Author: Migrant Tales

Finland flirts with lost opportunities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

It is sad to think that a populist party like the True Finns may be set to win a lot of seats in the April 17 election. While everyone has a right to his opinion in Finland, pushing myths and flimsy arguments that incite nationalist sentiment at the cost of immigrants and minorities is simply unacceptable.

If the True Finns get under 20 seats in the next election it will be an upset for Timo Soini’s party. Anything above that could be seen as a victory.

It is unfortunate but Finland has been gripped by poll hysteria. Even before the first vote has been cast, some are already predicting a “huge” victory for the True Finns.

I personally believe that the True Finns are a bubble that will end up exploding after the anti-immigration wing led by Jussi Halla-aho and former SMP members like Soini clash.

Finland has not done well with far-right parties in the past. When we aligned ourselves as a co-belligerent (the official term) with Nazi Germany we ended up paying a huge price. Finland’s forte has been smart diplomacy and keeping a cool head in global and domestic affairs.

Ratcheting up the rhetoric of minorities and the outside world for short-term domestic consumption is a perilous mistake especially for a country like Finland to make.

One sign that the True Finns are not ready to lead this country is their manifest arrogance. Every time the polls have shown their popularity rise so has their contemptuousness. Some of them think they now have a carte blanche to push their views based on prejudice and ostracize those they consider different.

Some of the major parties like Kokoomus, Social Democrats and the Center Party have awoken to the True Finns menace. They are paying a big political price for not reacting earlier to this threat. But as the saying goes, better late than never.

The jury is still out on how the True Finns will do. A big election victory for the party would mean a big setback for Finland’s image abroad and to our values as a society. We will exchange our image of a country that has championed for social justice for one that has succumbed, like Denmark, to overt racism, far-right nationalism, populism and religious fundamentalism.

Jumping on the far-right bandwagon will only hurt Finland because that path will be lined with lost opportunities.

YLE: Maahanmuutto jakaa edustajaehdokkaita

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Comment: Here is an interesting story published by YLE on how immigration is a hot issue in the election. One of the questions (number 5) on the YLE questionnaire to the candidates asks if  “immigration and tax support (to this group) should be tightened?” Those candidates and parties that “totally agreed” with the statement were the True Finns and other anti-immigration parties like Muutos2011 and Vapauspuolue.

The majority of the candidates of Kokoomus and the Center Party were “somewhat in favor” of tightening immigration policy and tax support. The majority (49%) of the Social Democrat candidates, however, were “somewhat of a different opinion.” Fifty-seven percent of the candidates of the Swedish People’s Party were “totally against” tightening immigration policy and tax support.

The majority of the Greens (57%) were “somewhat in favor” of tightening policy and tax support.

One of the big questions we have to ask of those that are asking for stricter controls is what they want to tighten if the present law is already pretty strict?

One candidate from my constituency said that it was ok to lower tax support to immigrants because Finland pays some of the highest support in Europe. The candidate forgot to tell us, however, that if we take cost of living into account such benefits are in line with the European Union average.

The stance and the willingness of some candidates to use the immigrant-bashing card to get votes is a sad reality of Finland today.

Do you agree?

___________

Maahanmuuttajien vastaanottaminen ja tukeminen verovaroin jakaa kansanedustajaehdokkaita. YLEn vaalikoneen perusteella perussuomalaisten vanavedessä tiukennuksia kaipaavat erityisesti oikeistopuolueet, kuten kokoomus. Liberaalimpaa mielipidettä ylläpitävät RKP, vasemmisto ja vihreät. SDP seilaa muiden välissä.

To keep on reading click here.

Sensible Finns voice objection to racism and exclusion

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By Enrique Tessieri

To commemorate the UN Week for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination that started on Monday, we will try to answer a question: Why is racism harmful to a society? How can it threaten Finland?

That timely question can be answered by asking why some people in Finland still believe that racism is sexy and patriotic?

Apart from swimming in ignorance and low-self-esteem, there is nothing patriotic about racism.  Patriotism means having a sense of community that is inclusive. Nationalism, on the other hand, uses ethnocentric arguments to raise low self-esteem.

This ad below sums up pretty well why racism is a threat to society:

Racism is a four-letter word:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppi5XtOYz9I&NR=1]

Celebrating diversity clip:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GY_jpfQzZs&feature=player_embedded]

A very important message to future generations:

Even though racism is difficult to spot it does not mean that it is invisible. True, it uses ingenious methods while hiding in the gutter of society as an ogre. One of its favorite alibis is that “it isn’t a racist but…”

Probably one of the reasons why some of us cannot see racism in our society is because it sits right under our noses.

How can racism threaten Finland? Why not look behind your shoulder deep into recent history: European colonialism, Nazi Germany, Former Yugoslavia, the Roma question in Europe, Rwanda, Israeli-Palestinian conflict… Should I go on? In other words, the more we discriminate against others we attack our society’s values in Finland. How can we speak of equality if we are in favor of excluding other members of society?

Verkkouutiset: Stubb: Maahanmuuttokeskustelun ilmapiiri ahdistava

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Comment: It is not the first time that Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb has taken a strong stand against the xenophobia, racism and ignorance that too often characterizes the ongoing debate on immigrants and immigration to Finland.  About a month before the election on April 17,  it not only takes leadership but guts to speak out against what Stubb calls  an “oppressive” debating atmosphere.

The foreign minister was quoted as saying at a seminar on immigrant employment in Helsinki that Finland owes its success and economic growth to its openness and internationalization. “Success requires that internationalization also takes place in this country,” he said on Verkkouutiset, a Kokoomus electronic publication. Tabloid Iltalehti wrote (in Finnish) about Stubb’s comments as well.

Three matters emerge frequently when reading the arguments of some Finns who see immigration as a threat: fear, low self-esteem and ignorance. Even if some are misinformed and carry theories on cultures and ethnicities dating back to the nineteenth century, they can always learn from their mistakes.

Teaching people to control their racism is just as important as teaching democracy, equality and human rights.  Why? Because society works better than when it is based on inequality, racism and prejudice.

Are you of the same opinion?

__________

Ulkoministeri Alexander Stubbin (kok.) mielestä Suomessa käytävän maahanmuutto- ja kansainvälisyyskeskustelun ilmapiiri on tällä hetkellä ahdistava.

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Wille Rydman’s campaign ad (no endorsement by Migrant Tales)

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What kinds of feelings does this campaign ad by Kokoomus hopeful Wille Rydman invoke? Does it play into the anti-immigration sentiment gripping Finland at present or offer viable solutions to make immigration work for Finland? Is he just another opportunistic politician  that uses the anti-immigration card to lure votes?

In order to answer that question, you would have to ask to whom this ad it directed to. Immigrants? Or Finns who just cannot stomach cultural diversity?

Rydman, who has been labelled by some of his own party members as the Halla-aho of Kokoomus, suggested on June 10 in a letter to the editor to Helsingin Sanomat that the state should not finance multiculturalism but instead Finnish language courses.  There is a wealth of evidence that shows that if you deny people their right to express their identity you create mental health and social problems.

Rydman appears to have a simplistic view of culture. He has not read nor knows of such studies that show how important identity is to a person.

Is voting for Rydman synonymous with defending immigrants’ rights?

You decide. What do you think?

Migrant Tales memorable quotes of the week to March 14

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Migrant Tales publishes on Monday some interesting quotes on the ongoing immigration debate in Finland and elsewhere. If you have some quotes you would like to share with us, please forward them to [email protected]. ET

–In the popular imagination migrants are often characterised as marginalised, isolated, voiceless. And in many ways nothing could be further from the truth. Jane Wills, author of “Global Cities at Work”

–Would you name and shame even one refugee or asylum seeker who came to Finland with the express intention of living on social welfare benefits? I can think of a few who have spent many years looking for work with varying degrees of success, but these are certainly not the people you are describing. JusticeDemon on Migrant Tales.

–I support the welfare state but it cannot be maintained for long if there’s lots of immigration and a high unemployment. JL defending his view that immigrants should not get social welfare benefits as Finns.

–The reason why some of us are so interested in immigrants and people from different cultures is because we see ourselves through them. Enrique Tessieri

Old quote: We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are. Anais Nin (1903-77)

Finnish labor is costly. I subcontracted my campaign to Bangladesh, says Mänkkönen of the True Finns on the left. Green MP hopeful Husein Muhammed responds: “Foreigners are taking away jobs from Finns?

An insult to over a million Finns

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By Enrique Tessieri

The racial and cultural “theories” peddled by some members of parties like the True Finns are not only an example of their ignorance of the subject but a rude slap in the face to over a million Finns who live abroad. Many of us are that multicultural “nightmare” that some in this country want to avoid at all costs.

Too often when some Finnish politicians speak out against refugees and immigrants as if we were a plague, that person usually ends up insulting hundreds of thousands that emigrated from this country to other lands.

Finland’s debate on immigration and multiculturalism has deep flaws. For one, it has a lot of racist overtones since some believe that being an immigrant or having a multicultural background is a disadvantage. Finns are “white, Lutheran and represent a monoculture,” they argue.

With so many Finns living abroad in so many countries  how can anyone make such a ludicrous claim in a globalized world?

When anti-immigration groups in this country  insult refugees as “welfare shoppers” they throw dirt on those refugees and immigrants that left Finland in the past centuries.

Expatriate Finns must take part in the ongoing debate in Finland on immigration and refugees because we are the fruit that has budded in foreign lands thanks to our ancestors’ restless yearning and ambition.

I for one am especially proud of my Finnish and multicultural background.

HS: Perussuomalaisten ehdokkaina useita Suomen sisun jäseniä

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Comment: Fascism through the back door? That’s what it looks like, according to an article by Helsingin Sanomat, which shows that a number of prominent True Finns candidates belong to Suomen Sisu, an associaton that follows the ideology of the Mussolini-inspired IKL of the 1930s, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duken and the Nazi racial ideology of Alfred Rosenberg.

Rosenberg, who was tried and hung after being sentenced for crimes against humanity in Nuremburg, is the antithesis of multiculturalism. An architect, he became a pseudo philosopher on race. His argument in “The myth of the 20th century” was that for the Aryans to reach greatness they had to expel all the Jews from Germany.

Rosenberg was also involved in much of the “ethnic cleansing” programs in Nazi-occupied Russia.

You can find Duken’s writings in the neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta webiste.

One of the aims of Suomen Sisu is to “save” Finland from multiculturalism and stop different cultures from “mixing.”

As the April 17 election nears, more newspapers are starting to take a more critical view of the True Finns and especially its far-right wing led by Jussi Halla-aho and his followers.

The True Finns have been strangely quiet in the past weeks. Be ready for more revelations about some True Finns’ candidates.

What the cat will bring in won’t look pretty at all.

___________

Miska Rantanen

Perussuomalaisten eduskuntavaaliehdokkaina on useita kansallismielisen Suomen sisu -yhdistyksen jäseniä. Heitä ovat muun muassa Olli Immonen Oulusta, James Hirvisaari Asikkalasta, Teemu Lahtinen Espoosta, Johannes Nieminen Vantaalta ja Jussi Halla-aho Helsingistä.

To keep on reading click here.

The Helsingin Sanomat story is based on some good reporting by Tampere-based Aamulehti.

The True Finns and their “True Finland”

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By Enrique Tessieri

With about a month to go for the April 17 election, the biggest question still refues to reveal itself: by how many times will the True Finns multiply their MPs from eight now? Some reliable estimates place the number between 15 and 35.

For me as a Finn with a multicultural background, there is a lot riding in these elections if we consider that Finland’s demographic challenges will begin to accentuate especially in the next two decades. We are heading to become a society where the number of over-sixty-five-year-olds in the population will jump to 27% by 2040 from 17% in 2007, according to Statistics Finland.

If you want to see today what Finland will look like demographically in the next three decades, one has only to visit some rural towns where over 30% of the population is over 65 years.

There is nothing wrong with pensioners. The problem, however, is who is going to pay for all the expensive health care and social welfare costs to service this ever-growing age group?

Should we be worried that the True Finns are heading for a victory in the April election?

Yes because instead of Finland looking for effective answers to its demographic as well as a number of other challenges facing our country and society, a large number of Finns have chosen instead to be spooked by the rhetoric and populism of the True Finns.

We have only ourselves to blame for the rise of the True Finns in the polls. We have never really addressed racism and discrimination forcefully enough in this country since we have had so few immigrants among our ranks in the past. Instead of questioning our hatred for the Russians, some of us still feel the same way about our eastern neighbor as on the same day they unjustly  attacked us in the 1939-40 Winter War.

Instead of trying to rid our society of ills like racism, some politicians have used it for their own opportunistic political aims by instilling fear and claiming that our country will be overrun by Russians and foreigners.

On the positive side of things, it is good matter that many Finns who should know better than to peddle nineteenth-century racial “theories” are now in the public light. I personally believe that they have given us a good opportunity to challenge for good their distorted ideas that date back to the 1930s and to the writings of Rolf Nordenstreng and Eugen Fischer.

I refuse to believe that Finland, the country that is our dear home and which sacrificed so much to build a world-class educational system and society, will throw it all away for a few cheap populist soundbites from groups like the True Finns and politicians like Social Democrat Kari Rajamäki and Wille Rydman of Kokoomus.

The “True Finland” that the True Finns want to build is nothing more than a “False Finland” glued by populism and low self-esteem. We must all stand up against them, especially on April 17.

BBC: Danish immigration minister Hornbech fired over scandal

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Comment: Here is an interesting story from Denmark reporting that Immigration Minister Birthe Roenn Hornbech had been fired from her job for not only illegally refusing citizenship to a group of Palestinians born there, but not informing parliament immediately of such a mistake, reports the BBC.

Writes Yahoo News: “Hornbech’s refugees, immigration and integration portfolio was handed over to Development Cooperation Minister Soeren Pind, who is considered a hardliner on the immigration issue.  In one of his first statements after his nomination, Pind described the UN convention that sent his predecessor packing as ‘stupid.'”

Some Finnish politicians from the True Finns are hoping that they will hold the same power as the populist and xenophobic Danish People’s Party (DPP) led by Pia Kjaersgaard. Denmark’s Liberal-Conservative coalition government has relied on the support of the DPP to stay in power in exchange for tightened immigration and citizenship laws.

Even though the majority of Danes do not back the DPP, Denmark is a sad case how Islamophobia can grip a small nation. Denmark is the biggest loser of such a mistaken policy because it creates an inclusive and unequal society.

Do you agree?

___________

Denmark’s Immigration Minister Birthe Roenn Hornbech has been sacked after 36 stateless Palestinians were wrongly refused citizenship.

To continue reading click here.