Month: November 2010

YLE: Närpes Becomes Magnet for Immigrants

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The western town of Närpes in Ostrobothnia has become a model for the successful integration of immigrants, reports YLE. Home to more than 30 nationalities, today one in ten inhabitants of this small town have foreign roots.

Many newcomers to Finland have made Närpes their new hometown. Erdin Majdanac, a metal worker from Bosnia, is one of them. After three years, even the biting cold hasn’t changed his warm views on Finland and his newfound community.

“We want to stay. We like it here and have even bought a house.”

Five of the 18 workers at Majdanac’s job are foreign-born. His employer, Peter Mannfolk, has played a major role in the integration of foreign staff.

“We’ve stressed the importance of learning Swedish. It’s our work language and people speak Swedish in Närpes. Language is the key to integrating into society,” says Peter Mannfolk, Managing Director of Maxel Oy.

In Närpes, inhabitants welcome work-based immigration. The town has a labour shortage and unemployment is just a few percent. But attitudes are equally positive towards refugees.

Mannfolk says the answer is easy.

“Treat others how you would treat yourself, and you’ll have fewer problems.”

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Swiss deportation referendum success puts human rights at risk

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Amnesty International urges the Swiss authorities at all levels not to enforce the deportation of foreigners convicted of certain criminal offences if this will result in human rights violations after voters backed the move in a referendum on Sunday.

If the results of the referendum known as the ’Deportation Initiative’ are implemented, the Swiss constitution would be amended to permit the “automatic” and immediate deportation of non-citizens convicted for certain criminal offences to their countries of origin.  According to media sources 52.9% per cent of the votes were in favour of the amendment.

Foreign nationals convicted for several criminal offences, including murder, rape, (armed) robbery, trafficking in persons and in drugs, as well as welfare benefit fraud, will be immediately stripped of their residence permit and right to remain in the country.

The Swiss People’s Party used xenophobic publicity materials. © Qtea

“If put into practice, the amendment to the constitution risks violating Switzerland’s obligations under international law, in particular the obligation not to return anyone to a country where they would be at risk of torture or other forms of persecution,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.

“Switzerland cannot, and must not, allow popular — and xenophobic — initiatives to override its obligations under international law. Switzerland should also grant persons subject to deportation the opportunity to appeal any decision.”

The amendment required by the referendum removes any possibility of appealing the deportation order, which would be made by a regional migration office. The removal of the right to appeal would also put Switzerland in breach of its international obligations.

The move could put many second and third generation migrants at risk of deportation. Those whose parents were not Swiss citizens at the time of their birth, and retain the nationality of their families’ country of origin, could be deported if the amendment is implemented.

The Deportation Initiative took place following a campaign launched by the populist Swiss People’s Party that resorted to openly discriminatory and xenophobic publicity materials, including a poster with a slogan “Ivan S. – a rapist and soon Swiss?” and another with a cartoon graphic depicting a black sheep being kicked out of Switzerland by white sheep.

Helsingin Sanomat, mielipide: Omar Bahaaldin: Maahanmuuttajilla ei ole Suomessa kantaväestön oikeuksia

Posted on by Migrant Tales

(Migrant Tales will start to publish more stories written in other media in Finland on immigration, refugees, integration and policy).

Viime aikoina media on nostanut esiin maahanmuuttajiin liittyviä asioita, kuten kotoutumisen, työhön ja koulutukseen pääsemisen sekä suomen kielen oppimisen. Haluan muistuttaa, että kotoutuminen on paitsi poliittinen ja taloudellinen myös yhteiskunnallinen prosessi.

Uuteen yhteiskuntaan sopeutuminen sekä kielen, kulttuurin, ympäristön ja uuden elämän opetteleminen vie pitkän ajan. Oppimisella on aina kaksi puolta. Yksi puoli on se, mitä oikeuksia ja mahdollisuuksia on, toinen se, onko motivaatiota ja valmiuksia noudattaa velvollisuuksia.

Mielestäni maahanmuuttajan kotoutuminen on täynnä myös taloudellisia esteitä ja ongelmia, koska maahanmuuttajien asema on heikompi kuin valtaväestöllä. Siksi monia palveluja, kuten kursseja, koulutuksia ja kulukorvauksia, on tiivistetty ja vähennetty.

Resurssit suomen kielen oppimiseen ovat todella pienet kurssien ja koulutuksen suhteen. Valitettavasti ongelma ei ole vain siinä, onko näitä kursseja tarjolla, vaan myös siinä ettei työvoimatoimisto enää anna osalle maahanmuuttajista työmarkkinatukea. Jos maahanmuuttaja pääsee jollekin kurssille, hänelle ei makseta yhdeksän euron päivittäistä kulukorvausta. Tämä on ristiriitaista, koska kaikki muut ihmiset, jotka asuvat tässä yhteiskunnassa, saavat tätä korvausta.

Kolme vuotta sitten suuri epäkohta oli B-lupa. Käytännössä B-lupa riistää maahanmuuttajalta työn, ammatin, opiskelun, perusterveydenhuollon ja muut oikeudet. Eli valitettavasti vaihtoehdoksi jää “pimeän työn” tekeminen. Tämä on lakien vastaista, heikentää Suomen ammattiliitojen saavutuksia ja lisää rasismia, mutta järjestelmä ei jätä B-lupalaisille muita vaihtoehtoja. Käytännössä B-lupa estää kotoutumisen.

Kotoutuminen ei ole onnistunut Suomessa kovinkaan hyvin opiskelunkaan suhteen. Opiskelu onnistuu rauhallisessa kodissa. Asunnon saaminen on vaikeaa maahanmuuttajalle, jos hän ei osaa kieltä riittävän hyvin ja on työtön, kuten 40 prosenttia heistä on.

Eräs vammainen mies tuli Suomeen Irakista kolme vuotta sitten, hän on saanut oleskeluluvan. Puoli vuotta sitten perheen yhdistämisen kautta loput perheenjäsenet tulivat Suomeen, vaimo ja kaksi alaikäistä lasta. Perhe asuu 44 neliön asunnossa. Perheen pojat käyvät suomen kielen kurssilla. Isällä on lääkärintodistus, ja he ovat laittaneet hakemukset suurempaa asuntoa varten jo yli puoli vuotta sitten. Opiskeleminen ja asuminen on vaikeata näin pienessä asunnossa.

Jos viranomaiset eivät ole kiinnostuneita vastaamaan näihin asioihin, toivon, että viesti saavuttaa Suomen presidentin, Tarja Halosen. Vuosia sitten hän vahvisti useaan kertaan, että maahanmuuttajilla ovat samat oikeudet kuin muillakin täällä asuvilla ihmisillä. Ovatko mainitsemani asiat todella oikeudenmukaisia, tasa-arvoisia ja Suomen perustuslain mukaisia?

Omar Bahaaldin
puheenjohtaja
Irakilaisten pakolaisten kv. federaatio, Suomen osasto

A just ending for racist graffiti in Mikkeli in eastern Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I got an email from Zuzeeko who writes the neat On the Road to Success blog and recently launched with some other people a new magazine called Dunia. This is what he wrote: 

Wow! Glad to hear the racist graffiti are now history. I consider this a success for Kansainvälinen Mikkeli Ry and the good people of Mikkeli. Sincerely, I never thought the graffiti in the pedestrian tunnel would be removed. Congratulations! This is worthy of an update on the blog. Don’t you think?

He is absolutely right.  We wrote about the matter on Migrant Tales but nothing about how the second graffiti was removed. The fate of the second spray-painting in Mikkeli in eastern Finland was reported by Kansainvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli) on Facebook on November 2.

This wall had sprayed blacks out while the other one on a school wall read “White power.” Both were painted over by city employees in early November and early October, respectively. This shows what a group of determined people can do to make Mikkeli a more pleasant place to live.

Ridding the graffiti was not only a victory for Kansainvälinen Mikkeli but for all the people of the city. It is a clear message that we take a very tough view of racism.

I was surprised, however, that even if a teacher had seen the “White power” graffiti on the wall he had done nothing about it after he had noticed it in spring.

When I approached the teacher about the matter in September, he considered it more important to tell me that whenever anti-immigration parties like the True Finns and Muutos 2011 are labelled racists whenever they criticize foreigners.

Was this the reason why he preferred to do nothing for so many months and in the process put in question the values of our world-class educational system?

The True Finns and their red herrings

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A red herring is something intended to divert attention from the real issue. When it comes to immigration, the True Finns do not have one but many red herrings on their plate.

Red herring 1: We are not against immigration but against Muslims “invading” Finland and Europe.

A naïve or ignorant person would say great, after we rid Finland and Europe of the Muslim question everything will be ok. At the best such a sinister plan against our values and democracy would end up a Pyrrhic victory. We would sacrifice our democratic way of life in order to vilify and exclude other groups.

The Muslims are the first of many “enemies” of the far-right.  Moreover, they are a European minority.

Red herring 2: Why do the True Finns attack Muslims?

The reason why the True Finns only target Muslims for now is because it would be a hard sell to be against all immigration and immigrants. Their extremist views would become too obvious and voters would be turned off by them.

A story in Kansan Uutiset gave this view of the True Finns’ stance on immigration: Anti-immigration groups try to ensure over and over again that they are not against immigration but against immigration policy, which allows Muslims to move to Finland. In other words they don’t care about the blacks that have been allowed to move to Finland but the policy that allows them to immigrate here.

Red herring 3: We don’t want women to wear scarves because we are for gender equality.

This is one of the most hypocritical statements that I have read by parties like the True Finns. Let’s see what they are saying, in fact… They are ready to deprive people of their religious freedom and their right to their cultural identity in order to improve women’s rights. Does this make any sense?

Red herring 4: We are patriotic and therefore protecting Finland’s best interests.

So patriotism means excluding people from our society and insulting them in public in the name of “freedom of speech.” The type of society that the True Finns want to create (do they have a plan?) is where inequality would be the rule, not the exception.

Red herring 5: Immigrants should assimilate better to Finland.

This statement is that of a typical leader that directs battle from behind. The True Finns want immigrants to adapt to Finland and aim to water down and change our civil rights in order to do this. If you ask me, they sound more maladapted to Finland than immigrants.

Should the integration program for immigrants include members of the True Finns? It would not be a bad idea. This would give them the chance to learn about our laws, values and society.

The lessons from Tampere

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some Finns took a deep sigh of relief when the deadly fire that cost the lives of three innocent victims wasn’t racially motivated but one perpetrated by the immigrant owner in a failed insurance scam.

All the political gains that far-right members of the True Finns led by Jussi Halla-aho expected to make from this tragic event didn’t materialize because it was a false-alarm wake-up call to what kinds of scars racism can leave on society.

One of the greatest threats to our image abroad is racism. Imagine what would happen if our country turned into a Denmark after the April 2011 election? Where would our noble egalitarian values be? What about our world-class educational system? Would we start teaching students to loathe those that are different from us?

The Tampere fire also caused a few red faces, namely that of Social Democrat MPs Päivi Lipponen and Kimmo Kiljunen. Even before the official police report came out, both claimed that the fire was an act of racism. Lipponen apologized today in her blog for her remarks.

Adding salt to injury, tabloid Ilta-Sanomat‘s editorial slammed Lipponen and Kiljunen.  It asked whether Lipponen and Kiljunen trusted “the people” of Finland. Ilta-Sanomat said that both politicians see their people so “racist, aggressive and criminal that whenever a crime happens against immigrants they automatically blame Finns.”

Pretty strong words coming from a tabloid that has shaped in many respects some Finns’ racist perceptions of foreigners especially in the early 1990s when Somalis started to come to Finland.

Despite all the questions and concern that the fire in Tampere caused, there is one matter it will not change: the challenges that Finland faces concerning its ever-growing immigration population.

It will not, unfortunately, also bring back the lives of the three persons that died.

Now the law must take its course and find suitable punishment for those that caused the crime.

Racists out of the Finnish closet

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If I had to ask a question about racism in Finland today, I would try to understand its extent and how it manifests itself. Why has racism raised its head today in Finland? Should we thank those that have exposed this murky side of ourselves?

It was easy in the past for some Finns to be racist because they did not have to acknowledge it as a problem. Since it was rarely identified if ever debated for as long and passionately as today it was therefore not seen as an issue.

Those that insult other immigrants with their populist statements commit a grave blunder: They believe racism and exclusion are normal and a part of our heritage (sic!).

What makes their platform even more suspect is that they take such stands for the purpose of getting elected never mind offer any effective solution on how to build good ethnic relations in Finland.

Whom am I speaking of? Those that use funny arguments like “freedom of expression” to justify their far-right nationalistic agendas. Even so, it is a good matter that they have come out of the closet in droves in Finland.

Coming out has given sensible Finns the opportunity to address effectively once and for all this social ill. If it is a small or big problem is not the issue. The most important matter is that it is out in the open for all of us to see.

We can now address this issue more effectively than ever before. Finland has all the resources and good will to do so.

Finland’s winning identity of the twenty-first century

Posted on by Migrant Tales

When Finland gained its independence in 1917, an extensive Finnicization program began. Those that had foreign or non-Lutheran backgrounds were encouraged to throw away their history and amalgamate. In seven years, Finland will celebrate its centenary as an independent nation. What will be its winning identity in this century?

If we were able to forge a national identity in the 1920s by amalgamation and Finnicizing surnames, the same method would probably not work  today because diversity is seen in a totally different light than back then.

Contrary to the first three decades of independence, Finland is in no threat of being overtaken by another country as was the case with the former Soviet Union.

Finland faces today different types of threats like aging, attracting skilled professionals, financing our comprehensive social welfare system, global warming and ever-competitive global markets. Even populism has poked its head from the undercurrent of discontent as one of the threats to our future growth as a vibrant and dynamic nation.

What type of a Finnish identity do we need to pull us through this century if in the previous one it was highly exclusive and amalgamated?

I believe that the key word is diversity. We are all “us” in such a society irrespective of our backgrounds. All of us work together for the common good of  society that has the ability to accept others in a spirit of equality as is enshrined in our laws.

One of the matters that has always impressed me about Finns is that we  shun arrogance. Our offer of treating others in a spirit of equality  offers a good springboard to build a society that will not be overcome by greed.

Our greatest enemy that can put in jeopardy our society of this century are the old culprits of exclusion and very selective pathways to incorporation.

Acceptance, opportunity and inclusion will be the trademarks of success of our society in the twenty-first century. Without them we are doomed.

Is this the Finland we want to build in this century? The drawing was published in Strange Days(1984) by Rabbah Boussuira.

Polls are polls in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The recent rise of the anti-immigration True Finns in the polls should be taken with a generous dose of salt. Does it represent the will of the people and how much of it will translate into MPs for the True Finns in the April 2011 elections is another story.

What is interesting, however, is how the other parties are reacting to the poll results.

In many respects the polls have helped a lot of extremist views to get out of the closet. Such people mistakenly believe that it is now normal to have far-right views on matters such as immigration since the “polls tell us that we are no longer a small minority.”

Some members of the left are labelling the True Finns a fascist party while those in the right like to call them populists.  What about if we called them an anti-immigration party that does not like anything foreign? By foreign I mean the EU, immigrants, diversity etc. Is that the type of Finland Finns want to build in the future? I doubt it.

There are many reasons why the True Finns have fared well in the polls. The recession is a key factor as well as the scandals that have ridden Finland’s ruling political parties.

Should we be worried about the rise of xenophobia in Finland? Certainly yes. Is it a problem? Not really but could become one if we continue to give it more attention than is necessary. In every society there will be extremists. The best defense against these radical groups is our democratic liberal system that permits freedom of speech no matter how outrageous their message is.

A lot of things can happen until the April elections. One matter is for certain: The extremists of the True Finns party are a minority in every sense of the word.

Their dubious success does not depend on their message but on our reaction to it.

Keep a cool head, Finland.