Outraged residents say they are going to resist a “racist” Danish regulation which permits giant numbers of individuals to be evicted from social housing in areas the place the authorities say there are too many immigrants.
“It’s straight up racism,” stated Jawad, a physician from Mjolnerparken in central Copenhagen, which is surrounded by quickly gentrifying areas.
“Even though I was born and raised in Denmark, in the statistics I’m a non-Western immigrant,” the 29-year-old informed Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Denmark handed a controversial regulation in 2018 to redevelop poor city “ghettos” with excessive concentrations of immigrant populations by 2030.
It entails rebuilding and renovating rundown estates and altering the social combine by renting a minimum of 60% of the properties at market charges.
For a long time Denmark has had one among Europe’s most restrictive immigration insurance policies, with populist right-wing events typically stoking anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“Our apartments are not for sale!” stated banners strung throughout Mjolnerparken, with locals saying that utilizing their ethnicity to resolve the place they will reside is discriminatory and unlawful.
Eight out of 10 folks in Mjolnerparken are deemed “non-Western,” with folks from non-EU international locations within the Balkans and Eastern Europe additionally falling into that class.
The Mjolnerparken residents are suing Denmark, with European Court of Justice as a consequence of rule within the coming months.
People left hopeless
Thomas Monberg, spokesman on housing points for the ruling left-wing Social Democrats, insisted that the goal of the regulation – which is able to compel 11,000 folks to maneuver – is nice.
“We don’t want to force people out,” he stated.
“We want to give them a better life so they can have the same opportunities as any other Dane,” he informed AFP.
But for Jawad, whose dad and mom had been born in Pakistan, the so-called “ghetto law” is emblematic of Denmark’s relationship with immigrants.
Instead of enhancing integration, it has left many feeling hopeless.
“A lot of people here have just given up hope of the government actually being on their side,” he stated.
The regulation goals to eradicate “parallel societies” in poor neighbourhoods that always wrestle with crime.
This implies that 295 of Mjolnerparken’s 560 properties should get replaced by market-rate leases – that are out of attain for many locals.
Experts say some 11,000 folks throughout Denmark should depart their residences and discover new housing elsewhere within the subsequent seven years.
Majken Felle, the top of Mjolnerparken’s renters’ affiliation, stated that earlier than the regulation was handed residents had agreed to be briefly relocated to permit the renovation of their residences.
Even if they might afford to return after the work, they have been strongly inspired to not, she stated.
To keep away from being moved round a number of instances, many agreed to depart the neighborhood, which is surrounded by a few of Copenhagen’s most fascinating areas.
“Even if they want to stay, some families said to themselves, ‘There’s too much uncertainty, I can’t live like this for years. Maybe it would be better to move and get on with my life,'” Felle added.
‘Second class residents’
“Residents are living in a construction site even though they’re paying rent, it’s scandalous,” stated Hassan, a 25-year-old raised in Mjolnerparken, who left due to the renovation work however desires to maneuver again as soon as it’s carried out.
The “ghetto” regulation is in stark distinction with Denmark’s picture as “an egalitarian, democratic society with strong social and economic systems,” stated Susheela Math, a lawyer from the Open Society Justice Initiative which helps residents deliver their case.
Yet on this rich Scandinavian nation, their battle has gone largely ignored.
“Nearly 80% of the Danish population doesn’t have any personal contact with ethnic minorities,” stated sociologist Aydin Soei, an skilled on deprived areas, “and an even smaller number of Danes have set foot in one of these areas.”
Rather than serving to integration, he argued, the regulation had left many feeling like “second-class citizens.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com