Category: Enrique Tessieri

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Ignite #metooracism campaign

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s encouraging to see how people in power are coming down in flames for sexual harassment. Wouldn’t it be great if we could apply sexual harassment to racist harassment and spark a similar movement? Silence and inaction are the reasons why sexual harassment happens with near-impunity. It’s the same story why racism continues to occur on such a massive scale.

The Harvey Weinsteins and Donald Trumps of the sexual harassment are the Marine Le Pens, Geert Wilders and Viktor Orbans of racism. In Finland, they come with the names of Timo Soini, Jussi Halla-aho, and Laura Huhtasaari.

Let’s change that now

#metooracism

Emboldened by Judd, Rose McGowan and a host of other prominent accusers, women everywhere have begun to speak out about the inappropriate, abusive and in some cases illegal behavior they’ve faced. Read the full story here.

Wouter Van Bellingen: Black Pete is an aberration that will become history

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Wouter Van Bellingen, 45, is a Flemish human rights’ activist who has fought for racial justice in Belgium. One of the issues that he has challenged is the racist legacy of Black Pete (or Zwarte Piet). Apart from issues like cultural appropriation and disrespect for minorities like blacks, the United Nations declared in 2015 that Black Pete was a “vestige of slavery.”  

Elected in 2007 as the deputy mayor of Sint-Niklaas, Van Bellingen became the first black deputy mayor of Belgium. Presently is the director of Integration Pact (Integratiepact), an association that promotes integration and inclusion of migrants and minorities in Belgium.

Every year Flemish- and Dutch-speakers celebrate Black Pete from the end of October to December 6.

Van Bellingen remembers as a child and adolescent growing up in Flanders that Black Pete was “mental torture” for him and other black children.  Blacks are the most discriminated group in Belgium and at the lower end of the poverty scale. Black Pete reinforces stereotypes about blacks like belittling their intelligence, according to him.

“Since my classmates knew me they didn’t mess with me at school,” said Van Bellingen. “They [white children and adults before] would come up to total strangers and touch your skin and ask if it was going to stain them. It is not a joke. Some believed that our black skin stained theirs.”

Van Bellingen said that when he was a child, he avoided going to stores because total strangers would stop him on the street and yell, “Look Black Pete!”

“I went to see an MP last week, and her daughter, who was of mixed race asked if she could scrub her dark skin and become white,” he said.

Despite the racism that Black Pete brings out in white people who pay homage to this offensive character to blacks and minorities, Van Bellingen says that matters are improving.

“Matters are getting better in Belgium,” he added. “If you looked at the shops five years ago, you could find Black Pete everywhere. I believe it will eventually vanish.”

Van Bellingen said that his children will still have to suffer “the mental torture” he went through, but by the time he has grandchildren, Black Pete character will become history.

“The majority of the people who live in Antwerp have immigrant backgrounds,” he continued. “The majority disapprove of this practice. It will first disappear in Flanders and then in the Netherlands.”

 

 

Wouter Van Bellingen, who became Belgium’s first black deputy major in 2007, has campaigned fearlessly against Black Pete/Zwart Piet. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

Growing up with Black Pete got worse for Van Bellingen as he got older.

Continue reading “Wouter Van Bellingen: Black Pete is an aberration that will become history”

Great to hear that attitudes towards migrants are improving in Finland. Let’s not, however, generalize and cry victory yet

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Why are attitudes becoming more favorable towards migrants in Finland? Helsingin Sanomat turns to Lena Näre, a sociologist, to provide some insight on why attitudes towards migrants have become more desirable. 

Some results below of the poll published by Helsingin Sanomat Sunday.

Should Finland take more migrants? Yes (kyllä), don’t know (ei osaa sanoa), and no (ei). The table above shows that before the financial crisis of 2008, 55% stated that they’d want more migrants to come to Finland. Due to the recovery of the economy, among other reasons, attitudes are becoming more favorable. 

Continue reading “Great to hear that attitudes towards migrants are improving in Finland. Let’s not, however, generalize and cry victory yet”

Finland finally gets some teeth and bans the neo-Nazi PVL

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In a historic decision on Thursday, the Pirkanmaa District Court banned the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (Pohjoismainen vastarintaliike, PVL) with links to far-right groups in the Nordic region, according to YLE in English. PVL is a racist hate group that aims to do away with Nordic democracy and replace it with national socialism. 

The district court based its decision to ban the neo-Nazi PVL because it “flagrantly violated the principles of good practice.”

Writes YLE in English:  “The court ruled that it was a violent group that exhorted followers and members to violent acts. The court said that the group was not entitled to freedom of speech protections as its actions violated the human rights of others.”

One of the latest cases of violence by the PVL is its member Jesse Torniainen, sentenced to two years in prison for aggravated assault.

Jimi Karttunen died at the age of 28 in 2016 after he received a furious kick in the chest from PVL member Jesse Torniainen. Cartoon by Sira Moksi.

Migrant Tales applauds de Pirkanmaa District Court decision because it is a step in the right direction. Neo-Nazi groups and their racist and populist allies have no place in our society and are an insult to our values.

The interesting matter to watch now is the silence coming from far-right parties like the Perussuomslaiset.*

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity. One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

For some asylum seekers Kemi, Finland, is a dangerous place after 8 pm on Saturdays

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some asylum seekers in the northern Finnish city of Kemi claim that they do not leave their homes after eight pm on Saturdays because it’s too dangerous. One asylum seeker, who got a residence permit, said that this was advice that he received from the Red Cross.

“There are many drunks on Saturday night, and this could lead to problems,” the former asylum seeker of Kemi, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Migrant Tales. “We still get a lot of mean looks from strangers [in the city] and sometimes they give us the finger as they drive past in cars. I would say that 5%-10% of the inhabitants [of Kemi] don’t like us.”

Feelings of insecurity in Kemi was fueled by the 2016 shooting of an asylum seeker and by the Soldiers of Odin, who harass and broke another asylum seeker’s finger.

The city of Kemi is located in northern Finland near the Swedish border. Source: MTV.
Read the full story here.

Virpi Pakisjärvi, the head of the Kemi asylum reception center, denied that the Red Cross gives instructions to asylum seekers about leaving their homes on Saturday evenings.

Continue reading “For some asylum seekers Kemi, Finland, is a dangerous place after 8 pm on Saturdays”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Racism in Finland today and yesterday

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In the 1980s, when the population of the foreign community was tiny numbering about 12,000, some asked if there was racism in Finland. One typical answer was that racism hinged on the color of your skin. The darker your skin color the more racism you would experience. While this may be a simplified answer to the problem,  there was and still is racism against Russians who are white.

It is a fact that racism and hate speech is on the rise in Finland and elsewhere. But let’s be clear: Racism always existed in Finland irrespective if there are few or many migrants and minorities.

 

Jewish Community of Helsinki: Hate speech is directly responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Yaron Nadbornik, the president of the Jewish Community of Helsinki, said that the rise in online hate speech has caused great insecurity of Helsinki’s small Jewish community. The Jewish Community of Helsinki launched this week a campaign to raise 15,000 euros in 48 hours to finance increased security needs. 

The Jewish Community of Helsinki uses 200,000 euros for security annually.

Read the full story (in Finnish) by Helsingin Sanomat here.

“I will not say that it is only the extreme right that is directing this [online] hate speech against the Jewish community,” said Nadbornik.”Let’s just say that they are people from different ideologies that write online thousands of hate comments against Jews.”

Continue reading “Jewish Community of Helsinki: Hate speech is directly responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in Finland”

Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Brown is beautiful just like black and white are beautiful, right? Add to the latter equation power and privilege and a more sinister picture emerges: White is beautiful but brown and black aren’t. 

Finland is such a racialized country and so conscious of its whiteness that it only sees people through a very narrow lens: white Finns or non-white Finns.

Whiteness is such a powerful matter in Finland that some non-white children learn not stay under the sun too long for fear that their skin won’t become too tanned.

Some, like Rosa Emilia Clay, Finland’s first African-born naturalized Finn and primary school teacher, kept her African background a secret from her children.

Clay’s granddaughter, Normalee Johnsson, wrote in a letter in 2009 that was partly published in Helsingin Sanomat:

“When mother died, we learned her secret: we had African blood in our veins! Finally we understood why mother always wore a bonnet and long sleeves in the summer. What we could not understand is why she kept our African, Arab, and English heritage a secret. For a while it was shocking that I didn’t know who I really was.” 

Those who know a little about Clay’s life in Finland, are well aware of the racism she faced and suffered.

Like hundreds of thousands of other Finns, Clay emigrated to the United States in 1904.

She never returned to Finland.

 

Various shades of brown. Source: Citizen by Chance

White Finnish privilege #43

Racism and white privilege are such powerful forces that some people spend their lives passing as white, according to a story in the Washington Post.

Continue reading “Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin”

We have only to blame ourselves for the rise of vigilante gangs, racism and fascism in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

                                                                                              Shortly, we’ll look at this period as the lost decade where we openly and shamelessly flirted and sided with racism and fascism.

Remember these quotes about the vigilante white supremacist Soldiers of Odin? They were made by public servants that should know better. In a Facebook posting, the far-right vigilante group is threatening (surprise, surprise) Africans, Arabs, dark-skinned people, vegetarians gays liberals, humanists and others with acts of violence. 

Any sensible person could have seen the writing on the wall: Groups like the Soldiers of Odin are white supremacists supported by other white Finns and the establishment.

Their rise is similar to the Perussuomalaiset* (PS), whose ascent to political power was assisted by the media, politicians (and I wouldn’t be surprised by Russia’s troll army). The fact that too many don’t see these groups as a threat to our Nordic democracy and society is the best indication we have of our denial of the issue.

Is it a coincidence that the police service gave support to such vigilante groups when they started to show up more in Finnish cities and towns? This year, an openly racist Facebook page was uncovered with over 2,800 police or about one-third of the country’s police service. Does a survey in 2016, which reveals that 80% of the police see asylum seekers as a threat, say anything about racist attitudes. What about if 25.1% stated that they voted for an openly anti-immigration party like the PS?

Let’s look at these public representatives that are supposed to defend our society but failed miserably in the task:

Detective Chief Inspector Markku Tuominen. Marshall Carl Mannerheim’s portrait as commander of the White Guards is highly suggestive. Source: Nurmijärven Uutiset.
  • Detective chief inspector of southern Finland, Markku Tuominen, surprised a lot of people In January 2016 when he was quoted in the media as saying that Finns should avoid contact with foreigners. In December, we even read that the police service of Häme welcomed street patrols in the town of Asikkala, according to Hämeen Kaiku.

Deputy Police Chief Ilkka Koskimäki. Source: Twitter.
  • Finnish deputy chief of police of Helsinki, Ilkka Koskimäki as saying in January 2016 in the Daily Telegraph: “This phenomenon [sexual harassment] is new in Finnish sexual crime history. We have never before had this kind of sexual harassment happening at New Year’s Eve.”

Really? Have Finnish women ever before been harassed sexually by Finnish men?

National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and Minister of Employment Jari Lindström. Sources: Uutismaailma and Turun Sanomat.
  • National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen and Minister of Employment Jari Lindström openly supported in 2016 vigilante gangs while Interior Minister Petteri Orpo was skeptical.

  • Add to the above the complacent silence of politicians like former PS leader Timo Soini and a long list of others and a clear picture emerges: It’s fine for white folks to be racist and fascist as long as they are hostile to Muslims and other non-white groups they scapegoat.

  • Another worrisome phenomenon that helped fuel the rise of vigilante groups was the Finnish media’s fascination, their toothless editorials and lame reaction to vigilante groups and the rise of racism and fascism in the country.

I consider Pohjolan Sanomat of Kemi as one o the best examples of media fascination for racism and fascism. Today we know that the vigilante group has a lot of members with criminal records. Read the original story here.

Continue reading “We have only to blame ourselves for the rise of vigilante gangs, racism and fascism in Finland”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Finland’s lost decade

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I asked a Finnish MP in the mid-1980s why she didn’t speak out against racism if she knew it was an issue. Just like the hatred of the Soviet Union and Russians made us go to bed with Nazi Germany in World Wr 2 (1941-44), the same hatred permits us to be racists and bigots today. 

Over 20 years later, we saw the rise of the Perussuomalaiset*, the first political party in modern Finnish history to capitalize on racism. The result: their numbers swelled to 39 MPs in the parliamentary elections of 2011 from 5 MPs in 2007. Our rendezvous with racism and fascism gave us a lost decade. Instead of building “us” we were tempted to polarize and fuel “them.” 

It is a very high price to pay to grasp that racism and fascism are hazardous to a country’s health and well-being. 

* After the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity.  One is more open about it while the other is more diplomatic. 

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS