TheEconomistNovember 30th 2019 55
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F
or a so-calledghetto, Mjolnerparken
seems rather pleasant. The public-
housing complex in Copenhagen contains
well-tended playgrounds full of cavorting
children and their Somali- and Pakistani-
Danish mothers. But it is a bit of a maze,
and it can be hard for outsiders to find peo-
ple, especially if they plan to kill them.
During Copenhagen’s gang wars in au-
tumn 2017, this happened rather often. At
one point, toughs from a drug-trafficking
gang called Loyal To Familia arrived on mo-
torbikes looking for members of Brothas, a
rival group. They ended up shooting two
plainclothes police officers instead.
Such outrages were one catalyst for
Denmark’s “ghetto” law. Lars Lokke Ras-
mussen, then the prime minister, came to
Mjolnerparken in March 2018 to unveil new
legislation that designated as “ghettos” ar-
eas dominated by immigrants with high
levels of unemployment and crime. Crimes
in such areas were to be punished more
harshly and public day care for toddlers
made mandatory to inculcate Danish val-
ues. Public-housing corporations were or-
dered to sell off some apartments to
wealthier newcomers. Critics lambasted
the law as bigoted, but it passed later that
year with the backing of parties on the left
and right.
Denmark’s ghetto law reflects growing
European discomfort with districts domin-
ated by ethnic-minority groups. In 2018 the
parliamentary leader of the Dutch govern-
ing party suggested adopting Danish-style
ghetto laws in the Netherlands. The mayor
of the Belgian city of Antwerp last year
compared the growth of ethnically distinct
communities in his city to a form of apart-
heid. When Emmanuel Macron, the French
president, went on a nationwide listening
tour this year in response to the gilets
jaunesprotests, officials in the banlieues,
poor suburbs whose residents are mostly
from ethnic minorities, denounced the ar-
eas’ growing “ghettoisation”. From Oslo to
Milan, grumpy natives complain of dis-
tricts that no longer feel like the country
they grew up in.
You hear similar complaints in coun-
tries with longer traditions of immigra-
tion, like America, Britain and Canada. But
such countries fret less about the existence
of neighbourhoods with distinct ethnic
characters, even if those places are poor.
Every metropolis boasts its own China-
town, and some have special policies for
protecting them. America worries about
racially segregated ghettos but has made
only half-hearted attempts to break them
up. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 required
local governments in America to fight resi-
dential segregation, but Richard Nixon re-
fused to enforce what he termed “forced in-
tegration of housing”. In 2015 the Obama
administration introduced more ambi-
tious regulation, but it was shelved under
Donald Trump. So who has the better
case—the interventionist Europeans or the
relaxed Anglo-Saxons?
Danes and other Europeans raise two
objections to ghettos. First, the very exis-
tence of poor immigrant districts under-
mines public support for their generous
welfare systems. When groups lack sol-
idarity with each other, “then it’s very easy
to be annoyed about paying 45% in taxes,”
says Kaare Dybvad, the Social Democratic
housing minister, who took office after the
leftist parties won the general election in
June. That claim is hard to prove or dis-
Immigrant districts
In the ghettos
COPENHAGEN AND NEW YORK
Denmark is determined to break up ethnic enclaves. What is wrong with them?
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