There is nothing new in the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* immigration program announced Monday. A surprise for me was that the PS hardline stance means ALL migrants. Previously, I thought the term “migrant” used by the PS was code for Muslims or persons from outside the EU.
If the PS had its way, it would completely overhaul Finland’s immigration policy.
“EUROPEAN DAY AGAINST ISLAMOPHOBIA 2021 (EDAI): European Network Against Racism (ENAR) condemns “woke Islamism” theory as a political weapon to further legitimize the discrimination of Muslims and those perceived as Muslims in Europe.” Source: ENAR
Some takeaways:
Eight years of residence, speaking near-perfect Finnish, and work, before granting a permanent residence permit;
Raise the residence requirement for citizenship to 10 years from five years now;
Tighten further language requirements for the naturalization test;
Only citizens of OECD countries can have dual citizenship;
Exclude foreigners from getting social welfare;
Tighten further already strict family reunification requirements;
Only people within the EU can apply for asylum;
End labor immigration from outside the EU;
Only highly educated people from outside the EU can move to Finland.
As one can see, instigating such an immigration policy proposed by the radical right PS would effectively mean isolating Finland from the world.
The PS’ latest immigration program is nothing more than a copy-and-paste job of Denmark. The party’s ideological love affair with the Danish People’s Party and now its harsh immigration policy is nothing new.
The youth gang “problem” in Finland is a knee-jerk racist reaction.
On and off, we have read about our youth gang “problem” with sensationalist headlines from newspapers that should know better. Remember back in 2014, when radical-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Tom Packalén created quite a stir when he claimed that a youth gang in East Helsinki was terrorizing people?
Another ludicrous claim by the PS MP is that these youth gang members are the “ripening fruits” of our failed immigration and integration policy.
Then, in 2020, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest circulating daily, warned its readers: “Over one hundred possibly dangerous youths with migrant backgrounds roam about downtown Helsinki – according to experts, this is a new migrant phenomenon.”
What do Packalén’s claim and Helsingin Sanomat’s story have in common? They are both incomplete and based on personal opinion.
They are a storm in a teacup that aim to instill fear in people who aren’t white.
Helsingin Sanomatstorycorrected its claims about “rising youth street violence,” claiming that these are brown and black Finns, which they marginalize and otherize by labeling them “youths of migrant backgrounds.”
The impact of both claims should not surprise us. What else can you expect if Finns have been taught to believe that minorities are a danger and threat to society?
Having worked as a journalist for over twenty years and poured over scores of stories about “youth gangs” and how the Finnish media frames migrants and minorities, there is one matter that always stands out: Important facts that give context to the story and the lack of minority voices and experts.
You commit or fall into de facto bias when you leave out facts that give important context to understanding a news story. This can be intentional or unintentional.
Why hasn’t the media tried to analyze where Sweden’s gang problem arose? There are many good lessons we could learn in Finland from such investigative journalism.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson, Riikka Purra, stuck her mouth in her foot at a debate with National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) head Petteri Orpo, when she said that it is still the radical-right party’s long-range aim to leave the EU.
“Finnish citizens are not in favor of leaving the EU,” she was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat. “On the other hand, as we saw with NATO membership, the opinions of the Finnish people sometimes change very quickly. Of course, despite its obvious virtues, we will continue to tell people how much the European Union is costing us.”
In other words, Purra reiterated that the PS’ long-range goal is to leave the EU.
Another “long-range” aim of the PS is to exclude non-Finnish citizens from getting social welfare.
Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also.
Heinrich Heine
Thanks to Social Democrat Prime Minister Sanna Marin, leaders of the Left Alliance, Green League, and the Swedish People’s Party, there is a public reaction to the radical right and blatantly racist campaign promises by the Perussuomalaiset (PS).*Prime Minister Marin recently slammed the PS as a racist party and said that it would not be part of a government with it.
In the face of the rise of Islamophobia in Europe, Finland is at the forefront depending on the election success of the PS, our version of the Sweden Democrats, a highly Islamophobic party with roots in Nazism.
The PS, too, has links with far-right and neo-Nazi groups that are also violent.
PS MP Sanna Antikainen tweeted: “Rasmus Palaudan burned the Koran. According to the authorities, it is a so- called a hate crime, but the death threats that Palaudan receives aren’t [a hate crime].”
How many Finnish politicians, never mind members of the PS, have condemned what Palaudan did?
Silence.
It is how researcher Farid Hafez wrote in a Haaretz column: “What is worse, while these anti-Muslim rallies were intensely debated in Swedish media, it happened for the wrong reason. The debates did not focus on the racist dimensions of the Koran burning. Rather, they focused on the importance of protecting free speech and, even more problematically, how to maintain law and order.”
Nato-huuma meinaa taas Suomessa ryöpsähtää yli. Ulkoministeri Haavisto meni tokaisemaan, että me kyllä kohta mennään Natoon ilman Ruotsia. Tavallisesti harkitseva ja diplomatiankin taitava ministerimme lienee jälleen puun ja kuoren välissä, kun olisi tyydytettävä klikkiotsikkoja kaipaavien toimittajien tarpeet, rähisevän äärioikeiston ja natokiimaisen, sotaa pelkäävän kansanosan tarpeet ja oman hallituksenkin toiveet.
Juuri tässä tilanteessa pitäisi maltti kuitenkin säilyttää. Suomi on Ruotsille paljon velkaa siitä, että Ruotsi on meidänkin puolestamme pitänyt yllä Pohjoismaiden mainetta demokraattisina valtioina, jotka tarpeen tullen auttavat diktatuureista pakenevia vainottuja ihmisiä. Se, että Ruotsissa nyt on Suomea huomattavasti enemmän Erdoganin vihaamia ja luovutettaviksi vaatimia kurdeja, ei suinkaan ole aihe syytellä Ruotsia ja vaatia heiltä toimintaa. Päinvastoin, on jo vihdoinkin aika, että Suomi asettuu tällaisessa tilanteessa tukemaan Ruotsia siellä, missä kyse on ihmisoikeuksista ja vainottujen kansojen hengestä ja terveydestä.
Naton jäsenyys saavutettakoon aikanaan diplomaattisin toimin, neuvotteluin ja Naton oman päätöksentekokyvyn avulla – ei sieluja kauppaamalla. Kannattaako sitä paitsi sellaiseen Natoon liittyä, jossa ei rauhan aikana olla yksimielisiä siitä, että Suomi ja Ruotsi ovat kumppaneita, joita halutaan yhdessä puolustaa? Kuinka sitten kriisin tullessa saadaan päätökset aikaan – pitääkö silloinkin lähettää suomalaisia Turkkiin uhrattaviksi?
It was only a heartbeat from the New Year when I met Suva at his Kallio apartment in Helsinki. His room is cozy and full of his instruments and artwork. After moving to Finland in 2007, he reached an important phase: Migri (Finnish Immigration Service), which makes or breaks migrants, granted him a long-awaited permanent resident permit.
“I now have a “P” permit,” he said. “It was on 27 December that I learned about it. I was hoping to get it in November, but it turned out to be a late Christmas present. The wait and the process of getting the [permanent residence] permit were stressful.”
Suva likes philosophy, but he considers himself an artist above all. If you try to get a feel for the man, his room, his home, they manifest themselves roaring silence that leads you to a human characterized by humility and a strong desire for independence.
“I don’t follow any philosophers but my thought process is philosophic, which I make it work through actions,” he added, “and the form evolves as tactile and audible; and sometimes I make art edible. But I don’t like editing ]my works] but just present as they are or as I am! But rough but with depth.”
Suva said that he has always admired underdogs and people who are weaker and treated unjustly by society.
“All I try to do with my art is to express myself, which is not so easy in this fucked up society,” he continued. My heroes are the weakest and most vulnerable members of society who dare to say, ‘stop it!'”
Suva said that as an art teacher in India, he would give special help to those students that were the weakest.
A native of Meghalaya, Shillong in the North-Eastern part of India, Suva’s estrangement from his culture began with his left hand. “In India, left-handed people are seen as disrespectful,” he said. “When I was a child, they attempted to make me right-handed by tying my left hand, [a practice like that is commonly known as tiger parenting], so that,I would get used to using my right hand and the memory as such is very distinct, that I recall.…It didn’t work,” he added.
Suva completed his MA degree in Visual Arts from Delhi College of Arts affiliated to Delhi University, India, specializing in Sculpture (2004). He received his MA degree in Live Arts and Performance Studies from Uniarts, Theater Academy (2015).
Photo by Hussein Kazmenian.
One of Suva’s prized possessions is his instruments, made from scratch. Since 2008, when he started to live in Finland he has made a total of 22 instruments.
“For me, when I do a work of art [like an instrument and pyrography] and when I see the material, I see the form,” he continued. “I do not do sketches.”
I don’t like the excessive amount of influence of text in today’s art circles with reference to dead Western philosophers. I call this section of people “academonic inter-textual species”, a form of artistocracy. We have a saying in India: You must cut hot iron with a hot iron.” Therefore In my works I also use text as a visual element but with logic and thoughts that are mine and not borrowed from some pages of such thoughts.’
For example, the instrument he calls synthesis carries such a name for philosophical reasons. The Indians have their version of Hagel’s dialectic, where thesis and antithesis give birth to synthesis. After that, the thought process begins again: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
Suva playing the synthesis instrument. Photo: Suva
Pyrography is Suva’s way to express many questionable issues and calls it “ink of fire”. “I do pyrographies whenever I have the time and mood,” he continued.
“Currently I am working five days a week, eight hours a day, so…I get tired when coming home, but I manage to get some energy to continue creating work whether it is from visual or performative in semblance.” Suva works today as kitchen assistant. He has had various jobs from paper delivery to cleaning. “The only way, in my opinion, to find work [in Finland] is through somebody you know,” he said. “Getting a job is very difficult and there is a huge amount of nepotism in the artistic field.”
Yle’s Viimienen sana invited three guests to talk about Finland’s alleged youth gang problem and how the media treats the topic. The three guests clearly indicated how the talk show would frame the topic.
In the first place, there were no minorities taking part in the debate. All of the guests were white Finns.
Viimeinen sana did not a word about Marko Forss’ past, the policeman invited to the program and from questionable backgrounds.
Forss has a shady history when it comes to minorities and migrants. Even if a racist joke about the Romany minority is a minor matter for him, he was an admin of a racist and secret Facebook page that Long Play uncovered.
The Facebook group where Forss was the admin consisted of over 2,800 members, or about one-third of Finland’s police force of 7,000, according to Long Play.
Did any of the police officers in the group get reprimanded? What about Forss?
MTV: “Violent juvenile crime has soared, even 10 year-olds rob [people]”Helsingin Sanomat: “Children manage organized drug trade in Espoo. “Pockets filled with money.” Etelä-Saimaa: “This is how international street gangs are coming to Helsinki, even 13-year-olds is bad company. National Bureau of Investigation: ‘Same system as in Denmark and Sweden.'”MTV: “Youth gangs beat children and youths in East Helsinki.” Different sensationalist captions by “respected” media in Finland. Source: Viimeinen sana
The other two guests were Tiia Palmén from MTV, which writes pretty biased stories about migrant youths (see above), and Matti Näsi of Helsinki University.
While Näsi pointed out that the gang problem in Sweden is light years from Finland, a minority youth worker and even I would have given a different view of things.
Two important questions weren’t answered on the program:
Nuoriso-ohjaaja Mahad Omar Sheikh Musse on seurannut monen perheen elämää läheltä sekä työntekijänä että maahan muuttaneena. Mahadin mukaan sukupolvikuilu ja väärinymmärrysten vaara rakentuu perheenjäsenten oppiessa sekä kirjoitettuja että kirjoittamattomia sääntöjä eri tahtiin.
“Uuteen maahan saapuessaan ihminen joutuu pakosti oppijan asemaan. Hän on eräänlaisessa jännitystilassa koko ajan, koska ennalta tuntemattomien ja yllättävien asioiden keskellä täytyy luovia päivittäin. Vieraskielisessä ympäristössä toimiminen on etenkin vanhemmille sukupolville stressaavaa, oli kyse sitten miehestä tai naisesta.”
Mahadin mukaan nuori omaksuu oppijan roolin luontevammin ja myös toimii uudessa ympäristössä sukkelammin kuin vanhempansa. Joskus teini-ikäiset lapset myös käyttävät hyväksi nopeamman kotoutumisprosessinsa suomaa tietovarantoaan perheen sisällä.
”On paljon perheitä, joissa perheenjäsenten välillä on hyvä luottamus ympäristön muuttumisesta huolimatta. Monet vanhemmat ovat kuitenkin myös kertoneet siitä, miten vaikeaa heidän on saada otetta lapsiinsa, joilla on erilaisia menoja koko ajan. Syntyy pelko siitä, että lapset päätyvät huonoille teille ja menettävät vanhempien tärkeäksi kokemia perinteitä ja arvoja.”
Yhteydenpitoa ja odotuksia yli rajojen
Myös ylirajaiset asiat vaikuttavat perheisiin Suomessa. Suvun velvoitteisiin vastaaminen on monelle hyvin konkreettinen asia etenkin silloin, jos nälänhätä tai kriisit entisessä kotimaassa vahvistuvat.
Perussouomalaiset (PS)* head Riikka Purra wasn’t the only one overjoyed by the latestHelsingin Sanomat opinion poll, which showed the radical-right party overtaking the Social Democrats to second place after the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus). Behind Purra was Kokoomus chief Petteri Orpo, gleeing.
Finns will go to the polls on April 4 to elect 200 MPs.
While observers debate the reasons behind the good showing of the PS, we can cite three:
Fear-mongering about minority youths in gangs.
President Sauli Niinistö’s endorsement of that fear.
Kokoomus’ willingness to form a right-wing government with the PS.
Then Interior Minister Petteri Orpo said that Finland will immigration removal centers to deport asylum seekers whose asylum application has been rejected. Source: Yle.
Orpo and former Prime Minister Juho Sipilä rejected the PS in 2017 after the party split in two because the party was led by Jussi Halla-aho, who was convicted in 2012 for ethnic agitation and for breaching the sanctity of religion.
Sipilä’s government didn’t need the PS since the newly formed faction, Blue Reform, was there to offer its support to keep the government intact.
I am worried about the amnesia of political parties like Kokoomus, the media, and many politicians who don’t see racism as a problem. One good example is Purra’s promotion of ethnonationalist ideology by suggesting that Finland should exclude foreigners from getting social welfare. Not one newspaper in Finland, never mind a single politician, denounced what she said.
Those who are worried about the blow to the credibility of the security guards due to several scandals that even led to the death of a woman in Espoo are quick to point out one should not jump to conclusions and label all security guards and the sector.
True, we should always be careful not to generalize.
There is, however, something wrong with that defense. The same people who are saying that we must not generalize are the ones who constantly generalize about migrants.
President Sauli Niinistö, who is no friend of Finland’s culturally diverse communities, added more feathers to tarred minority youths in the ongoing debate on youth crime. Source: Yle
Downplaying the problem is also an important part of the narrative about white crime versus crime committed by minorities.
