European and U.N. reports condemning Denmark for
racism and "Islamophobia" even though, Mohammed Omar Bakri,
the self-proclaimed London-based "eyes, ears and mouth" of Osama bin Laden, won
permission to set up a branch of his organization, Al-Muhajiroun.
A Muslim group in Denmark
announced that a $30,000 bounty would be paid for the murder of several prominent Danish
Jews, a threat that garnered
wide international notice. Less well known is that this is just one problem associated
with Denmark's approximately 200,000 Muslim immigrants. The key issue is that many of them
show little desire to fit into their adopted country.
For years, Danes lauded multiculturalism and insisted they had no problem with the Muslim
customs - until one day they found that they did.
Some major issues:
Living on the dole: Third-world immigrants - most of them Muslims from
countries such as Turkey, Somalia, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iraq - constitute 5 percent of
the population but consume upwards of 40 percent of the welfare spending.
Engaging in crime: 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.
Self-imposed isolation: Over time, as Muslim immigrants increase in
numbers, they wish less mix with the indigenous population. A recent survey finds that
only 5 percent of young Muslim immigrants would readily marry a Dane.
Importing unacceptable customs: 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. Another is threats to kill Muslims who
convert out of Islam. One Kurdish convert to Christianity, who went public to explain why
she had changed religion, felt the need to hide her face and conceal her identity, fearing
for her life.
Fomenting anti-Semitism: Muslim violence threatens Denmark's
approximately 6,000 Jews, who increasingly depend on police protection. Jewish parents
were told by one school principal that she could not guarantee their children's safety and
were advised to attend another institution. Anti-Israel marches have turned into
anti-Jewish riots. One organization, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, openly calls on Muslims to "kill
all Jews . . . wherever you find them."
Seeking Islamic law: 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.
Other Europeans (such as the late Pim Fortuyn in Holland) have also grown alarmed about
these issues, but Danes were the first to make them the basis for a change in government.
In a momentous election last November, a center-right coalition came to power that - for
the first time since 1929 - excluded the socialists. The right broke its 72-year losing
streak and won a solid parliamentary majority by promising to handle immigration issues,
the electorate's first concern, differently from the socialists.
The next nine months did witness some fine-tuning of procedures: Immigrants now must live
seven years in Denmark (rather than three) to become permanent residents. Most
non-refugees no longer can collect welfare checks immediately on entering the country. No
one can bring into the country an intended spouse under the age of 24. And the state
prosecutor is considering a ban on Hizb-ut-Tahrir for its death threats against Jews.
These minor adjustments prompted howls internationally - with European and U.N. reports
condemning Denmark for racism and "Islamophobia," the Washington Post reporting
that Muslim immigrants "face habitual discrimination," and a London Guardian
headline announcing that "Copenhagen Flirts with Fascism."
In reality, however, the new government barely addressed the existing problems. Nor did it
prevent new ones, such as the death threats against Jews or a recent Islamic edict calling
on Muslims to drive Danes out of the Norrebro quarter of Copenhagen.
The authorities remain indulgent. The military mulls permitting Muslim soldiers in
Denmark's volunteer International Brigade to opt out of actions they don't agree with - a
privilege granted to members of no other faith. Mohammed Omar Bakri, the
self-proclaimed London-based "eyes, ears and mouth" of Osama bin Laden, won
permission to set up a branch of his organization, Al-Muhajiroun.
Contrary to media reports, the real news from Denmark is not flirting with fascism but
getting mired in inertia. A government elected specifically to deal with a set of problems
has made minimal headway. Its reluctance has potentially profound implications for the
West as a whole.
Daniel Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org) is author of "Militant Islam Reaches America"
(W.W. Norton). Lars Hedegaard is a regular contributor to two Copenhagen newspapers,
Berlingske Tidende and Weekendavisen
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