Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987) published his groundbreaking study on the United States’ racism problem in 1944. While Myrdal was a controversial figure and Sweden was into measuring the skulls of the Saami due to a pseudoscience called eugenics, his study leaves us with food for thought.
One of these is denial of a serious social problem like the endemic injustice and poverty of the black man in the United States. You did not need to, however, to arrive at the same conclusions as Myrdal if you took a long good look at US society back then – and even today.
The central thesis of Myrdal’s study was that the United States, or particularly white USAmericans, was a conflict with the USAmerican creed founded on freedom, justice, and opportunity on the one hand but carried out systemic violations of the blacks through social exclusion and disenfranchisement.
How is it possible that the world’s happiest country is suffering from a severe labor crunch? Here are some facts: the number of over-65-year-olds per 100 working-age people will rise from 39.2% to 47.3% in 2030; to plug its pensions deficit, Finland needs to double the level of migrants to 20,000-30,000 annually.
In Europe’s most homogenous country – by historical choice – other factors don’t attract skilled labor and talent to Finland.
One has only to read the country’s biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, and the media in general to see their value priorities.
One of these is certainly not social equality, fairness, and equity of all people living in Finland.
France 24 pinpoints it to the tee: “But anti-immigrant sentiment and a reluctance to employ outsiders are also widespread in Western Europe’s most homogenous society, and the opposition far-right Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset*) regularly draws substantial support during elections.”
To add to the latter’s problem, it appears that the Finnish state is challenging head-on labor discrimination and racism in society. Due justice takes years in racism cases to resolve, and few politicians are ready to speak out against such social ills.
Parliament voted Wednesday to lift some of the restrictions it imposed in 2016 during the government of Juha Sipilä, which, among other matters, lowered the deadline for appeals and legal assistance to asylum seekers., according to the Refugee Advice Council.
One of these includes the deadlines for appeals originally reduced to 21 days from 30 days in the second instance. The deadline for appeals is now restored to 30 days.
Moreover, asylum seekers’ cases will face greater scrutiny to avoid the return of people wrongfully. One complaint that the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) had was that it did not carefully check asylum seekers’ cases and thus put people in harm’s way.
While these matters will improve the legal situation of asylum seekers, there are several laws from 2016 that hinder family reunification and the offering of residence on humanitarian grounds.
It is an important first step but there are many more that must be taken.
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Jussi Halla-aho’s heir-apparent appears to be the party’s first vice-president, Riikka Purra. While Halla-aho has swung the party to the far-right and encouraging xenophobia, Purra has parroted the PS leader’s racist soundbites but with questionable results.
Like Halla-aho, Purra loathes Muslims and people of color. So much so, in fact, that she warned about ethnic replacement hogwash and how Finland’s population was becoming more diverse. In her book, brown, Afro Finns and other visible minorities are a threat to white Finland.
You don’t need to have a lot of knowledge on politics to understand that most of the catchphrases used by the PS have their origin from other xenophobic groups in Europe. One of these used in the last municipal elections was “take Finland back.”
Is it a coincidence that the PS copies xenophobic catchphrases from other EU countries and parties? Source: CityA.M.
Writes the Finnish Security Police (Supo) in its last-year report: “One of the most noteworthy ideological motives of far-right terrorists is known as the Great Replacement conspiracy theory based on the idea of a fundamental threat posed by immigration and multiculturalism to the white population of Western countries. Views reflecting the idea of a Great Replacement have been highlighted in several far-right terrorist attacks.”
Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Chairperson Jussi Halla-aho announced Monday that he will not seek reelection as the party’s head at the annual meeting in August, according to Yle News. While some party members expressed sadness about the news, Halla-aho will not be missed by many.
No reason was given for his departure. There is, however, some speculation that Halla-aho was never enthusiastic about leading the party. Moreover, his exit may be a new step in making the Islamophobic party appear “more normal.”
Even if the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus) has said that it could form a government with the PS, Halla-aho remains a controversial person due to his racist views and writings.
Some Russian asylum seekers expressed outrage of the ill-treatment of a single, 64-year-old woman from the Ukraine who was carried away by force from the Eastern Finnish Imatra asylum reception center.
“This is not the way to great a human,” said a Russian asylum seeker who got in touch with Migrant Tales. “We are not animals. We have human rights, too.”
So what justified the use of such force by the police?
Apparently, the woman, refused to go to the hospital because she fears deportation to Russia.
“There was another case [at the same asylum reception center] of a Russian woman called Ludmila who was sent to the hospital, [allegedly] drugged and then deported to Russia,” she said. “Later on she appeared in Turkey after being forced to return to Russia.”
If you have any information about what happened or about the elderly woman in the pictures, please get in touch with us at [email protected]
The 44,746 deaths of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean and deaths due to Fortress Europe policies are another black spot on Europe. The deaths span from 1993 to June 1. Our indifference and apathy to this humanitarian crisis make the Mediterranean and Europe grow into a grave with unknown and forgotten people.
Indifference is one issue about our shameful behavior. But, others, like some of our politicians who would not care an iota if people who flee wars, hunger, and poverty die.
Migrant Tales wrote back then: A total of 234 Euro election candidates answered Alma Media’s election compass, a total of 85 (36.3%) stated that they either “strongly disagree,” “disagree,” or are “neutral” (have no opinion) about the following claim: “Is it the obligation of the EU to save all those migrants who attempt to come to Europe and are at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean?”
The answers above were by Finnish MEP candidates who should know better.
An interesting video posted by a CaroxElMundo, who tells us in Spanish about her experiences about Finland, makes a very good observation: Finland promotes gender equality, but all other types of equality take a back seat.
She makes a valid point.
Finland has made a lot of progress in gender rights. There are still many things that have to be set right: women make on average 20% less than men at work, Finland is one of the most violent countries in the EU for women to live in. It was only 37 years ago when women won the right to pass on Finnish nationality to their children, even if they won the right to vote in 1906.
An ad from the 1960s that states that it is a “white man’s” cigarette. I guess this means that the cigarette brand was not meant for Roma and other visible minorities. The ad was made when women could give birth to children but not pass on nationality to them.
There are a lot of myths surrounding social equality in Finland.
The myths that are perpetuated permit institutional racism and discrimination to stay intact.
The myth reaches its most vulgar proportions at many “integration” courses for newcomers are, in reality, courses where you are fed Finnish exceptionalism. You are taught a lot about using public services but rarely talked about fighting for your rights and being treated equally before the law.
For this reason, the process of learning about your place in Finland can come as a rude surprise for some. It may also come as a lesser surprise if you learn this harsh reality in drips and drabs.
The Foreign Scholars Forum, a forum for foreign scholars of all disciplines living and working in Finland, convened a Zoom panel discussion June 5th to which members of all the main political parties and groups were invited. The keynote topics for the event were immigration and climate change.
Next to the debate, a fascinating and thought-provoking documentary on climate change was aired, giving the participants a deeper view of the issue. How do different views on dealing with the environmental crisis contribute to it directly and indirectly, and why is it important to change course.
Strange Season directed by Ahti Tolvanen was aired during the panel discussion.
Attending were municipal candidates Matti Mäkelä of the Vasemmistoliitto (Left Alliance), Espoo, and Enrique Tessieri, Social Democrats, Mikkeli.
Also present were three Helsinki councilors running for re-election: Ted Apter, Kokoomus (National Coalition Party), Simon Granroth, Swedish Party (RKP), and Mika Ebling of the Christian Democratic Party.
Anu Harkki, Helsinki Greens, was unable to attend but consented to an interview beforehand.
The Perussuomalaiset (The Finns Party) failed to show up, and the Center Party’s candidate also never materialized.
Regarding the question of immigrants providing a solution to labor shortages in many parts of the country, Ebling said he felt this situation had been worsened by liberal abortion laws, which meant 600 000 births had been aborted, greatly impacting the country’s demographics.
He was also skeptical about the need for the extensive measures which were being taken to address climate change and felt the Earth had extensive adaptive capacity.
Both Granroth and Apter took exception to the second point and said an extensive scientific consensus confirmed the reality of the climate crises. Mäkelä was particularly emphatic about the seriousness of the climate issue.
He added that the deportation of asylum seekers to the violent circumstances of Afghanistan was morally wrong. Mäkelä mentioned his own volunteer work providing accommodation to an asylum seeker from that country and said he was only one of many Finns involved in this.
Anu Harkki stated in her interview that the climate crisis was such a pervasive global event that Finland could not hope to close its borders from environmental refugees. She stressed the need for effective settlement programs to allow newcomers to integrate. She took exception with housing for newcomers in green spaces in Helsinki, although some Greens favored it.
