Author: Migrant Tales

Rule number one about racism: Don’t generalize!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It is amazing that people who should know better have never learned one very important fact: Don’t generalize about ethnic groups.  We’d avoid a lot of harm to ourselves (living in the narrow world of hate and racism) and others (labeling and victimizing) if we stopped generalizing about ethnic groups.

The suggestion by Kai Haavisto, a Perussuomalaiset (PS) Uusimaa regional committee member, who wrote on a Uusi Suomi blog that certain refugee groups should be chemically castrated before permitting them to live in Finland, is a perfect example of how racism is spread and maintained in this country.

PS MP James Hirvisaari, who was fined in December for inciting ethnic hatred, adds more hate and racism to Haavisto’s suggestion by stating that “we should talk openly about gang rape” because in some African countries, like South Africa, such a crime is a genetic trait and “a national pastime.”

Hirvisaari only has a high school degree but PS MP Jussi Halla-aho has a PhD in linguistics. Halla-aho got convicted for defaming a religion and spreading ethnic hatred when he suggested that Somalis live off social welfare because it is a genetic trait.

In Finland and elsewhere, racism is kept alive because some people believe in old wise tales about ethnic groups. They believe these old wise tales in the same way as children believe in fairy tales or in Santa Claus.

When people are hostile and racist to other groups when they generalize, their aim is to show how different they are from us. Since they are so “different” it permits me to be racist towards them because they are “a threat.”

The big difference between fairy tales and racism is that the latter causes harm to society and especially to their victims.

Let’s get one matter straight: There is no such thing as national character because societies are too complex. This a fact that should be taught at school and to adults. The behavior we have is learned – not instinctual.

If we want to undermine racism and control those prejudices we learned, it is important that we start teaching our children at school that it is a grave mistake to generalize about ethnic groups.

If anything, such a lesson would be one big blow to our racism.

 

Jan Holmberg (Mainio -blogi): Ulkomaalaisena töissä – omassa maassaan

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Jan Holmberg

”Go home fucking foreigner!”, kajahtaa takaani. Seison Espoossa juna-aseman laiturilla. Olen juuri lopettanut 14 tuntia kestäneen työvuoron sairaalassa. Tuijotan uupuneena lähestyvää lähijunaa. Ainoana paikallaolijana päätän, etten huomioi nahkatukkaista nuorta miestä.

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Astuessani junaan mies saavuttaa minut sopertaen vihaisesti: ”Go back where you come”. Koetan miettiä sopivaa sanottavaa, kuten olevani Suomessa syntynyt suomalaisten biologisten vanhempieni kasvattama suomalainen. Junan ovet sulkeutuvat ennen kuin ehdin sanoa mitään.

Nämä arkipäiväiset jytkyt hiipivät elämääni muutama vuosi sitten. Ne ovat seurausta uudesta epidemiasta. Siinä harhaluuloisuus säilyy hengissä ihmisen aisteista tai järjestä huolimatta, mikä aiheuttaa itse taudin. Oireita ovat ajattelemattomuus, ennakkoluuloisuus, loukkaava käytös ja suora toiminta.

Järjetöntä rotusortoa

Asemalaiturilta tuttuja miehiä, ja naisia, tapaan yhä useammin esimerkiksi sairaalan päivystyksessä. Ei ole tavatonta kuulla potilaan omaisen tivaavan tiukasti, olenko minä varmasti suomalainen hoitaja. Totean aina mielessäni, ettei rotusorto kuulu potilaan tai omaisten oikeuksiin. Samaan aikaan terveeltä vaikuttava suomalainen rotuyksilö jatkaa sortamistani vailla järjen häivää.

Kerta toisensa jälkeen vakuutan kysyjälle olevani syntyperäinen suomalainen. Henkiseen väkivaltaan on vaikea puuttua niiden kohdalla joille on, suomalaista sananlaskua lainatakseni, lusikalla annettu.

Töistä kotiin palatessani mietin mitä kauheauksia olisin sujuvaa suomea puhuvana, ammattitaitoisena, mutta ulkomaalaisena sairaanhoitajana voinut potilaille tehdä. Hoitaa heidät kuntoon?

Häkellyttäviä ihmisiä

Törmään epidemian oireisiin tämän tästä luennoidessani ympäri Suomea. Monesta vaasalaisesta on kummallista, etten nimestäni huolimatta puhu sujuvaa ruotsia. Mielestäni ihmettelijät eivät itsekään puhu mainitsemaansa kieltä, vaan sekakieltä. Kerran vastasin kyselijälle, että on kanske just tärkeää, att vi alla ha så jätte kiva tiden här i Finland. Keskustelu ei jatkunut kummallakaan kotimaisella kielellä.

Turussa erään korkeakoulun sihteeri puolestaan totesi minulle heti keskustelun kärkeen, että aikukiva ku sä tajuut noi hyvi suamee ku mä en oikee osa mittää kiälii. Helsingissä minulle puhutaan kysymättä asiakastilanteissa englantia ja Lappeenrannassa Venäjää.

Psykiatrisena sairaanhoitajana olen tottunut asioimaan harhaluuloisten ihmisten kanssa. Tilanteista selviäminen ei tuota hankaluuksia, mutta kieltämättä häkellyn ja vaivaannun tällaisten ihmisten edessä edelleen.

Realismia etsimässä

Miettiessäni asiaa ääneen minulle vastataan kukkahattusedän vilauttelevan natsikorttia. Tapaamillani ihmisillä on kuulemma oikeus olla kriittisiä ja puhua suunsa puhtaaksi. Totta, mutta ihmisillä ei ole oikeutta sanoa ihan mitä tahansa ilman järkeviä perusteita. Reiluuden ja reaalitajun pettäessä vaikeneminen on kultaa.

Jokaisen on ymmärrettävä, että erilaisuuden kunnioittaminen ei automaattisesti tarkoita tasa-arvottomuutta. Myötätunnottomuus ja ajattelemattomuus sen sijaan luovat helposti ihmisarvottomuutta.

Sinänsä mainioissa tilanteissa voi nähdä koomisia piirteitä, silti epidemian kohtaaminen on outoa ja epämiellyttävää. Suosittelen jokaiselle epäilijälle työskentelyä ulkomaalaisena omassa maassaan. Se on silmät avaava elämys.

Mainion Facebook-sivulle pääset tästä.

Alkuperäisen blogikirjoituksen voi lukea tästä.

Tämä blogikirjoitus julkaistiin Migrant Talesissä luvalla.

Migrant Tales in Greek

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Blog entries that are published on Migrant Tales get sometimes mentioned in some major publications like Time, Sveriges Radio, YLE’s Suora linja and others. One of the most recent reposts was by UNHCR in Greece, located in one of Europe’s hotbeds of xenophobia.  

The work we do on this blog got mentioned  (in Finnish) on Re Vera as well.

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UNCHR of Greece reposted one of Migrant Tales’ posts about integration and diversity in Europe.

Sensible people understand that there is little time to pat oneself on the back in Europe these days when it comes to challenging the rise of racism, xenophobia and far-right parties that loathe cultural diversity.

When racists claim to want to “debate” cultural diversity issues, what they are really saying is “let’s talk about how to water down and justify outright discrimination and social exclusion of whole groups based on ethnic and cultural background.”

Are certain inalienable civil rights, like equal treatment before the law, “debatable?”

Look at what is happening in countries like Greece, Hungary and in other parts of Europe and the so-called “debate” taking place in such places.

The rise of far-right ideology, which bases its world view on prejudice, racism and social exclusion, is nothing more than our failure as a region staring back at us. It exposes how we have failed to come to grips with the horrors of our history and our darkest side.

The ideology that brought us mass wars like WW2, which cost the estimated lives of about 60 million people, still hides behind our racism, our prejudice and our xenophobia.

We must do more to nip this type of anti-social behavior in the bud.

If we fail in this important task we will be sowing the seeds of future wars that will end up consuming us without remorse.

 

 

Anti-immigration sound-bite: Rape! Rape! RAPE!

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I was surprised to read a blog post on Uusi Suomi by Kai Haavisto, a Perussuomalaiset (PS) politician from Espoo, who suggested that those groups that are prone to commit rape should be castrated chemically before being allowed to live in Finland. 

Haavisto is well-known for his racist views. One of his blog entries in September suggested that the ”refugee problem” to Finland could be stopped and solved by exporting rice to Africa.

While Haavisto’s views may surprise sensible people, the reaction to what he wrote is even more stunning. The response is no different to how lynch mobs reacted when they took the law in their hands.

Social-media lynch mobs are just as sinister. Their aim is not to lynch one person but whole groups shouting in a frenzy: Rape! Rape! RAPE!

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PS MP James Hirvisaari, who was convicted for hate speech, turns into a political Mr. Hyde if you mention two words to him: immigrant rape. In this comment above, he said that the high amount of rape committed in South Africa was a genetic trait.

As everyone knows, rape is one of the pet subjects of anti-immigration and racist groups in Finland and elsewhere.

As Migrant Tales has written on a number of blogs , the whole immigrant-rape issue is a storm in a tea cup. This does not suggest that we play down rape or any crime.

Anti-immigration groups use rape statistics to “prove” that as soon as an immigrant or refugee from a certain part of the world enters Finland, he becomes a gang rapist.

Nowhere in Haavisto’s blog entry, where he suggests chemical castration, does he give us any figures about what are the volumes of suspected never mind sentenced rape convictions. He only assumes (when you assume you make an ass our of u and me) that rape is a pastime of the immigrant community.

Certainly Haavisto’s blog entry is racist and it was surprising that Uusi Suomi’s moderators took such a long time to ban it.

If one traveled back to goes to Nazi Germany, this is exactly the type of eugenics that was carried out against Jews and other minorities like the Roma and the mentally ill.

Sad but true.

 

 

Journalists should question instead of spread racism and prejudice

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Journalists are one group that have helped to spread and reinforce our prejudices and racism of other groups. There’s nothing surprising about this considering that journalists, like the media that employs them, mirror in part what the public feels. 

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Ilta-Sanomat is one tabloid resonsible for spreading racism in Finland during the 1990s. This billboard tells us that Somali refugees will stay put in Finland.

Even if this may be the case, the difference between a sharp and mediocre journalist is how well he or she can question and expose abuses in our society. The job of the media is to be a watchdog and ensure that our system of checks and balances functions properly.

Too many journalists and the media, however,  forget what their primary role is. Instead of questioning social ills, they have helped to spread prejudice, racism and xenophobia in our society.

Closing one’s eyes to racism or going after such a social ill without teeth is unfortunate because we all lose. The spirit of our laws, like our Constitution, should be our moral shield and benchmark.

Check out section seven of Finland’s  Constitution:

No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.

Even if the highest law of the land tells us convincingly that discrimination is wrong, why do some journalists and the media have a difficult time figuring out what is intolerance and what should our response to such a social ill be?

One of the most racist papers in Finland is tabloids like Iltalehti and Ilta-Sanomat, which markets news like a used car salesman, who would even sell his or her mother if the price were right. Another publication is Uusi Suomi, which helped Perussuomalaiset (PS) politicians like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and a long list of others to become household names.

Online publications like Uusi Suomi and tabloids like Iltalehti are responsible for spreading stereotypes like that immigrants are lazy, rape and commit crimes in this country.

A good example of how prejudice and stereotypes of foreigners are maintained and spread by the media is a reent story on Länsi-Savo, teaching Russians how to use the toilet bowl.

Another example that fuels stereotypes and racism in this country is a non-story about banning in Finland the use of the burqa and niqab.

I have never seen a woman wearing such clothing in Finland. I wonder how many of the journalists at Iltalehti have never mind anti-immigration PS MPs, who want to ban the use of such clothes in our country.

Coverage of racism, hate speech and  social exclusion has improved thanks to much better reporting by Helsingin Sanomat, Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, Keskisuomalainen, Savon Sanomat, Kainuun Sanomat, Karjalainen, Turun Sanomat, Kansan Uutiset and others.

These papers have done a good job at doing their job.

 

Why was Finland “tolerant” of Jews when it was an ally of Nazi Germany?

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Finns claim proudly – followed by an obvious sigh of relief – that even if we were an ally of Nazi Germany during World War 2, anti-Semitism never reached the same levels as in Hungary, Romania and in other parts of Nazi-dominated Europe. 

While Finland offers an interesting case with respect to anti-Semitism in war-ravaged Nazi Europe, was tolerance the principal factor that kept Finns from persecuting Jews? Could the underwhelming size of the Jewish community and the fact that they were accepted as Finns offer us better explanations?

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Memorial ceremony for Jewish soldiers who fell in World War II presided by Marshal Carl Mannerheim in Helsinki, Finland. Source: Flickr. 

The size of the Jewish community in Finland has been small. In the 1870 census, there were 460 Jews and by 1883 they are said to have risen to 1,000. In 1929, it peaked to 1,763.*

Today there are about 1,500 Jews living in Finland.

The Jews were granted Finnish citizenship in 1918. Finland was the last country in Europe together with Romania to do so.

Even if there appears that Finland tolerated Finnish Jews in World War 2, former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen formally apologized in November 2000 to the Jewish community for the extradition of eight Jews to Germany in 1942. Only one of the eight survived after they were sent to Auschwitz.

While the Jewish question never reached the same proportions in this country as elsewhere in Nazi-dominated Europe, would anti-Semitism have soared if the size of the Jewish community were many times bigger?

There seems to be a connection between the recent rise of racism, xenophobia and growth of far-right parties in Finland and the size of the immigrant community. Certainly factors like the economic recession and rising unemployment play important roles as well.

How can xenophobia grow if the immigrant community is minuscule? How can there be anti-Semitism if there are only a handful of Jews?

Sometimes size does not matter. In neighboring Estonia, an estimated half of the Jewish population, which totaled 4,000, died in the Holocaust.  In countries like Poland 3 million Jews perished under Nazi rule.

If we look at history, Finland was far from being “tolerant.” The Restricting Act of 1939 is one of many laws that showed how Finland perceived the world as a threat.

The Jews were in part saved by their acceptance as Finns in the 1940s, but a very important factor must have been their underwhelming numbers.

* Migration Patterns among Jews – Finland. See following link. 

 

Slandering immigrants and visible minorities is disgraceful

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A politician of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party has come under fire today for claiming on Facebook that all refugees and asylum seekers are social bums and rapists, reports YLE. Migrant Tales published on Sunday a blog entry citing a ministry of justice researcher, who claimed that certain anti-immigration groups in Finland distort crime statistics in order to attract voters and label immigrant groups. 

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While the PS city councilman, Mika Hiltunen, appears too lazy to use and exaggerate crime statistics as others from his party, he does show his racism with shameless gusto.

Osmo Kokko, a PS MP from Joensuu, located near Hiltunen’s home town of Kontiolahti, was quoted as saying on YLE that Hiltunen’s comments don’t represent the party’s policy on refugees.

Migrant Tales spoke earlier today to Hannu Niemi  of the ministry of justice, who stood by what he said on Länsi-Uusimaa. He blamed indirectly journalists as well for using immigrant crime statistics to label some national groups.

Reija Härkönen writes a lot about the anti-immigration Counterjihadists of the PS. Two of these are MPs James Hirvisaari and Jussi Halla-aho.

Both MPs, who have been convicted for inciting ethnic hatred, have proven over and over again that they will go to any length to spread their wise tales.

Markku Huusko, editor of Uusi Suomi, wrote in 2011 about how both MPs accused a 17-year-old asylum seeker of raping a young woman in Lammi. All charges were later dropped against the asylum seeker.

Despite the social-media lynch mob instigated by Halla-aho and Hirvisaari, both have yet to apologize for what they wrote.

Niemi said that it’s not his job to raise debate since he is a researcher, but “it’s the journalists who do that.”

Not only do Hirvisaari and Halla-aho have racism issues to deal with like all political parties, but Finnish society, journalists and newspapers as well.

Migrant Tales literary: Pikavippilaulu

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 Älä koskee pikavippiin

se ei ole turvallista

ei sinulle, ei minulle,

ei kenellekään.

IMG_9141

Jos sä kosket pikavippiin

älä itke minulle,

ei kenellekään, ei kenellekään.

 

Pikavippi ei ole hyvä!

Pikavippi on karmea!

Pikavippi tuhoaa perheesi.

 

Sanat: Enrique Tessieri ja Sher Hser

Crime statistics are used shamelessly by certain groups in Finland to label immigrants

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Hannu Niemi, a Justice Ministry researcher, says that crime rates by immigrants in Finland have been exaggerated by the media, report Länsi Uusimaa and Uusi Suomi. He believes that there is a political aim by some groups to cite national origin in crime statistics in order to label whole groups.

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Migrant Tales spoke with Niemi in the spring, when an Aamulehti story written by a freelancer claimed that immigrants are overrepresented in rape crime statistics in Finland.

One of the matters that becomes clear from the Aamulehti story, as well as another one by A-Studio in August, is that both aim to label immigrants from certain regions like the Middle East as outright rapists.

Both stories place more emphasis on percentage figures rather than actual volumes, which are low. Apart from playing down or not mentioning that Finns commit the vast majority of rape crimes in this country, the A-Studio story went as far as to claim that the Iraqi community had “a problem” because it had the highest amount of rape suspects.

The total number of suspected rape cases by Iraqi immigrants was seven.

Niemi said that the number of rape crimes committed by immigrants is 1-2 per 1,000.

Even if it is clear that certain politicians and anti-immigration groups exaggerate rape and crime statistics for their own political purposes, there is an important factor missing that may shed light on why crime among 15-24 year olds is higher (over 1,600/10,000 immigrants) than among Finns (under 1,200/10,000) in the same age group. The missing factor is ethnic profiling by the police.

Here is a link that offers a comprehensive view of crimes committed by foreigners.

Are certain ethnic groups in Finland more likely to be stopped and arrested by the police than others?

Knowing the answer to this important question could shed light on the problem.

Niemi says that if the immigrant community’s age structure were the same as the Finns’, crime levels would be about the same in both groups.

 

 

 

 

Länsi-Savo and toilet etiquette for Russians

Posted on by Migrant Tales

An article on Friday’s Länsi-Savo, a Mikkeli-based daily, is a good example of how old stereotypes are kept alive in this part of Finland. The article, headlined ABC Juva teaches Russians how to use the toilet bowl, reveals more than anything else our stereotypes and prejudices against Russians. 

Länsi-Savo is the biggest newspaper in Etelä-Savo, a region that is starting to look like a home for senior citizens due to the rapid graying of its population. Even so, foreign tourists and foreign investors could play an important role in the region’s future economic development.

Kuvankaappaus 2013-1-12 kello 10.07.40The article, which is pretty racist towards Russians, offers us the classic ethnocentric view of the world: Russians (“them”) are so backward that they don’t even know how to go to the toilet.

“Tourists usually stand on the toilet seat Russian style,” said ABC Juva manager Minna Rasa. “We want to instruct them so that our toilets stay clean.”

Rasa states, however, that standing on the toilet seat isn’t “a big problem” but due to cultural differences.

If it’s not “a big problem” why is it being written as if it were one? How many foreign tourists are we speaking of? How does ABC Juva know that Russian tourists stand on toilet seats? Are their hidden surveillance cameras in ABC Service Station toilets?

Let’s talk about toilets…How Finns use outhouses, maybe? Isn’t it disgusting how a person can defecate on top of a pile of urine and feces in the heat of summer?

Instead of making a bid deal about such a problem, why doesn’t Länsi-Savo write about how oligopolies like ABC Service Stations kill competition and rob communities of jobs?

Certainly that would be a much bigger social problem than writing about foreign tourists standing on toilet seats.