Salute the Danish Flag - it’s a Symbol of Western Freedom
By Susan MacAllen
In 1978-9 I was living and studying in Denmark. But in 1978 - even inCopenhagen,
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.
The New York Post in 2002 ran 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 onceDenmark’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 the U.S .: 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.
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 inDenmark, 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,’
Hvilshøj 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, are more 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 ass igned 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, Americans 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 America 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 in our legal system, obey our laws, speak our
language, appreciate our history . . we would do well to look toDenmark, and say a
prayer for her future and for our own..
Lee ADDS: As a part of my schooling on religion I studied many religions. I have delivered sermons on many and I have found one truth respecting Islam. “Islam is the ONLY religion that calls for the death of those who will not convert to Islam and who calls for the death of any that leave it.”
Islam is a religion of VIOLENCE and that does not include only the radical Islamists, it includes all of Islam! Facts are facts!
