Assimilation in Denmark

Scandinavian countries have a reputation for tolerance, perhaps undeserved. The Danes want everyone who lives there to be Danish ... or else. See a New York Times article concerning new laws which pressure immigrants to assimilate, to become Danish. Hat tip to Instapundit for the link.

Denmark’s government is introducing a new set of laws to regulate life in 25 low-income and heavily Muslim enclaves, saying that if families there do not willingly merge into the country’s mainstream, they should be compelled.

Noncompliance could result in a stoppage of welfare payments.

At this summer’s Folkemodet, an annual political gathering on the island of Bornholm, the justice minister, Soren Pape Poulsen, shrugged off the rights-based objection.

To those claiming the measures single out Muslims, he said: “That’s nonsense and rubbish. To me this is about, no matter who lives in these areas and who they believe in, they have to profess to the values required to have a good life in Denmark.”

Assimilation as national policy, a ringing endorsement of the “melting pot,” don’t you wish we still supported those values here? And in Denmark, who would have guessed? Since about half of those to be assimilated are unemployed, stoppage of welfare is a real threat.