Do Denmark discriminate foreigners?

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36 comments, last by Dwarf King 10 years, 8 months ago
And surprise, you actually can't do anything about it (plus according to our law, the highest court decided that as long as it is discussed in parliament, it is *legal* (because of politics immunity) - I could just laugh after that).

Actually you can do something, you can elect a socialist (or social democratic) government. They'll take care of that biggrin.png Though, honestly, I'd advise against doing so.

Look at France where they've been dragging Sarkozy to court this year for something he allegedly did while being under immunity. What's ridiculous in my opinion is that there is a law which grants you immunity while you're president (or minister, to the same effect). You can agree or not agree whether that's a good thing, but this is the law. So what the socialists do is simply this: They wait until the period of immunity is over and then retrospectively pursue him. What a perversion of the law.

But of course that's no more perverted than giving the A63 (the most important autoroute to Spain) which has been built from tax payer's money to a privately held company which subsequently charges tax payers with outrageous fees for using what's rightfully theirs. Mitterand gave away the southern half in 1984, Hollande gave away the northern half in 2013. All power to the people, comrades!

Alas, such is the downside of having a socialist government. Total corruption, high taxes, record unemployment, economy moving abroad.

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Coming from Sweden where they don't enforce this policy to the same extent (though it does exist) I think it's a good thing. Not being able to talk the same language as the local populace segregates the population and creates problems where there shouldn't be any.

Sweden got plenty of areas where Swedish is not the fist language. You got the samir people who has their own language. You got a Finish minority as well. Of course the Swedish gov cannot enforce this policy. That would be foolish to do so. Here click me learn something about your great nation. Sweden is a awesome place to be as a bilingual person. Sweden even acknowledge double citizenship, which has been a great thing for many fellow European citizens who worked, lived in Sweden and/or married Swedish people.

Oh and their is nothing wrong in being a patriot. Hence nazi != patriot. Patriots are allowed to like other cultures as well while the bad word mentioned before had some serious issues with democracy and human rights.

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education"

Albert Einstein

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education"

Albert Einstein

There is something to be said for national and cultural identity. Wanting to maintain that isn't racist or bigoted or discriminatory. I wouldn't dare move to another country and then presume to think that I can live there and not assimilate. I would have started learning the language and culture the moment I decided to make the move. I wouldn't stop learning until I mastered the language and the culture felt second nature.
Actually you can do something, you can elect a socialist (or social democratic) government. They'll take care of that biggrin.png Though, honestly, I'd advise against doing so.

We had a socialist party few years back - suprisingly, same old story all the time. Once there is money for politics, there is no law, no nation, no nothing - just money. Although pursuing someone after the immunity period is over and then judge him (for stuff he did while he was under politics immunity) is basically "raping" the law.

The worst thing in our country is, that I've chosen the non-socialist (capitalist?) party, that promised not to raise taxes, support the companies and freelancers, etc. And what we got, they twice increased VAT (and we got one of the highest in Europe right now), also increased the income tax (which destroys small companies like I am), increased social insurance (for paying gypsies in our country, that doesn't work and get more money than people that do manual work), and increased taxes for gas.

Basically they did nothing else, they didn't even try to integrate the gypsies into society (which I think is one of the most important "social" things right now, and I know of few that integrated quite well and are very polite people), they didn't create a single work place (just hardened the conditions for freelancers and companies (except huge companies), thus destroying thousands of places), and sold basically anything that worked to companies - but underrated (one man recieved flats for like 200 000 people for 0 money, of course he is connected to government ... but wow, the anti-corruption police didn't even notice).

I think this is the problem in all Europe countries, either you choose left, right, middle or whatever larger party, they will do the same. Just corruption, money and worse conditions for everyone (like F.e. minimal wage for people in my country is 308 EUR that is kinda strong, as prices are basically same as everywhere - I'm glad that I've got a degree). Of course minimal wage was frozen when socialistic party was in charge (of course never unfreezed). It's just meh - for next elections I can't even decide whom to give my vote, maybe I'll just try to help some smaller party - to let them do the show.

My current blog on programming, linux and stuff - http://gameprogrammerdiary.blogspot.com

Their is one thing that buggers me about many of the comments here(not all). It seems to me that many claim to wanting to learn how to speak a country's language and assimilate if they ever should move to a foreign country, but in reality I have met plenty of western people like me(as a western I meant, I did actually pick up the language Chinese) in China who never ever picked up the language Chinese. I also know for sure that many engineers working in the middle-east for oil companies never learn these regions' languages. In fact the majority of expats stay behind walls with their wife/husband and kids and rarely mingle with the native population in their everyday life.

It seems that we still live in a world of fear for people with a different language or even just a different accent. Sad stuff indeed, sad and intolerant I must say.

edit: typing mistakes, corrected a sentence that did not explain it well.

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education"

Albert Einstein

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education"

Albert Einstein

Sad stuff indeed, sad and intolerant I must say.


It is intolerant to live in fear of those that are different from you. It is not intolerant to expect those moving to your country to at least try. Some people have a hard time learning a new language. My problem is with those that don't try.

I have lived in two countries now and in that two countries no government ever showed such an arrogance as my own motherland has done in these years to their guests and expats. I dare say that the manner and tone of the letter does not even sound like an offer. The word "must" is used here.

I find it disturbing that so many people think it in order that a gov can survey and force foreigners' kids in kindergarten with language and culture as an argument. I find it even more disturbing that people actually buy the argument about lower crime rates if only the kids are sent to kindergarten. The lack of critical sense when a government obviously do not respect a family's right to not use a kindergarten for their kids and instead take care of it until school age reached is getting close to what totalitarian states like North Korea would do.

Not even China would enforce such a law upon its people. Perhaps more liberal art classes are needed after all. Perhaps more classes about sociology and texts like Man's Right and Common Sense by Thomas Paine is needed here after all. Math and programming is not enough to keep a society free from dictatorship. Freedom and democracy are fragile in these years indeed.

However, I am deeply grateful for all your inputs as they have been very useful.

Also to show how big an image issue we have now try to google "denmark and foreigners". It ain't pretty at all and I am a little bit embarrassed about it I must say :)

Here is some stuff I got from page one and two, one can find more:

http://somethingmanky.blogspot.dk/2008/09/foreigners-leaving-denmark-in-record.html

http://cphpost.dk/commentary/cph-post-voices/christian-values-time-earn-your-foreigners-denmark

http://hejsonderborg.dk/whats-it-like-living-in-denmark-as-a-foreigner-part-12/

http://www.worktrotter.dk/blog/2010/10/03/6-danesopen.html

http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/18847

Now I ain't saying we are all bad but even official institutions claims that we have an image issue now so those links aren't completely wrong about(some are perhaps a little harsh in their critics) . I also read that because of our bad image we lost many millions in tourism revenue as many tourists prefer Sweden and Norway. I guess it ain't free to be hooked up on a paranoid world view. Of course all nations can find bad reviews abot themselves but Denmark is really a small nation so our image should be much better and the links do show how some foreigners living in our country look upon us after all.

Well that was it. Once again thanks for all the great inputs.

Edit: removed a quote as it should not be a part of this post. And added the google stuff.

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education"

Albert Einstein

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education"

Albert Einstein

"Also the employment rate ain't going down just because they force an American family's 3 years old child in kindergarten."

I suspect what they are trying to avoid is kids arriving for entry at school with little or no native language ability. The kids don't have to go to kindergarten to learn it, but they do have to have a language assessment to make sure they're ready; and the letter included mention of language tuition if they're not.

I think it's heading off the problem we have in the UK, where it's not unusual for a class of 30 kids to have a dozen languages between them and half the class not speak enough English. And that means that the entire class is slowed down while things are either done multi-lingally or kids pick up enough English to get by.

And they'll just have sent it to everyone in the category that matched. Chill. My government sent me a tax bill for two thousand pounds last week and when I phoned up they said "Oops. Yeah.. don't pay that. That was a mistake..."

Systems screw up sometimes.

"That language test a lot of my Dane friends cannot pass."

Yeah, well, I keep failing the British citizenship test :-)

It's full of stupid things like needing to know how many muslims live in the UK and the dates of bizarre acts of parliament.

Whereas I'm British because I know not to talk or make eye-contact on the tube...


Systems screw up sometimes.

Indeed they do, and the very day the right wing in Denmark got it hands down the chest of power our system malfunctioned biiiig time.

I have met smart and bright PhD Asian students on contract with Danish universities that were married to Danes who had to show up for monthly meetings to show a social worker that they were indeed taking an active part in the assimilation process in order not to get their visa cancelled(I must say that I had a hard time believing in this the first time I heard it).

It ain't nice words these families have to say about that system.


It's full of stupid things like needing to know how many muslims live in the UK and the dates of bizarre acts of parliament.

That is my point here, some arrogant elite think they decide what knowledge inside your brain determines whether you are British/Danish or not. Being British/Danish/insert a nation is not something the elite defines. We the individual people defines what it means to be a(insert nationality here).

The political elite has gone too far this time by dictating what we shall know and feel like.

I say get out of our private life and heads to all politicians. They should do some real work like others instead of standing and telling people what they should feel like, eat and drink etc.

I am all feed up with "smart" persons with so called good ideas and only do all the talking, hence politicians and all their pawns blindly carrying out their commands.

This can't go on forever. Sooner or later too many people will say enough and slam the door when they leave. Social Engineering will fail if enforced too forcefully.

2000 pounds... Well that is a fine amount of cash. In Denmark not even a phone call could fix this. Tax here is famous for not being easy to deal with. We just had a whole tax department for special investigation closed down due to abuse of power and wrong accusation against citizens they meant were breaking the law and threaten them into paying by confiscate their cars, properties etc. without any court decisions etc. That department had some nasty "fun" for some years before it was closed by the Tax minister.

"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education"

Albert Einstein

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education"

Albert Einstein


Coming from Sweden where they don't enforce this policy to the same extent (though it does exist) I think it's a good thing. Not being able to talk the same language as the local populace segregates the population and creates problems where there shouldn't be any.

Sweden got plenty of areas where Swedish is not the fist language. You got the samir people who has their own language. You got a Finish minority as well. Of course the Swedish gov cannot enforce this policy. That would be foolish to do so. Here click me learn something about your great nation. Sweden is a awesome place to be as a bilingual person. Sweden even acknowledge double citizenship, which has been a great thing for many fellow European citizens who worked, lived in Sweden and/or married Swedish people.

Oh and their is nothing wrong in being a patriot. Hence nazi != patriot. Patriots are allowed to like other cultures as well while the bad word mentioned before had some serious issues with democracy and human rights.

All I'm saying is that I think it's good that immigrants learn the language of the nation they move to. We get a lot of immigrants here that don't work and stay in their groups and never learn a single word of Swedish. Of course we get a lot of immigrants that don't, too.

Nothing wrong with being a patriot, no. But in Sweden it isn't something you say out loud. In some cases showing the flag or singing the national amthem can be considered rasist too. I'm sure you know of Rosengård. Try showing yourself there with the flag and you'll get lynched. tongue.png

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