Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
h is strong social ethic permeates the whole of Danish society. A trav-
eler can i nd it in its raw and indigenous form in the rural corners and small
towns—places where anyone is allowed to pick berries and nuts, but “no
more than would i t in your hat.”
On a recent visit to a Danish small town, I saw this social ethic in the
way a local friend of mine reacted to a controversy. h e biggest hotel in his
town started renting bikes to compete with Mrs. Hansen's bike rental shop.
My friend was disappointed in the hotel manager, saying, “h ey don't need to
do that—bike rental has been Mrs. Hansen's livelihood since she was a little
girl.” Of course, there's no law forbidding it. And with our American business
ethic, we'd just say that competition is good. But in Denmark, to look out for
Mrs. Hansen's little bike rental business was a matter of neighborly decency.
Other countries have struggled to become more social-istic...and failed.
So how do the Danes pull it of ? I think their success relates to their accep-
Immigrants: Treasure Your Heritage…and Melt
I've painted a rosy picture of Denmark.
But the country is not without its chal-
lenges. One key issue facing Denmark,
along with the rest of Europe and the
US, is immigration.
These days, incentives for immi-
grants to blend quickly are not as
strong as when my grandparents
sailed to America from Norway.
Thanks to modern telecommunications
advances, communities of foreigners
can settle in more comfortable places
while remaining in close contact with
friends and family back home. Like the
Algerian family I mentioned in Chap-
ter 3 (who've been in the Netherlands
for three generations, speak barely a
word of Dutch, and are still enthusiasti-
cally Algerian), these people have no
interest in assimilating. Consequently,
rather than “melting pots,” wealthy
countries such as Denmark are becom-
ing cafeteria plates with dividers
keeping ethnic groups separate.
Immigration can be a major
wedge issue—especially in formerly
homogenous nations. Only 40 years
ago, there were virtually no foreign-
ers in Denmark. As in many European
countries, part of the population,
especially older and more insular
Danes, fears immigrants and gravi-
tates to right-wing, racist parties.
Meanwhile, progressive Danes—who
celebrate a multicultural future—
wonder why their wealthy nation of
high-tech, multilingual globalists is
still struggling to get along with their
relatively small community of Mus-
lim immigrants. While some Danes
view their growing Muslim minor-
ity as a problem, others are willing
to see a more colorful society as an
opportunity.
At Copenhagen's City Museum,
I met a Pakistani Dane who worked
there as a guide. He spoke Danish like
a local and talked earnestly about the
