Category Archives: News

Over the past several years, immigrant gangs have proliferated geographically across all of Denmark.

By: Soeren Kern

Muslim immigrants in a town near Copenhagen have forced the cancellation of traditional Christmas displays this year even while spending lavishly on the Islamic Eid celebration marking the end of Ramadan.

The controversy has escalated into an angry nationwide debate over the role of Islam in post-Christian Denmark, where a burgeoning Muslim population is becoming increasingly assertive in imposing its will on a wide range of social and civic issues.

The latest dust-up involves the Egedalsvænget housing complex in Kokkedal, a town situated some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Copenhagen where Arab and Turkish immigrants now comprise more than half the total population.

At a recent meeting of the Egedalsvænget tenants’ association, the Muslim majority on the Board of Directors refused to authorize spending 7,000 Danish kroner ($1,200) for the community’s annual Christmas event.

The vote came shortly after the same Board of Directors authorized spending 60,000 kroner ($10,000) on a large communal celebration of the Muslim holiday Eid. Five out of nine of the board members are Muslims.

A Muslim member of the board, Ismail Mestasi, defended the decision to cancel the Christmas tree and party, arguing that no one had offered to organize the celebration. “No one wanted to take on the responsibility. A vote was taken and it ended as it ended. I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I was asked to get the tree. And I didn’t want to.” But a non-Muslim board member, Karin Leegaard Hansen, refuted him, saying that she herself had offered to take on the responsibility, but that she was overruled by the Muslim board members.

The dispute, which is the latest in an ever-growing list of Muslim-related controversies in Denmark, was first reported by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR) on November 7. Since then, the issue has snowballed into a national scandal and has become a key topic for public debate in the Danish media as well as in political circles.

A spokesman for the Danish Conservative Party, Tom Behnke, says he fears there are people who want to convert Denmark into a Muslim country. In an interview with DR News, Behnke said: “I think it is deeply alarming that our integration efforts are so ineffective that the moment there is a Muslim majority, we do away with good-old Danish traditions and introduce Muslim traditions instead. We are living in Denmark, and people have to adapt to the situation that applies here.”

When asked whether housing associations with a Muslim minority should sponsor an Eid party, Behnke replied: “We have to remember that in the past, an Eid festival was the Muslims’ victory celebration after they had slaughtered the Christians, so I don’t know how much there is to celebrate in Denmark. Still, people should be allowed to celebrate whatever festivals they want to, but they also must respect the festivals in the country they have come to.”

Behnke added: “There is no point in wanting to convert Denmark into a Muslim country because you yourself have a Muslim background. That must never happen. On the contrary, we must have mutual respect for one another. This is a lack of respect for Danish traditions and culture. We must not have a Denmark where Danish traditions disappear as soon as there is a Muslim majority.”

Danish police are now investigating an accusation of racism made against the Muslim board members. In an interview with the Copenhagen Post, police spokesperson Karsten Egtved said: “It needs to be determined to what extent the decision by the Muslim members of the board to first vote ‘yes’ to a 60,000 kroner Eid party, then ‘no’ to a 7,000 kroner Christmas tree to celebrate Christian traditions, violates laws by discriminating against Christians and their traditions.”

The Christmas tree controversy took an ominous new twist on November 12, when a van carrying two journalists from TV2 News was attacked by 25 masked hoodlums. The journalists had gone to the Egedalsvænget housing complex to film a report about the story, but immediately upon their arrival their van was bombarded with bricks and cobblestones. The attackers destroyed the van and chased the hapless journalists out of the area.

According to TV2, the perpetrators were Muslim youths who were seeking to silence media coverage of the Christmas tree dispute.

FRUSTRATED Muslims are anglicising their names to avoid religious discrimination when applying for work.

According to Islamic leaders, some legally change their name by deed poll while others adopt “new’ monikers for their resumes.

Muslim leader and Islamic Friendship Association founder Keysar Trad said the “sad” trend has become increasingly prevalent – and the recent Sydney riots would only exacerbate the problem.

“Many people are changing from Mohammed to Michael, Ahmed to Allan, Haroun to Harold and others change Mohammed to Jim, even though there is no relationship between the two,” he said.

“It’s sad many Muslims feel compelled to do this. That message is unless you do take on an Anglo name you won’t get past the front door.

“Unfortunately the protests will have an impact with some employers and I appeal for those employers to treat people on merit.”
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Mr Trad said people with traditional Muslim names often experience blatant religious discrimination when applying for a job.

“I’ve heard of many cases where people have applied for a job using their Muslim name and not getting an interview, then making a phone call and giving a different name and being called back for an interview,” he said.

Race Discrimination Commissioner Helen Szoke said migrants westernising their Christian names to increase their chances of employment is a growing and concerning trend. “There are many people who you come across who talk about the fact they anglicise their name for employment purposes or because people found it too hard to pronounce or it was foreign,” Ms Szoke said.

“There is definitely evidence to suggest that people do this because they feel it improves or enhances their opportunities to gain work.”

Eddie Chehab, 49, from Drummoyne, said he decided to change his name from Mohammed to Eddie for employment reasons and because his customers struggled to pronounce his name.

“I noticed how hard it was for people to say my name correctly, which is why I changed it but a lot of the younger generations (today) are changing theirs for employment reasons,” Mr Chehab said.

Social analyst David Chalke said it has been scientifically proven that your chances of employment are greater if you have a name which sounds acceptable to your potential employer.

“We all tend to hire people like ourselves,” he said.