{"id":182108,"date":"2026-11-06T06:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T05:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/?p=182108"},"modified":"2026-11-06T06:03:40","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T05:03:40","slug":"lawen-redar-extrem-ide-att-svenskarna-ar-ett-folk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/lawen-puts-forward-the-extreme-idea-that-swedes-are-a-single-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawen Redar: \u201dIt\u2019s an extreme idea\u201d that Swedes are a single people"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Lawen Redar, a Kurdish Social Democrat, is attacking the ethnic origins and shared history of the Swedish people. At the same time, she herself has fought for the Kurds\u2019 right to their own country. She is now being criticized for denying the Swedish people and for applying double standards.<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Social Democrats' spokesperson on integration policy, a Kurd <strong>Lawen Redar<\/strong>, faces harsh criticism after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.expressen.se\/debatt\/debatt-sd-har-fortfarande-fel-i-synen-pa-svenskhet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>opinion piece<\/strong> <\/a>in Expressen. There, she criticizes the Sweden Democrats\u201d view of Swedishness and links the idea of a Swedish people with a shared origin and history to what she calls \u201dextreme ethnonationalism.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201d<em>But it is clear for all to see that extreme ethno-nationalism\u2014the notion of a common people with a shared ethnic origin and historical continuity\u2014lives on in the party\u2019s view of what it means to be Swedish.<\/em>\u201d, she writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also rails against the fact that party representatives such as party leader Jimmie \u00c5kesson and chief ideologist Mattias Karlsson (the man behind \u201dopen Swedishness\u201d) have refused to acknowledge immigrant soccer players <strong>Zlatan Ibrahimovic<\/strong> and <strong>Yasin Ayari<\/strong> as \u201dSwedes.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201d<strong>Deny the Swedish people<\/strong>\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On X, several commentators are reacting to Redar\u2019s views on the ethnic background of Swedes. They accuse her of effectively denying the existence of the Swedish people, even though she herself has fought for the rights of the Kurds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Riks Profile <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/miraklangs\/status\/2118364410905321846?s=19\">Mira Klang<\/a><\/strong> highlights the contradiction between Redar's criticism of the Sweden Democrats and her support for Kurdish self-determination:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201dIs it an extreme ethno-nationalist notion to believe that Kurds exist as well?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"sv\" dir=\"ltr\">Now, recognizing Swedes as an ethnic group is not just \u201dethnonationalism\u201d; it is both a notion and \u201dextreme ethnonationalism.\u201d According to Lawen Redar (S), who himself fights for the Kurds\u2019 right to self-determination. <br><br>Is it an extreme ethno-nationalist view that Kurds\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/P62kuZgOGx\">pic.twitter.com\/P62kuZgOGx<\/a><\/p>\u2014 Mira Klang (@miraklangs) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/miraklangs\/status\/2118364410905321846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 5, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SD leadership <strong>Richard Jomshof<\/strong> answers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201dThis debate is getting more and more ridiculous.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Nationalist Profile <strong>Fredric Morenius<\/strong> launches a fierce attack on Redar and accuses her of denying the existence of the Swedish people. Emelie Ekstedt suspects that Redar is trying to provoke SD supporters into harsher reactions, so that she can then label them as extremists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Wanted to grant the Kurds the right to self-rule<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2014, Redar signed a motion in the Riksdag calling for Sweden to support a referendum on self-rule in Iraqi Kurdistan. The motion described how, after World War I, the Kurds lost the opportunity to form their own state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Redar has thus herself supported the Kurds\u2014her own people\u2014in their right to self-determination and their recognition as a distinct people. It is this discrepancy that critics are reacting to now that she is labeling ethnic arguments about Swedishness as \u201dextremism.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Criticism: Different Rules for Different People<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Redar\u2019s article has raised new questions about why different groups of people are treated by different standards. Critics point out that she defends the Kurds\u2019 right to preserve their identity, but attacks similar arguments when it comes to Swedes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recurring question in the criticism is why the Kurds\u2019 shared history and identity can be used to recognize them as a people, while the existence of the Swedes becomes a contentious issue when it is raised in the political debate.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>S-toppen Lawen Redar avf\u00e4rdar erk\u00e4nnandet av svenskarna som ett folk som en &#8221;extrem id\u00e9&#8221;. Hur ser det ut f\u00f6r andra folk?<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":172116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,206],"tags":[533,4843,2278,156],"class_list":["post-182108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nyheter","category-inrikes","tag-kurder","tag-lawen-redar","tag-svenskar","tag-sverigedemokraterna"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frihetsnytt.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}