The Sweden Democrats are xenophobic, racist, and anti-immigration

In this debate, I, the Pro, shall contend that the Sweden Democrats are a xenophobia & anti-immigrant party. As xenophobia encompasses racism, I shall merge these two arguments into one. Some sources used in this debate will be in Swedish &information was obtained via google translate. Background The Sweden Democrats are a nationalist & social conservative party in Sweden. It was founded in 1988 as part of the White Supremacy movement and had close ties with the British National Front, which is why the party used the same logo as the NF until 2006. In the 21st Century, the party has reformed its image and moderated its tone, to the point of expelling Neo-Nazis from the party. They are now the third largest party in the Swedish Parliament. Contention 1: Xenophobia Despite the attempts to moderate the party's tone, the Sweden Democrats remain a nationalist party. This is not to say that all nationalists are xenophobes, as Civic nationalists embrace all peoples within a nation regardless of race, culture religion or national origin. The Sweden Democrats, however, are not a civic nationalist party, but an exclusionary nationalist party. The Sweden Democrats have long used the slogan "keep Sweden Swedish". This slogan is a prime example of xenophobia, as it is clearly expressing opposition to foreign immigrants and cultures. This is used as a major justification for why the party is opposed to integrating immigrants into Sweden, as it would “threaten Swedish tradition”. The party also believes that all immigrants must adopt Swedish culture, & they must meet a certain level of “Swedishness”. Such an arbitrary requirement is clearly meant to discriminate against foreigners. This xenophobia does not only apply to foreign immigrants, but also to Swedish Citizens. Party secretary Björn Söder, speaking on behalf of the party, has stated that while Jews & Sámis can be citizens of Sweden, they cannot be considered Swedes, because a person cannot be a Swede and something else. A more specific form of this xenophobia is the party’s Islamophobia. The party platform & rhetoric casts Muslims as invaders, and party officials regularly invoke Islamophobic conspiracy theories. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson has even gone as far as to call Muslims “our greatest foreign threat since World War II.” Contention 2: Anti-Immigrant The Sweden Democrats make no secret about the opposition to immigration, making this a focal point of their campaigns. The Party calls for strict controls on immigration & state funding for repatriation of immigrants. Åkesson, the Party leader, has said he wants to ban asylum immigration, a major draw of immigration to Sweden & has even called on immigrants not to come to Sweden, stating “Stay away...Sweden is full.” The party claims that immigrants bring crime &harm the economy, despite that there is no evidence to support these claims & a great deal of evidence to the contrary.Sources: https://sd.se...;(Swedish) https://www.theguardian.com...... http://www.telegraph.co.uk...... http://www.skma.se......;(Swedish document) http://expo.se...;http://www.thelocal.se... http://www.dn.se...https://www.jacobinmag.com...