I was living in the US, and they had just elected Trump in 2016 for the first time. The university I worked at was dragging my green-card application, hoping that I could not switch jobs with an H1 visa. If they got me the green card, I would have been able to go work anywhere. Funny thing was, I was thinking of retiring in that small college town. So when Trump got elected, and my prospects of staying in the US were up in the air, I decided to move to a more civilized part of the world.
I had seen Bernie Sanders introduce millions of Americans to social democracy, or as they call it over there, democratic socialism. I had seen a hope for the future of the US, and I had seen that hope get dashed. So when I decided to relocate, I targeted the one country Bernie kept talking about. I was going to move to Denmark. I targeted the “Best Business School” in the country and got offered a job there. I was bringing a PhD from one of the top schools and several publications in the elite journals of my field.
The best business school was . . . a business school in a small country and objectively was being held aloft by hot air and self-importance.1 That was my introduction to how much like a small town the whole country felt. There was a lot of hygge, but also hygge racisme. Which was alright, because “we are not really seriously racist, just casually racist.”
I came to this country on Bernie’s recommendation. Everything Bernie said about Danish Social Democracy was true. It was a system that worked. The citizens were prosperous, happy, and safe. The problem was the parts Bernie did not speak about. How the Danske Folkeparti was on the rise. How they were making changes to immigration laws every few months, and celebrating with cakes.
Changes to introduce more uncertainty to an already uncertain situation. People don’t understand how ephemeral being an immigrant feels. How everything feels so temporary. How there are a dozen inconveniences that are not immediately apparent. Like being unable to change jobs if you feel ill-treated. Like being unable to divorce your toxic spouse because they would deport your kids along with her. These are problems before someone takes the tools to the immigration law to make it harder to immigrate. You are already in an uncertain position, and you know there are political forces in the government who promised to make your life harder.
So yes, I do hear all the right-wing rhetoric that goes along with xenophobia and racism anywhere in the world. I do understand there is some kernel of truth underneath all this vitriol. Some valid criticism about failures of integration. I do also see how the fascists hiding in the shadows, biding their time, riding the wave to power once more. How they are spreading easily disproven lies, along with misleading statistics, and maybe once in a blue moon something real that is blown out of all proportion.
Listening to these voices, you would think the Danish government is importing rapists and criminals exclusively from Muslim countries to sabotage the Western project. You would think Denmark is a crime-ridden hellhole where bands of bearded rapists roam the streets. The panic with which Danes talk about immigrant crime is all the more jarring because of how safe Denmark is, by any standard. There are few other places in the world as safe as Copenhagen.
Just as jarring is listening to Danes tell you there is unlimited immigration to Denmark, because they don’t know how hard it is to immigrate here. They have no idea. Danish immigration was never a free-for-all, but at this point getting citizenship is already one of the hardest in Europe. I already did pass the B2 level language proficiency test. Citizenship test. Nine years in the country in good standing (Seven down two to go). Then two years of case processing time where your case just sits there. When your case is finally seen, it goes through a parliamentary vote three times. After that, you wait for there to be a slot for a handshake ceremony —and the time for that is not certain. It can take up to six months. Get as much as a speeding ticket in all this time and your clock resets. You can’t travel the way Danes do. Spend the dreary winter months in Southeast Asia like they do, and your clock resets.
All of this before we talk about how the Danish government hasn’t processed a single citizenship application since before April this year. They are talking about how they may not process it until the middle of next year. So even if you follow every rule, they may decide arbitrarily to stop. It puts Denmark in the same league as Singapore and Qatar, where you go to work, not to build a home.
Remember the timeline here: 9+2+some arbitrary amount of time before the handshake ceremony. This timeline is personally relevant to me. I brought my children to Denmark when the youngest was 2 and the oldest was 6 years old. Now, because of this timeline, my oldest one can turn 18 before I shake the hand and get my citizenship. If that happens, she can’t get her citizenship with me. Think about it. This kid has lived in this country almost all her life. She doesn’t know any other land. She went to a Danish school. Her primary language is Danish. This is her home. And I don’t know if she can stay here. I brought her here, and I regret having put her in this uncertain situation.
Beyond the administrative is the feeling of being unwanted. Most recently, two weeks ago, I saw people Sig Heiling in broad daylight on the streets. That made me reflect on my experience immigrating to Denmark. The politicians keep talking about how immigrants who do not live up to Danish values do not belong here. Same politicians are courting this wave of racism to garner votes and parliamentary power. The Danish Social Democrats’ solution to rising right-wing rhetoric is to be to the right of fascists on immigration. I hear them loud and clear when they talk about Danish values.
Seeing literal Nazis on the street, getting emboldened by the day. And us law-abiding immigrants being treated like criminals makes me think: do I share these Danish values? I came to Denmark because I believe in the principles of Democratic Socialism. I believe in Enlightenment values, where every person is equal, where freedom of expression and freedom of thought are valued, and where arguments are used against bad ideas and not censorship… I feel like Denmark no longer believes in the Western ideals that brought me here.
So yes, maybe I —a humanitarian, a free thinker, a progressive— do not share these Danish values, if the danish values are racism, not treating all people as equals, arbitrary use of government power to hurt people without serving a practical purpose (beyond garnering votes). I do love the Danes. They are an earnest and honest bunch. So when I see them so taken by fascist ideology, spread on billionaires’ social media platforms, I can’t even get angry. I just despair.
- I don’t want to meander on it so much but the school was heavy on bureaucracy (administrative staff to faculty ratio 1:1) and bound by rules and not pedagogical principles. This was a land of opportunity where the mediocre can become the best, by the sheer power of willpower. ↩︎
