In
the recent Danish general election the Left parties received 52% of
the vote with 41% gained by conservative opponents. Some
analysts claim this was a victory for left-wing politicians. Delving
deeper and the fact reveals itself that the Left adopted a right-wing
agenda to catch votes. Danish voters did not avow progressive
policies. The Social Democrat, Mette Frederiksen, prime minister
adopted a stricter immigration policy to win anti-immigration voters.
The
Social Democrats went along with the banishment
of
rejected asylum seekers unable to return home and foreigners
convicted of crimes to the island of Lindholm, previously used for
infectious disease research; the granting
of intrusive police powers
enabling
the confiscation of goods held by refugees deemed non-essential and
worth more than 10,000 kroner; and fining
Muslim
women wearing garments covering their faces in public places. In
February, the Liberal Party passed a law to repatriate more refugees,
which has been described as a "paradigm shift" in Denmark's
refugee and asylum policy because of the changefrom integration to
repatriation. The law was approved with support from the Social
Democrats. Their spokesperson for immigration Mattias Tesfaye
explained that refugees “...will be given the more honest message
that their stay in Denmark is temporary.”
Critics
retorted that “The essence of this is about making life harder and
more unpleasant for people who have come here to escape Assad’s
barrel bombs and the sex slavery and terror of Islamic State.”
"The
Social Democrats realised that if they don't want to lose yet another
election on the immigration question, they needed to emulate the
policies of the Liberals and the Danish People's Party,"
University of Roskilde political scientist Flemming Juul Christiansen
said.
"What
we thought was extreme 10 years ago is now a common discourse in
Denmark," says Kasper Møller Hansen, political science
professor at the University of Copenhagen.
Mehmet
Kökten, a Muslim born and raised in Denmark and feels "very
Danish," thinks that right-wing populism has increased in Danish
politics and that today the Social Democrats are just as populist.
"The Social Democrats have sold their souls to gain power. Their
leader Mette Frederiksen could just as well have been a leader of the
Danish People's Party when it comes to their rhetoric about
immigrants." he pointed out.
Adapted
from here
Being Danish myself, I thought I would add a small correction: Yes, the Social Democrats have been moving rightwards on immigration. They did not, however, win this election - they only just barely held on to their mandate. Two of the parties that they will need support from were the one gaining: The Radical Left (a centrist party, despite the name) and the Socialist People's Party (left of the Social Democrats) were the "winners". And both being opposed to the Social Democratic turn on immigration. This will make for some interesting talks about creating a new government - and support will also have to come from Enhdslisten, the leftmost party in parliament.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that the Social Democratic willingness to accommodate the rightwing parties stance on immigration deflated this issue as a theme in the campaign, which was much more about climate and welfare.
Although the strategy of the Social Democrats is deplorable, interpreting the result as a capitulation to rightwing politics is not nearly nuanced enough.
Many thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteIt is always good to have extra info from someone on the ground.