A Letter From Denmark

Winds of Jihad cartoonist Shem just received this letter from a friend Denmark and asked us to publish it. Please pass it on:

In  1978-9 I was living and studying in Denmark. But in 1978 – even  in Copenhagen, one didn’t  see Muslim immigrants. 

The Danish population  embraced visitors, celebrated the exotic, went  out of  its way to protect each of its citizens. It was proud of its  new brand of socialist  liberalism one in development since the conservatives  had lost power in 1929 – a  system where no worker had to struggle to survive, where one ultimately could  count upon the state as in, perhaps, no other  western nation at the  time.

 The rest of Europe saw the  Scandinavians as free-thinking, progressive  and  infinitely generous in their welfare policies. Denmark boasted low crime  rates, devotion to the  environment, a superior educational system and a history of  humanitarianism. Denmark was also most  generous in its immigration policies – it  offered the best welcome in  Europe to the new immigrant: generous welfare  payments from first arrival  plus additional perks in transportation, housing  and  education. It was determined to set a world example for  inclusiveness and  multiculturalism.

                                  

 How could it have predicted  that one day in 2005 a series of political  cartoons in a newspaper  would spark violence that would leave dozens dead  in the streets -all  because its commitment to multiculturalism would come  back to bite?  By  the 1990′s the growing urban Muslim population was obvious -  and its unwillingness to  integrate into Danish society was obvious.  Years of immigrants had  settled into Muslim-exclusive enclaves. As the  Muslim  leadership became more vocal about what they considered the  decadence of Denmark’s liberal way of  life, the Danes – once so welcoming – began to feel slighted. Many Danes  had begun to see Islam as incompatible with  their long-standing values: belief  in personal liberty and free speech, in equality for  women, in tolerance for other ethnic groups, and a deep  pride in Danish heritage and  history. An article by Daniel Pipes  and Lars Hedegaard, in which they  forecasted accurately that the growing immigrant problem in Denmark would  explode. In the article they reported:

 ’Muslim  immigrants constitute 5 percent of the population but consume  upwards of 40 percent of the  welfare spending.’ ‘Muslims are only 4 percent  of Denmark’s 5.4 million people but make up a majority of the  country’s convicted rapists, an especially combustible issue given that  practically all the female victims are non-Muslim.  Similar, if lesser, disproportions are found in other  crimes.’

‘Over time, as Muslim  immigrants increase in numbers, they wish less  to mix  with the indigenous population. A recent survey  finds that only 5 percent of young Muslim immigrants would readily marry a  Dane.’  ‘Forced marriages -  promising a newborn daughter in Denmark to a male cousin in the home country,  then compelling her to marry him, sometimes on pain of death – are one  problem’  ‘Muslim leaders openly  declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark’s Muslim  population grows large enough – a not-that-remote  prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third  inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim.’  It  is easy to understand why a growing number of Danes would feel  that Muslim immigrants show  little respect for Danish values and laws.  An  example is the phenomenon common to other European countries  and Canada .: some Muslims in  Denmark who opted to leave the Muslim faith have  been  murdered in the name of Islam, while others hide in fear for their lives. Jews are also  threatened and harassed openly by Muslim leaders in  Denmark, a country where once Christian citizens worked to smuggle  out nearly all of their 7,000  Jews by night to Sweden – before the Nazis could  invade. I think of my Danish  friend Elsa – who as a teenager had dreaded  crossing the street to the  bakery every morning under the eyes of occupying  Nazi  soldiers – and I wonder what she would say today.  In  2001, Denmark elected the most conservative government in some  70 years – one that had some  decidedly non-generous ideas about liberal  unfettered immigration. 

             

Muslims in Denmark bury the deceased agit prop and hate-monger Abu Laban

Today Denmark has the strictest immigration  policies in Europe. ( Its effort to  protect itself has been met with accusations of  ’racism’ by liberal media  across Europe – even as other governments  struggle to right the social problems  wrought by years of too-lax immigration.)  If  you wish to become Danish, you must attend three years of  language classes. You must pass a  test on Denmark’s history, culture, and a Danish  language  test. You must live in Denmark for  7 years before applying for citizenship. You must  demonstrate an intent to work, and have a job waiting. If you  wish to bring a spouse into  Denmark, you must both be over 24 years of age,  and you won’t find it so easy  anymore to move your friends and family to Denmark with  you.  You will not be allowed to  build a mosque in Copenhagen. Although your  children have a choice of  some 30 Arabic culture and language schools  in  Denmark, they will be strongly encouraged to assimilate to Danish  society in ways that past immigrants  weren’t.  In  2006, the Danish minister for employment, Claus Hjort  Frederiksen spoke publicly of the burden  of Muslim immigrants on the Danish welfare system, and it was  horrifying: the government’s welfare committee had calculated that if  immigration from Third World countries were blocked,  75 percent of the cuts needed  to sustain the huge welfare system in coming decades would be  unnecessary. In other words, the welfare system as  it existed was being exploited  by immigrants to the point of eventually  bankrupting the government.  ‘We are simply forced to adopt a new policy on  immigration. 

                          

 The calculations  of the welfare committee are terrifying and show how unsuccessful the integration  of immigrants has been up to now,’ he said.  A  large thorn in the side of Denmark’s imams is the Minister  of Immigration and Integration,  Rikke Hvilshoj. She makes no bones about the  new  policy toward immigration, ‘The number of foreigners coming to  the country makes a difference,’  Hvilshoj says, ‘There is an inverse correlation between how many come here  and how well we can receive the foreigners that  come.’  And on Muslim immigrants needing to demonstrate a willingness  to blend in, ‘In my view,  Denmark should be a country with room for different cultures  and religions. Some values, however, aremore important than others.  We refuse to question democracy, equal rights and freedom of  speech.’  Hvilshoj has paid a price  for her show of backbone. Perhaps to test  her  resolve, the leading radical imam in Denmark, Ahmed Abdel Rahman  Abu Laban, demanded that the  government pay blood money to the family of a Muslim who was murdered in a  suburb of Copenhagen, stating that the family’s  thirst  for revenge could be thwarted for money. When Hvilshoj dismissed  his demand, he argued that in  Muslim culture the payment of retribution money was common, to which  Hvilshoj replied that what is done in a Muslim  country is not necessarily what is  done in Denmark. The Muslim reply came soon  after:  her house was torched while she, her husband and children slept.  All managed to escape unharmed,  but she and her family were moved to a secret  location and she and other  ministers were assigned bodyguards for the first  time -  in a country where such murderous violence was once so  scarce.

Her government has slid to  the right, and her borders have tightened.  Many  believe that what happens in the next decade will  determine whether Denmark survives as  a bastion of good living, humane thinking and  social  responsibility, or whether it becomes a nation at civil war  with supporters of Sharia  law.

And meanwhile, Canadians  clamor for stricter immigration policies, and  demand  an end to state welfare programs that allow many immigrants to  live on the public dole. As we in  this country look at the enclaves of Muslims amongst us, and see those who enter our shores too easily,  dare live on our taxes, yet  refuse to embrace our culture, respect our traditions, participate  inour legal  system, obey our laws, speak our language, appreciate our  history.   We would do well to look to Denmark, and say a prayer for her future  and for our  own..

Tagged as: Letter from Denmark