Author: Migrant Tales

Eronen asked for trouble when she wrote her column about armbands

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Finland has been inflicted for a number of years by people who think they can say and write anything they please about immigrants and visible minorities in Finland. It’s only natural that when you let out racism and prejudice to roam freely in society unchecked, things will eventually snap as we saw in Norway in July. What did Helena Eronen, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari’s aide, do wrong?

Eronen blames the scandal on her own ignorance, according to an interview she gave to YLE. “The strong reactions to it [blog entry] were to be expected,” she said.

Reactions to what she wrote about sleeve emblems for foreigners to help the police in Finland have been published in Sweden and now throughout Russia and former IVY countries such as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Eronen blew it to put it lightly. If you are white and try to be “sarcastic” about other nationalities, work for a right-wing populist party like the PS and your boss is none other than Hirvisaari, you are going to get in hot water. She forgot as well those whom she was being sarcastic about, the immigrants, and if this may be offensive to some groups.

Who are the losers and winners of the scandal?

The biggest loser shouldn’t be difficult to figure out. That’s Eronen and the negative debating atmosphere in Finland concerning immigrants and visible immigrants.

Do I think that Eronen’s column was in bad taste? Certainly. But there may be a silver lining revealing that matters may have changed in Finland since Jussi Halla-aho and his xenophobic band roamed the net with near-impunity.

Some, like MP Hirvisaari, who was fined for hate speech in December, still don’t get it. They live somewhere deep in the previous decade when defaming and insulting immigrant groups and cultures was a free-for-all social media lynching job.

Hirvisaari added more damage and salt to Eronen’s wound Wednesday by republishing his own blog the column that was taken off Uusi Suomi. He went as far as to claim that the scandal is an example of the rot that inflicts the media in Finland.

The biggest winner could be the PS. Eronen could give them a scapegoat opportunity to wash their hands of all the racism and prejudice they have spread in Finland since last year’s election, according to a column by Jussi Jalonen. Such a sacrificial object looks especially inviting for the PS with the municipal election nearing in October.

Finland, and I am certain Eronen as well, have learned a valuable lesson: When you write about immigrants and visible minorities you should be extra careful and try to see the world from their perspective when dressing a column up in sarcasm.

If you have that ability, probably one of the first things you’d do is drop the whole topic and write about something else.

PS parliamentary group wants Hirvisaari to sack Eronen

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Perussuomlaiset (PS) party parliamentary group decided today that Helena Eronen, PS MP James Hirvisaari’s aide should be sacked immediately for writing about foreigners wearing armbands to help police differentiate the nationality of the person, according to YLE. 

After the meeting, Hirvisaari told reporters that nothing had been decided about Eronen.

PS parliamentary leader Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner, who stepped out of the meeting after Hirvisaari, gave a totally different version.  She said that the majority of the PS MPs decided to recommend to Hirvisaari that he’d “immediately sack his aide [Eronen].”

Ruohonen-Lerner said that this type of writing by Hirvisaari’s aide hurts the party and the parliamentary group.

She said that the parliamentary group cannot give the boot to Eronen. That was Hirvisaari’s job.

What PS MP aide Helena Eronen wrote about armbands for foreigners in Finland (part 2)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Even if Helena Eronen’s boss, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari wants to play down the impact of his aide’s blog entry by claiming that we do not know what satire is, the whole affair exposes something far worrying: It is a new dive into the depths of these shameful political times.  

I don’t know what is worse: what Eronen wrote or Hirvisaari’s defense.

As everyone knows, Eronen published a column Wednesday on Uusi Suomi suggesting how foreigners should  wear armbands to help the police to distinguish whether the person is a Finn or not.

Hirvisaari wrote on his blog Wednesday evening that the scandal exposed the “ever-evident rot of the [Finnish] media:”

Now, folks, think about it. If an MP says that Finnish media is infested with rot, what words would he spare for immigrants never mind Muslims?

Hirvisaari was fined for hate speech in December.

One of the questions we could ask about what the Eronen scandal reveals is wrong with Finland today and where is it heading?

What do we accomplish by writing and suggesting that foreigners should wear armbands especially during these difficult times? Nothing at all. Instead we do nothing more than promote greater polarization of our society by stressing “us” and “them.”

Much of the persona of the PS as a party relies on promoting “us” and “them.” The racism and prejudice that festers in the PS, and which gets a lot of attention from the media, will destroy it in the end.

But not all agree with Hirvisaari’s take on things. Possibly one positive matters to emerge from this scandal is PS parliamentary leader Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner, who condemned what Eronen wrote.

“I hope that we can distance ourselves totally from these types of writing,” she was quoted as saying on MTV3. “They bring harm to our party and parliamentary group.”

What PS MP aide Helena Eronen wrote about armbands for foreigners in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri 

Every month we’ve seen some sort of scandal coming from the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. In April, which is only eleven days old, we already got another one by an aide who suggested in a blog entry that foreigners should start using armbands to help police distinguish who is an immigrant and who is a Finn. 

Eronen was hired as PS MP James Hirvisaari’s aide in January. Hirvisaari, a hard-core  anti-immigration extremist, was fined in December by a court for hate speech.

The PS MP defended in a  new blog entry on Uusi Suomi Eronen’s writing.

Eronen suggested on her blog entry today that foreigners should start using sleeve badges in order to help the police figure out rapidly who is a foreigner and who is a Finn. Her blog entry was directed at the Ombudsman for Minorities, which accused today the police of ethnic profiling.

Her opinion piece was published around midday and was deleted by Uusi Suomi in the afternoon.

She writes: “If every foreigner were required to use an armband of his/her national background, the police could immediately spot whether that ‘aha, that is a Muslim from Somalia’ or ‘aha. that is a beggar from Romania.’ Muslims could [use sleeve badges] with a half moon…Russians [with] a hammer and sickle, Kampucheans could have field mines, a burger [could be used to distinguish] USAmericans…”

Eronen  appears to like her own suggestion so much that she envisions a ceremony taking place.  “…take for example if a refugee from Kurdistan would get permanent residency [in Finland], his red half moon would be changed for a blue-white half moon when he’d become a Finnish citizen… Think about what an important moment in that Kurd’s life [if he would exchange his red half moon for a blue-white half moon at some ceremony at Immigration Service]. It would enforce integration and would make Finnish and Finnishness an important goal [for every immigrant to attain].”

The parliamentary aide suggests that potential terrorist could wear chips under their skins to monitor their movements.

One of the matters that has raised concern in Finland has been the PS’ ties with neo-Nazi groups like the Suomen Kansalinen Vastarinta. There has been concern as well of PS MPs like Hirvisaari who belong to extremist associations like Suomen Sisu.

If you visit Eronen’s Facebook page and go to photos, you’ll find one where she is wearing an army-looking cap with a flower emblem. The edelweiss flower was used by a mountain commando division in Hitler’s army.

Finnish police accused of ethnic profiling

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

A day after the police released a Somali who was under police custody for about seven months, the Ombudsman for Minorities expressed concern about ethnic profiling by the police, according to YLE. 

Rainer Hiltunen, the Minority Ombudsman’s head of office, said that he receives calls from foreigners who say they have been repeatedly questioned in the street by police. Some of those stopped are naturalized Finns and visible minorities.

The police deny any wrongdoing.

“If a person is stopped, they’re told why,” said Helsinki police inspector Jari Taponen, who denied hearing of any cases where people were not told why they were questioned by the police.

Helena Eronen, Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari’s new aide, suggested in a column today that a good way to help the police to distinguish immigrants from Finns would be to oblige people to wear sleeve badges.

This kind of “satire” coming especially from a Hirvisaari aide is in pretty bad taste.

Hirvisaari was fined for hate speech in December.

I remember being stopped a long time ago by the Finnish police on the freeway from Porvoo to Helsinki. We were three “foreign-looking” men inside a Skoda driving home when Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Pavel visited Finland in 1991.

One of the questions that surprised me by the policeman when we were pulled over was if I was a Finnish citizen. I refused to answer the policeman’s question because I thought it had nothing to do with whatever I was being stopped.

After a semi-long tug-of-war with the policeman, I told him that I was a Finnish citizen. He then told me that I had been pulled over because one of my headlamps was out.

If that was the reason why he stopped me, what did that have to do with me being a Finnish citizen or not?

Somali resident of Finland suspected of supporting terrorism is released from custody

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By Enrique Tessieri

A Somali male held in police custody since September for allegedly supporting terrorism abroad was released today by a Helsinki court, according to YLE. The police said that the man,  who was deprived of his liberty for seven months, cannot leave the country because investigations are still ongoing. 

Kaj-Erik Björkvist of the police told YLE  that the released man is still a suspect together with five others for supporting  al-Shabaab, a terrorist organization based in southern Somalia.

Even if no Finnish media will not ask an important-yet-obvious question in light of the ongoing civil war in Somalia and the ever-worsening atmosphere for immigrants in Finland, Migrant Tales will: Why has it taken so long to pin anything on the suspects?

Fine, this could be due to police resources and the fact that getting hard evidence from war-torn Somalia may be easier said than done.

However, whether the men are found guilty or not of the charges against them, the whole case is bad news for the immigrant never mind Somali community of Finland, especially during these times when an anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party won 39 seats in last year’s parliamentary election.

Writes JusticeDemon:  “Assuming that the case is eventually dropped entirely or only minor charges are preferred, then the next stage may be to seek compensation from the State for unlawful deprivation of liberty. This will initially turn on whether the District Court acted reasonably and proportionately in ordering remand detention, and secondarily on whether the police acted correctly in turn by fully advising the court of the pertinent evidence, including exculpatory details and the forensic reliability of sources.”

When Migrant Tales reported back in September about the arrest of two people suspected for supporting terrorism abroad, it didn’t take long for the finger-pointing to begin in Finland. Some blamed former minister for immigration and European affairs, Astrid Thors, for bringing terrorists to the country.

The longer this case drags on the more damage it will cause irrespective if the suspects are found guilty or not.

Now we know the meaning why justice must act swiftly.

Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from April 20, 1993

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Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic, prejudiced, racist or anti-Russian views.

The billboard below shows, in my opinion, the other side of the xenophobic coin. If some tabloid ads painted the former Soviet Union, Estonia and non-Europeans as a threat to Finland, sometimes that outside world rejected Finnish things like milk in the European Union.

Finland became an EU member in 1995 together with Sweden and Austria.

*Migration Institute archive.

Far-right groups and anti-immigration extremists in Finland and Europe flirt with fascism

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By Enrique Tessieri

When far-right groups and anti-immigration extremists flirt with fascism nothing good can ever come out of it. Even if it sounds incredible, we have in Finland our own holocaust deniers and those who claim the Nuremberg Trials were  a farce.    

Has Perussuomalaiset MP Jussi Halla-aho, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola and his aide Ulla Pyysalo as well as Kotka councilman Freddy Van Wonterghem ever seen war? I don’t mean playing a Playstation 3 war game or seeing a war movie, but suffering and witnessing the real thing?

When politicians make statements denying or playing down the Holocaust, state that the the Nuremberg Trials [see Natsi-Saksasta] were “a farce,” or openly admit they like Benito Mussolini and fascism, they are breathing life back to a beast that can terrorize Europe again.

Even if the fascism they like is different from the one we saw in the 1930s, it is the same ogre but in twenty-first century garb. The scapegoats and enemies may have changed, for example Muslims today and Jews before, but it is the same beast.

Rudolf Hoess, the Auschwitz commandant during 1940-43,  justified the death of an estimated 2.5 million with the following quote:  “I had my personal orders from [Heinrich] Himmler [to exterminate Jews]…Not justified [to exterminate so many people] – but Himmler told me that if the Jews were not exterminated at that time, then the German people would be exterminated for all time by the Jews.”

But there is a far bigger question that Auschwitz doesn’t answer right away: Does that type of systematic mass murder that took place there reveal the dark side of the Nazis or something worrying about us?  Do we all have the potential as a group to become mass murderers?

If we look at the former Soviet Union under Stalin, the systematic genocide committed against Amerindians by white Europeans, the terror that reigned under the Pol Pot regime of Kampuchea, China under Mao Tse Tsung, the slave trade and European colonization of Africa  as well as many other cases, they prove beyond any doubt that we are capable of  barbaric deeds.

It makes no sense to spread hatred and attack and victimize other human beings and groups. If you disagree you need to reread your history again, and again, and again.

The author at the gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp where it reads Arbei Macht Frei, “Work Makes (One) Free.” 

 Some 400,000 Hungarian Jews were exterminated in spring 1944 at Birkenau, or Auschwitz 2.

 The shoes of the victims that ended up in Auschwitz’ gas chambers.  

Let’s stop fooling ourselves about the Romany minority in Finland and Europe

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

I’ve been following with disappointment the stories published in the Finnish media about the East European Romany minority beggars coming to Finland.  If politicians don’t get it, it’s pretty clear that a part of the media never mind the public won’t either.  Social ills like xenophobia, prejudice and racism are not “fixed” in a few days, months or years but take generations for the open wounds to heal.

Moreover, a great part of the Romany minority problem in Europe is not only due to these people, but to our own prejudices and racism that we have seen erupt recently in countries like Slovakia, Hungary and others.

So far we have two apparent political solutions in Finland on how to solve this so-called “problem:” One of them is to deport them out of Finland and another is to seek help from the Romanian authorities by sending a fact-finding mission to that country.

Let’s get serious for a moment folks.  What we should be really doing is ask why an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) has raised this issue and how the government is responding.

It’s pretty clear that the PS, worried about its poor standings in recent opinion polls, is using anti-Roma sentiment to lure disappointed voters back to its party.  The government in turn has no choice but to be seen doing something as the PS attempt to raise this issue as a matter of national security.

But let’s try to understand the recent red-herring debate in parliament between the opposition PS and government. Why are we so concerned about these people coming to Finland? Is it our racism and loathing that reflects back on us when we see them begging? Is it our failure as a society to deal with our own Romany “problem?” Are we shocked to see that there are actually people in Europe who are poor and exploited?

In Finland we have about 10,000 people belonging to the Romany minority. Political parties have rarely if ever spoken up for them.  If our handling of our own Romany minority problem is anything to go by, we are very far from finding any solutions to these people from Eastern Europe.

Another important question we should ask is how many people are we speaking of? Hundreds, thousands or maybe tens of thousands? Why don’t we have any ball-park figures? Is this the way politicians and the media victimize a group like the Roma and show them to be a bigger threat than they actually are?

One of the matters I’d recommend to all parties concerned in this country is that we should stop treating racism and social exclusion as something that we can fix instantly.  No matter how much we try, the Romany minority problem will not go away tomorrow nor after tomorrow.

It will take a lot of time to solve and heal.

In order for us to do something effective in the meantime, we should take a totally different approach to the problem. We should start to look at our history and our own prejudices as part of the problem.

 

Migrant Tales Literary: Yearning never waits

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By Enrique Tessieri

I made one of the greatest discoveries of my life in 1998 at the Finnish Seamen’s Church of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Even if such pleasant interior landscapes no longer witness my silence and stance, they are now distant memories that have turned into spacious imaginary cities of the mind where each building has a tale to tell, whispering.

Even if I had visited the Finnish Seamen’s Church on many occasions,  the days I spent there as a tenant brought me back to the beginning of a long journey I began around two decades ago when I moved back to Finland.

William Blake (1757-1827) once said that improvements make straight roads but that it  was the crooked ones without improvement that are roads of genius. Is yearning and following your heart’s desire a crooked road that can lead you to wonderful places never imagined?

The former Finnish Seamen’s Church is today a cultural center in dire need of money and repair. 

Even if my great grandparents, Dante and Jacob only appear occasionally in talk, I can say with total confidence that the yearning and restlessness  I feel today is because of them…

…or possibly it’s because I was born in an enormous migrant transit lounge called The Americas.

Like many others, my family has been on the move for generations: from my father’s side, my great grandfather Dante was from Italy, my grandfather Nemo was born in Brazil, my father and I were born in Argentina, and my three children were  born in Finland.

Yearning is a powerful force. It is the fuel that turns on our hope; it is so powerful that it rarely dies in a lifetime but lives on for generations.

The world is becoming a very small place as time takes us by the hand to the future. It’s pretty certain that my children and grandchildren will be much luckier than I. They will have the ability to visit and leave cultures and lifestyles at will and be – if they wish – from many places simultaneously. They will travel without the baggage of hatred and prejudice constantly overlooking them.

As long as smaller cultures and not devoured by larger ones, life in the new millennium will resemble vast cities like New York or London, where everyone is from somewhere but few from there.

If we all learned to let go and allow yearning to take us by the hand, maybe the first lesson we’d learn is that we are nothing than temporary migrants on Earth searching for that hill where the grass is greener on the other side.

(1999)