Migrant Tales insight: Reija Härkönen is well-known anti-racism activist in Finland who has her heart in the right place. I agree with her: What is happening in Finland today is shameful and reveals more cowardice than good judgment. How many squad cars and policemen do you need to deport a family that sought asylum in this country?
See the picture below and wonder.
“Finland and Europe are suspicious of Muslims because their racism and hatred have ensured that their ‘integration’ polices have failed despite the fact that the majorty of Muslims are well-adapted. Instead of blaming their own prejudices for their failures, they scapegoat a religious and ethnic group.”
Integration Minister Inger Stojberg celebrates the fiftieth amendment to tighten immigration policy. Yes, it appears that Denmark can eat its racist cake and have it. Some public officials don’t hide their hatred but rejoice it.
Decades of labor discrimination in Finland adds up to one terrible reality for some migrants: a thin pension and poverty. If in this decade the pay gap between migrants and white Finns was 25% (36,800 euros versus 27,500 euros made by migrants), it’s clear that their pension will not add up to much.
Poor salaries, fragmented employment histories also means lower social welfare benefits like unemployment, which are 39% lower for migrants (15,000 euros versus 9,400 euros) and up to 59% for those who are outside the labor force (7,500 euros versus 3,100 euros), according to Pekka Myrskylä, a former Statistics Finland researcher.
An article about migrant pensioners in Finland published by YLE News tells us something we’ve always known:
“The vulnerability of many of the older migrants we spoke to shone through clearly. They expressed concern about access to services, language problems, isolation and marginalisation—and financial difficulties.”
Here’s one anecdote published in the same article:
Continue reading “Finland’s politics of discrimination and exclusion are seen in your thin pension”
I wrote a story in Migrant Tales nine years ago about the Ulysses syndrome, an illness that affects migrants, which speaks volumes about the lives of asylum seekers in Finland and how officials and the government contribute to their misery. If the Ulysses syndrome explains the suffering of migrants what would we call a society that is indifferent to their suffering?
Psychiatrist Joseba Achotegui of the Universitat de Barcelona describes the illness in the following words: “It comprises loneliness, as family and friends were left behind; a sense of personal failure, and a survival struggle that takes over all other priorities. The syndrome is characterized by physical symptoms like headaches, and psychological symptoms like depression.”
Here’s an example of what an undocumented migrant, of which we have many in Finland these days, suffers:
Norma lived in terror and in hiding. This 45-year-old single mother left her 11-year-old son in 1999 when she migrated to Madrid. When she moved to Spain, she didn’t know anyone never mind have a place to sleep. She was an illegal alien.
The woman was afraid that the police would find and deport her. “It was that way nine years ago,” she admits. I would never go out for a stroll. I’d forget to board a metro at stops because I was in another world thinking of my child.
While the Ulysses syndrome abounds, what could we call a society that is incapable, or anesthetized by politicians’ indifference and hate speech, to their suffering?
Would the proper name be the Cyclopse syndrome?
Continue reading “Migrants suffer from the Ulysses syndrome, societies from the Cyclopse syndrome”
Remember the bus driver that videotaped only Somalis and accused them without any proof of bumming a ride? Remember when he published without permission his racist treatment of them on social media? Gleb Simanov got fired the same week but in August Onnibus, a bus company, hired him.
The whole incident got a lot of interest on social media. Even so, nothing was written about the pain and suffering of the victims. Two of them are cousins aged 13 and 15.
A woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity and who helped the teenagers “because their parents don’t speak Finnish well enough,” said that the two girls were deeply disturbed when they found out that a video of them was in MV-lehti, an online racist publication.
“They were anxious about what would happen to them at school and if they’d be [labeled and] bullied [by their classmates],” she said. “They couldn’t sleep and still have not recovered fully from what happened.”
The woman said that she got in touch with the bus company where Simanov used to work, and they apologized for what happened.
Gleb Simanonv got sacked by Nobina for videotaping and insulting minors. The videotapes appeared on social media and trash publications like MV-lehti.“A week later we went to the police to press charges for publishing without permission a video of a minor,” she said. “The police treated us very well.”
Simanov blocked the woman from his Facebook page after she asked him why he had published the videos of the two teenagers.
“The girls have learned not to trust some adults,” she concluded. “They got to see what racism is like in Finland.”
Suomi itsenäisyyden juhlavuonna 2017. Sen piti olla upea, yhteinen vuosi. Jotkut ovat kuitenkin sitä mieltä, että juhlat eivät parane, ellei väki vähene.
Vielä tänään minulla on oikeus:
olla kaveri sen kanssa, kenen kanssa haluan olla
olla ystävällinen myös tuntemattomalle ihmiselle
kutsua ihminen kotiin, syöttää ja juottaa ja vaikka antaa jäädä yöksi, nukkua puhtailla lakanoilla, minkä värisillä hyvänsä
olla ilmoittamatta poliisille, jos joku syö, juo, laulaa tai nukkuu luonani
ottaa luokseni ihminen yöpymään esimerkiksi internetin Flee b&b -järjestelmän kautta
päästää lapseni kaveri yökylään. Jopa, jos kaveri sattuisi olemaan kiharatukkainen
puuttua vääryyteen ja epäoikeudenmukaisuuteen
puolustaa ystävääni hädässä niillä keinoin, jotka ovat lain rajoissa eivätkä vahingoita muita ihmisiä.
Nämä oikeuteni kieltävä laki on suunnitteilla, mutta ajattelen, että nyt vielä on mahdollisuus estää tuonkaltaiset toimet.
