9.5 JENS GANMAN & ARON FLAM ”Carbecues & Sweden’s Election” IN ENGLISH

The guest of this episode is Jens Ganman. Jens is a frequent guest on this podcast although normally we do this in Swedish. He is a Swedish musician, author, and satirist. Whose satirical animated short film on youtube ”To Make It Right!” was just taken down and labeled hate speech.

Jens is originally from up north. Which when your in Sweden – is very north. It’s not exactly at the Arctic Circle but closer than comfort for most people. Jämtland. Or as he calls it, the Appalachia of Sweden!

If swedes could vote for Trump this is were they would live. I came here to interview Jens in his own backyard. Previously he’s been my guest in Stockholm.

Jens is born and raised in the north but went to study radio production in Stockholm after high school. The Dramatic Institute radio production line is our Juillards. They only admit a few students every litter. They all go on to prestigious jobs in Swedish state media.

Jens was typical for the type admitted – young, leftist, and more than a little bit metro-sexual. He went on to get a job as a satirist for the state radio youth channel and voted for the environmental party, as almost 80 percent of the employees in Swedish state media do. Even though the party rarely gets more than fifteen percent in an election.

Increasingly, Jens noticed that the state media he worked at was ignoring several subjects. Especially concerning gender, feminism, sexuality, the Israel-Palestine conflict, anti-semtism, the war (that would be the second one), immigration, integration, and Islam. I myself could add narcotics and more but I don’t want to lose you.

Jens noticed that not only was a lot of problems being covered up – he was working for the cover up!

He started a blog where he made satirical essays about the problems state, and mainstream media, was ignoring. Reports from the valueabyss is a hard joke to translate into English. As is most of Jens comedy.

You would have to follow Swedish politics closely, even for a swede, to appreciate all the nuances and underhand wit hidden in the half hour short film about our current situation that was taken down from youtube.

It tells the story of how the Swedish establishment in politics, media, academia, and pop culture has handled each and every challenge to their own world view. Told through cartoon caricatures of the individuals themselves – but using real quotes. So it’s hard to see how it can be hate speech considering that these are quotes from people who do nothing but signal their own virtue?

The voice over is read by Doctor David Eberhard – a psychiatrist and author – and also a frequent guest on this podcast but now labeled a peddler of hate speech. 

Swedes now get a feel of how Americans must have felt in the election between trump and Hillary. Or what a Brit must have felt when asked to choose between the EU and BREXIT.

We are faced with a choice between the traditional parties, who have all failed miserably, lied to us, continue lying to us, and refuse to even admit to the problems that are plain for anyone with eyes to see – or vote against them. But that means voting for a party that up until very recently was neo-nazi.

And I wouldn’t exactly say that they have dealt with their past. But then again – nor have the social democrats. Who supported Nazi Germany during the war while still clinging to the lie that Sweden was neutral during the war.

A lot of the problems Sweden is facing today can be traced back to not dealing with the guilt of the second world war. Jens documentary points this out. As have I repeatedly on this podcast.

If you’re abroad you can’t hear it, but the silence here is huge. The silence is always big, but it has never been this big. The lack of sound is deafening.

It is the sound of the Swedish consensus shifting. I recognize it from the closing of the border in 2015. There’s no real debate, hardly any discussion. It is just a big silent shift. Like a glacier calving into the sea.

Sweden has never offered any suprises. Politically or otherwise. But especially not politically. Sweden is social democratic. It was borne out of social democracy and it seemed, until just a few years ago, that that would always be the case.

But a little over a year ago, on first of may – workers day – 2017, I started a little project labeled crush socialism.

And since then things has become increasingly absurd. Sweden has real problems. Retired people unable to support themselves on their pensions. There is high unemployment. With a clear ethnic divide.

Access to medical care is in decline. Especially for cancer patients. The lines have caused deaths.

Schools are failing.

Violent crime is sky rocketing. The numbers are extreme compared to the rest of Europe. Shootings with a deadly outcome between young men are ten times as high in Sweden compared to Germany. Twice as high as the average of Europe!

So are rapes. 41 % in a decade. 

Islamism has a firm foothold in the country.

Islamists control parts of towns.

And have infiltrated established political parties.

But from watching the coverage of the election or the debates you wouldn’t think so. They seem focused on completely different issues.

And I don’t believe it to be a conspiracy, rather incompetence, a lack of correct information, and an inability to deal with real problems after 250 years of peace and relative prosperity, but this is what has happened just the last week or so.

And in a little more than a week’s time I hope to declare victory over socialism in Sweden.

Straight to jail with no chance of appeal

Victory over socialism won’t be declared on Facebook. Since I have been blocked for 30 days. Like a medieval court, or the trial of Josef K in Kafka, I have not been informed of the charges against me. Just that there have been charges against me.

I cannot appeal. Since I have been blocked from making comments.

When I log in I see a message that reads “Together we can counter fake news – we are removing fake accounts and are cooperating with fact checkers.”

They go on to inform me that they remove accounts, listen to “signals from their community”, and in “some countries” work with “third party fact checkers”. Content they consider “false” is given a lower priority in the feed.

I have no doubt that there are leftist activist groups mass reporting political opponents. But I have no proof.

And I don’t what, if any, rule I’ve broken? I have posted links to my own material. Which I don’t think fake. They are my opinons. And I might be wrong but they are still real opinions that I hold.

And I’ve tried to share an half hour satirical animated film about the political situation in Sweden. The genius behind this film is Jens Ganman. An author, satirist, and troubadour. He published it on youtube but it was taken down within an hour and labeled “hate speech”.

It is not hate speech. It is a satirical description of Swedish officialdom with authentic quotes from cartoon caricatures of our so-called leaders in politics and media. A blistering account of the incidents, and policy consequences, hidden from us and lied about by our own establishment.

The films name is “To make it right!”. A catchphrase added after every quoted lie. But since it was, perhaps, to honest, it was taken down and labeled hate speech. “To make it right!”

See? That’s the joke. That every lie is for your own good. “To make it right!”

A friend’s teenage son shared it on Facebook and got suspended as well. So that might be it?

Facebook is a private company and may do as they please. But currently Facebooks market penetration in Sweden exceeds fifty percent. It is in other words a very large public forum. It is the largest public forum for political discussion in the country. A forum I am now shut out from.

 

When I tried to pay for marketing of the latest episode of DECONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, my other podcast, on Instagram the app told me that “This promotion can’t be created because the link has been blocked by our security systems”.

 

None of this comes as a surprise. Jonathan Lundqvist, head of “Reporters without borders” in Sweden, and previous guest on my podcast DECONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, warned about a development such as this on said podcast and in a large article in the daily Dagens Nyheter. https://unv.is/dn.se/kultur-noje/jonathan-lundqvist-ska-vi-verkligen-ge-bort-makten-over-vem-som-far-horas-till-amerikanska-foretag

 

Swedish government officials, as well as mainstream media which is subsidized by the government, have held talks with google. Specifically about its subsidiary youtube and gotten channels closed. Other times anonymous people at Google decide. There’s no chance of appeal.

And I know it is easy to brush this off as conspiracy or paranoia but… Then Swedish state televisions flagship show – our sixty minutes – Agenda used the last fifteen minutes of their 44 minute TV-hour to publicly brand Hanif Bali, a member of parliament for the Moderate party and an outspoken critic of the Swedish system, an alt-right collaborator.

Hanif Bali is nothing of the sort. And also a frequent guest on this podcast. In fact, I was interviewing Hanif over Skype while the public execution took place.

Swedish state media is tasked with being objective. Even though the shows name is Agenda.  And the show so obviously has an Agenda.

The piece is pure character assassination. They claim, and I shit you not, that Hanif Bali’s tweeting is a “threat to liberal democracy”. That Hanif Bali, by retweeting a meme of himself as a character from the computer game Call of Duty at war with the daily Dagens Nyheter, is threatening the entire western alliance.

The piece starts with the exceptionally leading question “is Hanif Bali a threat to democracy?” But the conspiracy theory they weave out of this from the outset biased question is completely insane.

According to swedish state television Hanif Bali might be inspired by the alt-right. Because they use memes, and since Hanif has shared memes, not alt-right memes mind you, just memes, he is enabling the alt-right to take over the world and usher in global apartheid.

I know how it sounds. But I remind you that I am just the messenger here. This is the story Swedish state television is running with.

To prove it they interview the leaders of the Swedish alt-right movement. Who have never been happier. Because they were tiny. And want attention. And SVT, state television, willingly gives it to them. To build up a threat.

Extremists always want to eliminate the center. The grey areas in between extremes where most of life takes place. They do this so that nothing remains but the final battle. Pure and untainted by doubt.

Swedish state television don’t want to face Hanif with arguments or critical questions. They want to brand him a nazi and be done with it. For that they need Nazis. And Nordic alt-right willingly obliged. Win-win for Swedish state television and the Nordic alt-right. Lose-lose for Hanif Bali and democracy.

The thing is that State television have already written an article about the incidents which caused the scandal between Dagens Nyheter and Hanif Bali. Which the same state media then use out of context – in contradiction to their own article from a week before – to make Hanif Bali into someone who provokes Breivik-type violence against members of the press.

By associating Bali to the alt-right – they are implying that he is a Nazi and a racist. If you’re wondering what kind of swede would name their kid Hanif Bali? The answer is no one. Bali came to Sweden as refugee from Iran when he was a child. 

Hanif Bali is a moderate. An outspoken one, and merciless on twitter, but he stands for a pluralistic, secular, democratic, state. He is not even anti-immigration. He’s just against this complete failure of an immigration system. As a former immigrant himself. He would know.

Instead he is vilified in state media and media close to the government, thrown under the buss by his coalition partners, and not even half heartedly defended by his own party.

And I know this sounds crazy enough as it is but then, just three days after, Swedish state television clusterfuck on Hanif they are a documentary about the alt-right in Sweden.

The angle is “are they a threat to democracy?”. Because suddenly – everybody has to be a threat to democracy. If Swedish state television had the least bit of insight they should just observe themselves. If anyone poses a threat to democracy it’s them. 

SVT Agenda (Swedish state TV) interview Richard Spencer in America. Who of course attests to his own, and the Swedish branch of the alt-right, influence.  

SVT Agenda lets a reporter go undercover for six months in the Alt-right. With nothing more to show for it than a few inappropriate drinking songs and cheers.

The only evidence to prove that this group is an enormous threat is provided by the group themselves. In the interviews. No attempt to contradict them or disprove them is made.

And most embarrassing of all. When they present this to the Swedish FBI and ask them if they think it’s a threat. The analyst say no. ”It is not an immediate threat”.

But at the end of the documentary they still manage to edit in yours truly, me, and Alexander Bard. Another frequent guest on this podcast.

The footage was filmed at an event this summer. At a political meet in Sweden – open to the public and anyone interested in politics of any ideology. The audience consisted of everyone and anyone. Among the visitors where the Swedish alt-right followed by Swedish state televisions camera team.

They edit in one of the alt-righters asking me a question, and Alexander speaking about freedom of speech and memes. Uncommented, without explaining what it is you’re seeing, to make it seem like me and Alexander are at some kind of alt-right meet. That we are leaders of the alt-right movement. And that its big.

Alexander is a gay philosopher. I am a liberal, secular, atheist, jew. Furthermore, I am the grandchild of holocaust survivors. Their insinuation is therefore in even poorer taste than would otherwise be the case.

I have publicly many times said that I think Swedish state television should be closed down because it is weird that we are forced to pay for our own indoctrination.

I have criticized Swedish state television for covering up Swedens support to Nazi Germany during World War 2. Instead they continue to claim that they were neutral. I have criticized them for lying about narcotics, antisemitism, Islamism, feminism, and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. I have accused them of being leftist. 

All these claims have been supported by proof. The response has been silence. And it is still silence. Just a passive aggressive, un-motivated and un-commented, indecent edit in a failed documentary about an imaginary nazi threat.

I am a person who has criticized Swedish state television for being anti-semitic, sexist, incompetent, and completely incapable of being of objective. And now they respond by once again proving that they are wholly incapable of remaining objective. Or for that matter competent.

Real journalists who have worked hundreds of man hours on a project that didn’t pan out would let it go, or publish that nothing was found. Swedish state television instead uses it to prove my critique of them.

That they are now calling a metrosexual hillbilly – that’s Jens Ganman – a Kurdish dwarflord – that’s Hanif Bali – a homosexual philosopher pop-star – Alexander – and the grand child of holocaust survivors – that’s me – Nazis – just proves that they have completely lost it.

I should be mad that my own state television, that I grew up with, have worked at, and payed for – mostly against my will that’s true – but that it tries to label me a nazi should make me livid. But I am not. Nor I am surprised. This is an obvious sign of desperation.

They are panicking. Making me even more right than before that these people are not to be trusted, especially not in a crisis.

They are biased and care more for themselves than their viewers. Who also pay their salaries. And they know it. And they know that their viewers can see it.

They are right to panic. Soon they will be out of work. And it’s probably going to be hard to get a new job with “propagandist for authoritarian regime media” on your resumé.

The Potemkin village around the famous welfare state is crumbling. The social democrats have been accused by the opposition of dirty tricks. Their election material in Arabic disseminated in immigrant dense areas lie about the moderate party as well as the Sweden democrats saying they will outlaw halal and close down mosques.

The social democrats have long been suspected of importing immigrants and making them dependent on subsidies as voting cattle. This adds to the distrust even though the social democrats claim it is an isolated incident of low-level functionaries.

True is that several local candidates were forced to resign from the race and the party. And this happened in at least five cities. According to Financial Times false claims had been posted in Arabic and Somali. The lies were among others that rightwing parties were accusing muslim parents of crime to take their children away from them, and that they wanted to remove citizenship from anybody who arrived in Sweden after 1970.

The Swedish government is trying hard to limit freedom of speech. If they get to stay in power there is high likelihood that this podcast will be used against me as proof of treason or espionage. Yes, I’m serious. The noose is tightening and the threats come from all directions.

Thankfully, in the end, none of this will matter. Because come the ninth of September the Sweden Democrats, the upstart little naziparty that could, will probably become the biggest party. The social-democrats, all established parties, will be voted out.

And it will have nothing to do with me, or Alexander, Hanif, Jens or the alt-right.

Partly because no one has been more vilified by the establishment as much as the Sweden democrats. And as such voting for the Sweden democrats is the only way to show your disapproval.

But mostly they will be voted out for failing, miserably, with health care, with the education system, and immigration, for covering it up, and for lying about it.

Unfortunately this podcast was recorded before Jens was censored and his work labeled hate speech. But it still gives you an inside look of how Swedes are thinking about what is going on their country at the moment.

Until next time, have a good unit of time – and good luck!