Thousands of Swedes have launched a counterattack following Ardalan Shekarabi’s widely publicized remarks on Swedishness. What began as a post from the Gothia Cup has evolved into a heated debate about Swedish identity, ethnicity, and who actually has the right to define what it means to be Swedish.
The Social Democrat Ardalan Shekarabi has sparked strong reactions following a video post from the Gothia Cup, where he attacks the Sweden Democrats and dismisses the link between Swedishness and ethnicity. The post has sparked thousands of comments and a wide-ranging debate about Swedish identity.
In the video, Shekarabi says:
– Here at the [Gothia Cup], I made the mistake of checking social media and saw these statements from yet another Sweden Democrat politician who says that it’s not enough to be a Swedish citizen; it has to be based on ethnicity and all that racist bullshit.”.
– So these racists who are making these statements now—Sweden Democrat politicians who, day and night, keep saying, “You’re not Swedish, you’re not Swedish, you’re not Swedish”—they’re the ones who aren’t Swedish.
The reason is the statement made by the Sweden Democrats' spokesperson on migration policy Ludvig Aspling made a statement about ethnic Swedes, which prompted the Minister of International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa to collapse.
Critical comments dominate the comments section
The comments section quickly filled with critical questions about Swedish ethnicity and national identity. Among the most notable comments are:
”Is there such a thing as Swedish ethnicity? It would be nice to get an answer to that.”
Another user writes:
”Is there anything wrong with being ethnically Swedish?”
Several people also questioned why Swedes should not be allowed to describe Sweden as their country when Shekarabi himself uses the same phrasing.
Jomshof: ”Sweden is the Swedes” country”
Richard Jomshof, a member of the Riksdag for the Sweden Democrats, launched a counterattack against X.
”It goes without saying that Sweden is the Swedes” country. The Swedes have fought for generations to build the country that Shekarabi is now deliberately trying to destroy by advocating policies that are on the verge of turning the Swedes into a minority in their own country.”, he writes, ”Sweden for the Swedes, the Swedes for Sweden!”
Swedes will not accept being denied
The outraged reactions to Shekarabi’s remarks show that Swedes no longer accept what the establishment has taken for granted: being denied and questioned as a people. When prominent figures with immigrant backgrounds try to claim the authority to define what is Swedish, Swedes are increasingly speaking out.
This became an issue in the fall of 2025 after the Sweden Democrats member of the Riksdag Jessica Stegrud noted that two immigrants, the Iranian-born Minister of Culture Parisa Liljestrand and the Kurdish Social Democratic politician Lawen Redar, discussed what Swedish culture was.
When the campaign against Stegrud began, she quickly received strong support from the public, who believed it was self-evident that it is ethnic Swedes—not immigrant ”Swedes”—who should have the right to determine what is Swedish.
Has that Socialist idiot forgotten that he's a boat refugee? .
Blatten Shekarabi has probably never had a real job—he’s just lived like a parasite at our expense. He should never have been allowed into our country; he should have been deported immediately.