From: sooz@iastate.edu (Susan F Bradley)
Subject: Re: nationalism, Finns, Chinese, etc.
Keywords: none
Organization: Dept of English -- IOWA STATE UNIV
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 00:46:01 GMT

In <1992Aug14.063913.16102@ugle.unit.no> jafitv@termo.unit.no (Jan Arne Fagertun) writes:

[my growling deleted]

>I'm deeply sorry - I was not aiming my verbal gun at you or Mats
>Winberg. I had no specific reason to do so.

>My article was aiming at many people in Norway (and surely in the other
>western countries) who mean that we cannot allow people from Asia,

[remainder deleted for brevity]

>+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
>| Jan Arne Fagertun, Research Engineer, SINTEF Division Thermodynamics|
>| E-mail: Jan.A.Fagertun@termo.unit.no                                |
>| Phone : +47 7 596890                            Fax  : +47 7 944513 |
>| Mail  : SINTEF/Varmeteknikk, 7034 Trondheim, Norway                 |
>+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

   Your apology is very warmly accepted, and may I offer my own regrets at the
misunderstaning? 
   Although I don't mean to make excuses for what may well indeed be racist
views and policies, I would like to say that I can completely understand the
fears of people hesitant to allow "non-whites" into countries like Norway and 
Sweden. It _is_ usually more than just a matter of skin colour. The Nordic 
countries have highly homogeneous cultures. For centuries, pretty much everyone
in those countries has shared religion, language, superstitions, mores, and, 
yes, even pigmentation. Now these people, who've always pretty much been able
to understand the values and beliefs of the folks next door, are being asked to
accept as "Norwegian" or "Swedish" religions and beliefs systems which are 
completely alien to them. Why should they not be afraid? Why should they not
resist? 
    When two different shades of Christianity can't live in peace in Belfast,
when two sects of Islam can't get along in the Middle East, when a city the
size of Los Angeles can explode into violence and chaos after a court verdict
in a country which has had years and years to try to work out its racial
inequity, how can anyone expect the citizens of a homogeneous culture to just
placidly, unfearfully accept an influx of people who don't look like they do,
talk like they do, or believe in the same god? 
    It is a wonderful, lovely sentiment to believe that it is better to accept
huge numbers of immigrants to your country rather than watch them starve in 
their own country, but I believe that part of the problem comes when the people
whose lives have, ostensibly, been saved don't react in the way they are 
"supposed" to. Once they've been established in their new homes, they don't 
always make much of an effort to fit in to the new culture, do they? And they
also have an unfortunate tendency to bring feuds and rivalries from "home" with
them. As I recall, there were clashes between Iranians who were against the 
Ayatollah Khomeini and those who supported him on more than one occasion in 
Malmo" in just the 6 months I was in Sk}ne. Now, I for one, was at a bit of a
loss as to why _supporters_ of Khomeini would have emigrated to Sweden, in the
first place, but I can certainly understand the anger and resentment of the 
Swedes at such things being brought to Sweden at all. 
     I am sure that there are people who oppose allowing non-European immigra-
tion who are racists, pure and simple. But, I don't want to be too quick to 
condemn all who voice concerns about the issue as being merely racist. Having
been born and reared in a "heterogeneous" country, I can see why someone may
well prefer to leave their homogeneous country just the way it is. It may be
selfish, it may even be cruel. But it is, to me at least, an understandable
response.

Susan Bradley
sooz@iastate.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic