Month: February 2012

Migrant Tales 2009: Being an immigrant in Finland – a letter from Ida

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The Migrant Tales blog gets emails from people who speak with hand on heart about the challenges they face as immigrants or Finnish with international backgrounds in our society. Here is one of these published in November 2009. The real name of the person has been changed. Here is a letter from Ida:

The underlying problem in Finland is that [white] Finns can never fully understand what racism is if they have never played that role of being a minority. They can fill all the facts and knowledge of the books in their heads but still can never understand what the true meaning behind racism is.  And there is no arguing with them because they already know all the facts and figures.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I can’t change people’s minds about certain things [like racism]. They have their own mindset of things. Hell, it took me pretty long time to re-wire my brain to think differently after all that brainwashing in Finland. Imagine, I used to have prejudices against [my own group the] Chinese. It would take a lot more for  Finns to think more open-mindedly.

I spent almost all my adult life [trying] to find acceptance and proving to myself that I was one of them. I did all this at the expense of my identity. Well, now I am just tired. I am who I am and I don’t need their acceptance. I don’t need to be one of them. And I am happy that I have found a country where otherness is cherished and celebrated and where I don’t need to hide or be ashamed of being Chinese. Finland can never be my home because I can never feel comfortable enough to be myself there. And they will never see me as one of them either. So, that’s that.

If you see racist abuse in public, film it and send it to Migrant Tales

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By Enrique Tessieri

It’s pretty clear that silence is an ineffective way to address a serious social ill like racism.  We can do a lot more. Filming  victims of racist abuse, like those published on Mail Online,  is a good way to drive home the message that we won’t tolerate this type of behavior from anyone.  

Migrant Tales would like to publish such video clips on our blog. The first and foremost matter to take into account is, however, your safety when filming. We don’t want to put you in harm’s way.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=710qYgDm3DM]

Here is some good advice that was given to me when I went to work in Bogotá as Colombia bureau chief for BridgeNews:  “No story is worth your life.”

Racism is a problem in Finland as it is in other European countries. Fortunately, there are many of us who are outraged by this type of anti-social behavior.

Don’t forget that there is far much more to the affirmation, racism isn’t an issue in our country, than meets the eye. When a person makes such a statement to you, he or she is saying you don’t effectively exist. If you don’t exist you have nothing to complain about.

It is a good way to make a social issue go away.

We, however, are not going to allow racism and bigotry get off the hook so easily. Send your video clips or get in touch with us by email,  [email protected].

Migrant Tales wants to hear your story

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By Enrique Tessieri

Thanks to you, Migrant Tales has achieved one of its most important aims: “To be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.” In order to continue to be heard, we need more voices on Migrant Tales. 

We aim to publish stories in English, Finnish and any other language.

Do you have a real-life story to tell? Do you want to do it anonymously or with your real name? Then Migrant Tales is the blog where your voice will be heard by many.

Migrant Tales wants to continue as well to publish more scoops like we did with the tragic death of a Somali in Oulu.   If you know of a story and want to alert us, please write to us: [email protected].

We are interested as well in publishing poetry, short stories about life in Finland on our very own online “little magazine,” Migrant Tales Literary.

Thank you for your support.

Kokoomus' Sauli Niinistö is Finland's next president

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By Enrique Tessieri

Kokoomus presidential hopeful, Sauli Niinistö, won by a wide margin his rival Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party, according to YLE. With all of  the votes tabulated, Niinistö won 62.6% of the vote compared with 37.4% for Haavisto. 

The biggest losers of the election were not only the left but anti-EU candidates such as Paavo Väyrynen of the Center Party and Perussuomaliset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini. Both candidates came in third and fourth place, respectively, in the first round of voting.

Soini only captured 9.4% of the vote, which was a far cry from the 19.1% that his party won in April.

The biggest humiliation for the PS was that a Green Party candidate, who is openly gay, made it to the second round. Apart from being an anti-EU and anti-immigrant party, some PS members condemn homosexuality.

Some analysts see Soini’s poor showing as a tipping point for the PS as they face the crucial municipal election on October 28.

Even so, there are some in the PS like MP Reijo Tossavainen who can come up with some Twilight Zone explanations for the poor showing of the party and how the Green Party bubble burst. Tossavainen’s world on the Uusi Suomi blog entry reveals crudely who the PS are.

Tossavainen’s explanation sounds like what Soviet spies informed Stalin about Finland being a cakewalk before the Winter War (1939-40) broke out.

Another big loser of the election was Paavo Lipponen, a veteran Social Democrat politician who captured a mere 6.7% of the vote in the first round.

Finland has had after President Urho Kekkonen (1956-82) four Social Democrat presidents that have ruled the country for 30 years.

That has now come to an end.

Finns vote today for their next president

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By Enrique Tessieri

While the biggest victor of today’s presidential election in Finland is democracy, I cannot help but look way past the awaiting fanfare of Sunday evening , when we’ll be hearing the victory speech of either Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party or Kokoomus’ Sauli Niinistö.  

In many respects, Finnish voters decided in the first round  of the election that they do not want a cliffhanger repeat of what we saw in April nor a president that is anti-EU, anti-immigration and colorblind with respect to our country’s ever-growing cultural diversity.

During the past ten-odd months, Finns have not only come to know racism, homophobia and anti-democratic credentials of some of the PS MPs, but the lame excuses justifying such shameful examples.

Few will deny that Finland faces many big challenges in the next six years. In many respects, our values will determine how we address those challenges. What kind of leadership will Haavisto and Niinistö offer Finns and immigrants living in the country on how to tackle ever-rising poverty, social inequality, streamlining costs that will weaken our social welfare state, and our general view of the outside world?

Should we invest more on programs that fuel social equality or on fear of ourselves and the outside world through institutions like the police and defense forces?

When I go to vote today, I will be weighing these issues.

Irish Examiner: Anti-immigrant or racist political rhetoric ‘must not go unchecked’

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Comment: Compared with Finland, Ireland appears like a distant world when it comes to anti-immigration groups and their hate rhetoric.  

Both countries have seen a lot of emigration since the nineteenth century. In Finland over a million people emigrated to other parts of the world during 1860-1999. A study in 1978 showed that since 1820 over 4.723 million people emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland alone. 

Apart from such similarities, there is one big difference: Ireland lacks an anti-immigration party whereas Finland has the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which became the third-biggest party in the April election.  

There may be many reasons why Ireland doesn’t have an anti-immigration party. One of these could be tolerance. In Ireland such anti-social behavior isn’t seen favorably by politicians and the public while in Finland it is. 

How many politicians would be forced to resign in Finland if they followed Ireland’s example? The Irish Examiner writes: “Last November, Mr [Darren]  Scully was forced to resign as mayor of Naas, after saying he would no longer deal with, as he described them, bad-mannered, aggressive, black Africans. The party has not taken any decisive action.” 

If we cited the comments made by many Finns concerning the death of a Somali in Oulu this week, we could conclude that too many think that racism is acceptable.

To show how serious the problem is in Finland, a Finnish-language teacher I spoke with on Saturday from Kouvola said that no politician would ever carry a sign in public stating that we should give more financial support to refugees and immigrants. 

One important lesson that we could learn from Ireland is that racism must be seen as something unacceptable in our society. 

Why? Because it is a direct threat to our society, our values and our common sense of decency. 

Racist political rhetoric must not go unchecked. 

___________

By Jennifer Hough

An example needs to be made of politicians who make negative comments about immigrants if Ireland is to avoid going down a route of an “accepted rhetoric or racism”, Integration Ireland has warned.

Read whole story.

A letter from the brother of the Somali victim of Oulu, Finland

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By Enrique Tessieri

Migrant Tales was surprised Thursday evening to get a message from the brother of the Somali victim who died tragically in Oulu, Finland, this week after trying to flee from three people who barged into his home with a metal pipe. At the most, the three suspects will be charged with manslaughter (kuolemantuottamus). 

The incident touches a sensitive nerve of the immigrant and  Somali community, the fourth largest in Finland. Even if what happened was not a hate crime, according to the police, it brings out the despair, futility and muffled outrage of some Somalis who live in this country.

If the victim’s tragic death, whom his brother calls Abdirashid, can shed light on the plight of Somalis in Finland and the hardships they face, the better.

By writing about what happened in Oulu we are showing respect to the Somali community. Their sadness has a voice in Finland even if many would like to drown it with colorblind arguments.

It should be also mentioned that sensible Finns are just as saddened by what happened as some members of the Somali community.

Abdirashid’s big brother, Jirde, sent the following letter* to Migrant Tales and a picture of the victim:

Jirde’s two brothers. The baby is Abdirashid. 

My little brother was born in Ethiopia in a refugee camp to the second wife of my father in 1989.  During the civil war between the Siad Barre regime and northerners [of Somaliland], my brother was taken to Dijibouti to be treated for rubella by my father’s first wife [Jirde’s mother].  

I am the eldest brother [of a large family]. We contacted all the physicians in Dijibouti [to treat my brother]. We had to go to Europe. My brother had lost his sight due to cataracts.  We managed to get him to Germany. His big brother, who lived at the time in Paris [, France], and with the assistance of God and Germany, the operation on his eyes was successful. 

Four months [after the operation] and after the end of the war [against Siad Barre] my father requested the government of Germany to return his family to the country [Somalia]. My little brother [Abdirashid] returned… 

We request this great nation of civilized people to do justice for my little brother. 

Signed: Mr. Jirde, the big brother. 

*The letter has been edited.

Immigrant youths have greater chances of being marginalized in Finland

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By Enrique Tessieri

The number of magainalized youths is especially pronounced among immigrant youths aged 15-29, reports YLE in English, citing a study by think tank Finnish Business and Policy Forum (EVA) . The study claims one out of every three youths with immigrant background is marginalized compared with one out of eight youths nationally. 

The study defines a marginalized person as anyone who is not part of the workforce or enrolled in any study program and has not studied beyond primary school.

In 2010, there were some 51,300 marginalized youths, accounting for about 5% of all people in that age bracket.

“Over a quarter of marginalized youths have foreign backgrounds,” said Pekka Myrskylä, EVA’s head of development at Statistics Finland’s Population Statistics Department, was quoted as saying on YLE in English. “Their entry into Finland’s education and labor markets is four or five times more difficult than that of their native Finnish counterparts.”

The study suggests education can play a key role in preventing marginalization.

Certainly education plays a crucial role in the integration of any person in society but it should not be seen as a panacea. Another important point that the EVA study could have stressed is how attitudes of the majority population fuel marginalization of youths with immigrant backgrounds.

How many of these one in four marginalized youths with immigrant backgrounds have lived most of their lives in Finland? How come some of them feel rejected by society?

In the answers of those two questions you may find some of the causes for marginalization.

Why write about a Somali immigrant who died in Oulu, Finland?

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One of the matters that has surprised after Migrant Tales scooped more information about the tragic death of a Somali national in Oulu Monday is the total lack of empathy for the victim.  Finland and the Nordic region have not been the same after the April election and when Anders Breivik went on the rampage in Norway in July killing 77 victims. 

In both cases above, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim rhetoric were the smoking guns.

One gets the impression by some of the threads on Migrant Tales and My Finland is International that we should not give much importance to what happened in Oulu since it will not be seen as a hate crime by the police.

Some have gone as far as to claim that what happened in Oulu has nothing to do with immigration or ethnic issues.

I beg your pardon!?

What happened in Oulu has everything to do with immigrants and social ills like violence threatening our society. Somebody must speak out for the victim and we are very proud of being one of those voices.

Add to what happened in Oulu the horrific events in Norway in summer and Finland’s ever-worsening atmosphere for immigrants and minorities, it is only natural that we react to a crime involving an immigrant, especially one where three Finns break into his home by force and perpetrate his death.

Migrant Tales will continue to report crimes against immigrants and hopes it will have the opportunity to do so in the future.