Poor city of Paris

 

Knife crime in London

 

According to reports from various sources, including a study by the think tank Policy Exchange, knife crime in London has increased by 86% in the last decade. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also indicates that knife crime in England and Wales rose by 80% in the last 10 years. 

The islamic invasion of Europe

 

The country where the left (not the far right) made hardline immigration laws

 

Think, Denmark. Images of sleek, impossibly chic Copenhagen, the capital, might spring to mind. As well as a sense of a liberal, open society. That is the Scandinavian cliché.

But when it comes to migration, Denmark has taken a dramatically different turn. The country is now "a pioneer in restrictive migration policies" in Europe, according to Marie Sandberg, Director of the Centre for Advanced Migration Studies (AMIS) at the University of Copenhagen - both when it comes to asylum-seekers and economic migrants looking to work in Denmark.

Even more surprising, perhaps, is who is behind this drive. It's generally assumed 'far right' politicians are gaining in strength across Europe on the back of migration fears, but that's far from the full picture.

In Denmark – and in Spain, which is tackling the issue in a very different but no less radical way by pushing for more, not less immigration - the politicians taking the migration bull by the horns, now come from the centre left of politics.

How come? And can the rest of Europe - including the UK's Labour government - learn from them?

Unsettling times in Europe

Migration is a top voter priority, right across Europe. We live in really unsettling times. As war rages in Ukraine, Russia is waging hybrid warfare, such as cyber attacks across much of the continent. Governments talk about spending more on defence, while most European economies are spluttering. Voters worry about the cost of living and into this maelstrom of anxieties comes concern about migration.

But in Denmark, the issue has run deeper, and for longer.

Immigration began to grow apace following World War Two, increasing further – and rapidly - in recent decades. The proportion of Danish residents who are immigrants, or who have two immigrant parents, has increased more than fivefold since 1985, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).

A turning point was ten years ago, during the 2015 European migration and refugee crisis, when well over a million migrants came to Europe, mostly heading to the wealthier north, to countries like Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

Slogans like "Danskerne Først" (Danes First) resonated with the electorate. When I interviewed supporters of the hard-right nationalist, anti-immigration, Danish People's Party (DPP) that year they told me, "We don't see ourselves as racists but we do feel we are losing our country."

Denmark came under glaring international attention for its hardline refugee stance, after it allowed the authorities to confiscate asylum seekers' jewellery and other valuables, saying this was to pay towards their stay in Denmark.

The Danish immigration minister put up a photo of herself on Facebook having a cake decorated with the number 50 and a Danish flag to celebrate passing her 50th amendment to tighten immigration controls.

And Danish law has only tightened further since then.

Plans to detain migrants on an island

Mayors from towns outside Copenhagen had long been sounding the alarm about the effects of the speedy influx of migrants.

Migrant workers and their families had tended to move just outside the capital, to avoid high living costs. Denmark's famous welfare system was perceived to be under strain. Infant schools were said to be full of children who didn't speak Danish. Some unemployed migrants reportedly received resettlement payments that made their welfare benefits larger than those of unemployed Danes, and government statistics suggested immigrants were committing more crimes than others. Local resentment was growing, mayors warned.

Today Denmark's has become one of the loudest voices in Europe calling for asylum seekers and other migrants turning up without legal papers to be processed outside the continent.

The country had first looked at detaining migrants without papers on a Danish island that used to house a centre for contagious animals. That plan was shelved.

Then Copenhagen passed a law in 2021 allowing asylum claims to be processed and refugees to be resettled in partner countries, like Rwanda. The UK's former Conservative government attempted a not dissimilar plan that was later annulled.

Copenhagen's Kigali plan hasn't progressed much either but it's tightened rules on family reunions, which not long ago, was seen as a refugee's right. It has also made all refugees' stay in Denmark temporary by law, whatever their need for protection.

But many of Denmark's harsh measures seemed targeted as much at making headlines, as taking action. The Danish authorities intentionally created a "hostile environment" for migrants", says Alberto Horst Neidhardt, senior analyst at the European Policy Centre.

And Denmark has been keen for the word to spread.

(Continue) 

 

 

China Is Treating Islam Like a Mental Illness

 

One million Muslims are being held right now in Chinese internment camps, according to estimates cited by the UN and U.S. officials. Former inmates—most of whom are Uighurs, a largely Muslim ethnic minority—have told reporters that over the course of an indoctrination process lasting several months, they were forced to renounce Islam, criticize their own Islamic beliefs and those of fellow inmates, and recite Communist Party propaganda songs for hours each day. There are media reports of inmates being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol, which are forbidden to Muslims, as well as reports of torture and death.

The sheer scale of the internment camp system, which according to The Wall Street Journal has doubled in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region just within the last year, is mindboggling. The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China describes it as “the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.” 

Beijing began by targeting Uighur extremists, but now even benign manifestations of Muslim identity—like growing a long beard—can get a Uighur sent to a camp, the Journal noted. Earlier this month, when a UN panel confronted a senior Chinese official about the camps, he said there are “no such things as reeducation centers,” even though government documents refer to the facilities that way. Instead, he claimed they’re just vocational schools for criminals.

China has been selling a very different narrative to its own population. Although the authorities frequently describe the internment camps as schools, they also liken them to another type of institution: hospitals. Here’s an excerpt from an official Communist Party audio recording, which was transmitted last year to Uighurs via WeChat, a social-media platform, and which was transcribed and translated by Radio Free Asia:

Members of the public who have been chosen for reeducation have been infected by an ideological illness. They have been infected with religious extremism and violent terrorist ideology, and therefore they must seek treatment from a hospital as an inpatient. … The religious extremist ideology is a type of poisonous medicine, which confuses the mind of the people. … If we do not eradicate religious extremism at its roots, the violent terrorist incidents will grow and spread all over like an incurable malignant tumor.

“Religious belief is seen as a pathology” in China, explained James Millward, a professor of Chinese history at Georgetown University, adding that Beijing often claims religion fuels extremism and separatism. “So now they’re calling reeducation camps ‘hospitals’ meant to cure thinking. It’s like an inoculation, a search-and-destroy medical procedure that they want to apply to the whole Uighur population, to kill the germs of extremism. But it’s not just giving someone a shot—it’s locking them up for months in bad conditions.”

China has long feared that Uighurs will attempt to establish their own national homeland in Xinjiang, which they refer to as East Turkestan. In 2009, ethnic riots there resulted in hundreds of deaths, and some radical Uighurs have carried out terrorist attacks in recent years. Chinese officials have claimed that in order to suppress the threat of Uighur separatism and extremism, the government needs to crack down not only on those Uighurs who show signs of having been radicalized, but on a significant swath of the population.

(Continue) 

 

Spanish town bans Muslim religious festivals from public spaces

A local authority in south-east Spain has banned Muslims from using public facilities such as civic centres and gyms to celebrate the religious festivals Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha.

The ban in Jumilla, in Murcia, is a first in Spain. It was introduced by the conservative People’s party (PP) and passed with the abstention of the far-right Vox party and the opposition of local leftwing parties.

The proposal states “municipal sports facilities cannot be used for religious, cultural or social activities alien to our identity unless organised by the local authority”.

The local Vox party posted on X: “Thanks to Vox the first measure to ban Islamic festivals in Spain’s public spaces has been passed. Spain is and will be forever the land of Christian people.”

Mounir Benjelloun Andaloussi Azhari, president of the Spanish federation of Islamic organisations, told El País newspaper the proposal was “Islamophobic and discriminatory”.

“They’re not going after other religions, they’re going after ours,” he said. Referring to the recent rise of racist rhetoric and attacks, he added: “We’re rather surprised by what’s happening in Spain. For the first time in 30 years I feel afraid.”

Jumilla has a population of about 27,000, of whom 7.5% come from largely Muslim countries.

The decision is bound to be challenged as it contravenes article 16 of the Spanish constitution, which states: “Freedom of ideology, religion and worship of individuals and communities is guaranteed, with no other restriction on their expression than may be necessary to maintain public order as protected by law”.

Francisco Lucas, the socialist leader in Murcia, said on X: “The PP violates the constitution and puts social cohesion as risk simply in the pursuit of power.”Juana Guardiola, a former socialist mayor of Jumilla, said: “What do they mean by identity? And what about the centuries of Muslim legacy here?”

 

Jumilla was part of the Roman empire until the Arab conquest in the eighth century. As Yumil-la it remained a principally Arab town for centuries until it was attacked by Christian troops led by Alfonso X of Castile in the mid-13th century.

 

The local Arab ruler reached an agreement, known as the capitulations of Alcatraz, under which Alfonso could be king as long as the rights of the existing population were respected. However, shortly after Alfonso’s death Castile invaded Jumilla, ending Arab rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Projeção da População Imigrante em Portugal: 5,5 milhões em 2028

O número consolidado de imigrantes no final de 2023 era de 1.293.463, um crescimento de 33,6% em relação a 2022, segundo estimativa da AIMA.

    Final de 2024: 1.293.463 * (1 + 0,336) = 1.727.675 imigrantes

    Final de 2025: 1.727.675 * (1 + 0,336) = 2.308.232 imigrantes

    Final de 2026: 2.308.232 * (1 + 0,336) = 3.085.645 imigrantes

    Final de 2027: 3.085.645 * (1 + 0,336) = 4.125.648 imigrantes

    Final de 2028: 4.125.648 * (1 + 0,336) = 5.517.965 imigrantes

Conclusão:

Se a taxa de crescimento de 33,6% observada entre 2022 e 2023 se mantivesse constante, a população imigrante em Portugal atingiria os 2,3 milhões em 2025 e ultrapassaria os 5,5 milhões em 2028. Se o actual governo não introduzisse, com carácter de urgência, medidas de controle da imigração de portas abertas herdada dos socialistas, Portugal teria 5,5 milhões de imigrantes em 2028.

Com "Gemini" 

 

Reagrupamento familiar: o mistério dos salários e das habitações dos imigrantes

 

Embora os 410 mil processos pendentes na AIMA incluam diversas tipologias (manifestações de interesse, renovações, etc.), os pedidos de reagrupamento familiar são uma parte importante e crescente deste universo. A AIMA e o Governo têm alertado que o número de imigrantes em Portugal poderá aumentar significativamente devido ao reagrupamento familiar.
Cerca de 250 mil imigrantes que estavam em vias de regularização através de manifestações de interesse e 210 mil com visto da Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) passarão a ter direito ao reagrupamento familiar, o que irá gerar um novo fluxo de pedidos. A AIMA referiu que está a dar prioridade a cerca de 10 mil reagrupamentos familiares com menores que já se encontram em território nacional.

Isto significa que há 10 mil imigrantes com casa e rendimentos como estão previstos na lei para o reagrupamento e perto de meio milhão com condições para pedir esse mesmo reagrupamento, a curto prazo.
Para que o pedido de reagrupamento seja aceite, o imigrante já residente em Portugal e com a sua situação regularizada deve cumprir as seguintes condições (entre outras), de acordo com a lei: 
Alojamento adequado: O requerente deve dispor de alojamento adequado para si e para os seus familiares. Terá de apresentar comprovativo da sua morada de residência (contrato de arrendamento, certidão de registo predial, ou declaração do senhorio/entidade alojadora).
Meios de Subsistência Suficientes: O requerente deve ter meios de subsistência estáveis e regulares, que sejam suficientes para si e para os seus familiares, sem que estes necessitem de recorrer ao sistema de assistência social.

Os valores de referência são calculados com base no Salário Mínimo Nacional (SMN). Atualmente, para 2025, com um SMN de 870€: 
Para o primeiro adulto reagrupado: 50% do SMN (435€)
Para cada adulto adicional: 50% do SMN (435€)
Para cada menor de 18 anos: 30% do SMN (261€)
Estes valores são adicionados ao SMN do requerente. Por exemplo, se o requerente ganha um SMN (870€) e quer reagrupar o cônjuge, precisaria de demonstrar meios de subsistência de 870€ + 435€ = 1305€. O comprovativo deve ser para um período não inferior a 12 meses.
É estranho que, num país com uma crise de habitação como a nossa, haja 10 mil imigrantes que conseguiram arranjar um alojamento adequado para uma família e obter um rendimento mensal, no mínimo, de 1.305 euros, quando 50% dos portugueses ganham ordenados medianos de uma média mensal aproximada de 889,92€ (valores de 2022). 

Se a maioria dos imigrantes ganha apenas o salário mínimo nacional (870 euros), como é que conseguem obter um rendimento de 1.300 euros, para cumprir a lei do reagrupamento familiar? De salientar que, em 2023, a remuneração mensal média bruta de um trabalhador estrangeiro foi de cerca de 769 euros para imigrantes até aos 35 anos e de 781 euros para aqueles com mais de 35 anos.
Em relação a habitação, os custos de aluguer de Lisboa são, de longe, os mais caros: Um T2 em Lisboa pode custar, em média, entre €1.200 a €2.200 por mês, ou até mais em zonas de luxo. O preço por metro quadrado em Lisboa ronda os €20,3/m². Em cidades como Castelo Branco, Guarda, Viseu, Portalegre, ou Vila Real, os valores de um T2 são significativamente mais baixos. Um T2 nestas regiões pode variar entre €500 a €800 por mês, e por vezes até menos em concelhos mais rurais ou com menor procura. Os preços por metro quadrado nestas zonas podem ser tão baixos quanto €6,6/m² a €8,7/m².

Perante tudo isto, convém perguntar: como é que 10 mil imigrantes conseguem rendimentos suficientes para alugar uma casa, em Portugal, quando o seu ordenado médio ronda o salário mínimo nacional? Seria bom que esses 10 mil imigrantes (para já...) partilhassem o segredo de como arranjar uma habitação com 870 euros de ordenado com as dezenas de milhar de jovens que não conseguem casa e com as famílias cujos rendimentos mal chegam para cobrir os custos de uma habitação.