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<P><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif size=2>Comment</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif size=4><B>Copenhagen flirts with
fascism</B></FONT> <FONT face=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif size=3>
<P>Denmark is about to head the EU. It's a worrying prospect</FONT>
<P><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif size=2><B>Stephen
Smith</B></FONT><BR><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif
size=2><B>Guardian</B></FONT>
<P><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif size=2><B>Wednesday June 5,
2002</B></FONT>
<P>
<P><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif size=2>If I'd been given a pound for
every time a visitor to our Holocaust centre, shaking his head, solemnly
stated, "I can't believe that nobody said anything," I would be a very
wealthy man. Listening to these words, I would naively believe that if the
clock were rewound to the 1930s, these people would speak out. But not so;
it appears these moralisers were merely commenting on the inaction of the
silent, before proceeding to join their ranks.
<P>Over the past year, the unheralded swing to the right in Danish
politics has made the gradual increase in Germany's vote for the Nazis
look slow. In the words of a Danish friend of mine, now living in
Brussels: "The country has gone crazy and no one has noticed." It is more
disturbing than that. What we are witnessing in Denmark is nothing less
than the return of rightwing extremism to respectability - not through the
acceptance of a controversial Haider or Le Pen, but through the quiet
adoption of their stance by mainstream political parties. Denmark takes
over the EU presidency on July 1 and will heavily influence the whole
European immigration and asylum debate, which is set to dominate the EU
summit in Seville later this month.
<P>Conscious of rising support for the far-right Danish People's party in
the run-up to last November's election, Denmark's mainstream Liberal party
decided that if it couldn't beat them, it should join them. It took a hard
line on immigration which paid off. The Liberals beat the Social Democrats
to form the new government, in coalition with Denmark's Conservative party
and with the parliamentary support of the DPP. Budgets were immediately
cut to reduce public spending, especially for anything to do with human
rights, civil society or overseas aid.
<P>Denmark's government is now taking steps which will turn one of the
world's most liberal countries into a bastion of introverted nationalism.
There is no "final solution" looming in Copenhagen, but there is the
creation of new solutions, using legalised discrimination. A law was
passed in the Danish parliament last week which prevents anyone under the
age of 24 from living in Denmark with a non-EU spouse. It also prevents
asylum seekers from marrying while their applications are being processed.
As if to underline the cowardice of the Act, it was the last piece of
business in the parliament before the summer recess.
<P>The law's unspoken rationale includes a deterrent to arranged marriages
between members of Denmark's Muslim community and people in Islamic
countries abroad. Legislation making this explicit would be racist, so the
Danish authorities have chosen xenophobia instead - equal discrimination
against all foreigners. It works from the point of view of the immigration
department, but then so would many other more drastic measures if human
rights were no longer part of the equation.
<P>In 1935, the Nazis found a great many "reasonable" measures once they
had disregarded the rights of Jews. What the new law means is that young
refugees in Denmark are now second-class people deprived of the most basic
of human rights - that of finding a partner for life - and this is the
law. At a time when countries like Poland, Lithuania and the Czech
Republic are trying to pass strict tests on human rights to join the
European Union, a member state is creating laws that would exclude them
instantly, if they happened to be from east of Berlin. All of this
apparently goes unsanctioned.
<P>The same moraliser is still standing there shaking his head about the
world's silence, and he then voices the predictable punchline: "We have to
be so careful, because history always repeats itself." Not true. History
never repeats itself. If you can give me one instance where exactly the
same thing happened twice, I would be interested to hear it. So for all
those people looking out for goose-stepping thugs led by a former German
army corporal with a little moustache, you can stop looking now.
<P>History mutates. It comes back in different forms, with a different
appearance and different consequences for different people. It defies us
to recognise its genetic material because it changes its shape and colour
to suit its environment. As it stands, the nationalism now rife in Europe
is a more timid mutant of fascism. It comes with a suit and a smile. But
beware. Its parentage is the same, and who knows what monster it might
grow into.
<P>So for all of those who shake their heads over the silence of our
forebears, here's a chance to show we are not like them. In the heartland
of liberal Europe, there is now a minority community, defined by their age
and lack of Danish citizenship, who have just lost a key component of
their human rights. What have we got to say about that?
<P>Stephen Smith is co-founder of the UK-based Beth Shalom Holocaust
Centre </FONT></P></TD></TR>
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