Comment: Professor Erkki Havansi, who is a card-carrying Perussuomalaiset (PS) party member, has been advising Timo Soini’s party on what is hate speech and what terms should not be used when speaking of immigrants and minorities.
Laws on hate speech were tightened in Finland in June. According to Havansi, some no-no words that should not be used include the n-word (neekeri), camel driver (ählämi), Ruskie (ryssä) or Rutabaga (hurri). For some strange reason, Havansi does not consider the word mamu, the shortened term for immigrant, as offensive.
He thinks that it is ok to call immigrants mamus because he hasn’t even bothered to ask any immigrant association a second opinion.
There was an extensive debate on Migrant Tales in January on the usage of the term mamu.
After MPs in the PS learn what is the appropriate term to use when addressing an ethnic group, racism will disappear from Finland right? Wrong.
This lesson in basic communication skills with ethnic groups to the PS shows at what level the whole debate on immigration is in Finland and why some members of Soini’s party don’t have a clue what racism is.
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Professori Erkki Havansi on ohjeistanut puoluetovereitaan vihapuhelainsäädännön suhteen. Nettiin laitettua muistiota voidaan pitää selvänä ohjeena varsinkin Jussi Halla-aholle, joka viime viikolla erotettiin kahdeksi viikoksi ryhmän toiminnasta.
From the previous debate it is quite clear that the term mamu is considered offensive. The term maahanmuuttaja was acceptable to many. What other options there are?
JusticeDemon wrote:
“In my [considerable] experience with immigrants, the most practical expression for most purposes is simply foreigner before naturalisation and, arguably, new Finn after naturalisation.”
I would not like to call a person living permanently in Finland ulkomaalainen. Uussuomalainen is a good term, I guess, but for me it should not need to do so much with citizenship but with personal identification. Many EU citizens who live here dont even need to apply for Finnish citizenship since they have more or less the same rights anyway.
I guess we should just stop making such a big difference between those of us who happen to have an immigrant background and those of us who dont. However, for certain purposes we need a term that covers the first mentioned group and I dont see a huge problem with maahanmuuttajataustainen.
On a related note, I took out some books from the library yesterday for my pre-school daughter to help her with her develop her reading and I was shocked by quite a few 1950’s era books with racist depictions of native and Americans and black people still in them. One of these books was reprinted in 1996!
If we are to rid our society of the problem of racism then we should start right where it begins.
Hi BlandaUpp, I know what you mean. Do you haver the name of the book that was reprinted in 1996? I hope they didn’t use this picture. There is one source of racism for you and at a very early age.
@Enrique
That exact image is one of them yes! The book’s name is Satuaapinen by Aale Tynni.
That’s incredible and it was reprinted in 1995?! Thanks for the new information. I thought that the book was used back in the 1970s and that’s were it stayed.
People are connected in surprising ways, says Elizabeth Shown Mills, probably one of the most influential genealogist of our time…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY42QvEaV88&feature=player_embedded#!
Thank you @getgln for the heads up!