If there is one matter that shines brightly from the editorial standards of Yle, it is its whiteness and how little regard they have for our people to voice the concerns of our ever-growing culturally diverse community.
We need more of these types of articles and studies and much more activism on top of them.
Take for instance, the Yle article on five reasons why there is discrimination in the Finnish labor market.
The Yle article points out five of them:
(1) Discrimination in the labor market has broad support among Finns;
(2) employers are ignorant of labor discrimination laws;
(3) employers believe they will lose money if they follow the law;
(4) discrimination at the workplace is difficult to prove;
(5) victims are reluctant to report to the authorities because they fear reprisals.
All of the latter are valid points, but I would have wanted Yle to dig deeper. This is a valid point because of the level of discrimination is so prevalent.
There are other culprits as well as lack of leadership and resolve from politicians, the police, media, policymakers, and a long list of others who shape public opinion.
Moreover, if discrimination is so widely accepted, it means that our education system has failed.
I have lived in Finland on a semi-permanent basis since 1978. One of the first matters that I learned when I moved here was that my “foreign name,” despite having a Finnish mother, was a disadvantage even when trying to rent an apartment.
Racism is real and an ogre in Finland, and it is impoverishing Finland socially and economically. We need studies and articles but more than ever, action and leadership in tackling such social ills and call out and bring to account those who spread them.
What thoughts race in your head whenever a politician, public official, or white Finn rambles on about how social justice is a key value of our society and why racism and discrimination, which are illegal, have no place in Finland?
While the latter is important for newcomers to know, the issue is how such topics are taught and framed to students that have little idea of Finnish society.
I am a sociologist who has been an immigrant-Other all my life. It should not surprise you why I am interested in immigration topics.
The editor of Migrant Tales, Enrique Tessieri, with author and journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge, who authored Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Her book that focuses on feminism and structural racism is a classic of the anti-racism movement. Photo by Bashy Quraishy.
One of the courses I teach is “active citizenship” (Aktiivinen kansalainen). Nearly all my students came to Finland as refugees or are seeking asylum. Since I have a lot of respect for the students, I tell them frankly: Do you want me to teach the hypocrisy, spread myths, and lies about your new home country or tell how we can change matters?
When we talk in class about social ills like racism, the Perussuomalaiset*, and other toxic topics that impact newcomers negatively, I encourage them to organize and use all the democratic means available to change matters.
For those who whine silently, I offer them handkerchiefs.
None of the students cry. Some listen more attentively than others.
Finnish white privilege #65
Today, Saturday is a better example than any to show the impunity of Finnish white privilege in the media. An article by Yleon five reasons why discrimination exists in the labor market offered only a partial view of the issue. Helsingin Sanomat published a human interest story on the same day about PS first vice-president, Riikka Purra.
One of the problems with the Yle article is that it absolves the police, politicians and other public officials for doing little to nothing to challenge discriminatory practices in the labor market. If you disagree, look at the underwhelming number of discrimination cases that are mentioned by the Yle article.
Likewise, the Helsingin Sanomat article of Purra is another example of toothless Finnish white privilege journalism. Nowhere in the story does the writer challenge Purra’s Islamophobic far-right views. Even the book she is reading by James Burham, “Suicide of the West,” exposes the PS politician’s ideology, which is mistrustful to migrants and Western liberal values.
Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán dispises Western liberalism.
Purra’s party and herself are the ones fueling the hostile environment against migrants and minorities in Finland. The Helsingin Sanomat article offers us, instead, exalting pictures of Purra.
Both articles highlight why racism and discrimination have impunity in Finland. Both articles were written by white Finns who have never suffered racism in their country. Moreover, they don’t grasp how these articles fuel the hostile environment.
If the Roma minority has lived in Finland for over 500 years and faces racism and social exclusion even today, at this pace migrants and minorities will have to wait centuries for matters to improve.
Do we have to wait so long? Do we have to accept that we are second-class members of society?
Matters will never improve as long as our voices are faintly heard and our activism half-hearted. Even so, we are fortunate. We have many exemplary activists who are challenging the present order of things.
Migrant Tales wants to congratulate Maryan Abdulkarim, a true activist for social justice, for being awarded the Minna Canth award.
Canth (1844-97) was one of Finland’s foremost writers who wrote about social issues like women’s rights in nineteenth-century Finland.
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Wille Rydman is a National Coalition Party (NCP) MP who has built his career on xenophobia and racist soundbites. For some in the NCP, he is known as the Halla-aho of the party.
Perussuomalaiset (PS) chairperson Jussi Halla-aho is largely responsible for steering the party further to the far-right. He was convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012.
Contrary to Halla-aho, Rydman likes to regurgitate what some of the PS’ most racist and hateful messages, like the Islamization of Europe, among other hogwash.
He wrote earlier this month that the ethnic composition of Europe is changing due to low birth rates and that such ethnic diversity is negative for the region.
He claimed in the blog entry that migratory pressure on Europe in recent decades is so drastic that what happened to Rome, when non-Roman tribes invaded it, is small change compared to what is happening today.
PS first vice-president Riikka Purra has spread such myths about how white Finns will be a minority due to migration from outside of Europe.
Certainly, the bullshit that Rydman spreads is xenophobic and racist. Somebody, maybe his party although I’m not holding my breath, should condemn what he said and tell the NCP MP that Europeans are not only white.
Europe is a continent that is historically culturally and ethnically diverse. Talk of whites becoming a minority is extolling white supremacy, which Rydman does.
Apart from a long list of racist soundbites earmarked for public consumption, I had an opportunity to chat with Rydman in 2010. Back then, he wrote in a letter to the editor of Helsingin Sanomat that the state should neither support nor fund multiculturalism because it would hinder the adaption of immigrants into our society.
When I corrected him that his opinions were a letter to the editor, he insisted that it was “an article” published by Helsingin Sanomat.
Some of Finland’s most hot-headed Islamophobes were allegedly bullied in school. That is the case of Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, and others. Were Rydman’s name and ethnic background a source of bullying?
That now leads us to the Stockholm syndrome: A condition where a victim may start to identify with or form a close connection to the people who have taken him or her hostage. In the latter cases of Halla-aho and Hirvisaari, the oppressor is the bully and the victim, the bullied.
That then leads us to Uncle Tom, Tuomo-setä, but that is another story.
The xenophobic stand of politicians like Rydman of the NCP, show how right-wing conservative parties like in the UK have succumbed to populist anti-immigration rhetoric while threatened from far-right parties like the UKIP. It is unfortunate that the NCP is heading towards the same ruinous path as the Tories of the UK.
There is no UKIP in Finland but we have the PS.
I’d like to dedicate the following quote to Rydman by Toni Morrison:
“But when you take it away, take your race away, you are all strung out,” she said. “All you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself?”
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
There are many types of social ills that are cancerous, but the one I want to speak now is about institutional racism in Finland. Institutional racism is a racket, a criminal conspiracy, to exclude people by ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds.
Institutional racism is a racket that maintains a system that is exclusive and unjust. It destroys lives and robs people of their opportunities that should be guaranteed by law.
Racialization is one of the accomplices of institutional racism.
In Finland as elsewhere, there are many people who stand up to racism. Even so, such people are too few.
Toni Morrison (1931-2019), the novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor, stated that race is a social construct. If so, why does racism exist?
“It [racism] has benefits,” she said, “money can be made off it, people who don’t like themselves can feel better because of it, it can describe certain kinds of behavior that are wrong or misleading; so it has a social function – r a c i s m.”
In the video below, Morrison makes an excellent point to racists or people who profit directly or indirectly from such a social ill.
“But when you take it away, take your race away, you are all strung out,” she continued. “All you got is your little self, and what is that? What are you without that? What are you without racism? Are you any good? Are you still strong? Are you still smart? Do you still like yourself?”
Finnish white privilege #64
In the same way that Islamophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* claim that immigration costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of euros, we can argue that institutional racism costs Finland hundreds of millions, if not billions of euros.
Where is this money wasted? You will find it spent on many integration programs that don’t integrate and make newcomers active members of society; and in maintaining racist structures that fuel social exclusion and high social welfare costs to name a few.
In Finland, it is easy to give a two-faced image of ourselves. Institutional racism permits us to keep our closet prejudices and racism intact while claiming to help migrants in state- and EU-sponsored programs.
The final judge of the effectiveness of these programs is the results: Did you get hired with a dignified salary? Did the program say a whimper to expose and challenge institutional racism?
It is upsetting to see people who claim to want to advance the opportunities and rights of migrants but are stone quiet.
We are all accomplices if we cover our eyes to institutional and all forms of racism and respond to such cancerous forms with our silence.
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
The head of the far-right Nazi-spirited vigilante group Soldiers of Odin, Mika Ranta, threatened in a statement to take over the Tornio border checkpoint and defend it by force if the Swedish authorities let in asylum seekers as in 2015.
Center Party MP Mikko Kärnä states in the Center Party newspaper Suomenmaa that he has asked the police to investigate if the far-right group, which has ties with the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, broke the law by stating that it would take over the Tornio border checkpoint and defend it by violence.
The lion’s share of the over 32,000 asylum seekers that came to Finland in 2015 did so through the northern city of Tornio, located 737 km north of Helsinki. Source: Yle.
Kärnä also said that if the Soldiers of Odin’s association broke the law, they should be banned.
Soldiers of Odin founder Mika Ranta, who promises to pay 1,000 euros to anyone who knock a woman’s teeth down her throat. Source: Twitter.
What has overtaken this country if we have violent far-right public figures spread hatred with relative ease? Finland was slow to react and is still reacting. National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and then Minister of Employment Jari Lindström openly supported in 2016 vigilante gangs like the Soldiers of Odin while then-Interior Minister Petteri Orpo was skeptical.
“If the Swedish border guards plan to slide from their responsibilities and imagines that it can let in people without appropriate travel documents to cross the Finnish side of the border, we will organize in Tornio to protect our people. If the Finnish government does not before that take responsibility for the country’s internal security and initiate effective border controls to curb organized crime and prevent undocumented aliens from entering [our country], it is the task of brave Finns with their iron determination to take over the border checkpoint in Tornio. If we face after that violence from aliens, we will meet in The Hague [court of justice]. It is the same if we face violence from the authorities. We will use force if necessary. This nonsense must stop. Bring back respect for legality and bring the traitors to justice.
MRanta
Sticking one’s head in the snow will not make the far-right threat disappear.
That is why we need a concerted effort to challenge such groups in order to defend our Nordic democratic institutions.
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
A new study published by Akhlaq Ahmad about labor market discrimination in Finland and the results, while not pretty, reinforce what we’ve known all along: ethnic discrimination is commonplace in Finland’s labor markets.
On Saturday, Migrant Tales published a news story that showed that the number of work permits granted to EU citizens had fallen by 28.1% from 2015 to 2018.
It should not come to any surprise that Finland’s labor markets are unfriendly, and there is not enough opportunity for career advancement. Two- to three-time higher unemployment on average of migrants is another disincentive.
The new study by Ahmad, which was published in the Sociological Inquiry, does not look at first-generation migrants but their children, who are, on average, 11 years old today and will enter the labor market in a few years.
Since fluency in the Finnish language and knowledge of the local culture are common excuses not to hire first-generation migrants, their children should have a good command of the language and culture since they grew up in Finland.
The results of the study showed that out of 5,000 job applications, those with Finnish names got way more requests for interviews by the employer.
As the table shows, people with Finnish names got a lot more requests for job interviews than any other name. While 390 people with Finnish names got interview requests, the corresponding figure for those with Iraqi and Somali names was 134 and 99, respectively. The two other groups in the study were those with English (269 requests) and Russian (228) names. Women (naiset) got more requests for interviews than men (miehet). Source: When the Name Matters: An Experimental Investigation of ethnic discrimination in the Finnish Labor market. Ahmad Akhalq, University of Helsinki.
While the result of the study should not surprise us, the value of its findings is that job discrimination in Finland is real and hinges of a person’s perceived ethnic background.
Ahmed was quoted as saying in Yle that discrimination in the labor market does not only take place when looking for a job but as early as in comprehensive school when children are in the TET familiarization working life program.
The researcher correctly points out that labor discrimination and racism are significant challenges to Finland unless we want to continue to maintain a two-tier society of haves and have-nots.
Doing something about racism and discrimination
While social ills like racism, and especially institutional racism, maintain and feed the present racialized system, the question we should also ask is how to challenge such issues.
Ahmad points out that anonymous job applications, which are a good start, could help. But we need bolder steps. One of these would be waking up from our denial and exceptionalism with the help of anti-racism activism and creating social movements.
Waking up to our racism problem may be easier said than done as long as mainstream parties do not wake up to the threat of the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party and other far-right groups that continue to fuel the hostile environment.
Fascism and xenophobia à la PS are not only a threat to our Nordic democracy but to the social and economic wellbeing of Finland. When the National Coalition Party and the Center Party send signals that they could play political ball with the PS, it strengthens the present injust order of things.
We have good anti-discrimination laws in Finland but our own racism and exceptionalism give racists and closet white supremacists the benefit of doubt.
If we do not challenge effectively labor discrimination and racism in Finland, non-white Finns will suffer as they do today from lower social welfare, lower salaries, lower pensions and continue being at the bottom of the barrel of society.
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
As Finland faces an ever-worsening labor shortage due to the greying of its population, the number of EU nationals that want to work in Finland has taken a nosedive, according to Seura.
The number of EU nationals that were granted work permits in 2018 totaled 4,179, which is a 28.1% fall from 5,699 in 2015, according to the Finnish Immigration Service. In 2017, 4001 EU nationals were granted work permits. The corresponding figure for 2016 was 5,247.
EU labor stats look bleak for 2019, as well. During the first six months of the year, 1,744 work permits were granted, which suggests that the total number for 2019 will be below 4,000.
Go directly to the Finnish Immigration Service website here.
So what gives?
Even if the article in Seura doesn’t mention it, have you ever heard of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party? They have, with the help of other mainstream parties and institutional racism, spearheaded during this decade the hostile environment against migrants and asylum seekers.
As a small indication of the PS’ Islamophobia, all of their MEP candidates agree that migrants crossing the Mediterranean should not be rescued by the EU and allowed to drown.
The PS is Finland’s second-biggest party in parliament. Why would anyone want to move and work in a country that has a largely unchallenged racist party spreading hatred against migrants? Moreover, in such an environment, institutional racism, bigotry, and discrimination are normalized.
Many studies that reinforce a social ill like racism in Finland. One of these is a 2018 study by the European Agency of Fundamental Rights (FRA) that reveals that a third of people of African descent (PAD) surveyed have experienced racial harassment in the last five years. Muslims are another group that is frequently targeted by Islamophobic groups, according to the European Islamophobia Report 2018.
Everyone is an accomplice in the hostile environment: the media, police, and public servants. Very little is done to challenge this hostile environment because it runs against the norm. Despite the situation, there is an ever-growing growing number of people who are standing up to the hostile environment.
If one tries to understand the ongoing debate about migrants and migration to Finland, there is one matter that dominates it: asylum seekers, which account for about 10% of all migrants in Finland. The party dominating this debate is the PS.
Labeling and victimizing a group like asylum seekers impacts the whole migrant community, even if you are a white EU citizen because it reinforces social ills like racism.
While the PS is clearly today a far-right Islamophobic party, other mainstream parties like the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), Center Party, Christian Democrats, and others want to play political ball with them.
Moreover, Prime Minister Antti Rinne’s government appears to get cold feet in challenging the misconceptions and racism that the PS spreads.
All that this cowardice does is to make Finland an unattractive country for skilled EU labor. If you are “a person of foreign origin,” code for non-EU citizen and/or person of color, you would have to be pretty desperate to come to such an unfriendly country where suspicion is the norm.
The xenophobia that grips Finland today is like shooting its economic and social wellbeing in the leg. If we do not wake up in time to challenge parties like the PS and other groups like them, we will have nothing but ourselves to blame for our impoverishment and limited democracy.
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
Many times I wonder where people who work and assist asylum seekers and migrants get their cultural training. If you are a teacher, is it stated, for example, in the national curriculum, how cultural diversity is supposed to work in the classroom? If you are a social worker, how do you promote two-way adaption?
These are important questions. If we do not deal with them properly, our integration program, which claims to be a two-way process, is nothing more than assimilation (one-way adaption).
Another big challenge is the lack of proper oversight. Which body ensures that our teaching or guidance isn’t racist?
After many years of studying and observing integration policies and practices in Finland, I have yet to understand what two-way integration means in practice.
While there are teachers and culturally sensitive social workers who are a source of inspiration to some newcomers, there are still too many poor examples around.
These poor examples of cultural insensitivity and fueled by exceptionalism only serve to confuse and relegate migrants to take their roles as second-class members of society.
KOTOUTUMINEN #3
Below are four cases that are good examples of a toxic brew: disrespect for other cultures, Finnish exceptionalism, and white privilege.
Case 1: We are sitting at a table with middle-aged Muslim women who wear hijabs (veils). A counselor, who assists and counsels these people, comes to greet them and touches one woman on the shoulder. Those who work with Muslims understand that men do not touch women if the person isn’t his father or brother. Even so, it is the woman who decides if she wants to shake you hand or not.
Case 2: I was told that another counselor mocks a Muslim for noticing that pork was cooked in the same oven he was going to make food. Instead of expressing some understanding for the Muslim’s concern, the worker stated that the state that pays his social welfare eats pork so he’ better get used to it.
Case 3: On planning earlier this year a seminar on hate crime, a social worker brings up the topic of gay rights, which is important. All hate crimes, irrespective of their motives are important to debate publicly. However, the social worker insisted and showed more preference for hate crimes against gays because she probably believes that Muslims are homophobic. Some are, some aren’t. Ninety percent of all hate crimes in 2017 are due to a person’s ethnic or religious background compared with 4.9% due to sexual orientation.
Case 4: Muslims, who are still trying to make sense of their new home country, are given the usual tasa-arvo treatment that “in Finland, women have equal rights.” True in many respects and commendable, but they forget to tell them that our country is one of the most violent in the EU against women. While it is a good matter that women work and become independent, a person has a right to chose his or her lifestyle. If the person stays at home and takes care of her children, wears a hijab, or is an avid Muslim worshipper, these are the person’s personal choices and should be respected.
By forcing our culture and our exceptionalism on migrants, we do nothing more than retard the process of making such people active members of society.
Con tristeza leí sobre la muerte de Marcelo Zlotgwiazda en Página 12 de su amigo y colega, José Natanson. Yo me acuerdo de “Zloto” cuando hicimos la conscripción militar durante un época muy comprometida, durante la dictadura de Jorge Rafael Videla.
Fue en la Contaduría General del Ejército, en la calle porteña de Piedras 141, donde hicimos la colimba juntos y formamos parte del mismo grupo de guardia, donde él era escribano.
Aunque nunca hablamos de política, eso época triste y vil de nuestra historia le habrá humillado tanto a él como a mí. No es el propósito de volverse indiferente al sufrimiento e injusticia que vimos en 1977-1978, sino despertarse y luchar contra ella.
Escribe Natanson: “Desde sus primeros pasos en el periodismo profesional tras recibirse de economista en la UBA, Marcelo Zlotgwiazda defendió –en sus notas, sus libros y sus editoriales en radio y televisión– la idea de una sociedad más justa, con más oportunidades, menos cruel con los pobres y los excluidos.”
Natanson también habla de que al “Zloto” tenía una gran pasión por el basquet. En las dos fotos de abajo, tomadas en 1977 o 1978, jugamos en el mismo equipo. Marcelo era un muy buen jugador, ágil y rápido.
El equipo de basquet de la Contaduría General del Ejército después de ser coronado campeones. Zlotogwiada agachado en la primera fila a la izquierda. Atrás de la foto lee: “Esta fotografía fue un sufrimiento.” Ganamos el campeonato pero casi terminamos a las trompadas con el equipo perdedor. Zlotgwiazda es el número 10 y yo el número 4.
Estas dos fotos guardan una pequeña historia que a Marcelo le hubiera gustado ver y recordar.
Islamophobes and other racists believe that those they victimize have short memories. Wrong. We remember and will do everything for our children and grandchildren to remember their viciousness.
Migrant Talespublished a shameful list of Finnish MEP candidates who answered an Alma Media election compass question: “Is it the obligation of the EU to save all those migrants who attempt to come to Europe and who are at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean?”
Believe it or not, 36% of the candidates (85/234) answered that the EU had no obligation or had no opinion in saving people drowning in the Mediterranean.
The child asks where is Europe and the mother replies, at the bottom of the sea. Source: Facebook. Thank you Xur Piñera Alonso for the heads-up.
The party where 100% of the candidates agreed that people should be allowed to drown in the Mediterranean were from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.
Even so, Henna Virkkunen of the National Coalition Party, a party that claims to uphold human rights, “disagreed” that the EU should save people from drowning in the Mediterranean.
The first vice president, Riikka Purra, reiterated this recently at a session of parliament stating that the EU should not save people from drowning because otherwise, it would be a pull factor.
TOTALLY DISAGREE (LET THEM DROWN, IT’S THEIR PROBLEM)
None
DISAGREE (LET THEM DROWN)
None
NO OPINION (I DON’T HAVE AN OPINION IF PEOPLE DROWN IN THE MEDITERRANEAN)
None
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.
