Month: December 2012

OECD: Progress is being made to integrate immigrants in the EU but more work needs to be done

Posted on by Migrant Tales

While OECD countries have made  progress over the last decade in helping immigrants to adapt to their new home countries, there’s still much room for improvement most notably in helping children to excel at school and employ more immigrant women, according to an OECD report. 

The proportion of  highly educated immigrants in Finland had plummeted during the last decade by about 10%.  The fall is far greater than in other Nordic countries.

One explanation for the large drop is that in 2000 the proportion of refugees was higher than immigrants in Finland, Ministry of Employment and the Economy Kristina Stenman was quoted as saying on Uusi Suomi.

In 2000, Finland’s foreign population totaled 91,074 (1.8% of the total population) compared with 183,133 (3.4%) in 2011-12, according to the Population Register Center.

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The OECD report highlights the importance of immigrant children starting school early in their new homeland. Governments need to encourage immigrants who plan to settle to bring their families early.

Considering that Finland and some European countries have tightened family reunification rules, it’s clear that the integration of some children is being compromised

“Many offspring of immigrants find themselves marginalized in the labour market and are overrepresented among those not in education, employment or training [the so-called NEET group], particularly in Spain, Belgium, Austria and France,” the report states.

Countries hard hit by the global economic crisis have seen job rates fall among immigrants.  In the United States from 70% to 67% and in Spain from 62% to 57%.

 

 

 

 

 

Institute for Strategic Studies: Preventing and Countering Far-Right Extremism – European Cooperation

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Here’s a good country-by-country report on the history and modern growth of right-wing extremism in ten European Union countries  (Sweden, UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic).  

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Read full report here.

As Migrant Tales has correctly reported time and again, the biggest sources of right-wing extremism in Finland are the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, Suomen Sisu, Hommaforum, Suomalaisuuden liitto and others.

The aim of these groups is to make right-wing extremist ideology, which always comprises of racism and xenophobia, as natural as Finnish blueberry pie.

Here are some of the main points of the report by Anne-Cahtherine Jungar:

  • Right-wing extremism has, with some exceptions, tended to develop in the form of parliamentary political parties, and has therefore probably been less prone to extra-parliamentary violence than the phenomenon in other European countries;
  • One third of the 39 True Finns parliamentarians have a background online, both with Hommaforum and Suomen Sisu. These representatives have been particularly influential in radicalizing the True Finns’ immigration policies.
  • Historically, right-wing extremism was spearheaded by the Academic Karelia Society (Akateeminen Karjala Seura) during 1922-44, the Laupa Movement (Lapua liike) during 1929-32, and Patriotic People’s Movment (Isänmaallinen Kansanliike) during 1932-44. The peace treaty with Moscow banned fascist organizations in Finland;
  • Those right-wing extremist groups which did mobilize in the late 1990s are better organised, more internationally connected, and aim for more political influence than the skinhead groups in the late 1980s;
  • According to SUPO (the Finnish security police unorganized right-wing extremism decreased towards the beginning of the 21st Century; it has recently resurged again. SUPO estimates that there are 1000 to 2000 individuals involved in the Finnish right-wing extremist environment today;
  • The Internet has been a key tool for spreading far-right ideology. The best known platforms are Hommaforum, Tundratabloids, Scripta and Varashammer. Right-wing extremism in Finland comes in the form of counterjihadism;
  • A more successful route for the extreme right milieu has been to engage with existing political parties that enjoy popular legitimacy, as Suomen Sisu has done with the True Finns.

 

 

UPDATE: Former Finnish PS councilman slapped with 120-euro fine for inciting ethnic hatred

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Tommi Rautio, the former city councillor of Köyliö in western Finland, who suggested giving a medal to a killer after he shot and killed a Muslim at an Oulu pizzeria in February, was convicted and fined 120 euros Wednesday by a Satakunta regional court for inciting ethnic hatred, reports Uusi Pori. 

Rautio, who said he was not guilty of the charges, is unemployed and depends on student aid for his livelihood.

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The former city councilman said that his writings on Facebook were done ironically.

Rautio wrote on his Facebook page:  ”If Janne is the one [who shot the foreigners at the pizzeria] then we should give Janne a medal…there is already a war going on and in every war [soldiers] are decorated.”

Rautio was sacked in March from the PS.

The former councilman ran again for councilman but was not reelected. He got nine votes.

Former Finnish PS councilman to be charged for inciting ethnic hatred

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Tommi Rautio, the former city councillor of Köyliö in western Finland, who suggested giving a medal to a killer after he shot and killed a Muslim at an Oulu pizzeria in February, will be charged for inciting ethnic hatred, reports YLE. 

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YLE reported that the Satakunta region prosecutor wants to slap Rautio with “a heavy fine” for threatening, defamatory and abusive language against immigrants.

Rautio wrote on his Facebook page:  “If Janne is the one [who shot the foreigners at the pizzeria] then we should give Janne a medal…there is already a war going on and in every war [soldiers] are decorated.”

The cold-blooded killing in Oulu, was one of four Muslim deaths reported during a tragic four-week period in January-February.

Rautio was sacked in March from the PS.

The former councilman ran again for councilman but was not reelected. He got nine votes.

One of the matters that raised some eyebrows after the Rautio affair was being covered nationally by the media, were plans by the police to not investigate the case.

The police announced three days later that it would, however, carry out an investigation whether Rautio incited racial hatred with his statements.

 

 

 

Common Ground News Service: Spreading “anti-rumours” about immigrants

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By María-Paz López

Barcelona, Spain –“They are invading us”, “They don’t respect the rules”, “They don’t pay taxes”, “They don’t want to integrate”, “They get special subsidies to open businesses”, are just a few of the often repeated accusations against immigrant communities in Spain.

To deal with rising prejudices, Barcelona City Council is now beginning its second training season of volunteer citizens, nicknamed anti-rumour patrols, whose job it will be to counter rumours or stereotypes about immigrants.

The volunteers take free courses to acquire skills to tackle prejudice. For example, in everyday situations at work, in the neighbourhood, in the supermarket or at the gym, an anti-rumour agent who might overhear someone saying, “You know, Moroccan immigrants are collapsing the Health system, they are always queuing for a doctor, with their many kids …,” could step in and counter with fact. “You know, actually, according to the authorities, immigrants go to the doctor 50 per cent less than natives, and their healthcare costs are only 4.6 per cent of the total in Spain”.

According to 2012 census data, the largest national minority groups in Barcelona are Pakistanis (23,281 individuals), Italians (22,909), Chinese (15,875) and Ecuadorians (15,551), in a city with some 1,630,000 inhabitants.

The promoters of the programme, which began two years ago, could have opted for an ideological, philosophical or human rights’ approach. Instead, they have chosen a down-to-earth, factual one.

“It is more effective” says Miquel Esteve, Town Hall commissioner for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue. “The programme strategy always uses accurate and objective information to deactivate false perceptions such as the belief that immigrants monopolise social aid, do not pay taxes, get subsidies to start businesses, collapse emergency rooms or abuse the health system.”

Using factual data and statistics, the anti-rumour agent seeks to invalidate the rumour right in front of the person who is disseminating it.

Last spring, 436 citizens received the free Town Hall trainings. A new course starting this month includes workshops that analyse how rumours, stereotypes and prejudice are created and divulged, and how they contribute to constructing an overwhelmingly negative opinion within the host community of what diversity means.

Citizens enrolled in the courses also learn to deal with their own prejudices, something that, as the trainers say, they never think they have.

Among the most frequently repeated rumours that affect the whole foreign population, the most dreadful one may be “They are invading us”. To fight it, anti-rumour agents respond: “It is actually the opposite. The foreign population in Barcelona remains very stable. Foreign residents as of 1 January 2012 totalled 282,178, or 17.4 per cent of residents, and that number in January 2011 was 278,320, 17.3 per cent of total residents. That is not fast growing”.

Another typical stereotype about immigrants – “They don’t respect the rules” – can be invalidated by saying, “You know, from 2006 to 2010, only 18 per cent of fines due to violations of the local Ordinance of Civility were for foreigners residing in Barcelona”.

Even if the economic crisis in Spain is causing municipalities to drastically cut budgets, not one Town Hall official in Barcelona – now led by a conservative nationalist mayor – has suggested cancelling this programme.

There is wide consensus of its importance for social cohesion in the city. “When we started…we discovered that false rumours about immigrants were something pretty widespread, that they harmed conviviality, and that it was something we definitely had to address”, explains Daniel de Torres, who was the Town Hall commissioner for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue when the programme started.

Good “rumours” are spreading about its success in the region. Other municipalities in the Barcelona metropolitan area have shown an interest in establishing similar programmes, and they are getting the advice and materials to do so.

It’s a powerful way for civil society to become involved in improving respect for diversity in an urban context, and it’s an idea that can travel.

###

* Barcelona-based author Maria-Paz Lopez is Senior Religion Writer at the Spanish daily La Vanguardia and chairs the steering committee of the International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ). This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 04 December 2012, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

How discrimination works in Finnish basketball

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If there is a game that is played by people from diverse backgrounds, that game is basketball. When I moved to the United States as a child, basketball was my door to new friends and acceptance. 

Basketball was a way of life in Hollywood, California, for many young people like me.

In Finland it is a mixed story if you are a referee. There are very good referees who understand that prejudice is pernicious, while others still don’t have a clue.

I know from experience that if you complain about discrimination to the Finnish Basketball Association, you won’t be taken seriously. In my case, you’ll end up getting a scornful look suggesting that you are using “the racism card.”

I have refed for close to ten years all types of games not only in Finland but in in Madrid, Spain, where I lived and worked for about a year.

Discrimination is difficult to measure in sports but not impossible. In many respects it’s like measuring corruption in journalism. It’s fine to accept your host to pay your lunch but wrong if this happens every time.

Consistency is a good benchmark when studying how refs are discriminated in Finland. Is the person with a non-Finnish name the one that is always the umpire and the person with the Finnish name the ref?

I was refing for one year all-nation games for seventeen-year-olds in Finland around 2006. I was always the umpire and my partner, with the Finnish name, who had roughly the same experience as I,  was the ref.

When I brought this case to the attention of the Finnish Basketball Association, I got the cold shoulder. I was made to feel that my complaint wasn’t valid and that I was using the “racism card.”

The whole incident was as a result forgotten.

The stick that broke the camel’s back happened on Sunday when my former partner, who is the regional ref that names other refs for games, told me that I would be umpire in a game because I could not control my temper and lacked experience. Adding salt to injury with the help of prejudice, he laughed trying to drive home his point.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. According to him, I was “hot-tempered” because it’s the national character of southern Europeans (sic!).

As I mentioned, I have refed for about ten years and have learned the art of remaining calm under pressure. My job as a teacher and working with immigrants has taught me that staying calm is a key virtue at all times.

I ref to train and strengthen such virtues.

If you have suffered similar cases while doing sports in Finland, Migrant Tales would be happy to hear your story.

 

Social inclusion is never voluntary in a land where racism is king

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Even if the late King Jr. was gunned down in 1968, that quote is still valid today. In Finland it would read in the following manner: “Social equality is never voluntarily given by the majority; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” 

We have discussed on many Migrant Tales blog entries about racism and social exclusion. If we look at this social ill in Finland, it could be placed in two periods: pre- and post-April 2011.

Before last year’s historic parliamentary election, when an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party won 39 seats, it’s clear that racism and xenophobia are influential political forces that not only give you votes, but power.

No modern political party in this country has ever tapped the undercurrent of Finnish racism as successfully as the Perussuomalaiset (PS).  Even if the popularity of the PS has weaned from 2011, its anti-immigration candidates did well in the October municipal elections.

Racism has found a good home in Finland to spread roots and survive. The same social ill that is impoverishing our country today by scaring away skilled immigrants and foreign investment, has been around since we became an independent nation in 1917.

Back then, our racism and xenophobia were mainly fueled by the former Soviet Union and Russia.

Racism flourishes in these parts because it is profitable and because too many want to keep it that way.

Racism destroys lives in Finland by robbing opportunities. If you aren’t resourceful to challenge this social ill as an immigrant or visible minority, it will keep you in limbo indefinitely.

One reason why large political parties in Finland have been so slow to react to the menace of the PS is that they too are white. Many house the same reactive attitudes about “otherness” as the PS.

Some parties are now waking up to the PS threat. It’s not because they are anti-racist, but because they see that party as a threat to their political base.

Since we understand a little how racism operates and grows in these parts, the most important step we should take is to trust ourselves.  We are the only ones who will spearhead our inclusion and acceptance issues in this society.

Here are some things you can do now to start changing things:

  • Learn as much as you can about the society you live in
  • Learn how social exclusion and racism thrive in such a society
  • Standing up for your rights will help your discover your new identity in your new homeland
  • Start up a blog or join one like Migrant Tales
  • Get politically active and speak out
  • Be outspoken, brave and have empathy
  • Demonstrate if needed
  • Go on hunger strike if needed
  • Start a petition if needed
  • Lead by example (we cannot change the world but we can influence those around us)
  • Be patient and persistent

 

 

FRA: Hate crime a daily matter in the European Union

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Two recent reports published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) confirm that hate crime happens daily throughout the European Union (EU). One of the reports reveals that 32% of Somalis interviewed by the agency that live in Finland reported being victims of hate crimes during the past 12 months.

Other countries in the dubious league with Finland and the Czech Republic included Denmark, Malta, Greece, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany and Cyprus (see table below).

Do you think that this incident/any of these incidents in the last 12 month happened partly or completely because of you immigrant/minority background? Source : FRA, EU-MIDIS Data in Focus 6 – Minorities as Victims of Crime, Figure 5

The FRA states that the only way to combat hate crime, the EU needs to make these crimes more visible and hold perpetrators to account. Greater political will is needed “on the part of decision makers to counter pervasive prejudice against certain groups and compensate for the damage.”

This may be easier said than done. The question we must ask is not only why victims are unwilling to report such crimes to the police, but why such institutions and the government don’t make a big deal about it.

“Hate crimes create an ‘us and them’ mentality that does tremendous psychological damage,” says FRA Director Morten Kjaerum. “They undermine the basic democratic tenets of equality and non-discrimination. Hate crimes thus harm not only the victim, but also other people belonging to the same group – many of whom are terrified that they will become the next target – and society as a whole.”

Just like a recent Race Council Cymru study published by the BBC that reveals how racism goes “under-reported” in Wales, the FRA confirms this trend in other European countries. It states: “…victims are often unable or unwilling to seek redress against perpetrators, with many crimes remaining unreported and unprosecuted and, therefore, invisible.”

Hate crime statistics for 2011 will be published in Finland before end-year, according to the Police College of Finland.

Read the full FRA report here.

 

 

Mulitucltural Ireland’s vision should be ours as well

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Why is it that we don’t hear Finnish politicians speaking in the same manner as Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins, who said that a major task of the country’s EU presidency should be to remove ignorance and misunderstanding, which lead to “incipient forms of racism,” writes the Irishtimes.com. 

Speaking at the launch of the Neighborhood Week, an annual event at the Islamic Cultural Center in Clonskeagh, Higgins said that “the Europe we aspire to does not recoil from fears based on ignorance.”

He admitted that there were dangers to society when there is segregated space allocated to individual cultures. “Ghettoizing of [all] ethnic groups and the erection of cultural barriers, built on fear, prejudice or ignorance,” he said, “[should] be avoided at all costs.”

Higgins said that the country’s new citizens, which included Muslims, play an important role in “shaping and crafting our shared future.”

In order to practice equality, the head of state said it was important to understand that “belonging is not based on imitation or the subservience of one culture to another.”

Diverse cultures should instead bring about a new sense of human solidarity and an understanding that integration is a two-way process.

Why haven’t we heard any Finnish politicians speak in the same inclusive fashion about immigrants and visible minorities as Higgins? Is it because Ireland has no anti-immigration parties like Finland? Is it because the Perussuomalaiset are the third-largest political force in Finland?

The silence and even cowardice that seeps through our inaction helps, as Higgins warned, promote “incipient forms of racism” in this country.

 

Police College of Finland: 2011 hate crime statistics will be published before end-year

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Police College of Finland is taking a long time to publish its hate crime statistics for 2011. A spokesperson of the Police College told Migrant Tales Friday that hate crime data will be published “in a few weeks,” or before end-year.  

Migrant Tales spoke to the Police College in early November. A spokeswoman said back then that the hate crime statistics would be published “by the end of November.”

Hate crime statistics for 2010 were published last year on October 27.

Internet policeman Marko Forss has hinted that hate crime statistics for 2011 may “rise a little” from 2010, when they fell by 15% to 860 cases from 1,007 in the previous year.

While former interior ministry officials like Ritva Viljanen are happy to note that hate crimes retreated in 2010, they have grown during a longer period.

Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman Timo Soini has used such statistics to point out that racism isn’t a problem in Finland, never mind in his party.

The “low” number of hate crimes reported in Finland could be attributable to many factors. Some of these are ignorance of one’s rights, language and cultural barriers, fear of reprisals, lack of trust and difficulty of reporting such crimes to the police.

If we look at neighboring Sweden, which is years ahead of Finland when it comes to cultural diversity, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention states the following about hate crimes:

Hate crimes are characterized by a large number of unrecorded cases, i.e. cases not reported to the police. For this reason the statistics cannot be said to reflect the actual extent of hate crime in Sweden. The Swedish Crime Survey  is used as a complement to the statistics on police reports with identified hate crimes. It should be noted though that regarding exposure to hate crime, the results in the Swedish Crime Survey is uncertain due to low numbers of respondents, why the true extent might be under- or over-rated.

Most hate crimes reported in Sweden in 2011 were identified as xenophobic and/or racist. A total of 3,900 xenophobic/racist cases were reported, of which 800 were Afrophobic and just over 180 anti-Roma.

Statistics in Sweden report anti-religious motives (650 cases), while 902 cases were reported as homophobic, biphobic, transphobic and heteroephobic.

Nine percent of all hate crimes were ideologically motivated (white power).