page_title: Refugee controversy in Sjöbo
section_title: Debate and media attention
hierarchical_section_title: Refugee controversy in Sjöbo / Referendum / Debate and media attention
caption_attribution_description: First image of the small town Sjöbo in Skåne in Sweden Date as of upload
context_page_description: The refugee controversy in Sjöbo, Sweden are the surrounding events of the 1988 referendum that banned Sjöbo Municipality from admitting foreign refugees. In 1987, despite opposition and demonstrations, local Centre Party politician Sven-Olle Olsson, who was Sjöbo's municipal commissioner at the time, was successful in gaining the support of the Sjöbo municipal assembly to hold a referendum to decide if Sjöbo should ban the acceptance of foreign refugees. The controversial referendum passed with a 67.4% majority for the ban in 1988, gaining Olsson and Sjöbo much publicity in the Swedish media. The outcome was heavily criticized by Swedish media and politicians.
  Olsson was in turn expelled from the Centre Party following the referendum which led to the forming of the nationalist Sjöbo Party in March 1991. In the municipal elections the same year, the party received 31% of the votes. This led to Olsson once again becoming Municipal Commissioner, a position he held until 1998, when his party's support was reduced to 15% in municipal elections.
context_section_description: The municipality's decision to go through with the referendum was met with even more criticism from the rest of the country. Immigration minister and Social Democrat Georg Andersson described the vote as a "macabre expression of egoism, and a violation of the refugees' human dignity." A majority of the population in Sjöbo, however, was in favor of the referendum. One citizen stated that "Foreigners just create problems. It's only democratic to vote about this. I'm all for it."
  It was, however, reported, that several of those who were in favor of accepting refugees, were afraid of expressing their opinion in public. On the day of the vote, 18 September 1988, the Associated Press reported that the refugee issue had split families, friends and even the town's only church."
  The referendum and the protests against it also drew attention abroad. On 12 September 1988, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote: "A referendum on accepting refugees in this quiet Swedish town has flared into an ugly battle watched closely by a country that prides itself on its tolerant attitudes and absence of racism."
  Madeleine Ramel, a baroness, and the head of the local Social Welfare Board that was planning on taking care of the refugees, said: "a lot of people are very ashamed. It's terrible. The town has changed." Ramel was Olsson's strongest opposition in Sjöbo at the time. The Baroness became a symbol of the minority who supported the acceptance of refugees into the municipality. According to the local newspaper Skånska Dagbladet, "the Swedish media, especially the evening newspapers, loved the polarization between the simple farmer who did not want foreigners in the village and the baroness who wanted to take in the needy with open arms."
  Olsson's main argument in the debate leading up to the day of the referendum was that foreigners would not be able to fit into a community such as Sjöbo. He repeatedly stated that these people come from "unknown cultures" and that it would be impossible for them to integrate into the Swedish society. Per-Ingvar Magnusson, the then-chairman of the Sjöbo branch of the Center Party, stated to the media that the referendum had nothing to do with racism; he claimed that the reason for the vote was that Sjöbo lacked housing and jobs. He said in an interview that he was surprised by the attention the town had received in the media: "They make us out to be stupid, fools, farmers who live in isolation. The town simply wants to take care of its own first."
caption: A part of Sjöbo's town square, where both pro- and con- demonstrations were held
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