The Local has written on several occasions about the racism and glass ceiling felt by many foreigners in Sweden, but we also want to encourage constructive discussion, so we’re asking what our readers think to help make your voice heard in the public debate.
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We may use your answers in a future article on The Local.
Do a better job integrating refugees, even if that means what could be considered islamophobic measures. For example, forbid any kind of religious requirements on women and girls to help get them accustomed to life in an egalitarian society, not one where they are required to be submissive to men.
Do not forget the Swedes, if you wast to be accepted and to be included in the life and culture of the country you come to then respect its culture and costumes in the first place. The Swedish people don’t have to change after all they would be accepted to adjust to the other cultures if they moved or visited those countries.
1. Have all the public administration websites in English. For example even skatteverket’s app/website has a lot of content not translated in English.
2. Encourage more the swedish language by providing allowance/benefits for the newcomers to learn the language. In this way people can be integrated easier.
I imagine a group(s) of volunteers who will participate in activities to bridge the gap between the locals and immigrants. We can have organized local events where everyone can come with the goal of exchanging culture and food.
We can also have an online platform for locals and immigrants to have honest and genuine dialogues with each other. To ask questions, to tell personal stories, to spread love and care. The platform will be moderated to remove any negative content.
We can learn from how the far right movement have grown so well across Europe. Of course we will not be using troll factories to push our love agenda. But we can take advantage of social media and create lots of contents and documentaries to spread the message of love and unity. We can educate people through awareness and understanding of each other’s cultures. Differences don’t always mean bad. We just need understanding and compassion. Humans tend to be afraid of the unfamiliar and the unknown. All we need to do is to make things more familiar and known to everyone.
Lastly, through all the connections we make, we may be able to help refugees find jobs within the community and help out one another. Refugees typically come from war torn zones and do not have the best opportunities to have the resources and education and experience to work in higher demand jobs.
P.S. We can also learn from Singapore, who became one of the richest countries in the world through embracing multiculturalism instead of forcing assimilation to one mainstream culture. It’s an environment where everyone can coexist equally.
This article details all of their history and government’s relentless initiatives to make it happen.
https://www.sg101.gov.sg/social-national-identity/multicultural/
“In a multiracial society one soon learns that no one people has a monopoly of wisdom and that one’s culture is not without flaws. This not only breeds tolerance for different viewpoints but also a readiness to learn and borrow from the accumulated wisdom of other people.
These are, we have discovered, attitudes of mind essential for the smooth and constructive development of a multi-racial and multi-cultural society.”
– Singapore’s First Foreign Minister S. Rajaratnam,
at the United Nations General Assembly on 21 September 1965.