Author: Migrant Tales

Ana María Gutiérrez Sorainen: Maahanmuuttajanaiset patriarkaalisessa ympäristössä Suomessa

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Ana María Gutiérrez Sorainen

Monikanaiset-liitto Ry: n nettisivuilla sanotaan muun muuassa, että maahanmuuttajanaisten kotoutuminen on todettu erityisen vaikeaksi niissä maahanmuuttajaryhmissä, joissa lähtömaan tasa-arvotilanne poikkeaa huomattavasti vastaanottajamaan tilanteesta. Patriarkaalisissa yhteisöissä naisen paikan katsotaan olevan kotona. Hänellä ei siten ole samanlaisia mahdollisuuksia kouluttautua ja vaikuttaa yhteiskunnassa, ja häneltä puuttuu jopa mahdollisuus tehdä omaa elämää koskevia päätöksiä.

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Olen havainnut samaa politiikan toiminnassa. Aihe on arka ja oikeastaan tähän asti maahanmuuttajanaisten asemasta maahanmuuttajamiesten keskuudessa politiikassa ja julkisessa keskustelussa ei ole puhuttu laisinkaan.

Ei se ole helppo aihe, koska kulttuureista toiseen on eroja. Voin tukeutua Monikan kokemuksiin ja selvityksiin, mutta itse parhaiten voin kertoa kokemuksistani näinä vuosina. On olemassa sellaisia maahanmuuttajamieskavereita joille saa ja voi sanoa vapaasti päin kasvoja olevansa heidän kanssaan eri mieltä asioita ja jopa kritisoida heitä heidän omista ratkaisuistaan. Ystävyys silti kestää. Esimerkki tästä on monille tuttu Enrique Tessieri.

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UPDATED Helsingin Sanomat: PS Helsinki substitute councilman wants forced sterilization of new African refugees in Finland

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Helsinki substitute councilman Olli Sademies of the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party stated on Facebook that Finland should carry out forced sterilization of new African refugees that move to the country, reports Helsingin Sanomat.  Such a racist statement by a member of the PS is nothing new. A PS politician wrote in 2013 that groups like African refugees, which are prone to commit rape according to him, should be chemically castrated.

Writes Sademies: “When Africans arrive as ‘refugees’ to Finland, they continue to reproduce at the same rate [as in their home countries] even if they would do with less children. In order to force [high birth rates] to plummet we should limit the amount of children immigrants can have. Three [children] would be the maximum.”

While such statements are outrageous and reinforce that the PS is a hostile party to immigrants, minorities and to our ever-growing culturally diverse society, it’s the reaction of the party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo, which is even more incredible.

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Why you should not call the Perussuomalaiset “the Finns Party”

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Finland will become the third country in the EU along with Belgium and Greece that will have a populist and anti-EU party in government, according to The Guardian of London. The daily describes the Finns Party as far right. Just like Migrant Tales, it uses the acronym PS but mentions the official English name of the party once in the story below. 

The reason for using the Finnish acronym for the party is simple: The name is horrible in English and has nothing to do with the Finnish name, which is the Perussuomalaiset and can be translated as “true” or “basic” Finn. Some have even translated it as “fundamental” Finn.

At Migrant Tales explain in all of our stories why we use the Finnish name of the party on our postings:

The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

PS party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo was asked about this on Ruben Stiller’s Pressiklubi  why the party had “kidnapped” the name to imply that all Finns are the party. She said it was a good name that other parties hadn’t noticed and was used because the PS represents all types of Finns from academics to workers.

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Facebook: Does “Finnish labor” include migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities?

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One of the members of the new government, the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party, said that jobs will be created for Finnish labor. In the present anti-immigration environment in Finland, such statements have a hostile ring to migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities since they don’t promote inclusion and fair hiring practices. 

Considering that migrant unemployment is three-times higher than the national average, do you think that such statements, which stress “us” and “then,” improve the chances of such people getting hired?

Why can’t politicians like PS chairman Timo Soini, who likes to make nationalistic statements, drop the adjective “Finnish” and state that the efforts by the new government and policy will create new jobs?

Certainly that phrase sounds more inclusive than “Finnish labor.”

It’s pretty clear what Soini means by Finnish labor, or suomalainen työ, which is code for “don’t hire migrants and minorities. It’s your patriotic duty as an employer to hire white Finns.”

It would be great if at least one journalist could ask Soini if he considers migrants, naturalized Finns and minorities to be “Finnish labor.”

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* The Finnish name of the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Afrofinland: Mis-eduating the Africans in Finland (Part 1)

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Afrofinland

“The confidence of the people is worth more than money” – Carter G.Woodson

Having lived in Finland long enough, I can boldly say that I have seen it all but I do not know it all! When leaving the shore of Africa, my dream was to come to Eruope to find a greener pasture.Your question to me today should be: “Have you found the greener pasture yet?” My answer is coming shortly at the end of my write-up. Many young and brilliant Africans coming to Finland to study are usually very ambitious in the beginning until the waves of reality hits them and shatters their dreams to pieces, sadly. Not long after they arrived before you start seeing them conforming to what the atmosphere disctates to them: they begin to lose hope; and forget who they used to be – Men & Women of Valour. They become settled and satisfied with their present situation of “Never bothering to rise; Hiding in the cloud of denigration but portraying a false image to the people back home that all is well.” My people have lost strength, motivation, vision and mission at last! The confidence of my people has been taken away from them.

afrofinlandmanthink

 

UuJust to quickly say, I am not a writer nor poet. I enjoy writing in my journal and I do love reading & blogging every now and then. Therefore, bear with me.

Recently, I read a book titled: “Mis-Education of the Negroes” by Carter G.Woodson [Originally released in 1933]. Although Carter referred to African-Americans in his book, I have found some of his references applicable to the situation of Africans(especially African students) living in Finland. I shall be using some of his quotes as sub-topics of what I intend to write about; all from my personal experience.

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The violent and hostile language of Finnish populists against Others

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For those that sighed with momentary relief and claimed that the new government’s immigration policy won’t be as bad as they expected haven’t seen anything yet. Behind the populist and nationalistic rhetoric coming from people like Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairman Timo Soini, there’s nothing but suspicion and hostility against Finland’s migrant and ever-culturally diverse community.

What are we to make out of the new government’s policies as the mist clears? Soini gave us an eyeful Saturday when when he stated that “the blue and white” can be clearly seen in government policy.


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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

What are we, Finland’s migrant and culturally diverse community, supposed to make out of such a nationalistic catchphrase?

Are we, the migrant and minority community in this country, who are struggling to survive by working and paying taxes, belong to that group that Soini labels Finnish labor?

What is even more shameful is that mainstream parties like the Center and National Coalition Party (NCP), who should know better, have with their complacent silence gone to bed with such rhetoric. The reason why they have accepted such rhetoric and a party like the PS in government is because they generally agree with the PS leader.

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New book on Somali community of Finland highlights what we’ve known for long: social hostility and blatant discrimination

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A new book called Suomen somalit  by Yusuf M. Mubarak, Eva Nilsson and Niklas Saxén reinforces what has been already known about some of the challenges that Finland’s Somali community faces: racism and social exclusion. 

“I have never felt that I am a Finn,” said Suleqo Yusuf,  23, a Somali Finn, was quoted as saying in the book. “Here you’re always an outsider and different, never a part of society.”

The feeling of being an eternal outsider in Finland is felt by many migrants and minorities as well.

Migrant Tales recently spoke to a Somali Finn who said that she does not identify with a country like Finland because of its hostility towards her.

“I am a citizen of the world,” she said. “Not a Finn. I don’t identify with this country [even if I was born and bred here].”

You don’t have to have a PhD in sociology to understand where some of the problems lie. If the Somali community has been in Finland since the early 1990s. Check the discrimination and hostility that the Romany minority, which has lived in Finland for about 500 years, has suffered at the hands of the white Finnish majority.

While matters are improving, the Roma in Finland continue to face discrimination and racism daily.

Mubarak, one of the three authors of the book, states that its clear that a lot of problems will arise if children are told that they are equal to white Finns but rapidly find out that this isn’t the case.

somalit

 

So what is the value of such a book and what does it reveal?

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Institute of Race Relations: One nation – but whose?

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Frances Webber

The first of a post-election three-part series on civil liberties in the UK examines the government’s proposal to replace the Human Rights Act by a British Bill of Rights.

Prime minister David Cameron was quick to don the mantle of ‘One Nation Toryism’ after his party’s election victory. But the Tories’ priorities set out in their manifesto would suggest that Cameron’s version of ‘One Nation’ owes more to Thatcher and Bush than to its inventor Harold Macmillan.

iPhoto-kirjastoUN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

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Finland’s attitude and experience of cultural diversity lag thirty years behind other European countries

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Watching YLE’s A-studio, which was aired Wednesday, is a prime example why we are still far away in Finland of having an inclusive society that is fair to everyone irrespective of their background. Spotting the red herrings in the debate on such a talk show isn’t easy but not impossible.

If National Coalition Party MP Wille Rydman argues that Finland needs structural changes in its economy and labor market, it really needs a major attitude overhaul on how it sees immigration and cultural diversity. Finland is at least 30 years behind other European countries like Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom in this respect.

Na?ytto?kuva 2015-5-21 kello 9.27.37Watch Wednesday’s A-studio (in Finnish) here.

The latter means in practice that we’re debating the same things and using the same false arguments and fears that were proven wrong at least three decades ago in other European countries. Debate is highly inflamed and hostile for those migrants and minorities living in Finland today.

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Migrant Tales (December 9, 2013): Fadumo Dayib – Run, Nigger, Run

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Fadumo Dayib

I came to this country as a refugee in 1990, at the time of recession and when foreigners where a rarity. As a result, we had become a “Somali shock” overnight. It was common at the time to hear racial slurs, to wake up to the sounds of “perkele”, to drink tea to “mutakuono” and to dance to “vitun neekeri”. People would stop to gawk on the streets, kids yelling “look mommy, a nigger”. Grandmothers would ambush me in the swimming hall shower and scrub me down, hoping to wash the color off. Others, after a few pints, would come over to touch my hair and make inappropriate propositions. I went from being an individual, with aspirations, feelings and rights, to a degraded sub-human: a “mud face”, “nigger”, “whore”, and “social loafer”.

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