Switzerland: Swiss People’s Party surveys Swiss on foreigner policy

Via WRS:

Should Switzerland abandon or renegotiate the Free Movement of People accord with the EU? Should long term unemployed foreigners be sent home? Should foreigners who commit serious crimes be automatically deported?

The Swiss People’s Party has sent out a questionnaire to every Swiss household to canvas opinion on these and similar issues. The questionnaire’s accompanied by a pamphlet outlining the Swiss People’s Party’s outlook on foreigners, immigration and crime.

WRS reports (audio).

Denmark: DPP demands 28-year-rule

The Danish People’s Party wants to raise the marriage immigration age to 28. At the same time, the party suggests excluding Westerners (DA) from the new requirements.

Kristian Thulesen Dahl of the DPP explained that this is already the case for such things as visa requirements. This way Denmark would get Western immigrants from the same cultural background, and fewer non-Western immigrants and this will mean fewer conflicts in Danish society.

Forced and arranged marriages are most widespread in other cultures, he points out, and mentions that Turkey and Pakistan are problematic countries.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Via Politiken:

The Danish People’s Party is threatening the government’s educational grant and early pension reforms if it does not increase to 28 the age at which Danes can marry foreign spouses and bring them to Denmark, according to Berlingske Tidende.

The DPP has called for an increase to 28 years of age of current rules stipulating that Danish nationals must be at least 24 before a marriage to a foreign spouse enables a family reunion, but that dispensations should apply for western nationalities.

“It will be one complex (Ed: of reforms). Particularly because we face a lot of tasks this autumn. And an election is looming in which we have to present our views to the electorate,” says DPP Leader Pia Kjærsgaard.

The government, however, appears unwilling to link the issues.

(more)

Netherlands: PVV soaring in polls

Geert Wilders is currently locked out of the coalition negotiations, but in the polls his party is soaring.

The PVV got a record number of seats in the Maurice de Hond poll. If elections were held today, Geert Wilders’ party would get 35 seats. That is 11 more seats than the PVV got in the June 9 elections. In April last year, the PVV got 33 seats in the same poll.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

The extra seats come mostly from the VVD. Just 65% of those who voted for the party on June 9 will vote for the liberals again. In the poll the VVD dropped from 31 seats to 23.

De Hond’s poll is conducted via internet among at least 2,500 people, from a sample of about 40,000 people who signed up fro the panel. The polls are held Friday and Saturday.

In the latest poll, the PvdA (Labor) got 27 seats, GroenLinks (Greens) 12 and D66 11.

Source: Telegraaf (Dutch)

Denmark: Pay immigrants half the minimum wage

Via Spiegel:

A Danish politician has suggested paying immigrants half the current minimum wage. The idea has gone down well with center-right parties, but it’s opposed by the left — and the far right. Right-wing populists fear low wages for immigrants could take jobs away from “regular Danes.”

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

(…)

Now, in the middle of the summer holidays, a bitter new has broken out in Danish politics. Karsten Lauritzen, integration spokesman for the ruling right-liberal party Venstre, has proposed that immigrants be paid far less than Danes. His idea is that migrants should work for around 50 krone an hour (around €6.50 or $8.40) instead of the current minimum hourly wage of around 100 krone. There is no official legal minimum wage in Denmark, but pay is regulated by a series of wage agreements negotiated by labor unions.

Lauritzen is selling his idea as in the interests of the immigrants: he says that the high wages are preventing “immigrants and new Danes” from getting jobs. If you want to get migrants out of their ghettos and into the labor market then new ideas are required, Lauritzen argues. The politician told the Berlingske Tidende newspaper that he envisages a situation where an immigrant would get just half the minimum wage for the first six months. After all, he argued, some immigrants now take unpaid work to gain a foothold in the labor market. He assured the paper that he had his party’s backing on the issue.

Migrants working for a pittance — the suggestion may seem absurd, but it’s shared by many in Danish politics, and it is not as easily dismissed as, say, a recent suggestion in Germany that immigrants be subjected to intelligence tests. Danish Labor Minister Inger Støjberg, also a member of the governing Venstre party, said he thought the suggestion was interesting and hoped it would be seriously examined. His party’s coalition partners, the Conservatives, also claim to be interested in the concept, including the party’s controversial spokesman on integration Naser Khader, himself the son of immigrants.

Khader said the introduction of lower wages for immigrants would of course have to be accompanied by several conditions. The low pay would only be for those who come to Denmark without any knowledge of the language, and whose training or qualifications were not recognized in Denmark.

But there are, for example, many Iraqis — educated earlier in Eastern Europe to be engineers or dentists — who now drive taxis in Denmark, says Khader. These people would certainly jump at the chance to work for a lower wage, as long as they could be sure of having a steady job.

(more)

Norway: Terrorist cell planned attacks in Norway

Dagbladet reports that the three suspects are:

* Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak Bujak (37), an Iraqi Kurd living in Oslo. He was arrested in Germany and Norway asked to extradite him.

* David Jakobsen (31), Uzbek living in Oslo. Jakobsen’s request for asylum was rejected, but he received a residence permit via family reunification. Several sources in the Uzbek community told Dagbladet that Jakobsen radicalized during his time in Norway.

* Mikael Davud (39), Norwegian citizen of Chinese-Uighur background. Suspected of leading the cell. Davud was formerly called Muhammad Rashidin, but changed his name in 2007.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

VG reports that the Norwegian security services installed cameras in Davud’s apartment next to the Ullevål Univesrity hospital in Oslo. According to the PST, it was there that Davud stored the bomb materials for al-Qaida’s first attack in Norway. The attack was planned in Norway, but the three hadn’t chosen a concrete target yet. The suspects bought the ingredients for the hydrogen peroxide bombs in February and March of this year. According to the PST they had enough material for a large bomb or several small ones.

According to VG, all the movements in the house were recorded and sent to the PST in Nydalen (Oslo).

Jakobsen’s lawyer confirmed to Dagbladet that Jakobsen visited Davud’s apartment on several occasions and had national dishes by him.

All three suspects deny any connection to terrorism. In his interrogation Davud denies that he knew about the hydrogen peroxide.

VG reports that Davud’s lawyer says that David Jakobsen bought the chemicals for somebody else who wanted to remove rust from his car.

Aftenposten reports that the PST has been following the radical Uighur community for a while, and has pressured people in the community to prevent them from radicalizing.

The case is compared to a case last year when former Taliban minister Abdul Mohammad Rauf supposedly managed to set up a community with a small group of supporters in a mosque in Oslo. The PST managed to break up the community and prevent radicalization. The PST contacted about 25 people who’s been in touch with Rauf through the mosque.

Einar Wigen, author of the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment study “Islamic Jihad Union: al-Qaida’s Key to the Turkic World?” and researcher for the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, says that previous terrorist cells of this type traveled to the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan to train in using explosives.

According to a New York Times report, the three are part of the Turkistani Islamic Party/East Turkestan Islamic Movement. The ETIM/TIP were formerly linked to terror attacks in China, but Wigen thinks that terrorist group has close contacts with other organizations who have a strategy aimed against the West.

“The 39 year old Uighur who was arrested could have been influenced by a more global, Jihadi ideology through contact with other Jihadist groups in Afghanistan or Waziristan. These see the West as the primary enemy and a target for terror attack, rather than focusing on establishing Islamic rule in their own homeland,” says Wigen.

“That the group is described as members of TIP could be linked to the Uighur’s background, and that he was the one who recruited the other two. There are few good sources and little research on TIP and ETIM, but what looks like a central-Asiatic terrorist network has emerged, with centrally Uighurs but also Uzbeks. Whether they can be considered part of al-Qaida or not, is difficult to say. The Germany Sauerland cell in particular, which was uncovered in 2007, had links to the central-Asiatic network. There are many similarities between the Sauerland cell and what been published about the Norwegian cell,” the NUPI researcher says.

The so-called “Sauerland cell” planned to create powerful car-bombs of more than 700 liters of hydrogen peroxide. The bombs were to be used in attacks against American installations, airports or discos. The aim was to force the German army out of Afghanistan.

The materials are the same as those the three terror suspects in Norway had.

Wigen says that the Uighur and Uzebek Jihadists are often in the same networks. Similarities in language could contribute to making the recruiting process easier.

“It could naturally happen that an Uighur and Uzbek get together, but Uighur and Uzbek are closely related languages, and it can therefore be relatively easy for the two to speak to each other. When the Taliban still ruled Afghanistan, they sent Uighurs to Kunduz, where the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) had their base. This can be some of the reason why Uzbek and Uighur Jihadists are often in the same networks,” says Wigen.

“In general it’s very ‘classic’ for Jihadists in Europe that just one in the group that plans terrorist acts gets training in camps, and has contact with the leaders, and that they recruit new members who already have citizenship or residence permits in Western countries. There are many similarities here with previous attacks in Europe, both those carried out and planned,” says Wigen.

Hague: ‘Moroccan coup’ in football club

A row started in the Hague football club GSC Esdo after a new board was elected of Moroccan origin.

52 ethnic Dutch members turned their backs on the club after a general members’ meeting in which due to massive turnout by the Moroccan members an almost completely Moroccan board (except for one member) was elected.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

“A coup was carried out in a devious way,” claims former board-member Jaap Kanters, who also needs to clear out. “It was all contrived in advance, with the result that a large number of members have now resigned and all went to the new association WIK in Zuiderpark.”

Since the appointment of the new board, the atmosphere in the club changed completely, say former members. “Meanwhile the labels on the alcoholic beverages and the beer tap have been removed and (pork) chops can no longer be ordered in the cafeteria. People are also active very differently in regard to the women who dedicated themselves for years as volunteers for the club.”

“The women who stood behind the bar the whole season weren’t invited to the party to celebrate the end of the season. This while those women have put up with a lot of difficulties through the years,” says Kanters.

The new board of GSC Esdo confirms that two Saturday teams and two Sunday teams have resigned. “Why they’ve gone, I don’t know, but maybe they didn’t feel comfortable any more at the club. In every amateur’s club it’s normal that people move to other football associations,” says secretary Mohamed Talhoui.

Source: Telegraaf (Dutch)

France: Socialists to boycott burqa ban vote

France’s Socialist opposition decided Tuesday to boycott a vote on a bill outlawing the full-face Islamic veil in protest at the sweeping ban that will apply to all public places.

Home to Europe’s biggest Muslim minority, France is set to adopt a bill banning the wearing of the face-covering veil despite warnings from top legal experts that the move may be unconstitutional.

Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry told deputies at a meeting that while they should not vote against the bill, they should not take part in a vote scheduled for July 13, a Socialist party official told AFP.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

“We are against the burqa but we believe that the means chosen to outlaw it are not good,” said the party official.

The Socialist stance was agreed just hours before debate was to open at the National Assembly on the bill that would make it illegal for anyone to cover their faces.

The proposed law would impose fines of 150 euros (190 dollars) on those caught wearing the veil and up to 30,000 euros and a one-year jail term to men who force their wives or daughters to cover their faces.

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party and its right-wing allies hold a strong majority in parliament and the bill could easily pass without support from the opposition Socialists.

(more)

Source: Expatica

Oslo: Debate on swimming classes after brothers drown

Two Somali-Norwegian brothers drowned to death last Wednesday in Svarttjern, Romsås (Oslo). The two were playing football when the little brother (9) jumped into the waters and started drowning. His brother (12) tried to save him. Neither could swim.

The boys’ mother and older sister were there. When the police arrived, 15 people were there, and many of the witnesses said they couldn’t swim.

The accident occurred next to a school and a play area.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Islamic Council: Exempt children from mixed swimming classes

In a commentary in Aftenposten’s paper edition, Mala-Wan-Naveen writes that many children in Oslo school seek exemptions from swimming classes. According to Naveen this is because the parents don’t want their children to swim or do sports in mixed classes.

Shoaib Mohammad Sultan of the Islamic Council of Norway emphasizes that they think it’s extremely important that all children learn to swim.

“Islam has basic rules on covering next to members of the opposite sex, which means that some parents will think mixed-sex swimming classes are problematic. In such situation it would be most appropriate to have dialog between the school and parents, to find practical solutions that take core of both the religious consideration, as well as the need for all students to learn to swim,” says

Sultan says a possible solution for to avoid the mixing some Muslims are responding to is for students to get exemptions from the regular swimming classes. They would then be obligated to go to acceptable private lessons.

“I think it’s fully possible to do this if you have the good will,” says president Per Rune Eknes of Norway’s Swimming Federation.

Eknes says that a study done last year showed that 50% of 10 year old in Oslo couldn’t swim. Among ten year old of immigrant background that increased to 70%. Eknes thinks the most important thing is for children to learn to swim, not how they learn.

“Children of an immigrant background have a different culture, tradition and religion than we do, and therefore different codes for how to act next to others. Many ethnic Norwegians also have help from the parents with swimming skills, while the ratio is smaller among the multicultural,” says Eknes.

Eknes supports the Islamic Council of Norway, who think it can be appropriate to take children out of ordinary swimming classes for religious reasons.

“It’s not so important how it’s done, as long as the youth learn to swim,” Eknes says.

Eknes thinks that regardless, it’s the school’s responsibility to ensure that swimming training is satisfactorily completed.

Minority researcher at NOVA, Ada Engebrigtsen, told VG Nett that geography is also a factor in why children of immigrant background look poorly in swimming research.

“Many immigrant parents grew up in other places, with a different geography and a completely different attitude to water. Their experiences with swimming are therefore not as good,” says Engebrigtsen.

She says it’s serious that many children in Norway can’t swim. According to the Norwegian curriculum, Norwegian schoolchildren should be comfortable in the water during 4th grade.

“The fact that many children don’t have the same basis for learning to swim is a problem should should be taken seriously. They should get a good [training] offering,” says Ingebrigtsen.

Gran School in Groruddalen teaches swimming in 4th, 7th and 10th grade. They also have an afternoon option and their own course for girls. Principal Anne Myhrvold says that swimming classes are obligatory and that they’ve adapted what they offer to meet the challenges.

“Those who want to swim with clothes that completely cover the body are allowed to do so. Additionally, we’ve introduced our own bathing suit with a hijab,” she says.

The principal at Mortensrud school, Leif Arne Eggen, says he would like to offer more swimming classes to his students.

“But again it’s a question of resources. If anything goes in, something must come out. Swimming can’t come at the expense of writing or reading,” he told VG.

The president of Norway’s Swimming Federation completely disagrees.

“You don’t die by not being able to read or write, but you do actually die by not being able to swim. As the last days have shown,” says Per Rune Eknes.

————–

Frp: “It’s apartheid”

Mazyar Keshvari of the Oslo Frp (Progress Party) thinks the Islamic Council of Norway proposal is objectionable. He thinks it’s wrong to divide children based on religion.

“The plan of the swimming federation and the Islamic Council of Norway resemble a type of apartheid. If Muslim children can’t swim with others, what will be next? That they won’t have gym together? You can’t separate children based on religion,” he told VG Nett.

Keshvari says that children should both play and swim together, regardless of religion and background. He doesn’t understand Muslim parents who deny their children this.

“I don’t have respect for such wishes, and I think the parents should being to act more civilized. I don’t want to take their religion from them, but in 2010 you should look differently at this. It’s more important that the children learn to swim, so that they don’t risk getting drowned, then that they swim in mixed classes.”

The Frp politician is supported by the head of the Oslo’s Liberal Party, Ola Elvestuen. He says swimming classes are mandatory and must apply to all students.

“Muslim students can swim with body-covering clothes if necessary. Additional regulations can also be considered by the individual schools, but you can’t give students exemptions from classes based on religious affiliation.”

Elvestuen thinks there should be additional resources so that all students know how to swim.

“The schools and parents should have a closer and better dialog about the importance of swimming. Secondly we should strengthen the students’ swimming skills,” he says.

Keshvari is committed to increasing the focus on swimming – especially after the drowning accident where two bothers died in Romsås, Oslo, Wednesday.

“This can also be done by introducing swimming tests, just like the tests carried out in other subjects. Students who don’t pass the tests, we’ll put in extra resources. In this way you’ll lift the weak students.”

————–

Mothers learning to swim

Nine women from India, Kurdistan, Ethiopia, Iraq and Somalia try hard to keep their body afloat in the swimming pool in Lambertseter Pool in Oslo. They are on a week long water-acquaintance course.

“I’m in this course for the first time. I’m here because I’m afraid of landing in a dangerous situation where I can’t swim,” says Amina Abdullah (37) from Kurdistan.

The accident where two bothers drowned made the immigrant mothers in the swimming course very concerned.

Many minority children have parents who can’t swim. The women think culture and religion are the reasons why neither they nor their children can swim well.

“Thirty years ago when I grew up in India, girls weren’t allowed to learn to swim. The couldn’t show their body in a bathing suit with men. Today the situation changed,” says Karmjit Kaur (41).

Iranian Nagah Imran (47) is a believing Muslim and mother to four teenage girls. All four go every week to a swimming course for girls.

“Islam doesn’t allow girls to swim together with boys,” says Imran.

The statement makes Indian Deepak Mahal (33) see red.

“Religion is not more important than saving lives. Life should always come first.”

Mahal wants even more swimming classes in the curriculum.

“My children had swimming classes just seven times during the school year. It’s not enough,” she despairs.

Source: VG 1, 2, 3, 4 (Norwegian)

See also:
* Norway: Swimming classes for Muslim girls pose dilemma
* Oslo: Debate about segregated swimming classes
* Norway: ‘there is no sneak Islamization here’
* Norway: County to adapt swimming classes for Muslim girls

Denmark: New attack planned against Mohamed cartoonist?

The Danish authorities are going to check whether authorities in North Africa foiled a new plot against Kurt Westergaard, the famous Mohammed cartoonist.

Westergaard was attacked once in his home by an axe wielding Somali earlier this year. Another plot was foiled in 2008, when several Tunisian and Moroccans were arrested in Aarhus.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

Peter Skaarup of the Danish People’s Party turned to the Danish Justice Minister, Lars Barfoed, saying that two men were imprisoned in North Africa, suspected of wanting to carry out an attack against Kurt Westergaard.

I could not find any more information about this story, and it’s unclear to me where the DPP took their information from.

In a related story, Indonesian police arrested several terror suspects who were apparently planning an attack against the Danish embassy in Jakarta. The Danish Muslim Joint Council said in response (DA) that it is shameful and totally unacceptable that anybody would intend to carry out terrorist acts of any type against civilian targets. “Any form of terrorism is and will always be in conflict with Islam and can in no way be justified,” the council said in a press release.

Source: Berlingske Tidende (Danish)

Berlin: Politician demands IQ immigration tests

Many in Germany have long been skeptical of immigration. Now, a conservative Berlin politician has proposed requiring immigrants to take an intelligence test before being allowed in. His idea has not been well received.

Germany’s conservatives have never been terribly coherent when it comes to immigration. Despite a stubbornly low birth rate and what many consider to be a developing need for skilled foreign labor, members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) have long been unwilling to roll out the welcome mat.

On Monday, the party once again made a less-than-fortunate foray into the immigration debate. Peter Trapp, a domestic policy expert with the CDU in Berlin, demanded in an interview with the mass-circulation tabloid Bild that would-be immigrants to Germany be given intelligence tests before they are allowed in.

This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog – islamineurope.blogspot.com

“We have to establish criteria for immigration that really benefit our country,” Trapp said. “In addition to adequate education and job qualifications, one benchmark should be intelligence. I am in favor of intelligence tests for immigrants. We cannot continue to make this issue taboo.”

Trapp received support from Markus Ferber, a member of the European Parliament for the Christian Social Union, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party. Ferber said: “We need a unified policy for Europe. Canada is much further along on the issue and requires that children of immigrants have a higher IQ than those born in Canada.”

(….)

The CDU on Monday was at pains to play down the comments made by Trapp and Ferber. Given Berlin’s focus on improving the integration of the country’s immigrant population, Maria Böhmer, who has been tasked by Merkel with improving integration, rejected the call for intelligence tests.

Such comments do not promote “a culture of welcoming, which would do our country good,” Böhmer said. “The demand for an IQ test for immigrants is absurd and does not demonstrate much intelligence.”

(more)

Source: Spiegel