Quran burning is a new phenomenon in Sweden first executed by Rasmus Paludan, the leader of a far-right, anti-immigrant political party - Stram Kurs. These burnings are still a subject of debates and cause a lot of controversy due to the vandalism caused by the local muslim protesters and because many muslims and non-muslims believe that it should be categorized as incitement of hatred against muslims. The purpose of this study is to illuminate how young muslims in Skania, Sweden, perceive the Quran burnings that are protected by the Swedish Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression. The purpose of this study is also to get a picture of how the burnings affect them and to show how this demonstration of freedom of speech affects their freedom of religion. Five semi structured interviews were done to conduct this study. The chosen relevant theories that were used were stigma, islamophobia, the argument from truth and the argument from autonomy. The most important findings of this study are that the interviewed young Swedish muslims believe that there is an error in the Swedish system where laws against incitement of hatred are only applied in some cases, but not other. And that the interviewees feel angry about the police protecting a man who is trying to provoke them by mocking them and their religion. They also question whether they belong in Sweden and are convinced that the Quran burnings will only cause further division in the society of which muslims are a large part of. Another problem that they pointed out is that the media uses the pictures of the vandalizing protesters to spread a negative image of muslims and Islam. Another finding is that the interviewed young Swedish muslims feel that the Quran burnings are a new and legitimate way for islamophobes to attack and offend them. They also feel, however, that their freedom of religion remains unaffected. The last finding is that based on the argument from truth and the argument from autonomy, the Quran burnings do not justify limiting the freedom of expression. The conclusion is that these islamophobic attacks in the form of Quran burnings are a consequence of a tribal stigma that, according to the interviewed young Swedish muslims, muslims in Sweden have to live with. This stigma can even be found in how the interviewed muslims feel the government and the media are treating them. Even if the Quran burnings don’t justify limiting freedom of expression, the problem remains that the interviewees feel that freedom of expression is being used against them. / <p>Mångfaldsstudier</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-68847 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Czechowski, Szymon |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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