Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
60
What do you mean by negative? Lithuanians are surely part of the same segment,
aren’t they?
‘No no, Lithuanians are not. Lithuanians work; they are a labour force, whereas those
others are refugees. Speaking of Pakistanis as a group, they were admitted into
Norway in 1970s when the country needed labourers. There are lots of them now, and
when you read about their lifestyle, about the ghettos they have created here, their
unwillingness to integrate, the fact that forced marriage still exists among them and
that they bring many Pakistanis into the country on the basis of family union… There
has been research which showed that, in one way or another, on average one
Pakistani brings into the country about a hundred more. They do that by means of
family ties, etc. You also hear about them defrauding the country, evading taxes and
denying equal rights to women; they keep them wrapped in burkas or whatever
they’re called’ (Female, 49).
The supposed Europeanness and diligence of Lithuanians and their willingness more or
less to integrate themselves into Norwegian society is contrasted with the unwillingness of
‘other’ immigrants to become an integral part of their new society. However, although Lithuanian
immigrants understand themselves as Europeans, the idea of Europe is itself complex. As one
informant pointed out, much depends on where one comes from in Europe:
‘[...] the beginning was very tough here. When I talk to other Lithuanians and we
share our experiences, it is clear that life is hard here. When I first came here, for
example, Norwegians said very plainly to me that I was simply from the wrong part
of Europe’.
What did they mean by that?
‘Eastern Europe. If I were from Western Europe, things would be different. [...] if I
were from Western Europe, all my exams would count and everything would be
different. But as an Eastern European, I practically have no rights’ (Female, 50).
An even more important obstacle that prevents Lithuanian immigrants from seeing
themselves as equals with Norwegians is that being Norwegian is seen as an ethnic category. In
other words, immigrants tend to differentiate between Norwegians and ‘others’ on the basis of
ethnicity rather than citizenship:
Who do you consider to be Norwegians?
A Norwegian is a Norwegian – a true Norwegian, of Norwegian origin. When I talk
about Norwegian men, I mean true Norwegians, not some Arabs.
But they have citizenship of the country.
So what? To me, citizenship is not nationality.
