Sunday, July 12, 2009

Send them to Africa, dammit

Unless you've lived in a cave, or you don't understand Norwegian or live abroad, you've no doubt been exposed to the Progress Party's (Fremskrittspartiet's) suggestion of shipping all refugees to Africa. Or more specifically; outsourcing all refugee camp services to Africa, where the costs are lower and the Norwegian public doesn't have to look at destitute people from different cultures.

No; it's not a joke - they actually made this very suggestion. Some of the underlying reasoning also comprises the fact that the African nations in question receive lots of foreign aid from Norway.

I can almost picture how the Conservatives' (Høyre's) party leader Erna Solberg reacted when she learned of this suggestion from a party she depends on to support her in a possible government coalition: F*ck!

No doubt she was even more pleased when the Fremskrittspartiet's second-in-command, Per Sandberg, actually took it upon himself to back this proposal in every available media outlet. Letting Sandberg speak in public is a bad idea from the get-go; the combination of his mismatched wardrobe, his propensity for being inappropriate (like suggesting that the highways and interstates should be safe enough that you can DUI without any risk whatsoever) and the fact that he sounds like a bad local revue act (or the "Public Service announcement" leding up to the first track on a DDE record) would make him an unlikely candidate for a spokesperson. Not in Fremskrittspartiet, however.

Considering that many of the refugees come from African countries and that they've thrown away their IDs, this suggestion might spur some "issues" in the unlikely event that it ever comes to fruition. Like the refugees being shipped back to the country they came from, to be held behind bars by the very same people they were being persecuted by. Only this time, their imprisonment would be sponsored by the Norwegian state. Or some of the refugees might work part-time as personnel in their home town, working in their home town, being paid by the Norwegian government to make sure their family members don't leave town.

I think this is a brilliant suggestion - our own version of one of USA's most successful builders of international relations and unbridled PR success; Gitmo.

5 comments:

Anders said...

I can almost picture how the Conservatives' (Høyre's) party leader Erna Solberg reacted when she learned of this suggestion from a party she depends on to support her in a possible government coalition: F*ck!

Consider the disagreement about finances, transportation, culture and imigration, I keep wondering what fundation a Høyre-FrP collaboration would be founded on.

Wilhelm said...

Well; "It's time for a change" have proved to be a successful slogan

Anders said...

LOL
Yeah, you're right.

Anonymous said...

…Like the refugees being shipped back to the country they came from,…

You didn't really read the article, now did you?

Wilhelm said...

You got me bro - I didn't even read the full title.

Out of curiosity- what makes you think I didn't read it? You don't see the part you quoted as being a possible scenario? If so -what do you base that on? FrP saying it won't happen?

Or are you basing this on the well-known fact that asylum seekers and refugees always carry with them foolproof identification so that there is never any doubt about the country of origin?