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The Social Democrats' election poster with a hidden message about deportation based on ethnicity

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One submitter criticizes the Social Democrats' election poster which, despite not mentioning immigrants or non-Swedes explicitly, implicitly suggests that deportation should only apply to people with a foreign background, while ethnic Swedes are exempt regardless of criminality, which is seen as a discriminatory message aimed at anti-immigrant voters.

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Why It Matters

The article is a submitter commenting on an election poster from the Social Democrats that says 'Deport serious criminals? Yes!' and 'Deport well-behaved teenagers? No!'. The writer believes that the poster, despite not mentioning immigrants or non-Swedes, implicitly targets people with a foreign background by excluding ethnic Swedes from deportation regardless of criminality.

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One of the Social Democrats' election posters read:

Deport serious criminals? Yes!

Deport well-behaved teenagers? No!

When I saw the poster, I thought about what S doesn't mention, but assumes that everyone who reads the message gets it. There is nothing in the text about immigrants or non-Swedes. The poster said, without specifying nationality or ethnic background, yes to deportation in one case and no to deportation in the other.

When you read the text, you could think that S means that even Swedish serious criminals should be deported. But of course no one believes something so "stupid". Of course, "honorable" Swedish criminals should not be deported!

What the Social Democrats do is implicitly assume that "everyone" perceives the group of immigrants as the "other", as those who can be punished or rewarded on other grounds than ethnic Swedes.

We who are ethnic, "honorable" Swedes (criminal or not) know of course that we will never be deported. We also know - that is the point of the poster's hidden message - that those whom S wants to deport should be deported precisely because of their ethnic, non-Swedish background. And that those with a non-Swedish background may stay in Sweden only if they are "careful".

That S wanted to put out such a discriminatory message, only half-heartedly hidden, I think is because they wanted to compete with the more openly anti-immigrant parties for the group of anti-immigrant voters. Whether they succeeded or not, the post-election analysis will have to show.

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Open Questions

What effect did the poster have on voter opinion?
How did the Social Democrats react to the criticism?
Are there official statements from the party about the poster's intent?