Minoritetsmedier och minoritetsmediepolitik i Sverige - Myndigheten ...

native Swedes. It was considered that, in the case of immigrants, equality also
included the right to retain one’s own identity, language and culture. Thus, these
symbolic resources were viewed as rights similar to, e.g., the right to reasonable
social standards.
The goal of freedom of choice implies that immigrants be given the opportunity
to choose to what degree they retain their original cultural and linguistic identity,
and to what degree they become incorporated into the Swedish cultural identity.
In this regard, the principle of equal treatment implied that certain specific efforts
on the part of society were necessary. According to the government proposition,
giving immigrants a real opportunity to achieve cultural freedom of choice required
providing different immigrant groups with financial and other forms of support
for developing their own cultural activities. Finally, the goal of co-operation implied,
among other things, that immigrants participate in shaping the decisions that
affected their own situations.
At the same time as the three above-mentioned goals were adopted, the Swedish
Parliament also decreed a number of concrete reforms with a view to realizing these
goals. Some of these efforts were directed at supporting immigrants’ and minorities’
own activities: a new system for state grants to nationwide immigrant and
minority organizations (1975), increased funds to libraries for purchasing literature
written in minority languages (1975), and later also specific press subsidies
and support for literature production in languages other than Swedish (1977).
The final report of a cross-party committee of inquiry, Sweden, the future
and diversity, was completed in spring 1996 and was the basis for the integration
policies adopted in 1997. The committee took a clear stand in favour of two
principles: that individuals who had immigrated have the same rights and obligations
as everyone else living in Sweden and that, in most areas, “immigrant
politics” be replaced by “general politics”. It was considered, however, that in the
future, too, there was a need for certain special measures for the newly immigrated,
so that during a transitional period they would be given the best possible conditions
for achieving self-sufficiency and participation in Swedish society. Thus,
the main lines in the committee’s proposal entailed dividing the policy into two
parts: what political scientist Karin Borevi called a new arrival policy as well as
an integration policy for everyone, based on the general societal policy, which
should be changed so as to better take into account the different needs of all groups
in society.
Many scholars agree that, up until the mid-1990s, Sweden pursued a policy of
assimilation and Swedicization in relation to the national minorities. As already
mentioned, the immigrant policies adopted in 1975 included both new immigrants
and native minorities. An overall minority policy was first adopted in 1999,
and its foundation is found in the government proposal National minorities in
Sweden. A parliamentary decree from 1999 recognized five groups as national
minorities: the Sámi, Swedish Finns, Tornedalers, Roma and Jews. According to
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