Outsiders frequently tend to view Scandinavia more or less as one country. It is true that these countries have much in common, but the differences that do exist should not be underestimated. When it comes to reactions to Muslim immigration, they are actually quite significant. Sweden is perhaps the most suicidal dhimmi nation in the Western world, and is pretty much disintegrating at this very moment. Neighboring Finland hardly has any immigrants at all. In comparison, 85 % of MPs in Norway recently passed a law saying that Norwegians are guilty of discriminating against immigrants until proven otherwise.
At the same time, the authorities are covering up a disturbing amount of rapes committed by immigrants, and the fact that native Norwegians may become a minority in their own country in a couple of generations if the current immigration continues. As a contrast, Denmark is probably the one Western nation where the debate surrounding Muslim immigration is most mainstream and open. What's more remarkable is that it started even before 9/11 or the killings of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh. Since coming to power nearly four years ago, PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s centre-right government has imposed some of the toughest regulations in the EU on asylum seekers. Denmark has tightened its immigration rules to make it harder for fundamentalist Muslim clerics to settle in the country.
In a historic ruling, the Danish Supreme Court decided to expel two young Turks from Denmark even though they have lived in the Scandinavian country their entire lives. Several European countries are looking to Denmark for inspiration on dealing with immigration problems. In the Netherlands, already several elements of the tough Danish family reunification rules have been copied. The apparent success of the “Danish model” is being studied closely in Britain and other EU countries. Even Queen Margrethe has said that Islam is challenge that Danes will have to meet, and that "there are some things that should not be tolerated even if it is not politically correct to say so."
Unfortunately, all this does not mean that Denmark’s problems are over. The toughening of immigration and integration policies has also encountered strong opposition. Unknown attackers set fire to the immigration minister's car. Rikke Hvilshoj, her husband and two young children were rescued from their house. A group calling itself "Beatte Without Borders" has said it carried out the attack, condemning the government's "racist immigration policy.
Article comments
1 - Fjordman
I should add that I have included many explanatory links in my original post at my blog.
2 - Dave Nalle
Actually, it's not at all alien to western thought. The idea of blood payment has a long tradition in germanic law - the concept of Weregeld where payment for a death was made based on the status of the victim, and which is preserved in common law in many nations as part of the idea of compensation for wrongful deaths which are not murders. We see it all the time here in America where people sue a company whose product killed a family member and the court sets a value on that person's life in determining compensation.
Dave
3 - Fjordman
As I wrote at the end: The concept of blood money and blood feuds did exist in northern Europe, too. We left it behind centuries ago, and there's a reason why we did that. Islam is stuck in a time warp from the middle ages.
4 - steen
Im deeply impressed, Fjordman. great job.
yours sincerly