After requests from locals, the Järfälla municipality in Stockholm’s suburbs has replaced the National Swedish day celebrations with Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic festivity, in another pathetic attempt of integration. The real question here is: At this point, who is integrating whom in Sweden?
In an attempt to accommodate both celebrations, the municipal cultural centre Huset på Höjden (“The House on the Hill”) wanted on the 6th of June to hold a joint festival of Swedish National Day, as well as Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic holiday that marks the end of the month of fasting, also known as Ramadan. In a turn of events, the idea of this syncretic celebration turned out to be incredibly unpopular with the town’s residents, where almost half of the population is of immigrant origin, with protests regarding that decision.
The town council then called its plans a “misunderstanding”, scrapping its “integration attempt” plans, and deciding to only mark Eid al-Fitr, despite the fact that Ramadan this year officially ends on 4 June, and marking the National Day celebrations to a less relevant place. ...
Posts
