A Swedish TV ad made by a government-backed charity has urged citizens to accept that “Sweden will never be what it once was” and to find a way to “live side by side” with the growing number of migrants and refugees.
The 75-second video, called ‘Det Nya Landet’ (The New Country), shows smiling faces of different racial and ethnic profiles. The voiceover says, "New Swedes will claim their space and bring their culture, language and customs – and it's time to see it as a positive force," adding that “there is no way back.”
The video also calls on the country’s people to “live side by side” with the newcomers, and “build a country where we put fear and hate aside.”
“It’s not just new Swedes who need to integrate. Everyone needs to be integrated, established Swedes too,” the video added. “Integration does not mean that one party should adapt to the other, or that everyone should think, do and feel the same. Integration is about meetings, and real meetings are built on reciprocity.”
The ad was produced by the Swedish charity Individuell Manniskohjalp (Individual Relief), and the group says its activities are dedicated to fighting and exposing poverty and exclusion.
The organization is an official member of the government-backed Swedish Fundraising Council (SFC), and the campaign is reportedly a recipient of taxpayer’s funds, according to Swedish news source Fria Tider.
The campaign is accompanied by the hashtag #detnyalandet, which Twitter users can share in reaction to the ad.
“Individual relief is proof that SIDA [the Swedish government agency aimed at reducing poverty in the world] money goes to activism instead of help. A reform is needed,” one user posted.
“A better PR trick would have been to calm people and persuade them that everything will become good again, not ‘there is no way back.’"
“Sweden has really vile anti-whites in government, they must be tried for their treason and will be sooner or later,” one of the messages read.
The charity had to apologize following the reaction, saying that it was not asking Swedes to give up their “old” culture, but rather was promoting “mutual integration,” which “means that the two go together into something bigger.”
Last year, nearly 200,000 refugees and migrants entered Sweden – more per capita than any other nation in Europe.
At the beginning of September, it was reported that the percentage of Swedes who want their country to welcome fewer refugees has nearly doubled in a year, with 60 percent urging the authorities to reduce immigration.
Only 13 percent of the population said that they thought more refugees and migrants should be accepted.