this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2026
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British widow, 78, told to leave Sweden under Brexit rules after living there for 21 years (www.theguardian.com)
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[–] Dojan@pawb.social 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Edit: I just want to say thank you. I appreciate seeing your comment, because what I overwhelmingly see in response to this topic here in Sweden is "well, them's the rules so it sucks to suck."

I know that the rules are wrong, that they're inhumane and treat people without dignity. However, I never see this expressed by others, at most you get an apathetic shrug, and that's more than a little discouraging.

Sweden has this mythology around it, that we're a highly liberal and humane country. Perhaps we are in some regards, living here though and having grown up in poverty, I've seen some really ugly aspects of Swedish society I wish wasn't that invisible.

It's happening because of the current right-wing nazi government in Sweden putting more focus on deportations and tightening the rules around immigration. There's been so many stories past couple of years of either elderly people being kicked out despite having lived here for decades, or teens/young adults that were raised and educated here being kicked out because their parents didn't file a form correctly.

I recall this article from some months ago. A 95 year old woman, Rabea Allah Wais, who has lived in Sweden for approximately 20 years. She's wheelchair bound. She lives with her daughter who takes care of her. There's no one for her back in Iraq.

Even so, Migrationsverket believes that she should be sent home to Iraq because she isn't legally allowed to be here. She's applied for residence permit several times, but been rejected. During the period 2008-2022 migrationsverket says that she was "missing from their radar" which sounds like mismanagement on their part to me.

So now they want to put a disabled, 95 year old, woman, who possibly has dementia and needs full-time care on an aeroplane to be sent over to Iraq where she has no family to advocate for her.

I get that the laws are what they are but like you said, maybe they're wrong. This case just strikes me as extremely inhumane and undignified. We should be doing better.

Jag vill bara vara med min familj, jag har inga egna armar och ben. Jag känner ingen i Irak. Snälla, låt mig dö här, säger Rabea Allah Wais.

I just want to be with my family, I have no legs or arms of my own. I know no one in Iraq. Please, let me die here, says Rabea Allah Wais.

Then there are the weekly articles about teens, who grew up here, speak Swedish, got fed and educated in our schools, and for all intents and purposes are fucking Swedish being deported because of some stupid formality somewhere.

See, when the right-wing nazi government took power they did this with the pretense that they were going to deport the rapists, the gangbangers, the criminals who couldn't be fixed, what have you. Obviously, being idiots, people bought into that idea. They lapped up that fearmongering and voted for the burning children in great big ovens party, and now here we are.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And this is why I didn't accept a job offer in Sweden.

That said, I accepted one in Germany and then Merz got elected 😒.

[–] Dojan@pawb.social 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I mean we could follow suit. Currently our government is run by the Moderates. They're the bourgeoisie economic liberals who put money before anything else. They're in coalition with the Christ Democrats, who quite openly say things like "pride is too sexual" and "RFSL has gained far too much influence at far too young ages. Gender dysphoria is a result of their propaganda" this election season.

Also part of the coalition and actually outnumbering the Moderates is the Sweden Democrats. They're the "Make Sweden Great Again" party, whose roots are in the Sweden Party, a very clear white-power nazi party. Their party leader has repeatedly said things like

”Till skillnad från Magdalena Andersson och hennes socialdemokrater kommer vi varken att lämna eller överge våra rötter.”

"Unlike Magdalena Andersson and her social democrats we'll never leave or abandon our roots."

If you're generous, they're a socially conservative nationalist party. If you're realistic, they're nazis. Every single thing in their party programme hinges on non-Swedish people bad. They used to be the nazis you shamed because they openly assaulted people on the street with an iron pipe (while also being heavily misogynistic in the process), but they've since not cleaned up their act exactly, but rather gained more general acceptance. It's cool to be nazi now.