Racist violence and criminal behaviour in Sweden: Myths and reality

Since World War II, Swedish national socialists and right wing extremists have been divided into two main factions: nationalists, who are parliamentarian, non‐racist but ethnocentric, non‐revolutionary; and race ideologists, who are revolutionary, racist and internationally oriented. During the 1980s a new generation took over, and activities increased. The militant racist subculture, consisting of small independent networks, exists within a long tradition of organised racism or extreme nationalism in Sweden. The organised activists of small militant race‐ideologist sects can be described as the most extreme form of the organised hostility towards refugees and migrants, while the unorganised perpetrators of attacks against refugee hostels can be regarded as the extreme expression of an established mentality in the local community. The organised and unorganised exist in a symbiosis. The perpetrators of violence are in most cases to be found at the intersection between the subculture of ‘white power’ and the general hostility towards refugees in the community.