Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 210 of 245

My identity is mine, not yours, so stop labeling me according to your prejudices

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Don’t let anyone, no one, ever define who you are. That’s your right and never give it away.

Why do some public services like the police even some migrants believe they have the right to define who are? The police do it constantly. Every time they label a person or group as a person with “foreign” or “migrant” background they are effectively relegating that person publicly to second- or third-class status in society.

Like in neighboring Sweden, where “a person with migrant background” is code for non-European or non-white, in Finland, it is used to remind you that white Finns run this country politically, culturally, economically and socially.

If a flag represents a country what represents a person’s personality and his or her identity?

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UPDATE (Apr. 13): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on April 13, 2015 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. 13

Muutos 2011 racist ad (Vantaan Sanomat)

What’s wrong with this ad? Coded racism in the media is common but being outright racist, like the what is written on Jari Leino’s Muutos 2011 ad is less common. Even if Vantaan Sanomat is a community paper, certainly it must abide to some standards. The ad states: Finland is for the Finns; Somalia is for the Somalis; advance vote Somalis back to their country. The editor of Vantaan Sanomat, A-P Pietilä, apologized for the ad but was his apology crocodile tears? Pietilä has a long track record stretching back to the 1990s of having strong anti-immigration opinions. Was publishing Leino’s ad a “mistake” or a lowly stunt to get public attention for the paper and of Pietilä’s anti-immigration views through a far-right Muutos 2011 candidate? All of these are valid questions that the media hasn’t even bothered to ask.

See original online ad here.

Nasima Razmyar: A powerful voice of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

In the last four years since the 2011 parliamentary elections, Nasima Razmyar, 30, has developed tremendously as a politician to become a strong voice of hope of Finland’s ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Razmyar, a candidatae for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) who lost getting elected by about 100 votes in the last election, vows to work tirelessly to change the present anti-cultural diversity climate presently gripping Finland.

Nasima Razmyar speaking to a group of students at Otava Folk High School in 2014.

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Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

A Finn is anyone with Finnish citizenship, right? Citizenship can be obtained through birth (jus sanguinis) or naturalization. Even if this should be clear as day, certain public services like the police continue to group Finns according to their so-called “foreign” or “immigrant” backgrounds.

I don’t have any problems with my foreign background even if I am a Finn. However, labeling me in such a way in such an anti-Other environment puts matters in a different context.

Is the label person with foreign or immigrant background an inclusive word that promotes social equality with white Finns? If it doesn’t what is it’s role then? Is it to rank non-white Finns as second- or third-class Finns?

Finns learned white privilege at school from a very early age when learning the alphabet. Saamis were called “Lapps” and an example of the letter “n” was the n-word. Source: Suohpanterror

Continue reading “Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?”

Helsingin Sanomat apologizes again for Estonian story but what about JSN’s Uimonen?

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Migrant Tales

There’s an interesting story on Saturday’s Helsingin Sanomat where editor Kaius Niemi apologizes (again) for a story published on Estonians earlier this month after it become clear that a complaint had been made to the Council of Mass Media in Finland (JSN).

The story that was removed asked readers to vote for the best nickname for Estonians. Some offensive names for Estonians that readers could vote on included virukset (virus = a person who is half Estonian and half Russian), kroonit (they’re so much after money) and retiisit (during Soviet occupation Estonians were red from the outside but white inside).

While the JSN aims at ensuring good professional standards in Finland by journalists and the national media, should JSN head Risto Uimonen take a look at the mirror for statements he made in January after the Charlie hebdo attack in Paris?

Uimonen was quoted as saying on Yle in English that what happened in Paris was an example of a clash of civilizations between the West and the Islamic world.

“This is a strong attack on democracy and freedom of speech,” he was quoted as saying on Helsingin Uutiset. “It pits two understandings of democracy, western and Islamic, against each other–and they can’t be reconciled.”

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Continue reading “Helsingin Sanomat apologizes again for Estonian story but what about JSN’s Uimonen?”

Perussuomalaiset ovat kaikista maahanmuuttovastaisin puolue Kaakkois-Suomessa

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Mikä on YLE:n vaalikoneen mukaan kaikista maahanmuuttajavastaisin puolue Kaakkois-Suomen vaalipiirissä? Siinä löytyy kirkkaasti yksi puolue yli muiden: Perussuomalaiset.

Vaikka maahanmuutto kysymys ei suoraan noussut YLE:n vaalikoneissa, oli siellä yksi joka antoi osviittaan ehdokkaan näkemyksen maahanmuutosta. Kysymys kolme turvallisuuden alla lukee: Maahanmuuttoa Suomeen on rajoitettava terrorismin uhan vuoksi.

Jani Mäkelä mainosta “maahanmuuttokriittisyyttä” vaikka hän oikeasti tarkoittaa erilaisuutta ja maahanmuuttovastaisuutta. Keitä ja mitä hän oikeasti tarkoittaa kun puhuu “suomalainen työ ensin?”

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Finnish PS MP Tolppanen: Speaking in code and having a getaway plan after a racist statement

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Maria Tolppanen is a good example of how anti-immigration politicians speak in code to their voters and have an escape plan after making a racist comment. Tolppanen’s getaway plan is the period mark in her statement.

These types of statements are double-edged swords because they give public exposure to a politician. Politicians like Tolppanen say racist things because they seek public attention.

What did she say?

Read original Facebook posting here.

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Finnish PS MP would be overjoyed to see “less migrants and more humans”

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Maria Tolppanen is a Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP who said she’d be overjoyed to see less migrants and more humans or people in Vaasa’s city square, according to a questionnaire to candidates that appeared on Vaasan Ikkuna and was posted on Facebook. Tolppanen, who has made racist statements before, uses a lowly term, mamu, when she refers to migrants in the story.

Tolppanen is member of the employment and equality committee of parliament, which, among other things, oversees matters such as equality, the working environment, occupational safety and labor.

Christian Thibault, chairman of Rasmus, an anti-racism NGO, said that while PS chairman Timo Soini has tried recently to play down his party’s issues with racism another matter is how successful he’s been at this.

“The Finns Party [PS] will never be ready to be a member of a government as a serious and reliable partner,” said Thibault. “Not even if some of its MPs [like Tolppanen] are desperately seeking reelection.”

PS MP Maria Tolppanen said that she’d be overjoyed to see fewer migrants and more humans in Vaasa’s city square.

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When the term immigrant becomes a red herring

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Migrant Tales

If there is a report, a story or some tale that sounds fishy it may suggest a red herring. One of these types of stories that should have received more scrutiny from the media was a report published Thursday by Perussuomalaiset (PS)* thinktank Suomen Perusta, which attempted to place a price tag on immigration.

There are a lot of questions that the 75-page report raises concerning methodology and why the study only mentions refugee, or quota refugee to be exact, once and labels all national groups as immigrants.

The Suomen Perusta report defines “immigrant” as any person who was born abroad but lives in Finland. Is this the definition that YLE uses in its story? We don’t know because YLE doesn’t tell us.

Does YLE define immigrant in the same way as the UN? The UN defines an immigrant as any person living in a country for over a year irrespective of the reason why he or she moved to another country.

An important question: Why does the PS use the term immigrant and only mentions refugee once? Certainly most Somalis that live in Finland came here seeking asylum. Even so, they are placed in the same group of “immigrants” with Germans, who are EU nationals.

True, the definition of immigrant could generally apply to Somalis but I think it is misleading especially in a study sponsored by an anti-immigration party like the PS.

Continue reading “When the term immigrant becomes a red herring”

UPDATE (Apr. 3): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on April 4, 2015 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. 3

This story was removed by Helsingin Sanomat the following day and the newspaper has apologized for publishing it.

Miten kutsuisimme virolaisia? (Helsingin Sanomat)

What’s wrong with this story? This story could show, apart from poor and shoddy journalism, white Finnish privilege and how stereotypes are spread and reinforced. The country’s biggest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, asks its readers to vote for the best nickname for Estonians without bothering to ask Estonians what they want to be called. In my opinion some offensive names on the list include virukset (virus = a person who is half Estonian and half Russian), kroonit (they’re so much after money) and retiisit (during Soviet occupation Estonians were red from the outside but white inside). Ever wonder which groups spread stereotypes of migrants and minorities? The Helsingin Sanomat story below is a worst example of how this is done. Their sense of humor may not be shared by Estonians and maybe considered outright offensive to some of them.

Continue reading “UPDATE (Apr. 3): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism”