Björn Olof Söder (born 3 January 1976) is a Swedish
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...
politician who served as
Second Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag
The speaker of the Riksdag is assisted by three deputy speakers who are also elected by a vote in the chamber.
Traditionally, the second, third and fourth largest parties gets to name of one of their members for these offices. There is some disa ...
from September 2014 to September 2018. He has been a
Member of the Riksdag
Members of Parliament (Swedish language, Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag.
Description
''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, members ...
(SD) for
Stockholm County
Stockholm County ( sv, Stockholms län, link=no ) is a county or '' län'' (in Swedish) on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm ...
since October 2010. He previously served as Leader of the
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...
in the
Riksdag
The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...
from 2010 to 2014 and Secretary of the
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...
from 2005 to 2015.
[
]
Background and education
Söder was born in Höganäs Municipality
Höganäs Municipality (''Höganäs kommun'') is one of 290 municipalities of Sweden, in Skåne County in the southern part of the country. Its seat is located in the city of Höganäs.
The rural municipality Höganäs, in which the first ''mun ...
, Skåne County
Skåne County ( sv, Skåne län, link=no ), sometimes referred to as Scania County in English, is the most southern county, or , of Sweden, basically corresponding to the traditional province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronobe ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.[ After he had completed upper secondary education ('' gymnasium'') in 1995, he began ]engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
studies at the Lund Institute of Technology
The Faculty of Engineering is one of the eight faculties at Lund University in Lund, Sweden, commonly called LTH (after its Swedish name ''Lunds Tekniska Högskola''). LTH has (2022) about 1,500 employees and nearly 10,000 students, of which abo ...
.[ Between 1997 and 1998, he made his compulsory military service at the K 3 regiment in Karlsborg.][ After finishing his military service he started to study again but took a break between 2000 and 2002, to work as an information technology consultant.][ He finished his studies in 2004, when he earned a ]Master of Engineering
A Master of Engineering (abbreviated MEng, M.E. or M.Eng.) is either an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering.
International variations
Australia
In Australia, the Master of Engineering degree is a research deg ...
degree in chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
from the Lund Institute of Technology.[ Before being elected to parliament, Söder founded a ]web design
Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code an ...
business with SD leader Jimmie Akesson
Jimmie is a variation of the given name James.
Jimmie may refer to:
* Jimmie Adams (1888–1933), American silent film comedian
* Jimmie Åkesson (born 1979), Swedish politician
* Jimmie Allen (born 1986), American country music singer
* Jimmie An ...
.
Political career
Söder first joined the Swedish Progress Party in 1991, but left the party in 1994, after internal struggles and instead joined the Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...
.[ He was elected as a substitute member of the party board in 1997, but left the board to serve as secretary of the Sweden Democrat Youth between 1998 and 2000.][ Between 1998 and 2002, he was a member of the ]municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...
in Höör Municipality
Höör Municipality (''Höörs kommun'') is a municipality in the central part of Skåne County in southern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Höör.
The present municipality was formed in 1969 through the merger of "old" Höör with th ...
for the Sweden Democrats.[ In 2001, he was again elected as a member of the party board and later the same year of the party executive committee.][ In the same year he was also elected as a member of the church assembly of the ]Diocese of Lund
The Diocese of Lund ( sv, Lunds stift) is a diocese within the Church of Sweden which corresponds to the provinces of Blekinge and Skåne. There are 217 parishes within the diocese, the most significant number in any of the dioceses of the Chu ...
and as a substitute member of the church assembly of the Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
.[
At the Sweden Democrats' national meeting in 2003, Söder was elected as deputy party chairman.][ He left this post at the national meeting in 2005, when he was elected as party secretary.][ In 2005, he was once again elected as a member of the church assembly of the Diocese of Lund and as a full member of the church assembly of the ]Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
.[ Between 2006 and 2010, Söder was a member and party group leader of the Sweden Democrats in the Scania Regional Council as well as a member of the municipal council in ]Helsingborg Municipality
Helsingborg Municipality (''Helsingborgs kommun'') is a municipality in Scania County in Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Helsingborg, which is Sweden's eighth largest city. The municipality had a population of
147,734 on January 1, 20 ...
.[
In the 2010 general election, the Sweden Democrats for the first time entered the ]Riksdag
The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...
with 5.70% of the votes and Söder, placed second on the party's national ballot, was elected as a Member of the Riksdag
Members of Parliament (Swedish language, Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag.
Description
''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, members ...
(SD) along with 19 other Sweden Democrats politicians. On 24 September 2010, he was elected as group leader of the Sweden Democrats in the Riksdag.
After Sweden's victory in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, he expressed disappointment and shame that the song was performed in English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and not Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
. After a massive backlash, he deleted the comment from his social media pages, and said that he now realizes that the Eurovision song contest "apparently is a holy cow that must not be criticized in any way, just like multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...
."
''The Jerusalem Post
''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...
'' reported in 2014 that Björn Söder declared in an interview that most people of Jewish origin, who have become Swedes, leave their Jewish identity and that it is important to distinguish between citizenship and nationhood. Lena Posner Körösi, of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden told ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' that Söder’s statements were “exactly like in 1930s Germany” and that they constitute “good old right-wing anti-Semitism". The statement of the Sweden Democrat politician about Jews was listed as one of the ten worst anti-Semitic incidents in the world in 2014 by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
, according to ''Dagens Nyheter
''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record.
History and profile
''Da ...
''.
Söder responded to these claims of anti-Semitism with a column of his own that appeared in ''The Jerusalem Post'' on January 5, 2015, writing in part, "In a biased article in one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, ''Dagens Nyheter'' (DN: Daily News), some of my statements were dramatically taken out of context to erroneously credit me with opinions that do not correspond with reality. Politically biased journalists and political opponents have further distorted the statements, resulting in a presentation virtually the complete opposite of my actual statements and opinions. This is now distributed in the international press, such as in the Post, which therefore necessitates a clarification on my part."
On 19 July 2021 Söder was awarded the Mkhitar Gosh Medal
Awards and decorations of Armenia are military and civil decorations of Armenia which are bestowed by various agencies of the Armenian government for acts of accomplishment benefiting the government and the Armenian nation as a whole.
National He ...
by president Armen Sarksyan and presented by the Armenian ambassador to Sweden Alexander Arzoumanian. Björn was awarded the medal for his work on the Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
and for working on making the Swedish government recognize the genocide. Also receiving medals were fellow MPs Markus Wiechel
Markus Wiechel (born 15 April 1988) is a Swedish politician of the Sweden Democrats. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) of Sweden following the resignation of Lars Isovaara on 29 November 2012. He's currently serving as member for the C ...
and as well as Martin Brozek, the International advisor of the Riksdag
The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...
who all received the Medal of Honour of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia.
Distinctions
*
Mkhitar Gosh Medal
Awards and decorations of Armenia are military and civil decorations of Armenia which are bestowed by various agencies of the Armenian government for acts of accomplishment benefiting the government and the Armenian nation as a whole.
National He ...
, (Armenia).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soder, Bjorn
Living people
1976 births
Members of the Riksdag from the Sweden Democrats
Swedish bloggers
Swedish Lutherans
Lund University alumni
Deputy speakers of the Riksdag
People from Höganäs Municipality