Category: Enrique Tessieri

Exposing* white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There is one characteristic when watching for some years Finnish journalists, public officials, politicians and the public debate about racism: Everything will end like in a Hollywood movie, and we’ll live happily forever.

Happiness for some doesn’t hinge on ending racism in this country but on perpetuating it so that white Finns could have, at the cost of minorities, power, and privilege.

This type of wishful thinking permits journalists like Pressiklubi host Sanna Ukkola to provoke and flex her muscles at minorities by putting on an Amerindian feather hairpiece and show a clip of Pekka ja Pätkä blackfaces before diving into a sensitive topic like cultural appropriation.

Read Sanna Ukkola’s opinion piece (in Finnish) here.

Ukkola went even further by – yes, she did this – got in touch with a teacher’s employer at a school to point out that his tweets were out of line. The teacher, Tero Hannula, tweeted a poll asking whether Ukkola should wear a dunce cap, a Perussuomalaiset cap, a Ku Klux Klan hood or a bottle of all-purpose adhesive on her head.

Ukkola also went after blogger Suvi Auvinen and asked for a correction but didn’t make clear what she wanted to be corrected.

Continue reading “Exposing* white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland”

Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Sanna Ukkola is a YLE journalist who has stuck her foot in her mouth a number of times. Hosting Pressiklubi on Friday was a clear example when she put on an Amerindian feather hairpiece and showed a clip of Pekka ja Pätkä blackfaces to the audience. 

While she excused herself for wearing the hairpiece, the whole talk show was a fiasco and an embarrassment to YLE. Is cultural appropriation ok? We don’t know because the talk show didn’t take a clear stand on the issue.

Two of the guests, Matti Virtanen, a Talouselämä journalist, and conservative National Coalition Party councilman, Tere Sammallahti, added more injury to pain with their comments about cultural appropriation. The other guest was Left Alliance chairwoman Li Anderson, who disagreed with almost everything that the two other guests said.

Virtanen claimed that it was ok for Miss Helsinki candidates to wear the hairpiece because it was a copy and therefore didn’t insult anyone.

Yes, right, Virtanen. You have privilege and power to make such a point but not the moral authority because you are white.

Meet the candidates who are vying to be crowned Miss Helsinki. Source: Tämä päivä.

If Virtanen and Ukkola stuck their foots in their mouths, Sammallahti ended up with a Frankenstein shoe in his.

See original tweet by Outi Länsman here.

“Now that I have a 1.5-year-old boy child at home,” he said, “I hope he won’t have to grow up in a work where he’s made to feel guilty for being born white and, probably, heterosexual.”

Continue reading “Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns”

Tigthening immigration and asylum policy is putting a noose around our Nordic values

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I spoke this week to a Syrian refugee who got his residence to stay in Finland. He said that his wife and two children are living abroad and cannot come to Finland (because he isn’t working). He stated that he hadn’t been with his wife and children for two years.

After tightening family reunification laws last year, Center Party parliamentary group leader MP Antti Kaikkonen believes that the government has gone too far in tightening immigration policy, according to Lahti-based daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat. The Center Party believes that the 2,600-euro/month salary requirement to bring your spouse and two children should be changed. 

The suggestion by Kaikkonen has received a flat no from the Blue Reform (“New Perussuomalaiset”*) party that defected in June from the “Old” Perussuomalaiset (PS) party to not lose their ministerial posts since the Center Party and National Coalition Party would not have accepted the PS under Jussi Halla-aho in government.

Halla-aho, who has built his political career on Islamophobia, was convicted In 2012 for ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion.

As we have seen recently, the tightening of Finnish immigration and asylum policy has not only succeeded in killing our empathy for the suffering of others but showed what novices our politicians and decision-makers are when it comes to migration and cultural diversity. We have done great harm to our own values and sense of justice with the tightening of such laws.

The case of the Syrian man who lives in despair because he hasn’t been with his family for two years is not the only case.

When Finns emigrated in mass to North America before World War 2, they not only brought their families but their relatives, neighbors, and friends. The more, the merrier!

Blue Reform MP Simon Elo gives the thumbs down to Kaikkonen’s proposal of loosening family reunification guidelines. Source: Facebook.

Continue reading “Tigthening immigration and asylum policy is putting a noose around our Nordic values”

Defining white Finnish privilege #37: The master of near-everything

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do independent government agencies like the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, Ombudsman for Equality, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Discrimination and Equality Tribunal have in common?  All of them protect and defend the rights of women and minorities in Finland.

Another matter that these government agencies have in common is that minorities are underrepresented and that too few of us use their services.

One of the reasons could be ignorance and mistrust. Trust and credibility aren’t helped by the fact that few if any visible minorities are staffers in such bodies.

Another factor that doesn’t help is that in Finland women’s and minorities’ rights are defended by different agencies. In Sweden and Norway, women’s and minorities’ rights are protected by one agency.

While there are many dedicated people working for these bodies, one wonders if it is in their interest to splinter such an important issue in our society into four different bodies.

Finnish white privilege #37

One of the most important goals that migrants, minorities, and representatives of our culturally diverse community should strive for is more representation and say in these agencies.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: Unspeakable politicians and their own gain

Posted on by Migrant Tales

White Finns rarely consult migrants and minorities on anything important. They may ask them their opinion on x and y but the final decision on policy is made by them because you don’t really count. And then there are people like Jussi Halla-aho, Laura Huhtasaari, Timo Soini, Wille Rydman, and many others who pour gasoline and stoke the fires of ethnic hatred in this country. It is unspeakable that they do so for their own gain. 

Timo Soini telling an Old Perussuomalaiset racist to behave. at the end of the day, Soini got his fingers burned and ejected from the party. If there is a person who gave fascism, racism, homophobia, and sexism a platform in this country, that person is Soini.

* 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. Both could be called the “new” and “old” PS. 

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.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Lack of empathy

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The lack of empathy by politicians and the government for the suffering of vulnerable groups like asylum seekers came to light again when two refugees stabbed themselves in protest of Finland’s asylum policy. Lack of empathy is the first step or reminder that our society is dysfunctional and in trouble. War now seems a possibility. 

“Old” Perussuomalaiseet* MP Tom Packalén with his shined shoes and is total lack of empathy, a national illness these days. Cartoon by Sira Moksi.

* 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. Both could be called the “new” and “old” PS. 

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.

Double standards by the Finnish police. Who can insult whom?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

These two videos speak volumes about the differential treatment of asylum seekers and white Finns by the police. In the first video, the Finnish police handcuff two Finnish-speaking asylum seekers at the immigration detention center of Joutseno. One of them apparently for saying something inappropriate.

UPDATED One of the many matters that are interesting to watch in the video below is how well two asylum seekers speak Finnish. It is ironic that they are at an immigration detention center showing off their good Finnish-language skills.

Learning Finnish is important but it isn’t a panacea for your integration problems in this country. Migrants are, however, near-constantly fed this simplistic myth.

The video below (see 2:88-3:40 min) the first one, a white Finnish anti-immigration protestor is videotaping the police at a demonstration and openly insulting them by stating in their faces that they are “traitors,” “pigs, shit, and dickheads.”

The Finn continues to insult the police, but nothing happens to him.

What would happen if an asylum seeker did the same?

You wouldn’t hear the sound of silence but the door of a police cell shutting.

 

In this video (in Finnish) taken at the immigration detention center of Joutseno in eastern Finland, the police enter to detain and handcuff two asylum seekers who speak Finnish and who are apparently awaiting deportation. They detain and handcuff a second one who said something that the police didn’t like.

Continue reading “Double standards by the Finnish police. Who can insult whom?”

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Rejoice 100 years of Finland’s treatment of migrants and minorities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Should we boycott Finland’s centenary celebrations? One hundred years of building a white Finnish-speaking Lutheran society has not only whitewashed my roots and who my family was but on top of that continues to exclude me from being treated as an equal member of society. Do you have the courage to not only see but change how Finland treats migrants and minorities as well as eliminate the foul language it uses to label and perpetuate its power and privilege?

Those groups that don’t have power and privilege are not respected. “Finland is a free country. Here we sew [national] costumes, buy and sell them. Let the Finns rejoice and respect the Saami and their roots.  Source: Suohpanterror.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: The most dangerous racists and bigots of Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What is more dangerous, an openly racist party like the Perussuomalaiset* or politicians of mainstream parties who tow the line on structural racism, bigotry and do absolutely nothing to change matters. For me, the most dangerous group are the latter, who state with a poker face that they are against racism and don’t do anything about tackling such social ills. 

They are the same people who are now speaking of no-go zones in Sweden. There are no such things as no-go zones. That’s a racist urban tale. 

* 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.

 

MTV: Normalizing racism and bigotry in Finland with Jussi Halla-aho’s help

Posted on by Migrant Tales

After attending a European Network Against Racism in Brussels that ended Saturday, I discovered on my arrival to Finland that Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Chairman Jussi Halla-aho, convicted for ethnic agitation in 2012 and who built his political career on Islamophobia, is now a columnist in MTV, Finland’s largest privately owned television station. 

The big question is why Halla-aho and what does it say about the hostile anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity atmosphere in Finland?

It reveals, in my opinion, the continuing role of the media in normalizing racism and bigotry in this country.

Few will disagree that the PS under Halla-aho’s leadership is now unmistakably a far-right party that belongs in the same league as Marine Le Pen’s Front Nationale, Sweden Democrats, Danish People’s Party, AfD of Germany, UKIP, among others.

Cartoon by Sira Moksi.

In a statement by MTV3 managing editor Ilkka Ahtiainen, he justifies inviting Halla-aho because he’s chairman of the PS.

Fine, but there is one flaw in his statement that exposes a problem in the debate on our ever-growing cultural diverse society in Finland: It is a friendly debate only between white Finns.

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