The Swedish government has finally admitted that its immigration policies are a total failure. Immigrants are concentrated in few dozen cities and increasingly isolated from mainstream society, which runs counter to Sweden's self-perception as a humanitarian society. http://www.thelocal.se/22244/20090923/
Some officials think this "apartheid" is acceptable, but as Paris and Malmo have shown, it is a political, social and economic dead end and will only end in social unrest and violence.
How can Sweden get out of this rut? How can it integrate its immigrants into mainstream society? As a Silicon Valley native who has watched the City of San Jose become one of the most integrated cities in the U.S., here are my suggestions:
- Encourage all Swedish companies to set up affirmative action recruiting, hiring and promotion policies through tax incentives, government procurement, training subsidies and other means.
- Require all immigrants to master the Swedish language by offering more classes, especially e-learning and mobile learning technologies so students can learn anywhere, anytime.
- Promote international cultural and job fairs in all cities and towns in partnership with immigrant groups, visitors and foreign embassies.
- Encourage young people to learn about each other's cultures by promoting school exchanges, partner schools, and multicultural team projects.
- Involve top Swedish universities, such as JIBS.se -- the most international business schools in Sweden -- in offering intercultural management training workshops and courses to all Swedish companies, municipalities and professionals to raise their international, intercultural sensitivity.
- Study immigration experiences in other nations. Sweden reminds me of California in the late 1960s just after President Johnson signed the immigration act allowing more non-white immigration into the U.S. Like other countries, the U.S. still has major challenges integrating immigrants, but places like Silicon Valley have shown how to integrate people from over 200 nations successfully into the workforce. Sweden should send study missions of educators, businesspeople, politicians and community organizers to learn best practices from the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Singapore, Brazil and other nations with large immigrant communities, as well as invite top scholars, policymakers and activists to offer suggestions. Leaders like Nelson Mandela would be excellent for setting the tone.
- Encourage banks to set up retail banking centers in immigrant communities, hire immigrants, lend to immigrant small businesses, and promote commerce with the mother countries of the immigrants. In Silicon Valley, Chinese immigrants are our best business "diplomats" with China and Taiwan.
- Collaborate with international professional groups, such as TiE.org (India), and immigrant business, student and cultural groups to promote greater integration of immigrant communities into Sweden and with other trading partners.
- Offer scholarships, research grants, prizes and public recognition to people who help integrate immigrants into Swedish society and economy
- Encourage government agencies to study and develop more progressive immigrant policies in collaboration with immigrant community organizations.
- Encourage more immigrants to get involved in politics and run for political seats, especially in the Parliament (Riksdag)
There are many more things that Sweden can do to integrate immigrants, but these are just starters. As the EU Presidency this fall, Sweden has the opportunity to show political leadership in totally reforming immigration and immigrant policies, not only in Sweden, but also as a model for Europe. It must "walk the talk." It will not be easy, but the alternative is remaining a large "Nordic apartheid" that faces increasing disparities and unrest, which will be not politically, economically, culturally or morally sustainable for long.
The Swedish government just passed emergency guidelines to accelerate the mainstreaming of immigrants into the workforce, but is it too late? Like Paris, Swedish cities face a growing number of arsons and crimes, especially in immigrant communities. Anti-immigrant racism among neo-Nazi groups is rising. Unlike the peaceful image projected by Sweden, my African immigrant neighbor and his Swedish girlfriend who taught in suburban schools dominated by immigrants and their children say the suburbs are ready to explode.
The seeds of this social unrest are many. Viewing itself as humanitarian, Sweden accepted many immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Mideast and Latin America, but warehoused them in Soviet-style suburban housing built during the 1960s under the "Million-Home" program. Isolated, unable to speak Swedish and far from jobs, these immigrants ended up on welfare, which was reinforced by Sweden's generous welfare policies. Recently, the government has reformed welfare laws to mainstream immigrants into the workforce, but it's coming two decades late.
According to SEB bank, 18% of Sweden's population is immigrant, which is forecast to reach 30% in several decades. As in the U.S. and Europe, immigrants have the highest birth rates so minorities account for most of the youth, whose unemployment rates are skyrocketing.
A Telia diversity manager told me his job is to recruit immigrants trained in math, engineering and science to replace the retiring baby boomers, but Swedish companies are already too late. They are already running out of qualified engineers and programmers since most Swedish youth prefer easier, non-scientific studies. Sweden recently began recruiting Indian programmers from India, even though its minorities cannot find jobs -- similar to the H-1 visa situation in the U.S. It will get worse because of the huge mismatch in job skills.
Sweden has little time to defuse this immigrant time bomb. It must totally revise its immigration, labor, educational and cultural policies immediately to prepare itself for a multicultural future or it faces major social unrest. The U.S., U.K., Singapore, Canada and other nations provide useful lessons, but the ultimate policy choices must fit Swedish realities and Swedish politicians, educators and business people must move fast before it's too late.
Sweden has the ability to overcome its late-to-the-game cultural and political challenges since the country is very systematic, pragmatic and organized. This is a nation that pursues "social engineering" with a passion. Now is the time to apply its humanitarian principles at home to solve its festering immigrant challenge.
However, it's openness to non-European immigrants will be sorely tested. If it meets this challenge, Sweden could become a model for Europe. If not, the famed Swedish "workers paradise" will be just a fond memory. Unless there are tens of thousands of new jobs for immigrant youth, this country faces major turmoil. Many Swedes and immigrants may prefer to leave the country since the government forecasts unemployment to climb from 8% now to 12% by 2011.
Sweden is leading the EU presidency this fall. All the EU's and world's eyes will be watching to see if the nation can solve its immigrant youth and racial challenges.
http://www.thelocal.se/22042/20090912/
http://www.thelocal.se/22008/20090911/
The Swedish government announced that universities will be able to charge tuition for non-EU students and offer student stipends from fall 2011. Sweden has finally woken up and realized that college education is big business worldwide after having long viewed itself as a humanitarian (or socialist) haven. During the past decade, tens of thousands of Asians, Africans, Middle Easterners, Latin Americans, North Americans, British and Australians have poured into Sweden for a free college education. In science and engineering, departments look like American colleges, with many immigrants.
While good for internationalization, these students take their hard-won knowledge home, leaving Swedish taxpayers to foot the bill. Although foreign students can work for Swedish companies if offered a job, most are forced to leave for financial reasons, so Sweden cannot capture the value of their free education.
Sweden faces serious budget problems and has been cutting back on welfare, health, and education, which does not play well with Swedish voters. Elections are coming up next year. The unemployment rate is 8% and forecast to jump to 12% by 2011, so the government needs to generate some revenues for its voters.
One coming challenge is a potential drop in foreign students, which Denmark experienced when it introduced tuition. Although very good, most Swedish universities are not at the top in world rankings. Quality is uneven due to closed faculty hiring policies and lax quality monitoring. Universities will have raise their quality in order to compete with foreign universities. Already, JIBS.se where I work has launched new teaching and research quality programs, and opened hiring to foreign professors. Other universities will have to do likewise if Sweden wants to attract top talent like U.S. and British universities.
College tuition for foreigners is part of the Moderate Party's shift to market-driven policies, which are partly inspired by Karl Rove, a past adviser to the government. If the U.S. is going left, Sweden is going right.
