The hashtag in the title is used in thousands of tweets in the Swedish parts of Twitter today. Translated to English it would read #thisismycountry. I will go into the reason for the flood of tweets with that hashtag but first let me leave this message.
Bock, 42 y.o., laird, born in Lund, Sweden, by ethnic Swedish parents, moved to Lahore, Pakistan when I was 11 months old. I returned to Sweden when I was 13 y.o. as a blonde, fair skinned, ethnic Swede speaking better Swedish than those around me who had never left the country. When I "returned to my homeland" I was in effect an immigrant who spoke English and Punjabi as fluently as I spoke Swedish. I did not understand Swedish culture, society and norms of behaviour. In every way, except for my ethnicity and command of the language, I was culturally Pakistani and hated being dumped in this terrible and cold country by my well meaning parents. Not until I was 20 y.o. did I feel that #thisismycountry.
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The reason for the flood of tweets today on that theme was the unveiling yesterday of a film taped on a cellphone belonging to the Sweden Democratic Party parliamentarian Kent Ekeroth, the party´s legal policy spokesman, almost two and a half years ago. In the film we see Mr. Ekeroth and two of his party colleagues in a confrontation outside a McDonald's restaurant in Stockholm.
One of the colleagues, Erik Almqvist, the party´s financial policy spokesman, is seen telling Soran Ismael, a Swedish comedian of Kurdish extraction, why he cannot claim Sweden as his country. After that Mr. Almqvist moved on to name calling of a xenophobic nature and to calling a young woman who tried to interrupt the confrontation "the little whore".
The cellphone film has forced Mr. Almqvist to step down from all his political offices within the party, while Mr Ekeroth has declared that he is taking a timeout after his film showed the three parliamentarians arming themselves with iron rods.
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Update: The best tweet on the subject that I have found so far. Kurdo Baksi is a Swedish social commentator, journalist and author of Kurdish extraction.
Translation to English:
"My name is Kurdo Baksi and I am 47 y.o. I love eating kebab with lingonberries and take long lonely walks in the forest #thisismycountry"
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The reason for the flood of tweets today on that theme was the unveiling yesterday of a film taped on a cellphone belonging to the Sweden Democratic Party parliamentarian Kent Ekeroth, the party´s legal policy spokesman, almost two and a half years ago. In the film we see Mr. Ekeroth and two of his party colleagues in a confrontation outside a McDonald's restaurant in Stockholm.
One of the colleagues, Erik Almqvist, the party´s financial policy spokesman, is seen telling Soran Ismael, a Swedish comedian of Kurdish extraction, why he cannot claim Sweden as his country. After that Mr. Almqvist moved on to name calling of a xenophobic nature and to calling a young woman who tried to interrupt the confrontation "the little whore".
The cellphone film has forced Mr. Almqvist to step down from all his political offices within the party, while Mr Ekeroth has declared that he is taking a timeout after his film showed the three parliamentarians arming themselves with iron rods.
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Update: The best tweet on the subject that I have found so far. Kurdo Baksi is a Swedish social commentator, journalist and author of Kurdish extraction.
"My name is Kurdo Baksi and I am 47 y.o. I love eating kebab with lingonberries and take long lonely walks in the forest #thisismycountry"
