Forced Assimilation in Denmark, Next Repatriation

Quartz: In Denmark and throughout Europe, assimilation is becoming mandatory

Critics claim the measures essentially represents a parallel system of laws that overwhelmingly target poor, Muslim migrants—an interesting choice of language, given the government’s policy of calling the ghettos “parallel societies.” Sociologist Amro Ali, writing in Time Magazine, claims that “the legislation reads like a 19th century missionary enterprise, a colonial experiment to civilize the brown folks.” One thing is clear: Denmark’s new laws are part of a broader European trend of attempts to use the law to make assimilation mandatory.

If you immigrate to a foreign country, you are asking to be assimilated.

Denmark is far from the only country that has adopted a policy of mandatory assimilation in recent years.

In Germany, language tests are carried out on migrant children in all federal länder as early as kindergarten, or even before kids enroll in schools. German asylum applicants, including children, go through integration courses to learn information about Germany and German values. According to the Graduate Institute of Geneva, “some foreigners need to be taught that … on Sundays … children’s noise should be kept to the minimum.”

But most European countries’ immigration policies are less explicit about targeting children for assimilation than Denmark’s. That is part of what makes the Danish government’s new proposal so distinctive.

Obligatory civic integration courses and tests for newcomers are a hallmark of immigration policies in the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Many of these courses were voluntary in the 1990s; in most European countries today, they are compulsory.

When social mood was peaking, assimilation was voluntary. Now it is mandatory. The next step will be repatriation of those who refuse to assimilate. If this downturn in mood is as large as I expect, its very likely many parts of Europe will be Muslim-free in the coming century, either through full assimilation (including conversion into Christianity) or deportation.