Month: July 2011

La Nación (Argentina): La escuela es donde más se discrimina

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  A poll by Unicef Argentina (in Spanish) of 13-18-year-old adolescents revealed that discrimination is a problem at Argentinean schools. According to the poll, four out of ten adolescents were discriminated at some point and seven out of ten directly.

Skin color and obesity were cited as the main reasons for being discriminated. That was followed by nationality. Sixty-five percent of the adolescents polled said Bolivians were the most discriminated national group in Argentina.

Even if Argentina was populated in the nineteenth and early twentieth century by European immigrants, discrimination against non-Europeans was the rule. Apart from their belongings and hopes, immigrants brought their prejudices as well. It took, however, a ruthless military dictatorship that ruled the country in 1976-83, and the rise of democracy to awaken the people slowly to this social ill.

Some of the most discriminated persons in Argentina are the poor, Amerindian groups as well as Bolivians.

In the 2011 population census,  Bolivians were the second biggest group (233,464) living in Argentina after Paraguayans (325,046). A total of 1.531 million people born in foreign countries were registered in the 2001 population census out of a total population of 36.260 million.

While 4.2 million European immigrants moved to then sparsely populated Argentina during 1881-1914, higher birth rates among mestizo groups compared with Argentineans of European backgrounds has allowed the former group to grow in size.

While discrimination and racism are serious problems in Argentina, it is a positive matter that the government has taken steps to make the country more inclusive irrespective of one’s background. Argentina became the first Latin American country in 2010 to approve same-sex marriages.

Here is a link to the government’s National Plan Against Discrimination.

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Cynthia Palacios

Siete de cada diez adolescentes argentinos fueron testigos de alguna forma de discriminación, y cuatro de cada diez la sufrieron en carne propia. El escenario: la escuela, en primer lugar, en forma abrumadora, y en segundo lugar, la calle. Así lo revela una encuesta realizada entre 900 chicos de siete provincias, divulgada ayer por Unicef Argentina.

Read whole story.

guardian.co.uk: International migration: where do people go and where from?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  Below is an interesting story on the Guardian with a link to the original OECD report on global immigration and emigration. According to the OECD report, the most popular destination for immigrants was the United States.  The country with the highest amount of per-capita emigrants was Romania.

The figures are from 2008-09, a period when global markets slipped into deep recession triggered by the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy.

Compared with preliminary figures for 2010, migration to Finland totalled 24,600, which is 7.9% lower than in the previous year (26,700). Compared with 2008, migration to Finland fell by 8%.

Irrespective of the global downturn, migration movements have not fallen as much as some would expect. This is partly due to demographic trends (aging workforce) in OECD courties. Moreover, humanitarian migration is less affected by economic downturns.

An editorial in the OECD report gives special mention to the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe.  It lists the following recommendations on how to deter this trend:

First, it is important to get the facts out in the public domain. Migration, both legal and irregular, cannot be considered to be out-of-control and governments have shown that slowly but surely, they can improve its management.

Second, labour migration management needs to be reinforced by a broadening of co-operation between OECD countries and origin countries, as well as between governments and employers. The latter need to respect the rules and recruit legally from abroad, rather than illegally off-the-street, if they cannot easily fill a job vacancy.

Third, integration efforts should be strengthened further. Although most immigrants are well-integrated, it would be false to claim that there are no problems.

Finally, it is important that everybody has a fair chance in society to make their way. Employers should not exclude candidates for employment who are immigrants or children of immigrants because of where they live or how their origin group is perceived.

While all of these points are important points, I give special mention to leadership by government officials, politicians and the local media to challenge urban myths being spread by anti-immigration groups.

Far-reaching words like “acceptance” and “equal opportunities” should form a common part of our daily vocabulary instead of words like “out-of-control immigration” and “immigrants fuel crime and steal our jobs.”

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The US is the top destination for permanent immigrants according to a report published today. The international migration outlook 2011 released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights the top 25 countries with the highest number of immigrants into OECD countries and also shows where they come from.

Read whole story.

Migrant Tales Poetry: “Good manners”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

GOOD MANNERS

My parents taught me such good manners

I always enter my dreams with three-piece suits

Bow to women and hear wonderful waltzes

And agree with everything you say!

My parents taught me such good manners

That I once thanked my executioner for chopping my head off.

As it rolled down a slope

All I could say was thank you, thank you and THANK YOU!

Luckily some carried pity

In their hearts’ pockets

And asked me if I was a refugee

Or some kind of an immigrant.

I tried my best to assimilate:

Thrum! And a great thrust forward!

Another thrum!

Falling down as a loud thud!

Migrant Tales will begin to publish poetry, photographs, short stories and short plays reflecting the livesof immigrants and minorities in Finland and elsewhere. Please send your contributions to [email protected].

Iltalehti: Kansanedustaja törttöili kännissä – poistettiin ravintolasta

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Does it need any? Here is the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP, Teuvo Hakkarainen, whose racists gaffes  made him infamous in spring. On the campaign trail, Hakkarainen claimed he was a teetotaler but that was evidently a lie. According to the Iltalehti clip, the PS MP is being carried out by two doormen at a bar because he was too drunk to stand on his feet.

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Kansaneduataja Teuvo Hakkarainen sammui pöytään ja hänet jouduttiin poistamaan Mierontie -ravintolasta kahden miehen voimin.

See video clip.

MTV3: Kiuru maahanmuuttajien asumisesta: Kiitos ei keskittymiä!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  Minister of housing and communication, Krista Kiuru, a Social Democrat, presses lightly on a raw nerve facing the immigrant community of Finland, according to a story on MTV3.  Taking into account high unemployment among immigrants and public housing policy in Finland, there is very little that Kiuru can do to avoid concentrations of immigrants living in neighborhoods.

Kiuru said that in the story below that some public officials are in favor of immigrant concentrations in neighborhoods because it is an easy way of dealing with the problem.  “It’s not going to happen during my term in office,” she said. “In my opinion, it isn’t a smart thing to do primarily for the reason that many of them (residents of such neighborhoods) are living off income support or are single parents. I don’t want that type of concentration (of people) in a city.  No thank you.”

While Kiuru’s intentions may be noble and are a reflection of our social welfare state and housing policy, is poverty becoming more visible in Finland due to immigrants?  Was it ok in the past to have low-income Finns living in certain neighborhoods of a city since, being white Finns, poverty wasn’t that visible . Visible immigrants have given poverty a more visible and disturbing face.

Do I think Kiuru will succeed at dismantling the concentrations of immigrants or low-income Finns in certain neighborhoods? No, that is a pipe dream. The only effective way would be to improve employment, training opportunities for immigrants and unemployed Finns and their integration into society.

Do you agree?

Interesting fact: Varissuo, located near Turku, has the highest concentration (35% of the total population of 8,881) of immigrants in Finland. Seventy-three percent of the students have an immigrant background.

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Jouni Sipilä

Asunto- ja viestintäministeri Krista Kiuru haluaa pysäyttää sosiaalisen asumisen keskittymisen omille alueilleen.  Kiurun mielestä myös päättäjien keskuudessa esiintyy ajattelua, jonka mukaan esimerkiksi maahanmuuttajille olisi syytä varata omia asuinalueitaan.

Read whole story.

Karjalainen: Kansa tahtoo muuta kuin perussuomalaiset

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  Joensuu-based Karjalainen is a daily that has done a lot of good work to promote good relations between Finns and immigrants living their community. This is commendable from a daily which serves a city that became infamous for its racism from the 1990s. Back then, some local inhabitants wouldn’t even accept that their local basketball team, Kataja, had black basketball players on its starting lineup. 

In the opinion-piece below, Karjalainen plays down the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s 19.1% victory in the April election.  It writes that despite the election victory, Timo Soini’s party is a minority when it comes to severing development aid. The majority of the Finns that voted for the traditional parties disagree with the PS line. 

I personally would hope that the Finnish media in the future would write more serious opinion pieces in order to understand what happened on and after April 17. They, if any, played a crucial role in the rise of the PS in Finland. 

Some important questions they should ask is if the April election result is a permanent change in Finnish politics or a sign of the times: financial crisis in Europe mixed with weak leadership? Will parties like the PS deflate when the financial crisis subsides? What would happen if Soini were prime minister? How would matters change? Would one term in government force the PS to implode?

Even if the PS have become the biggest party according to a recent poll, very little has changed.

Probably what has changed are people’s dread that Finland will return to the 1930s in a 2010s context.

Do you agree?

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Ulkoministeriön tuore tutkimus suomalaisten suhtautumisesta kehitysapuun on hyvin linjassa eduskuntavaalien tuloksen kanssa ja osoittaa poliittisessa demagogiassa tällä hetkellä vallitsevan harhan.

Read whole stor.

New World Finn: How many Finnish Canadians and USAmericans?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Those who like to insult and ridicule immigrants and refugees in Finland, and who still believe Finns are some lost tribe in this part of Europe who have not mixed with anyone, should pay close attention to the statistics below. If over one million Finns would not have emigrated from this land from 1860, our population would be over 7 million today.

Thanks to immigration, Finland’s cultural diversity is richer than what many of us want to believe. The interesting question to ask is why this hasn’t been acknowledged. Is it because it would force us to ask serious questions about who we are as a nation? Would many of our myths about ourselves be challenged?

Thanks to New World Finn, an English-language quarterly published in the United States for this information.

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During the late-19th century and early 20th century, over 300,000 people from Finland migrated to the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada. While there had been a sporadic flow of immigration before the mid-19th century, the bulk of the migration did not start until about 1870.

The 2000 United States Census lists 623,573 persons who claimed Finnish ancestry. Finnish-Canadians, who claimed Finnish ancestry, according to the 2001 census, number over 114,000. There are many of Finnish ancestry who do not claim it.

The states with the largest Finnish-American populations are: Michigan – 101,351; Minnesota – 99,388; California – 56,526; Washington – 40,290; Wisconsin – 36,047. The communities of Thunder Bay, Toronto and Sudbury form the main centers of Finnish-Canadian activity. Thunder Bay boasts the largest Finnish population outside of Scandinavia.

How many Finns emigrated abroad?

Table 1. Emigration from Finland in 1860-1999

Destination                   1860-1944                              1945-1999
Sweden                             45,000                                    535,000
Other Europe                  55,000                                    125,000
United States                  300,000                                    18,000
Canada                                 70,000                                    23,000
Latin America                      1,000                                       5,000
Asia                                              500                                       6,000
Africa                                       1,000                                       4,000
Oceania                                   3,500                                    20,000

Total                                      476,000                                 736,000

Source: Jouni Korkiasaari and Ismo Söderling: Finnish emigration and immigration after World War II. Migration Institute 2003.                           http://www.migrationinstitute.fi/articles/011_Korkiasaari_Soderling.pdf

Debating Finland’s cultural diversity is opening up old wounds

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Ever wonder why immigrants, multicultural Finns, immigration to Finland and refugees don’t have any history in Finland? If historical importance could be measured like a loaf of bread, the history of older minorities like the Saami, Roma, Tartars, Jews and others would be mere crumbs.   

The question why immigrants and minorities don’t have a history in Finland is like investigating the history of the exploited by the exploiters. By not having, or denying a group its history, you forsake them a place in society. Since they don’t exist they have no rights never mind the right to demand them.

In many respects, the social construct of the prototype Finns as the bonafide Finn in the last century was a pretext for steamrolling minorities and denying them their right to be Finns.  It explains why a large part of the population has today difficulty in accepting cultural diversity as natural in Finland.

If we look at the independence of the United States in 1776 or that of other Latin American countries during 1808-1826, there is a big difference with Finland’s independence in 1917. Even though the former loathed the political system that permitted their exploitation under colonialism, a large number of them were former inhabitants or descendants of these European kingdoms. They even spoke their languages as well as practiced their culture and religion.

In Finland, however, it was a different story. History teaches us that we sought independence because we didn’t want to be or were Russians. In order to build a national identity we amalgamated or “fennified” our culture through measures like changing our surnames into Finnish ones. Killing our cultural diversity was acceptable because of our hatred of groups like the Russians.

Does this same hatred affect our good judgement today as a modern twenty-first century nation?

Difficult questions about our history and cultural roots had to be conveniently forgotten by history in order for us to forge a near-monolithic Finnish national identity.

One group that were nearly forgotten were Finnish immigrants and their descendants.

Thanks to the over million immigrants that left this country from the 1860s, Finnish culture has evolved in many lands. Instead of accepting our rich cultural diversity that Finnish immigrants and their descendants gave this nation, we passed strict citizenship laws that disjointed them from us.

Debating what happened to our cultural diversity and why it was nearly erased would be questioning the whole essence of our reason for being as a nation in the twentieth century.

What will come out of such a debate in the future is a question mark. One matter is for certain, however: It should make us stronger at the end of the day because Finnish culture will be more acceptant of its diversity.

Time: Why Speaking More than One Language May Delay Alzheimer’s

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Migrant Tales doesn’t normally publish health stories but here is one that argues that speaking more than one language may help you escape for a while longer the devastating clutches of Alzheimer’s.

Just like speaking many languages keeps the brain fit, interacting and being a part of many cultures must do the same job. At least it isn’t a disadvantage unless prejudice is the rule in a society. 

In Finland, two associations, the secretive Suomen Sisu and Suomalaisuuden liitto,  believe that cultural diversity is a bad thing that must be opposed at all costs. One of the aims of the latter association is to undermine the role of the Swedish-language minority in Finland.

Both of these associations live in a historical time warp where they fantasize about a Finland that existed in fairy tale books. Both of them have recently gained more political power through parties like the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS).

The chairman of Suomalaisuuden liitto is Sampo Terho, the EuroMP that replaced PS chairman Timo Soini.

Thank you for the heads up Marcela Santafé y Soriano.

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By Meredith Melnick

There are many ways in which speaking another language may contribute to a well-lived life. You can talk to a whole lot more of Earth’s inhabitants, for one thing. You can also enjoy books, music and films in their original language, and throw a few more “skills” onto your résumé. Now add to that list the findings of new studies suggesting that speaking multiple languages may also help protect cognitive health over the long term.

YLE: Lapset ja nuoret törmäävät yhä näkyvämpään rasismiin

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Researcher Anna-Maria Soudo of the University of Eastern Finland believes that racist attacks and harassment of second-generation adolescent Finns is more commonplace today than before. She sees the elections of April, where the Perussuomaliset (PS) party won 19.1% of the votes, as an important watershed that has made anti-immigration sentiment more acceptable.

Soudo says that while in Finland we speak a lot about multiculturalism and how people should value different cultures, we see a different reality in the street.

Do you think racism has become more acceptable in Finland after April 17?

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Lasten ja nuorten arjessaan kohtaama rasismi on yhä näkyvämpää. Tutkija arvelee, että viime kevään vaaleissa esille nousseet maahanmuuttokriittiset puheenvuorot ovat tehneet kärjekkäästä ja näkyvästä maahanmuuttokriittisyydestä aiempaa hyväksytympää.

Read whole story.