This January I was spending a few weeks in Las Palmas in the Canaries, where I started getting to
know a culture I was not familiar with but that is turning out to be very welcoming.
I was in the northern port area far away from the mass tourism in the south, and
after having experienced all those foreign complex of soulless “plastics”, this
was super interesting to me.
While
looking around, reading and listening to stories about Las Palmas a few
thoughts have crossed my mind. One thought especially encircles my mind this
evening while I’m doing the dishes. Just before leaving Sweden I had a meeting
with my editor concerning an informative I am planning about myths in Sweden related
to the “million program”. The concept refers to what in Sweden is known as the
living areas where all the immigrants have been accommodated since the
sixties-seventies. For those of us who grew up there, these areas represent
something completely different than the medial image of them that is manifested
to the world. I’m going to tell you more
in general about that shortly. Returning to my meeting, one of the things that
struck me during our conversation was a comment made about the myth concerning the
people who want to integrate. Just to point out, in the world of myths nothing is
crystal clear seeing as amongst the myths we discussed, some are pure myths and
some are reality as well. Nonetheless, the comment my editor made was that in
modern “nature-made” cities, there are living areas dominated by one ethnical
or cultural group (whichever you want to call it) which emerge and survive
incessantly. Chinatown, Little Italy etc
etc in the States are a few examples of this my editor brought up, who also
happens to be an architect that works for a foundation that researches
architectural issues and the physical planning of our global world.
Las
Palmas, where I find myself for the time being, is a city founded relatively
not long ago as well, although older than the States. There I witness the same
kind of phenomenon reappearing, principally in the Korean and Indian areas. I
find that interesting because in Sweden, I have always felt that I partly miss
the people who claim that segregation is not dangerous to them in that sense.
The many investigations that have been performed in Sweden and other countries
furthermore demonstrate precisely this; that there are areas dominated by an
ethnical group, where that group progresses better on their own. As such, this
kind of demography is by itself not a problem. An interesting investigation
from last year in Sweden also addressing the issue, coincidentally demonstrated
that a group of immigrants by themselves do not generate/perform better/more
positive results, but a group of immigrants from the same background do. We
have a few examples of this in Sweden with the Kurds in Dalarna and the Syrians
in the south of Stockholm, but not too many of them. The Swedish mentality has
always taking it for granted that integration and happiness are obtained by
placing everyone in the same IKEA-box and letting them put the pieces together.
My
opinion on this has always been very clear: it doesn’t matter where people
live. Although the media easily fabricates powerful images of segregated living
areas, it doesn’t necessarily imply that their impact is real. It’s not just a
question of dividing areas in two parts
where on one side a majority of immigrants live, “and on the other side
of the highway/river etc” a complete opposite relation presides.
What
matters are two things: For one thing that people, wherever they may live, have
equal access to information about their rights and the services that belong to
them as citizens. For instance, a good public service should be equal everywhere.
Also, the possibilities of getting an employment should not be dependent on
whether you have the right zip code or not; a crucial factor in the quest for
the infamous integration. I find it self-evident that one’s connection to the
world is established at work through the relationships one might find there. It
is therefore at work where it becomes so important that people blend and mix
with each other, and not solely in the backyard of one’s home. Wherever you as
a citizen then may be forced or choose to live is an entirely different matter
to me, one of much less importance.
Despite
what seems only logical to me, the issues I have brought do exist: living in an
area with a mixed demography or a high percentage of immigrants might imply
that your public service is of less quality. It might additionally imply that a
lot of the residents are uninformed about the most basic things. But what is
worse of all: your zip code might deprive you of many jobs and opportunities.
This is a disaster and something we must work on solving as soon as possible.
Forget the baby steps and go for the giant ones instead. We are after all in
the 21st century already, vamos!
