Swedish Minister of Interior: "We have been too naive"
http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.1194/swedish-minister-of-interior-we-have-been-too-naive.html There has been a naivety in Sweden about facing the threat that radicalization and IS represents, says the Minister of Interior, Anders Ygeman (S). He reacts strongly to that an official representative from the City of Gothenburg, in an interviews with Swedish Television, took no stand on IS.
- For me it is inconceivable that one can express it like that. We must be crystal clear. IS is a terrorist organization, they are bestial killers. They are guilty of assault and murder of innocent civilians daily, he says to SVT.
Reporter: We hear also the representative comparing those who join IS in Syria with the Finnish Winter War and freedom fighters during the Spanish Civil War.
- It's a crazy comparison, of course. This is a terrorist organization guilty of a number of assaults on civilians every day. They are simply murderers, he says.
As Minister of Interior, it is Anders Ygeman who has the responsibility for these issues. He admits that too little has been done.
- We have been too naive to the threat posed by IS and the radicalization there has been in Sweden.
Now he wants to make recruitment to the terrorist organizations criminalized. Today's situation, Anders Ygeman believe is because of how the social climate has been like.
Click to see original Image in a new window- The last fifteen years, with rising unemployment, school performance declining, growing economic inequality, it has created a fertile ground for recruitment. This in itself creates no terrorists, but it creates a breeding ground, a pond to fish in for those who want to radicalize and recruit for these movements.
Reporter: How will you deal with this now specifically?
- By giving Mona Sahlin a broadened mandate and double her financial resources, by being involved myself and to get municipalities involved, and to dare to see that they have this problem in municipalities. Many municipalities have probably chosen to turn a blind eye instead of facing this problem.
