Author: Migrant Tales

Barack Obama victory: “The most diverse [and powerful] nation on Earth”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

President Barack Obama’s election victory is the best news embattled United States could hope for. The U.S. president’s leadership on many fronts in the past should be a source of inspiration for European politicians who are being put under the gun by ever-growing populist mainstream intolerance and racism.

Obama has shown leadership on many occasions. He opposed the U.S led invasion of Iraq at a time when it was considered political suicide to be against President George W. Bush’s right to wage preemptive war on anyone Washington pleased. His support for gay marriage is another political milestone of his administration.

While these and many other difficult policy calls are risky, the job of an exemplary politician is to offer leadership and do what is right. Sometimes we need tap our gut instincts to make hard calls. Time will eventually reveal whether those political decision were right or wrong.

One of the many powerful messages in Obama’s victory speech was praising the United States as the most diverse nation on Earth. He said: “As long as we have the courage, to keep reaching, to keep working, keep fighting. Everyone can make it in America. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, young, old, rich, poor, able, disabled, gay, straight. You can make it here in America if you are willing to try.”

Too many politicians in Europe and Finland still patronize with populism and racism. Instead of fueling inclusion, they promote social exclusion of certain groups with their silence and  views. This is a ruinous path that we must challenge with leadership.

Obama’s message, that the United States is the most diverse and  powerful nation on Earth, should inspire us to do much more in Europe and Finland to promote diversity.

If we fail in the task and allow our fear and myths to devour our courage, it’s pretty clear that we’ll be the biggest losers.

 

 

Finland must do more to ghostbust its race-and-blood myths

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and Kokoomus’ Saul Schubak’s statements concerning child allowances have in common?  Setting racism and greed aside, they are the ethnic and social myths that continue to be taught and reinforced at our schools, homes and society. 

One of the biggest myths and social constructs about our national identity is that only one group owns it or, as Schubak claimed, rich people who make money and have conservative views have special rights and privileges in our society.

The mere fact that a person like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho can spew fascist-eugenic ideology from the 1930s and claim that certain groups have less human dignity than others, shows an enormous failure of our educational system that is haunting us today.

One clear characteristic of how racism and discrimination work in Finland is that they tirelessly aim to undermine your rights and place obstacles in front of your path. There are no solutions, only obstacles.

While many racist ideas in Finland have their roots in eugenics and nineteenth-century colonialism, they continue to flourish in some circles like the PS and Schubaks’ National Coalition Party youth wing.

At the best, parties like the PS and Schubak show that Finland is still a predominantly white society that has no intention of relinquishing its privileges to other groups. Values such as social equality (tasa-arvo) are not meant for immigrants and visible minorities. They are for white Finns.

Meanwhile, the Police College of Finland  told Migrant Tales that 2011 hate crime statistics will be probably published by the end of November.

A total of 860 hate crimes reported to the police in 2010, which is a 15% fall from 1,007 cases in the previous year.

While some officials claim that ”hate crimes fell in 2010,” they may reveal a more worrying trend: Reluctance by some immigrants and visible minorities to report such crimes to the police.

 

Migrant Tales Literary: We’re already here (in Finland)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

We are the new minorty

already here, if you like it or not

ready to build whatever needs building

and travel that long difficult path

of acceptance.

Like it or not

we’re your neighbors

and don’t forget, that we’re here

like chimapnzees swinging on birches, sixes and aspens

in this freezing cold

with you, albino monkeys.

                                                     Helsinki, early 1980s

Racism Review: Racism Keeps Us from Seeing Each Other as Fully Human

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By

Connor and Brandon Moore, ages 4 and 2, are believed to be Hurricane Sandy’s youngest victims. They were swept out of their mother’s arms by the storm.

(Image from here.)

When I first heard reports of this story, I couldn’t make sense of it. The news reports said that the boys’ mother, Glenda Moore, had been “denied refuge.”  Why would this happen? How could this happen?

Then, reports came that their mother – the woman asking for refuge from the storm – was black (the boys’ father is white but wasn’t there).  And, then the story seemed to come into a horrible kind of focus, that implicated racism.

This story is being compared to the infamous ‘Kitty Genovese’ story from years ago in New York – when a young woman was stabbed to death and her neighbors did nothing to help. The not-often-told part of that story is that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian, and that’s part of why her neighbors didn’t call police on her behalf.  Her status as an ‘Other’ (lesbian) made her seem less-than-human to her neighbors.

This week, in Staten Island – the ‘fifth borough’ – people there, if reports are accurate, were blinded to the humanity of a mother and her two young sons because of racism.

Ultimately, racism blinds us to our shared humanity, keeps up from seeing each other as fully human, and in need of each others’ help. This time it cost two young lives, and we are all little less for it.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Spiegel Online International: A case that successfully challenged ethnic profiling in Germany

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This story, which was published by German Spiegel Online International, offers some good points on how to challenge ethnic profiling. It’s pretty clear that this illegal practice goes on in Finland as well and is more widespread than believed.  

Migrant Tales asked in June blog entry: “How serious is ethnic profiling in Finland? Denials that it doesn’t occur at all by the police suggest that it may be a much wider problem than believed.”

Like any challenge facing society, we need proactive solutions. This story of a black German who was a victim of ethnic profiling on Spiegel Online International is not only inspiring, but offers hope: We can challenge such an injustice with our example.

An important matter to remember if you are harassed in public or are a victim of ethnic profiling and discrimination, is that it’s all about our children and grandchildren. We want them to live in a society that lives up to its values and that its laws should protect everyone.

The black German simply got tired of being constantly stopped by police because of his ethnic background.

“In the two years prior, they [police] had selected me about 10 times for a random check of my identification. It’s a pretty rotten feeling. I was born and raised here. I am German. According to the anti-discrimination law in the constitution, skin color is not grounds for a spot check.”

Read I didn’t want to be treated differently any longer here.

 

What some Finnish conservatives think of the poor

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Saul Schubak, the vice chairman of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing, has unleashed a storm due to his views on poverty. Schubak wrote on Facebook that people who aren’t fit to parent should not receive child allowances.

He writes on his original post: ”Child allowances should be definitely eliminated. It’s absurd that we give support to weaker material [parents] to reproduce and then we wonder why there are drug-addicted children that are taken into protective custody from their alcoholic parents.”

Schubak’s views were strongly criticized because they hinge on eugenics, a disgraced pseudo-science that was used before the end of World War 2 to justify racism and ethnic inferiority of other groups.

After the National Coalition Party distanced itself from Schubak’s view, the young National Coalition Party youth leader patched up his original comment by admitting that it was ”a bit indiscreet,” stressing that he wants child allowances to be scrapped for all socioeconomic groups.

Just like racists use the ”we-want-to-debate-openly-immigration” argument, which is only a byword  or phrase to bash immigrants, Schubak uses the same tactic to scorn the poor and vulnerable

It’s amazing that whenever these people want to “openly debate” an issue in society, it’s commonly about those groups that are the most defenseless and that have the least means to defend themselves against such attacks.

To what extent can we or should we debate the watering down of our human and Nordic civil rights?

Those that want to undermine and fuel greater social differences and income gaps in our society, not only reveal their contempt for our Nordic welfare state values.

Schubak’s Facebook page picture of him attending the Republican presidential convention speaks a thousand words about his values and political views.  His comments about Finland’s poor is no surprise.

Saul Schubak appears to like Mitt Romney.  Said Romney:  “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. …

 

Finland’s problem that is correcting itself: lack of cultural diversity

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Finland hasn’t been the same since the April 2011 elections, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party won its historic victory and became Finland’s third-largest party with 39 seats versus 5 seats in 2007. The PS’ latest election flop is another indication that the vast majority of Finns and immigrants are giving the thumbs down to anti-almost-everything populism.

The spoils of last years election victory appear to have weaned considerably. This is good news not only for immigrants in Finland but for the country as well. In the presidential election in January, Finns Party chairman Timo Soini got  9.4% of the votes, while in last Sunday’s municipal election the PS could only muster 12.3%, a far cry from 19.1% it gained in last year’s election.

Many have wondered how is it possible that an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party could become in such a short time a major political force in Finland. My guess is the following: Our lack of cultural diversity.

If Finland had larger ethnic and religious minorities, it’s highly doubtful that a radical populist party with a strong anti-immigration message would have ever raised to national prominence as the PS did.

One of the big debates going on in Finland presently is how our ever-growing immigrant population will change our country. While we don’t have a precise answer how it will change Finland in this century, we can say with certainty that it will change the country.

If I had the opportunity to take a fast peek into the future, I would see a society that comprises of many ethnic and cultural groups. I am confident that our cultural diversity will benefit and strengthen us for one main reason: it will ensure that no group ever gets the high ground.

No society is perfect, not even those that claim to be ”near-homogenous” like Finland. Since no society is perfect, never mind one that is culturally diverse, there are many poor examples we should avoid.

The Perussuomalaiset party’s popularity and anti-almost-everything message resembles a a flat tire. Source: Survival News Online. 

One of the most important are those examples that stray away from our values, which are strongly enshrined on acceptance, respect and equal opportunities.

 

The Finnish city of Kemi gives us Harri Taurianen of the PS

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Harri Taurianen, the new Perussuomalaiset (PS) city councilor of the northern Finnish city of Kemi,  is a good example of how the PS continues to attracts a generous number of people who are multiculturally challenged.

Taurianen, who claims it’s good to uphold Finnish values and likes to spread far-right blah blah, imported his campaign slogans directly from foreign groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party.

 Some of Turtiainen’s campaign slogans on his Facebook page: “Save our race” and the white power symbol.

It appears that the new city councilor got a call on Wednesday from the PS in Helsinki since his Facebook page has mysteriously vanished.

Iltalehti quotes Taurianen giving the following advice to immigrants: ”Check and make sure you have a good reason to move to Finland. Make sure that you are the only person moving to Finland.”

 And continues: ”It’s incredible that this human trash [convicted foreign criminals] aren’t put in their places. Put a stamp on their asses and deport them for good from Finland.”

Amon Rautanen of Kotka is another PS candidate who got a boost from his violent threats towards government officials and Muslims.

* The original story mentioned incorrectly Tauriainen’s name as Turtiainen. 

A “Welcome to Finland” video that is racist and insulting

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Thanks to two friends, I was able to watch a “Welcome to Finland” video funded by the Finnish and Swedish film boards as well as the Nordic Children and Youth Committee. Writes Ilona: “You don’t need to speak the [Finnish] language to understand the depth of shameful, racist humiliation being enacted here.”

You can watch the “Welcome to Finland” Doxwise video here.

The video makes fun of an Afghani asylum seeker on hunger strike since September 10.

”We are going to support these hungry refugees which are on hunger strike because they think that criminals and shit heads and rapists shouldn’t be deported under any circumstances from Finland because it’s inhumane,” says one of the men.

The three men start grilling chicken and bacon next to an Afghan who is cold and on hunger strike. Apparently the men understand that he is a Muslim who doesn’t eat pork. One of the many foolish things that the men do is get drunk and streak naked in the video.

So let me get this straight: Tax-payers’ money was used to make fun of Afghan refugees on hunger strike in front of Parliament? Moreover, the whole project was planned on the anti-immigration Hommaforum website.

The only reason why such a video could be made is because these men aren’t refugees from a war-ravaged country.

Would they dare make a video mocking white Finnish women in a sexist and humiliating manner?

I doubt it.

Thank you Ilona and Ruth for the heads-up.