July 2013 - Migrant tales

How tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat reinforce our prejudices against immigrants and refugees

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat have a lot to learn about fairness, which is the cornerstone of all good news reporting. But tabloids aren’t interested in fairness but in sensationalism. A story by Ilta-Sanomat is headlined: ”Two Somalis use [fake] Yemeni passports to travel to Finland.”

Even if the story suggests that these Somalis are committing a crime because they travel with false passports, there is much more to the case than meets the eye. If the reporters would have bothered to read a related story on 4 News in the UK, the angle of their story would have probably been different.

According to 4 News, hundreds of asylum seekers who used false passports to travel to the UK in the past ten years were abused and wrongly convicted. As a result, the court of appeal quashed the convictions of five victims because they were denied a justifiable defense of the charge.

None of the lawyers told one of the victims like “Jonathan,” who appears on the program, any chance of defending himself. The lawyers advised Jonathan to plead guilty to the charges, which landed him a conviction and a six-month prison sentence.

Apart from having a criminal record, which worsened his chances of finding employment, he was denied for seven years the right to see his wife and child in the U.S. His conviction denied him a visa.

Go here to see the 4 News report.

Read full story here.

Migrant Tales has published numerous Ilta-Sanomat’s racist billboard ads from the 1990s, when Finland’s foreign population started to grow rapidly.

Here’s a tabloid ad from 1992 where then MP Liisa Kulhia wants to put the Russian mafia and Somalis in their places.

The Finnish media reports near-constantly stories that reinforce intolerance of certain ethnic groups. But what can you expect if they don’t know better? If they don’t know better, any self-respecting reporter would get the facts right and rely as less as possible on his prejudices.

Anssi Honkanen’s and Renne Korppila’s Aamupoika radio program on NRJ, one of Finland’s most popular private radio stations, is one recent example of how hostility and intolerance of immigrants is promoted in Finland. The radio commentators claimed that there was a direct link to between crime rates/human trafficking and the Bulgarian and Romanian Roma who come to Finland to beg.

I sent an email to the program challenging their urban tales but never got a reply from either Honkanen or Korppila never mind NRJ.

I wonder if NRJ paid any attention to an official police report in mid-July that Roma beggars aren’t victims of human trafficking or linked to organized crime?

As long as people like Honkanen and Korppila can get away with such racist statements, very little can change.

Migrants’ Rights Network: Not Talking is Not Safe

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Sarah Crowther*

Community leaders need to address all topics, including those considered taboo among migrant and refugee communities, because the sooner we start the sooner we will all be able to engage properly in the arguments that make up integrated society.

1.0 Certain subjects are taboo (?really?)

Certain subjects are taboo.
You can’t possibly talk to refugees or migrants about them.
They are too sensitive, too cultural.
To raise such subjects will horrify refugees and migrants, offend them, upset them.

For example: Condoms;
Female circumcision or genital mutilation;
(men especially, you can’t talk to men about FGM)
Sex…..
…..Gay sex

If you mention ‘lesbians’ migrants will be shocked, instantly hostile, they’ll feel insulted.
You’ll be condemned, rejected, seen as a bad influence.
They’ll refuse to have anything further to do with you.
Or worse….

They will say things that you just can’t tolerate,
and you’ll be in the situation where you either start an argument or you ignore what they have said and walk away – your morals compromised, feeling somehow that you’ve confirmed their opinions and made it worse.

Besides…. we would be pushing our opinions on them,

it’s disrespectful to their culture,
it’s ethnocentric,
it’s nothing short of cultural colonialism
it’s arrogant, patronising
and racist.

2.0 Us and them

“We would be pushing Our opinions on Them”
“Us” and “Them”
“Ours” and “theirs”
“Them” and “Us”
Thing is: we all live in Britain.

Firstly : there is The Law:

Equality Law is The Law in this country and people must comply with it…
…whether they like it or not.
Secondly : this has to be a society, and that means social, which means interaction, engagement.

There have to be connections, relationships, communication.
There have to be arguments, challenges, to and fro.
All of this is essential

to strengthen people’s sense of belonging:
- of caring enough to argue,
  - of feeling and taking responsibility for what happens in this society

3.0 And the other thing about taboo subjects is….

And the other thing about taboo subjects is, well, perhaps a short story…

On Wednesday last week I sat in a small room full of Afghan women. They were mostly from Pashtu-speaking areas in the South of Afghanisthan – areas generally considered to be socially conservative. Many were recently arrived, and spoke virtually no English (we were communicating via an interpreter).

And what were they talking about?
Lesbians. And gay men.

When the subject first came up the group leader (who was also interpreting), asked if everyone had heard about women who are attracted to women and men who are attracted to men. They all said yes, some even laughed at her for thinking they might not know about them.

A couple of members of the group looked a bit stunned. One woman was obviously uncomfortable: she got up, she sat down, she got up and sat down until they started to tease her and she blushed, laughed and after that stayed sitting down though she couldn’t stop fidgetting.

Several of the women expressed views that in another time and place I would have argued about, even shouted down; but they had no problem talking about lesbians and gay men – noone was angry that the subject was raised.

They were quipping and questionning one another other: it wasn’t raucous banter, this was not pub talk: but it was most definitely an active discussion.

4.0 Starting to talk

The way we approached this was quite important – we didn’t set it up as a discussion about right and wrongs of sexuality, nor did we approach it as a educational session about equality for LGBT people – as much as anything because the group leader and host organisations would very probably have refused even to let us try.

We approached instead it as a parenting dilemma:

How do you relate to your children and support them when they are growing up in a society:

?         that is completely different to the one you grew up in;
?         a society where men can marry men, and women can marry women (nearly);
?         where it is illegal to discriminate against women, against disabled people, against men who love men or women who love women.
?         A society where expressing views that were acceptable
as / when / where you grew up,
can Now, Here, get your children into Serious trouble.

Can you prevent your children making assumptions, offending or mistreating other people because of their perceptions of other people’s ethnicity, beliefs, age, gender, sexuality, disability or health? Because if they do insult or mistreat other children in school there will be consequences, and as they grow into adults, they will be facing the forces of the law.

And as they grow into adulthood will your children still come and talk to you when something worries them? Will you know what to say if your daughter, or son, tells you about a friend who is attracted to people who are the same sex? Or if they tell you their friend has tried to kiss them? Even, as one woman said in a barely audible voice, if your child feels something for a person the same sex?

5.0 And they said yes, but….

And they said “They can talk to me, yes… But not to my husband.”

Which on initial reflection sort of fits with what you’d expect; except…

For the past 2 years, Poornima and I and the Afghan Group leaders have been discussing whether and how it might be possible to raise the topic of LGBT equality within the group. And for the whole of those 2 years, right up to September 2012 (when we said, “ok we’ll put £150 into group funds if you do it”) they had said, consistently, “I can talk with you about this, but I cannot discuss it with the group”:

“they will be shocked”,
“it is too sensitive”,
“it is not part of our culture to talk about these things”,
“they will stop coming to the group”.

And going further back in 2007/8, when REAP held our first discussion workshop about LGBT Refugees and equality, people said “We can discuss these things here together, it is very important, but you can’t discuss equality and sexual orientation with migrant and refugee communities”

“they will be shocked, they don’t like it, they don’t want to discuss it”
“they’ll get angry and hostile – they won’t work with us any more”.

6.0 We’ve learned a couple of things during this project

(Thanks to Esmee Fairbairn Foundation)

We’re not saying you can say anything you like to anyone about anything at any time and place.

But I am saying

You can talk to anyone, about anything – if you take the time to work out how to start.

And once you start, once you break ‘a taboo’, it’s never ‘taboo’ again.
And the longer you keep talking, and the more often you talk, the more willing people are to talk back, argue, engage.

You will have to accept that people will hold views you don’t like.

I’m certainly not saying that if you start talking with people, you will find that when you scratch the surface we are all liberal underneath – far from it. (You only need to be a female vicar to know that.)

Forming, building, protecting ongoing relationships of mutual respect and trust are crucial.

You can’t walk up to a stranger and start a conversation by shouting in their face.
Relationships take years to grow.
Modern project funding? Short term staff contracts? Overuse of inexperienced students and unpaid interns? Not helpful.

You must pluck up your courage and start talking now.
because the sooner you start,
the sooner that process gets going,
and the sooner we will all be able to engage properly in the arguments and meshes of communication that make up an integrated society

7.0 And not to talk…

And not to talk is to:
segregate,
to tolerate separation,
to consolidate isolation,
to institutionalise racism.

Not to talk is to allow discrimination, and from discrimination grows injustice, abuse, persecution – and that is why people end up having to leave everything, flee their homes and seek refuge in a new society in the first place.

This text is an edited version of a talk that Sarah Crowther, director at Refugees in Effective and Active Partnership, did last December in London at the launch event of ‘Our Day’: the campaign to celebrate International Migrants Day in the UK. The piece is part of a project to support refugee community organisations to support LGBTI refugees. With thanks to Poornima Karunacadacharan.

* Sarah is the Director of Refugees in Effective & Active Partnership (REAP). REAP is an independent, refugee-led organisation in West London that aims to empower refugees and asylum seekers to live as valuable and valued members of British society. They work towards this aim through practical and policy-oriented activities in partnership with others.

Read original story here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Will anti-immigration rhetoric boost the PS in the upcoming Finnish elections?

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Two important questions arise in light of the upcoming Euro MP and parliamentary elections in Finland in 2014 and 2015, respectively: How many parties will use immigration as an election issue, and will the next two elections reveal the ugly face of intolerance of other political parties in Finland?

If we look at the United Kingdom, there are clear signs that the Conservatives are using the anti-immigration message to boost their standing in the polls.

If the Tories have been able to gain on Labor and Ukip thanks to their anti-immigration message, will political parties jump on the same bandwagon as elections near?

We saw clearly how intolerance made its way into Finnish politics especially since 2008. As the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) were becoming a political sensation, the reaction of other parties was shameful to say the least. Instead of challenging the PS’ anti-EU and anti-immigration message, they approved it with their silence and patronizing.

We all remember SDP chairwoman Jutta Urplilainen’s infamous maassa maan tavalla (in Rome do as the Romans do) statement and National Coalition Party head Jyrki Katainen’s affirmation, “debating immigrant issues didn’t make you a racist.”

Even today, Urpilainen’s statement is still used with gusto by some Finns. Some teachers use it to justify their ignorance and their own discriminatory behavior against other ethnic groups.

Politicians and the media must learn to lead and not cave in to pernicious ideologies that promote intolerance. We must look further than 2014 and 2015 if we want to keep Finland a successful society based on social equality for all.

PS chairman Timo Soini has claimed that the April 2011 historic election victory was mainly due to anti-EU and to a lesser degree on anti-immigration sentiment. The affirmation, in my opinion, is a good example of how racism is defended and protected in Finland.

Our intolerance is like having a gun hidden under our pillow. We can use it whenever we need to but we won’t tell anyone that we have such a firearm hidden in our bed.

There are already some clear signs that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is investing in the anti-immigration campaign message to lure voters. Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo of the PS “demanded” right after she was elected as the party’s new secretary that Finland should tighten immigration policy.

If the anti-immigration message picks up in the next two years, and there is no reason to believe otherwise, the biggest loser will be Finland.

Our society will not only lose demographically, but economically, socially and politically as well. Anti-immigration means being anti-foreign. Being anti-foreign in a globalized world is like shooting oneself in the leg and curing your wound with populist mumbo jumbo incantations.

It is like putting a noose around our necks as a society.

Migrants’ Rights Network: Immigration is an important factor in Conservative rise in the polls

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Migrant Tales

MT comment: Solid analysis by Awale Olad on what role the anti-immigrant message will play in the polls and upcoming elections in the United Kingdom. The delicate balancing act involves anti-immigration rhetoric, which could be ignited by the government’s Immigration Bill, and scaring away those votes it needs to capture, according to Olad.

With Euro MP and parliamentary elections coming up in Finland in 2014 and 2015, respectively, will parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) beef up their anti-immigration rhetoric to capture voters? That is what is exactly happening at this moment. Why did the PS’ new party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, “demand” right after she was elected that Finland should tighten immigration policy?

The interesting question to ask is how much of a boost will the party’s anti-immigration message give the PS in both elections?

____________

By Awale Olad

The Conservative Party has spent the best part of the past two years lagging behind the Labour Party in the polls until the most recent ICM poll. Most political commentators agree that the budget delivered by Chancellor George Osborne in 2012 was a critical factor in the reduction in Tory fortunes.

Read full story here.

Now that parliament has gone quiet for the summer recess, a cheery bunch of Tory MPs will be heading for their summer breaks riding high in the polls having wrested some support back from UKIP, which has put them neck and neck with the Labour Party. With two years to go, strategically, this is the best an incumbent government, trying to manage a sluggish economy, can hope for.

The Guardian’s Patrick Wintour adds:

The fall in the Ukip share may reflect the recent comparative decline in publicity for the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, and Downing Street’s persistent efforts to neutralise Ukip’s appeal by countering with a series of strong messages on immigration, welfare and a referendum on UK membership of the European Union.

With recent events, some could argue that a catalyst for a further rise in support for the Conservative Party is a mixture of the Tories toe-poking Labour on their links with Unite the Union coupled with Theresa May’s final showdown with Abu Qatada, who managed to successfully secure a treaty with the Jordanian government, and send him home. This undoubtedly could be a contributing factor to their fortune in future polls and has been ‘good news story’ for the Tories in recent weeks.

Number 10 will continue to try and neutralise UKIP’s support but it will certainly fall short of electoral success. The reality, as Tory pollster Lord Ashcroft often points out, is what really matters to voters is the economy and jobs.

Both Ashcroft and Wintour agree that these salient issues would ultimately give the Tories a chance of winning the next election. Seducing Tory/UKIP swing voters by going hard on immigration will only win back support in constituencies the Tories need to hold. The Conservatives will need to expand their reach by campaigning on more potent issues, and in particular, raise their game in courting migrant and BME voters. Ashcroft writes:

All in all, the first half of 2013 represents a time of stagnation that we could hardly afford. We have a good case to make on many of the policy areas on which we have lost ground, including crime, immigration, welfare reform and the economy. But people will only hear that case if we use the available air time to make it. The latest round of parliamentary scandal will make people all the more resistant to what we have to say, and the spending review later this month makes it all the more necessary to show we are doing what people expect of us. There is no more time to waste.

Ashcroft is clearly irritated by his Party’s internal squabbles and the cyclical one-upmanship with Labour (generally not the greatest indicator of public mood and feeling) as time-wasting exercises. Tough immigration rhetoric braced with harsh policies will not win the Conservatives the general election but it will consociate the UKIP appeal, which is the first step towards building a coalition of supporters, according to Tory strategists.

The government’s upcoming Immigration Bill will be an interesting dog-fight internally within Conservative MPs and externally with the Labour Party. If the Coalition manages to find time to debate this Bill, the government would need to be careful not to ignite drastic anti-immigration rhetoric that will do little to attract exactly those votes it will increasingly need to capture.

Read original story here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Darling Baba (Dad): You no longer need a visa to Finland

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

MT comment: I was sorry to hear from Dana that her father passed away. Two months ago her mother left her. She had been waiting for three years to bring her parents to her side under Finland’s strict family reunification law, which was tightened in 2011. Finland shows its human face by accepting refugees but then it reveals a darker side, where minors and relatives are forced to live separated indefinitely from their loved ones.

In Dana’s case, it’s over for her to reunite with her parents in Finland.

We wish our heartfelt condolences to her and her family.

____________

By Dana

I’m full of tears

But

I can believe it, i can, even if i am able to… i am strong that’s why i can

Everything can happen in a nightmare…Finland is a nightmare.

It is a nightmare …but it can’t be real …so i do not need to be sad… soon, yes, soon, someone will call me and i will wake up from this nightmare with my family.

My father, my Baba, is now gone, too.. he could not wait even two months after my mother passed away to join her,

Oh Baba u were so sad u couldn’t wait even 2 months… do u know that u made the Finnish law so happy??? Oh yes, u made them all happy… they all hate me, Baba, ur case is still in court… Can u believe it, Baba?????

Sigh.

My Baba Love:

Today is 25.7.2013 and it is the 21st century… but Finland doesn’t know in which century its nightmare is.

Who knows that?

Last night he left this life in the hands of my young brother…oh sooooo sad…my Mama left 28.5.2013, and now my Dad, on 24.7.2013

Am i in shock??? I still don’t know… now i am standing up for my rights that’s the only thing that i’m aware of.

He met my Mama last night, what a pleasure, oh sure… i’d love to see them.

I’m going through difficult times, a hard situation.

My family reunification case is gathering dust in a Finnish immigration court… so is this how mean the law is?

Who can exactly explain what is the aim of Finnish law, not to me but to her/him?

My body is in Helsinki and my spirit is in Iran… my brother is alone there…

Oh darling cute brother how much i miss u… be strong, be strong.

I should be there with u now… but i cant even move at this moment from my chair.

I am certain of my nightmare, how is it possible that i have so many problems, suffering such hard times??? Who am i? How can I carry this heavy load? What am I made of??? Am i flesh and bones??? I can’t believe it… i need to wake up from this nightmare and suffering.

I so much need to see my Dad again…. i need him..

Why isn’t there anyone in Finland who takes responsibility for what happened to my parents and my tragedy?

Why doesn’t anyone answer me???

I told you all this because my life is a nightmare.

Finland is a nightmare.

Finland…Nightland

Hey, can somebody tell me in what century i’m living in in Finland?

Death threats and the PS threat to our Nordic way of life

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairman, Timo Soini, reveals in a recent blog that he got four death threats recently. Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen’s Christian Democratic party received a bomb threat as well, which was reported by tabloid Iltalehti. The death threats are similar to what Swedish-language journalists received a while back. Migrant Tales has been a victim of death threats as well.

The question that we should ask in light of the latter is what these threats say about Finland and where we’re heading today as a country.

One matter it says loud and clearly is that our response to intolerance is far from satisfactory. Those that fuel ethnic hatred, racism and make it their business to polarize society between “us” and “them,” believe opportunistically that hate speech can be their political servant.

How wrong they are! Mass murderer Anders Breivik of Norway is one recent example of how you cannot keep xenophobia and racism on a short leash because it can bite back at its owner, and hard.

Ali Esbati, a survivor of 22/7,* when Breivik murdered 77 innocent victims on his Islamophobic rampage in Norway in 2011, was quoted as saying on The Local, which cites an op-ed on Aftonbladet, that Norway had learned little from the massacre. He claimed that the “undergrowth of hateful rhetoric” had recovered from the attacks by Breivik.

Read story here.

While anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region suffered election losses due to Breivik, the approval rating of the anti-immigration Progress Party (FrP) of Norway has swelled today to 20% in the polls.

An editorial on Oulu-based daily Kaleva writes about the death threats against Soini.

”Hate speech has been raging for a long time, and there are among Perussuomalaiset MPs people who have been sentenced for ethnic agitation. From the mouthes of the Perussuomalaiset we’ve read uncensored text that is written off as humor.

Death threats show that the hate speech can travel the other way. The party’s figurehead Soini is the victim of such a situation.”

To use a recent example of how the PS fuels hatred in Finland, one of its MPs, James Hirvisaari, published on Facebook the wonderful time he spent with Seppo Lehto, a far right agitator who was imprisoned for inciting ethnic hatred.

On the same weekend, he said in a tweet that a reporter working for tabloid Iltalehti ”masturbated wildly” when he was interviewed by him on the phone.

Add to the latter the near-constant hate speech against gays, elites, immigrants, and groups like Muslims from parties like the PS and a broader worrisome picture emerges of the problem.

Intolerance breeds more intolerance until it snaps like on 22/7 or turns into something more sinister like Germany 1933.

*I was surprised to see The Local use 22/7 to describe the mass murders that took place in Norway in 2011. Using a date for a tragedy is a way to honor and respect the victims.

Migrant Tales Literary: Migrant Tales

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

MT comment: A woman called me and wanted to share a poem about Migrant Tales. We’re honored that people like her have found strength through the many stories, opinion pieces and poems we publish. Welcome aboard, Hamid, and thank you for your kind words!

______________________

By Ms. Anonymous

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

Migrant Tales the blog of migrant tales

Captures reality of migrant lives

not fairy tales

offers forum for all ages

female and male.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

Hailed for interesting fresh stories

not stale

give their struggle a voice

in a tit-tale

that will never leave you drained and pale.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

Enthusiasm seeps

as you peruse articles of Migrant Tales

for lively exchange of views

which attracts many to Migrant Tales

fascinatingly flows in a stream of threads like whale.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

enriches the mind and soul

of an audience without scale

in a mixture of colorful blend

and taste of variety not for sale

for Enrique, Dana, Mark, and JD

offer a special menu of Migrant Tales.

Migrant Tale delight is served in the blog

to brighten your day like ginger ale.

And leaves you something to look forward to tell.

While it jogs your mind forgetting you are in Finland and not in Wales.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

That is why we’re inspired by the blog Migrant Tales

without fail from dawn to dusk

we leave our tasks

in rush to catch up to stories

in Migrant Tales.

Long live Migrant Tales!

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

When will the PS sack MP James Hirvisaari?

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Recent tweets and Facebook comments by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari reveal how racism, fascism and right-wing populism have spread like a cancer in Finnish society. Hirvisaari now praises Seppo Lehto and claims the ultimate far right narcissist, like him, is a nice person.

Would you praise a man who gives Nazi salutes, likes swastikas, insults immigrants and longs for the days of World War 2, when Finland was Hitler’s ally?

Seppo Lehto as he sees himself when he was a candidate. Source: tiede.fi

It’s odd that the PS hasn’t said a word about Hirvisaari tweeting on Saturday that a journalist “masturbated wildly” during a telephone interview and now his praise of an extremist clown like Lehto.

Seriously folks, would you trust a party like the PS in government? One that has MPs who insult journalists, immigrants, praises far right extremists and likes to talk about skid marks in the toilet bowls of parliament?

A party that doesn’t have the guts or is incapable of putting one of its MPs in line, or sack them if necessary for making racist and far right statements, is a party that should never be in government.

Go to Hirvisaari’s Facebook page here.

Migrant Tales Literary: Hey Universe, Finnish Law beats me up

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Migrant Tales

By Dana

Dear universe,

This is my lonely life in Finland…

Finnish law beats me up in different ways,

no/one nowhere takes responsibility; there’s not one place in Helsinki that i can go to complain about my loneliness and separation from my loved ones.

No/one will listen to me because if i ask a question they’ll tell me ”u r in the wrong place…”

Hey universe,

Do u know why Finnish law sentences me to live in loneliness?

Why do Finnish laws hate me? I know that you know and you know what I think…You know everything about me.

Hey universe,

What’s the meaning of having laws?

What is law and what isn’t law?

I don’t want the law to decide for me but i want u to decide for me .

I do not want the law to forge my destiny but i want u to make my destiny.

Hey universe,

Show me an open door, a way out of this terrible place,

i love you.

My ears are next to you

Love you GOD,

Ur daughter

Migrant Tales (July 22, 2012): What have we learned after Norway’s 22/7

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Migrant Tales

What goes around comes around.

Exactly a year ago (2012) Anders Breivik carried out his mass killings, which ended up causing the death of 77 innocent victims. Have we learned anything from that tragic Saturday that shook the Nordic region and changed it permanently?

In order to answer that question, we’d have to travel back in time to see how things were prior to that day.

In Finland, the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS) had just won a historic election victory that enabled the party to increase the number of its MPs to 39 from 5 in 2007. While party leader Timo Soini played down anti-immigration sentiment as one important factor behind the PS’ election victory, others disagreed.

Before Breivik erupted on the stage, anti-immigration parties like the PS were the new political force to contend with in Finland. It seemed that nothing could stop them from adding new election victories in the future. The louder and cruder their anti-immigration and anti-EU stances were, the more supporters they’d rally to their cause.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xjVD0ztWaKA

In Norway, Denmark and Sweden, far-right populist anti-immigration parties had grown as well and were openly challenging traditional parties.

Everything changed, however, after July 22.

The first blow came in Norway to the Progress Party (FrP), which saw its support in the September municipal election plummet by 6.1 percentage points to 11.5%. In the same month, another anti-immigration party, theDanish People’s Party (DPP), suffered an election setback.

Since 2001, the Islamophobic DPP had supported minority right-wing government in exchange for tighter immigration policy.

In many respect, Breivik was a wake-up call that woke up for Finland and the Nordic region to the threat of intolerance and hate speech.

A recent supreme court ruling against Jussi Hall-aho is a case in point. The PS MP was not only fined for defaming a religion but for inciting ethnic hatred as well. The ruling wasn’t only a big blow to the PS but to the far-right Suomen Sisu wing of the party. Halla-aho was forced to resign as chairman of the administration committee, which, among other matters, sets immigration policy.

The presidential election was another important example of how Finland is distancing itself after 22/7 from the anti-immigration and populist rhetoric of parties like the PS.

Two conservative anti-EU candidates, Timo Soini of the PS and Paavo Väyrynen of the Center Party, lost to Green Party hopeful Pekka Haavisto in the first round of voting. Haavisto is openly gay and pro-EU.

The next test for the PS will come in the October municipal elections. If polls are anything to go by, the party will suffer another election setback.

In light of the above, can we claim that Breivik had had a direct impact on the popularity of the PS and other parties in the Nordic region that are anti-EU, anti-immigration and anti-Islam?

Your answer to that questions will probably reveal more than anything else your political views on immigration, Islam and cultural diversity.

But if we ask Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, Norway had become after July 22 “more tolerant, [and] more careful not to judge people” by ethnic origin.

Even if Stoltenberg has shown leadership on how a wounded society should react to intolerance, it’s still unclear what impact Breivik will have on our societies. We are still healing from the wound and can matters return back to “normal” in Norway after Breivik?

If we set aside politics and try to understand the impact Breivik had on the region, one matter is certain: We are outraged by what happened but dread even more the possibility that it could happen again.

Competing for the anti-immigration thunder and rhetoric of parties like the PS, DPP, FrP and Sweden Democrats are far-right groups like the Finnish Defense League, which are copy-and-paste clones of the English Defense League.

Breivk scared the wits out of some of us and proved that anti-immigration and Counter-Jihad rhetoric can convert itself into a monster that has the ability to wreak terror and change our societies for good.

That I believe is the real message and threat of 22/7.