The Scapegoating of Islamic Immigrant Women in the Media

Abstract

In 2010 the Sweden Democrats (SD) unveiled their campaign advertisement for the parliamentary election, they engaged a series of images positioning immigrants as scapegoats by creating a link between immigration and the domestic budget crisis. While the advert associated immigration and lslam with the economic failings of Swedish society, the SD also energized new forms of representation, a new embodiment of Swedishness and, additionally, of conceptualizations of 'the Other'. On the surface, the controversial campaign ad identified economic concerns and moral corruption with immigration, women, and lslam. Perhaps, as a result of this immediate reading, the state's leading broadcaster, TV4, banned the advertisement for inciting hate speech before it even aired on Swedish television. The act of censorship thrust the ad centre stage, with a flurry of media coverage and the Sweden Democrats (SD) proclaiming unlawful persecution. Paradoxically, or, perhaps, expectedly, censorship of the advertisement, and the ensuing public debate about censorship, dramatically increased awareness of the party and their message, in various and complex ways.