Young Conservative leader Ola Svenneby and I are on different sides in politics. He votes for the Conservative Party, I vote for the Labor Party. On one point, however, I agree with Svenneby: That the rise of far-right parties in Europe constitutes an existential threat to our democratic form of government. We are in danger of losing liberal democracy – or as I would say, social democracy – to authoritarian movements. This political turn is happening in many countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, France, Spain, Italy and Sweden. Democracy is also in decline on most other continents. For the first time in 20 years, there are now more dictatorships than democracies in the world. Two of the world’s most powerful nations – Russia and China – are rigid dictatorships. And if Trump wins the presidential election next year, we are probably facing a rapid authoritarian development in the US as well. Capital owners profit from immigration As an news correspondent in the USA, I have seen this development up close. First and foremost, it is the American working class that has moved in an authoritarian direction, driven forward by increased prices and living costs, closed factories and loss of work – and by immigration. In no other political area has Donald Trump received such a large response as on the issue of immigration. His slogan “Build the wall” along the southern border with Mexico resonates well with the American working class. The capitalists, on the other hand, profit from the uncontrolled immigration. They offer low wages, and if the workers do not accept the rates, there is a queue of new arrivals who will accept the terms. The same is happening in Europe, and also in Norway. Particularly in industries with many immigrants, there are often unregulated wages and a low degree of unionisation. In Sweden, we have also seen that large immigration from clan-based societies has led to extensive drug crime and violence, but also a strong increase in welfare crime. In the long term, it will be difficult to maintain a well-financed and well-functioning welfare society with such a large immigration of low-educated people from clan societies, as Sweden has had. Increased immigration can create a poor underclass and a harder class society. That development is already underway in many European countries. The threat from the far right The biggest threat to our democratic form of government nevertheless comes from the reactions to the large-scale immigration. As Svenneby writes: “In several countries, skepticism towards such a policy has been suppressed. The consequence is that when the immigration issue again becomes decisive, voters look to the parties that have addressed the voters’ concerns.” Increasingly, the working class has turned away from socialists and social democrats, and turned to authoritarian far-right parties. Not necessarily because they want an authoritarian social development, but because such parties are the ones who most clearly address the dark sides of immigration. Many feel that the politicians have invited large population groups in without asking the voters. It is a paradox that it is a liberal conservative, such as Ola Svenneby, who is now raising this debate, among our politicians. There should have been representatives of Red, SV or the Labor Party. Parties that claim to be on the side of the working class. I don’t think Svenneby’s parent party Høyre and the party’s leader Erna Solberg will take his warnings so seriously that they will change their policy. Moreover, most right-wing voters manage to shield themselves well from the dark sides of immigration, both in working life and in the housing market. Socialists and social democrats must take up this gauntlet. Both with formulating clear positions on how one wants to regulate immigration, but also with measures against immigration’s shadow sides in working life and crime against the welfare society – as we have seen it develop in Sweden. Socialists and social democrats should worry about the dark side of immigration. If we want to avoid an authoritarian and anti-democratic development in Norway – as we are now seeing in large parts of Europe – then there is no point in starting this discussion when the problems have overwhelmed us and the left-wing parties are in a small minority. The Labor Party has already suffered such a big decline that it should worry all socialists and social democrats. So what do you say in Rødt, SV and the Labor Party? Is it time to support Svenneby and take his concerns seriously? ALSO READ:
ttn-69
The dark sides of immigration – Speech
