Swedes. And we have a big enough party, which exploits these contradictions, uses this question with migrants, to arrange these contradictions between these groups. They tell the poor Swedes: "Look, how well these migrants live ". And show some examples. And at the same time there are Swedes here, who make huge profits on migrants: build these villages to host refugees and steal a portion of these government benefits. I think, that for political reasons they distort the view of this problem.
Showdown of local gangs
- Social media is full of mentions of rising crime rates in Sweden. And experts associate this growth with the number of migrants. What can you say? Is there such a phenomenon or not?
- About explosions, which take place in Sweden, I'm sure, that this is a separate problem, extremist.
- Migrant extremists?
- No, rather, this is a separate problem, bound, I think, with right-wing extremism in Sweden. It's better to ask the police about this.. This may be partly due to the biker gangs.. This is one thing. When it comes to rape, I can say, that for all 40 years, that I lived here, as well as visiting the neighboring districts of Tensta and Ursvik, I have never suffered from a crime. I was not robbed or raped. although there is no, once my apartment was robbed, when I forgot to close the window. And twice I heard about the thefts in Ursvik.
So I don't recognize those pictures, which the press draws for us, especially owned by Swedish Democrats. But I admit, that there is a problem with young, who leave schools with no prospects, and it happens, what Somali mothers complain about Swedish children. they believe, that Swedish kids are out of control, watch a lot of American films, they have drugs and so on. As a result, different gangs form., who fight among themselves for drug markets. We are fighting this, we have a House of Unions, where do we meet - all these local alliances of different kinds. And we still have a Youth House, where I also go regularly, to communicate with youth. I.e, most of all just young people, these young men, suffer from violence between their.
- Did I understand you correctly, that gangs are formed within immigrant communities, criminal gangs, who make wars among themselves?
- Yes, mainly due to drugs. proved, what are the most drug users at the top of society among wealthy people. Use heroin and other fancy drugs. And teenagers sell drugs from here, and they are at war with each other over the distribution of sales markets. Some of them have dreams of becoming big gangsters, all this rap culture supports them in this. for example, recently a man from Cameroon was killed here - a 20-year-old guy. They killed him. His mom was Finnish. He was killed by his own comrades because, what was suspected, that he is a traitor, that he gave someone information.
- One more question, migrant. Are they trying to set their own rules here?? I admit, that everyone can live like this, as he used to - this is his full right. for example, live according to Sharia law. Do you have any cases, when people from conservative Muslim countries begin to extend these laws to others, start to point, how to behave, how to dress and so on?
- As for the rape ... The difficulty here is, that Swedish law has changed a lot. the, what was called rape in my youth, - This is completely different, than now. Therefore, it is very difficult to determine the real trend.. I've never heard of rape in my area. About murder - yes, it was. I have no examples of Sharia law, that they tried to establish Sharia law here over themselves or in the area: this has never happened here.
The problem is, that the propaganda of the Swedish democrats and the propaganda of the left feminists coincide here. They approve, that the Islamists strongly oppress the environment, therefore exaggerate the situation, playing with different rape numbers. Leftists talk a lot about honor violence, when the moral and ethical principles of some migrants force them to use violence. This honor violence is common among Kurds, eg, in the Balkans happens to the Albanians. by the way, I read statistics somewhere, that the number of murders of men in Sweden has doubled since the 50s, and the number of female deaths from violent causes has not changed.
Media has its own reality
- And how much can you trust the official statistics with you?? And further — does the Swedish press have a "syndrome of silence about the problem of migrants"?
- Regarding statistics - numbers of murders and fatal violence are difficult to falsify, that's why i trust them. And I understand, that sometimes murders can happen. Nevertheless, in this area I can calmly go outside in the evening. My Argentinean comrade says, that he cannot say this about his country. There are many legends and myths here, who cultivate and support the right and the left.
for example, there is a very famous case of a Kurdish girl Catch me: her relatives killed her in Uppsala, but she lived here. As a result, the media associates her death with our area.. Really, there was an honor killing in the area, but it was a completely different case, about which they do not write for some reason. A Turkish couple lived here, and they knew about the man, that he sleeps with other women, and one day, when he sat in a cafe in the square and drank coffee, his wife's brothers approached him and openly killed him with knives in front of the public. But the media do not write about this., because this is domestic violence, which is also among the Swedes, and among the Turks, and among all groups. The largest category of homicide is family homicide.
- And still, how plausibly and adequately the Swedish press reflects the problem of migrants?
- I don't feel any trust in our press. The difference between my reality and the reality of newspapers is huge.
- You communicate with refugees in your area. Can you tell us about them?
- We have a man, his name is Agi Fara. He's a very important person here., he is called here "dad of the district", dad of all Rinkeby. He is a very positive role model for young people.. We also have the so-called evening walks for women.. This is the union of migrant women, who walk around the area in the evenings, to watch, what do local children do. There are also Dragan from Montenegro, who often tells his stories about the Balkans, - also a famous person in the area. There are so many good people.
- You have lived in this area for a very long time. Do you think, migrants, who live here, how they affect the social status and position of other people, living in the area? How the level of education has changed, medicine and so on?
- Since the 90s, I have noticed a lot of negative processes. And so it coincided, that it started after the collapse of the Soviet Union. There is hardly a connection here - rather, that's a coincidence. But at that time we had a wave of neoliberalism. Politicians instead, to develop utilities, began to privatize a lot of social services, and that, what is left in the hands of the communes and the state, - they began to save money there. It has become a definite sport to cut money. And it all led to devastating consequences.
From the positive in our area, it is, first of all, voluntary activity, social activity, which is developing here. There are a lot of people in it now: may be, more, than it was before. [They] participate in different unions, to counter the cuts in social services, that, eg, save the library, which politicians from Stockholm always want to either close, whether to cut. And to protect school services. So this army of volunteers inspires hope.
During the election campaign [US President Donald] dicker he spoke famous words: "Look at Sweden". It was exactly about that, what happened then in Rinkeby. Cars really burned here at that time - teenagers burned several cars near the square.. The youth screamed, that they were shot by a policeman: one cop shot a teenager, but missed. But, Nevertheless, they were very horny and burned their cars as revenge. But what happened next? This Agi Farah came to calm the youth. A woman came - the owner of a small shop. She also came running and began to calm them down. One local imam came, he freed himself at work in the laundry, to come. They called the cops, but there they answered, that let it all burn - "when it's over, we will come". Therefore, civilians had to figure it out themselves, stop the violence and take control of the situation. These were the only riots, which I am for 40 I've seen here for years.
Author: Recorded by Igor Petrashevich specially for FAN from Stockholm
