Dean Cox for The New York Times
NYAMKO SABUNI
Posted on 01/13/2007 5:49:01 AM PST by Pharmboy
Dean Cox for The New York Times
NYAMKO SABUNI
STOCKHOLM
NYAMKO SABUNI would stand out anyway, being tiny, dark-skinned and obviously foreign in a place where those things are still anomalies. But as the recently appointed minister for integration and gender equality, she tends to draw more attention for her unusually blunt pronouncements about the place of immigrants in Swedish society.
As an opposition politician, Ms. Sabuni proposed banning the veil for girls under the age of 15. She proposed that schoolgirls undergo compulsory medical examinations to check for evidence of genital mutilation. She denounced what she called the “honor culture” of some immigrant groups, proposed outlawing arranged marriages and called for an end to state financing of religious schools.
...Nonetheless, she stands by her basic premise: that immigrants must try harder to fit in to their adopted country.
“A lot of people misread their rights,” she said recently. “They think that freedom of religion means that they can do anything in the name of religion, or that human rights means that they can act however they want against others.” Not true, she said. “If they want to live here, have kids, have grandchildren, they must make an effort to adapt to the society where they live.”
snip...learned Swedish, thrived in school and in college and ultimately got elected to Parliament and elevated to the cabinet is almost American in its can-do trajectory.
snip
She holds firm to that view even though, before entering Parliament, she was regularly turned away from the jobs for which she applied, she said, getting work only through contacts or by being recruited. But she refuses to dwell on it. “You can end up in a negative spiral where you attribute everything that goes wrong to discrimination,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
She arrived when she was 12, eventually married a Swede and has twins with him. She is opposed by immigrant groups.
Nyamko Sabuni was born in Bujumbura in Burundi where her father, a left-wing politician from Zaire, lived in exile. The family obtained political asylum in Sweden in 1981 and Sabuni grew up in Kungsängen, north of Stockholm. She studied law at Uppsala University, migration policy at Mälardalen University in Eskilstuna, and information and media communications at Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm.
Sabuni's family are Muslims, but not Sabuni herself.
Thanks for the info...
According to the Times, only her mother is Muslim, while her father is Christian. She herself is described as nonreligious.
Odd they would lump those two together.
Husker du is Norwegian. It means "do you remember?"
She proposed that schoolgirls undergo compulsory medical examinations to check for evidence of genital mutilation. She denounced what she called the “honor culture” (as in honor killings?) of some immigrant groups.
Just in case no one understands my post, I agree with her that these should be abolished.
Didn't realize that the Swedes put in a center-right government. I guess I missed the 6-column headline anniouncing this in the NY Times. /sarcasm
thanks for posting this interesting article!
a little light at the end of a very dark (european)tunnel.
Uff da, indeed!
Uff Da is --- forgetting your mother-in-law's first name.
Uff Da is --- dropping your only egg on the floor!.
Uff Da is --- eating hot soup when you've got a runny nose!
I learn something new on FR every day!
Thanks! I shall try and use it correctly next time...LOL!
Kommer du i håg?
I have seen Sabuni in many TV-debates. She seems to be the most sensible Swedish politician there is at the moment.
Not that the bar is set very high...
Cheers.
She should grow her hair back though :-)
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