Category: Enrique Tessieri

Migrant Tales (June 16, 2012): The crux of European racism – too little inclusion, too much race and blood

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Much of the way Europeans perceive themselves as a group today is still deeply embedded in racism. The fact that we haven’t yet even started to confront the legacy of colonialism, which fuels our ”us” and ”them” view of the world, reveals a disturbing fact: There’s still too little inclusion and acceptance in this part of the world. 

Sadder still is the fact that too few of us openly promote more inclusion and acceptance in our society. How many times have you heard your local politician use terms like “mutual acceptance” and “respect” when speaking of immigrants and visible minorities?

Our race-and- blood view of ourselves and “others” explains why some Europeans still have difficulty overcoming the “us vs. them” mindset.

It would be naive, even foolhardy, to claim that the root of European racism does not date back to the nineteenth century, when we were a colonial power.

Racist views of other groups, especially blacks, is still predominant. The drawing is from the Golden Book Encyclopedia. The 1959 edition sold over 60 million volumes. 

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Finland 2015 is a sinking ship: Throw overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and our Nordic values

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What destiny can befall a country or a political party that retreats into its own fears and scapegoats migrants for its own blunders and inaction? As one friend pointed out, Finland resembles today a sinking ship that is throwing overboard excess weight like migrants, refugees, minorities and Nordic values. 

The situation is dire, very dire. All you have to do is take a whiff of the political atmosphere in Finland. Today the Perussuomalaiset (PS),* a populist anti-immigration party that still believes the sun revolves around the Earth, are the second-biggest political party in parliament.

responsibility

Finland resembles a sinking vessel in the present anti-immigration and nationalistic political climate coupled with a diehard recession stretching back to 2008.

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Friday’s A-studio: Attack the weak and vulnerable in Finland because they can’t fight back

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In many respects the success of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party in the last two parliamentary elections could be seen as a last cry against our ever-growing cultural diversity, which is a reality and will continue to grow in the future. Newly elected PS MP Laura Huhtasaari was one of the guests on Friday’s A-studio together with Green League MP Ozan Yanar, the new face in parliament of our multicultural society. 

Just like PS MP Hanna Mäntylä’s anti-immigration views on Thursday’s A-studio, Huhtasaari says some pretty incredible things as well the following day.

One of these was that she considers Sweden to be “dangerous example” that we should in not follow in Finland.  The PS MP also claims that the integration of those immigrants that were given a residence permit on humanitarian grounds haven’t succeeded at integrating in any European country.

Her “bad immigration” example is typical of what Islamophobes use by customarily pointing the finger at Saudi Arabia, a close US ally and the most extremist Islamic country in the world, as an example.

Why not show some positive examples? I’m certain there are many of these types of Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Immigration has been vital to Sweden’s economic growth and prosperity as a nation.

Like many of the arguments used by anti-immigration politicians like Huhtasaari, we’re usually exaggerating figures and scapegoating certain groups.

It doesn’t take too much intelligence to understand there’s something fishy about her claim that so-called humanitarian immigrants haven’t integrated anywhere in Europe. I could name many who have and adapted beyond expectations in becoming new members of our society.

One of these is Abdirahim Husu Hussein together with a long list of others.

Her argument “haven’t integrated anywhere” has been proven wrong with only a handful of examples.

Moreover, her claim is a common one used by far-right anti-immigration politicians in Europe. The twisted logic she uses is simple: Since you will never adapt to our country you better not come here.

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When PS MP Laura Huhtasaari speaks of these immigrants who “haven’t successfully integrated anywhere” in Europe how many of these types of people is she speaking of in Finland? A few thousands, maybe?  Like PS MP Hanna Mäntylä, Huhtasaari proves to us again that the main message of the PS concerning migrants is scapegoating.

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Thursday’s A-studio: How the Finnish media and politicians paint immigrants with a single brush

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I almost fell off my seat when I watched A-studio Thursday. Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Hanna Mäntylä justified the ongoing victimization and labeling of Finland’s small migrant community. She said this was fine because some white Finns are poor. 

“We have in effect people who live and are on the verge of suffering from hunger because they don’t have enough money to pay for food on a daily basis,” said Mäntylä. “Yes, these kinds of stories come in loud and clear on the campaign trail like why we have this kind of immigration policy in Finland.”

One of the problems with this kind of claim by Mäntylä is that she includes all migrants and paints them with a single brush.  Her point is a clear example of scapegoating but neither the host nor the guests brought this up.

Is it the fault of those refugees fleeing war and hunger that some white Finns are, as Mäntylä points out, on the verge of suffering from hunger?

Of course not but she blames all migrants for this.

If we are fair, Mäntylä’s statement reveals the hostility of the PS towards cultural diversity and how they want to keep migrants as second- or third-class citizens.

Mäntylä’s view of immigration – she doesn’t distinguish between migrants and refugees never mind humanitarian immigration – is one matter but when those present like Ilkka Kanerva of the National Coalition Party, Green League MP Ville Niinistö and Antti Kaikkonen of the Center Party don’t challenge such populist statements that too speaks volumes about why migrants are the favorite punching bag of politicians.

Since the majority of migrants are employed in this country and pay taxes, how many of these migrants that Mäntylä cites are we speaking of? How many thousands compared with the hundreds of thousands of Finns who get social welfare? In English we call this a storm in a tea cup. Another good term is scapegoating.

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PS MP Hanna Mäntylä states that it’s fine to loathe all migrants and demand a change in immigration policy since there are Finns who are on the verge of suffering from hunger in this country. Her statement is a good example of scapegoating.

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Christian Thibault: Don’t let fear intimidate you but watch your back!

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Christian Thibault, chairman of Rasmus, an anti-racism NGO, asks how safe are our streets for migrants and minorities after Sunday’s parliamentary elections? Thibault is concerned but doesn’t want anyone to live in fear.

“Don’t withdraw into safe ghettos,” he continued, “but be careful especially this coming weekend [when people of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* will be celebrating the party’s election victory].”

Just like after an ice-hockey world championship, or after an election victory, fans and followers can get pretty violent when celebrating.

We’ve already seen some violence after Sunday’s elections reported in Facebook. Two of these are are by JT and “Abdulah” (see below). JT wrote about a group of white Finns that attacked this week a migrant on a commuter train.

“The ice is thawing but can we say the same about intolerance and xenophobia in Finland?” Thibault said. “I don’t think so. The elections have emboldened some Finns to act in a hostile manner against migrants and minorities.”

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PS MP Immonen wants “a nationalistic revolution” in Finland

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Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen appears to be on a crusade lined with pipe dreams. Immonen, who is chairman of the far-right Suomen Sisu association, which discourages white Finns from marrying foreigners, wrote that “the people” should grab power and start “a nationalistic revolution.”

Pekka Venamo, the former leader of the Finnish Rural Party (SMP), has linked Immonen’s ideology to that of the Nazis.

Certainly Immonen, who got reelected with 4,875 votes, believes his racist and far-right views are ok since this is what his voters want to hear.

But how is it possible that a country that claims to have one of the best educational systems in the world has so many people that house hostile views of people who are different from them? Finland should watch itself and a remarkable amount of leadership is needed from us to ensure that we don’t drive a stake through the heart of this country by isolating ourselves from Europe and feeding off our bigotry.

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This is Suomen Sisu’s view of multicultural marriages.

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UPDATE 2 (Apr. 22): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

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Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Apr. 22

YLE poll: Majority of Finns oppose work-based immigration (YLE)

What’s wrong with this story? In 2010 Migrant Tales asked when these type of what-Finns-think-off-immigrant polls would stop? And they have stopped but Wednesday YLE  published an online random and unrepresentative poll that showed three quarters were against work-based immigration to Finland. YLE committed two big no-nos by carrying out and publishing the results of the poll: (1) asking a question that will give us an obvious answer and (2) using an unrepresentative poll. The question that the poll asked is as bad as “do you want more migrants to move to your country?” Few people would respond positively to such a question even if there were few immigrants living in their country. The same goes for immigrants coming to work here. The poll and publishing it showed poor judgement on behalf of YLE.

Continue reading “UPDATE 2 (Apr. 22): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”

UPDATE (Apr. 22): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Apr. 22

Tapanilan joukkoraiskauksesta syytteet viidelle (YLE)

What’s wrong with this story? The news story by YLE on sentencing five youths with so-called “foreign backgrounds” is an example of how the media and society continue to perceive non-white Finns, especially those that are suspected of a crime, as eternal outsiders. The police may use an ethnic description of a suspect that is at large but to continue to label such a person while in custody is odd. Certainly there’s nothing odd about this if your aim is to stress “us” at the cost of “them.”  Migrant Tales got in touch with the policeman in charge of the Tapanila gang rape investigation. He admitted that some of the suspects were born and raised in this country and were Finnish citizens but didn’t consider these facts to be important in the investigation. Not an important fact? With one word, person with foreign background, the police labelled all migrants and gave a rude message to Finns that aren’t white: You are an outsider.

Tabloid Ilatlehti used the same term to describe a group of 8 youths aged 15-17 years who were sentenced for street robbing and attacking victims in Eastern Helsinki. The tabloid mentioned that “most of those sentenced” had “foreign backgrounds.”

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White Finn vows to send Somali Finn “back to where he came from”

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Abdulah is no stranger to Migrant Tales. He tells us about an incident a day after Sunday’s elections, which saw the populist anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset* become the country’s second-biggest party in parliament. 

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* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We therefore prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings.

Finnish whiteness, Russophobia, anti-immigration and our ever-growing cultural diversity

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One matter that became clear in Sunday’s parliamentary elections is how polarized Finland is. On the one hand anti-immigration and Finnish whiteness was heard loud and clear, while two new non-white Finns were elected to parliament: Social Democrat Nasima Razmyar and Ozan Yanar of the Greens.

If there is good news to emerge from these elections, it’s Razmyar , Yanar and let’s not forget Jani Toivola of the Greens, a black Finnish MP, who got reelected.

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The three new faces of Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity in parliament (from left to right): Nasima Razmyar, Ozan Yanar and Jani Toivola.

Even if the three MPs are small examples of how Finnish society is changing they are huge steps towards greater recognition that Finland is, never was, and never will be an only white society.

Over 1.2 million Finns emigrated from this country between 1860 and 1999.

No matter how many Perussuomalaisiet (PS)* and other anti-cultural diversity politicians are elected in the future, no matter how loud and hostile their voices become, there is one matter they cannot stop: Finland’s ever-growing cultural and ethnic diversity.

A good example of the xenophobic voices in Finland are, among a long list of other politicians, Suna Kymäläinen of the Social Democratic Party, who got reelected to parliament with 7,428 votes, and Laura Huhtasaari of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party with 9,254 votes.

An MP from Ruokolahti, located next door to Russia, Kymäläinen campaigned on an anti-Russian campaign to prohibit real-estate purchases by Russians in Finland. Even after her proposal to prohibit real-estate purchases by non-EU citizens was defeated in a parliamentary committee, Kymäläinen continued campaigning tirelessly for such a restrictions by proposing a citizen’s initiative.

 

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Here is a good example of how to succeed as a politician in Finland. Idealize Finnish whiteness by dying your hair bleach blonde, have blue eyes and add some xenophobic sound bites. Presto! Instant election success. Suna Kymäläinen had a strong Russophobic message while Huhtasaari campaigned against immigrants so that jobs wouldn’t go to them. Both got elected with a handsome number of votes.

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