Denmark Acts to ‘Reduce the Risk of Religious and Cultural Parallel Societies’

Diversity is our strength and all that, but Denmark is discovering that too much strength might not be as great as one might expect. Paul Joseph Watson reported at Summit News Wednesday that “the Danish government has announced that it will limit the number of ‘non-western’ residents in neighborhoods to 30 per cent in order to ‘reduce the risk of religious and cultural parallel societies.’” No doubt Danish leftists, and people all over Europe who think the way the political and media elites want them to think, are already decrying this move as “racist” and “Islamophobic.” And so Denmark, like all the nations of Europe (along with Canada and the U.S. as well) is sooner or later going to face the choice: will it act to defend its own culture and identity, or commit suicide in the interests of not appearing “racist”?

The problem at hand is not really racial at all, although it is universally characterized as such. According to the elites, the migrants who come to Europe are only unpopular (to the extent that they are), because they are brown or black, and white Europeans are racist. But in reality, European states and the U.K. have absorbed other immigrant populations that are black or brown with little difficulty. There is only one migrant group that is embroiled in conflicts all over the continent, and only one group that Danish authorities are concerned about when they move to limit “religious and cultural parallel societies,” and that is Muslims.

This is not because the Danes are “Islamophobic.” It is because Islam is a political ideology as well as a religion, and that ideology is authoritarian, supremacist, and violent. Among Muslim migrants are many people who come to their new land not expecting that they will assimilate and adopt the customs and mores of the place where they have been welcomed, but considered the very idea of assimilation insulting. As Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Muslim leader in Belgium put, “assimilation is cultural rape.”

A refusal to assimilate, however, is increasingly common among all immigrant groups in this age of multiculturalism, and immigration officials in the countries where the migrants settle actively encourage this refusal. Even in light of that, Muslims are singular among immigrant groups in that they arrive with a model of societal governance that many of them believe to be superior to that of their new country, and they are determined to replace one with the other.

That means that the Danes have every reason to worry that “religious and cultural parallel societies.” So do the other European countries. In fact, many such areas, where Sharia is recognized over and above the law of the land, have already been established all over the continent, from Molenbeek in Brussels to Sweden’s Malmö. So while the Danes are certain to be harshly criticized in the international media for taking this step, the real question is whether the other European states are wise not to adopt measures akin to what Denmark is doing.

The other question is whether it will be enough. “Out of Denmark’s 11.8 million inhabitants,” Summit News notes, “around 11 per cent are of foreign origin, of whom 58 per cent are from non-western countries.” Capping “‘non-western’ residents in neighborhoods” at 30 per cent allows for considerable growth in the numbers of these non-Westerners before the new measures kick in.

However, Mattias Tesfaye, Denmark’s immigration minister, has said: “We have made it clear to the Syrian refugees that their residence permit is temporary. It can be withdrawn if protection is no longer needed.” Summit News added that Tesfaye “admitted his country’s integration policies were a ‘disaster’ after it was revealed that just 17 per cent of Syrian women are in work 5 years after moving to the country.”

That is just one of the many mistakes European officials made in admitting the latest wave of migrants: not requiring anything of them whatsoever, and allowing them to go on welfare, which for the supremacists among them is simply what they deserve, as the Qur’an stipulates that non-Muslims must pay for the upkeep of Muslims (9:29). Another massive mistake was not being consistent in the enforcement of the laws of the land, and avoiding enforcing them upon the new arrivals for fear of appearing “Islamophobic.” That is what allowed the Sharia enclaves to form.

Although the Danes are to be commended for recognizing a problem about which their neighbors largely remain in denial, their remedy is off the track. If European countries began to enforce their own laws now, it might not be too late for some of them. Doing that, rather than capping the numbers of “‘non-western’ residents in neighborhoods” and hoping the situation doesn’t get too far out of hand, would be much more effective in the long run.

 Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 21 books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is Rating America’s Presidents: An America-First Look at Who Is Best, Who Is Overrated, and Who Was An Absolute Disaster. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.

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