If it led to criticism, but the minister does not
“How much we really know about what our children do on social networks and how can we protect them from being dragged to something we don’t want?”
The Swedish Minister of Migration revealed that he was “shocked and horrified” after discovering his child’s involvement, under-the-right extremist groups. Johan Forssell was following his son on social networks, but admitted not to know what was going on.
The Anti-Racism magazine Expo revealed that a “close relative of a Swedish minister” was active in the violent far right, which led the minister to come to public confirming the succeeded.
Speaking to Swedish TV4 TV4, the Minister of Migration announced that he did not know what was going on and that he had learned about his son’s activities weeks before through contact by Swedish Safety Service Säpo.
Forssell warned parents to these or other situations of the same genre and to be aware of what their children do online.
The young man, who is not suspected of any crime, followed far-right activists and influencers and was involved with a violent Neoanazi organization. The father, the minister, made public defend the minor in order to protect him and said that “it is not about protecting me as a politician, it is about protecting a minor.”
A case that led to criticism from the opposition, which requested justification on the case. Most leftist parties wanted to realize how to solve the situation and what potential concerns at safety.
Still, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has not lost confidence in Forssell and reiterated that the minister acted “as a responsible father should act when he becomes aware that his son is doing wrong things and is in bad company.”
The minister also wanted to explain the situation through social networks, where he said that his son is sorry. Among other things, he wrote, “My wife and I had feature and important conversations with him. He has now completely broke the relationship and is deeply sorry. It’s a closed chapter.” He added and also reinforced the idea that he expects “this to serve to open his eyes to the most parents”
Johan Forssell is part of a center-right party that leads a coalition that depends on the support of the far-right Swedish Democrats and has admitted that he does not intend to fire his position.
The extremism of the far right, present for a long time in Sweden, has come to gain expression through smaller and agile groups that recruit young people through social networks. Democrats have gained relief in the last general elections and became the second largest party in the country.
Since 2008 there was no record of such a high number of active groups of the far-right Swedish.
