Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.12.2006, Blaðsíða 7

1_RVK_GV_18_006_OPINION
I am really tired of a whole range
of arguments that surround the de-
bate on immigrants these days. Ev-
erybody knows the story of Pando-
ra ’s Box in Greek mythology. Zeus
gave Pandora, the first woman of
mankind, a box full of treasures
forbidding her to open it. But Pan-
dora couldn’t resist the temptation
to have a look in the box. When
she opened it, all sorts of evils and
disasters came out of the box and
spread into the world...
This may be the situation
around the debate on immigrants
in Iceland now. The Liberal Party
opened the box and all sorts of “in-
nflytjendavandamál” – immigrants’
problems – came flooding out into
our society. Many Icelanders must
have been waiting for the opportu-
nity to say something about immi-
grants in this country – something
negative. So, “Hurray! Everybody,
hurray! Throw in everything all.”
It is astonishing to see what a prob-
lem we immigrants are for Iceland-
ers and for this society. As a part
of the “problem”, I feel ashamed
of having been so ignorant of this
until now. Let me show you some
examples of what has come out in
the recent debate:
– There are too many immigrants.
Soon there will be more of them
than the Icelanders!
– Immigrant workers are cheaper
labour in the Icelandic labour mar-
ket. Their existence pushes the
wage level down for all.
– Immigrant workers deprive Ice-
landers of job opportunities.
– Icelandic language courses con-
sume huge expenses, which are
basically taxes from Icelanders.
– Some immigrants insist on the
importance of education in their
mother tongue and ask for support
from the government and the mu-
nicipalities. Why should Icelanders
take care of that?
– Icelanders cannot communicate
in Icelandic when they meet for-
eign workers at shops, institutes or
other places. Why do they have to
face such a situation in their own
country?
– Some immigrants cannot under-
stand anything in Icelandic, yet they
vote in municipal elections.
– Immigrants don’t respect the
laws in Iceland. They try to import
their own laws. Many Eastern Eu-
ropeans drive while they are intoxi-
cated, cause car accidents or get
arrested.
– Immigrants bring organised crime
into Iceland, including drugs and
human trafficking.
– They also commit crimes as indi-
viduals, such as robbery and rape.
– Immigrants don’t respect Ice-
landic culture and traditions. They
belong to different churches and
even believe in different gods. They
don’t have the same values as Ice-
landers.
– If the number of Muslims in-
creases in this society, it will be a
total disaster for Iceland. They stick
together, respect only their own
laws, mistreat women and break
the order of the society......
There must be more, but I think
this is enough for now. All of the
above statements are discussed
now as a part of the “immigrant
problem”. This is like a buffet at
Christmastime. People can pick
whatever they like from the varied
menu of “The Immigrant Prob-
lem”.
When this one word “immi-
grants” is uttered, it includes im-
migrant workers who have recently
come from the EEA, it includes
wives from Asia or Africa who
have Icelandic husbands, former
refugees who have settled, their
children and those who have al-
ready obtained citizenship. And it
includes everything, everyone and
all therein, namely all those who
are not native here. No wonder the
discussion cannot go forward or
make any sense. This is much too
vague for constructive talk.
Being cynical and only standing
aloof is not to my taste. So I would
like to make a small effort to put
things back in order. It is not only
negative things that people have
thrown in. A small common ground
can be a place to start. Now let’s
look at the buffet table of the “Im-
migrant Problem”. Which part of
the “problem” really concerns us
immigrants?
– First of all, immigrants are not
just increasing in numbers by
themselves. The main factor that
calls them to Iceland is big indus-
trial projects, such as Kárahnjúkar.
While people are shouting about
too many foreign workers, Norsk
Hydro is showing interest in build-
ing another aluminium plant. These
projects are made in the name of
the government and affirmed by
the Icelandic people. If Iceland-
ers think they see too many guest
workers here, shouldn’t they stop
these huge projects? The increase
in numbers of foreign workers is
not in the hands of immigrants. It
is in the hands of the Icelandic gov-
ernment.
– The same thing can be said about
EEA. The free movement of labour
within the EEA is a mutual obli-
gation for all the EEA members.
Again, the origin of the stream of
guest workers is located within the
purview of the Icelandic authori-
ties, and by Iceland’s decision to
belong to the EEA.
– Immigrants cannot steal jobs
from Icelanders when there is only
one percent unemployment.
– Icelanders, not immigrants, de-
cide the wages that immigrants are
paid. The wage issue belongs to
the Icelanders and the native em-
ployers.
– True, lessons in the Icelandic
language cost a lot. Tax money is
needed to pay for that. But who
pays the taxes? Is it just the Ice-
landers? No, it is also us immigrants
who pay the taxes.
– Most Icelanders have no idea
how much they are gaining from
immigrants’ families and their bi-
lingual children! The negative view
on educational possibilities in one’s
mother tongue is nothing but igno-
rance.
– As far as I know, the Icelandic po-
lice see organised crime as a sort of
“cooperation” between Icelandic
and foreign criminals. The other
crimes such as rape, burglary or
drunk driving are, of course, issues.
But those crimes concern criminals,
not nationality or people’s origins.
– True, Muslims live here, but why
is this potentially part of a prob-
lem? We cannot just import inter-
national propaganda and use it as a
weapon to attack immigrants who
are here now.
– I have much to contradict the
assertion that immigrants have
a different system of values than
Icelanders, and that they therefore
cannot live with Icelanders and
their culture. I will wait for anoth-
er opportunity to express myself
about this.
I am not saying that everything
is fine with immigrants’ issues in
Iceland. There are certainly things
that we have to think through, dis-
cuss and work on. In order to do
so, however, we need to follow the
facts, specify the issues, analyse
them and discuss each one objec-
tively. It is also important that we
explain our own philosophy re-
garding how we want our society
to develop and how we want to
live. Dear readers, that is a natural
procedure in how to handle these
issues. But sometimes people don’t
follow the most natural and fair
procedure. They may even forget
it and fall into chaos. Soon it will
be time for us to leave this chaotic
situation and begin to work on real
issues.
I remember the end of the story
of Pandora’s Box. After all the evils
have come out into human society,
only “hope” remains in the hands
of Pandora. Hope was Pandora’s
only tool to work with, but it in the
end it was enough to start with. I
want to believe the same. We have
“hope” for a better future in our
hands, both Icelanders and immi-
grants, and that’s where we have
to start working together.
Toshiki Toma is a pastor for immi-
grants and political scientist.
Immigrants – Pandora’s Box in Iceland
Text by Toshiki Toma
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