Category: Enrique Tessieri

The PS of Pori, Finland, wanted to stop funding to Islamic cultural association

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Two Perussuomalaiset (PS)* members of the City of Pori board failed to get enough support behind a motion to stop funding to an Islamic cultural association, reports YLE. The association gets 4,000 euros in funding from the city.

Migrant Tales not only read this story with some concern.

Apart from being Muslims, is there any other reason why the PS wants to cut off funding to the Islamic cultural association in Pori?

 

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Read full story here.

The motion, which would have cut funding to five other political and student associations as well, was defeated 9-2.

The two PS city board members who backed the motion are Laura Huhtasaari and Tommi Salokangas.

Migrant Tales tried to get in touch with Huhtasaari but she was unavailable for comment.

Salokangas said that he didn’t really understand what Huhtasaari’s aim was except to probably get some attention.

“I’ve visited the people of the [Islamic] association and there is nothing wrong with them,” he said. “You have to ask Huhtasaari about the her motives [for trying to stop the funding].”

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names 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. 

Challenging urban tales about migrants and ourselves should be our first and foremost priority

Posted on by Migrant Tales

After contributing regularly for Migrant Tales and reading and answering some of the over 30,000 comments we have received in the past seven years, a bigger picture emerges. This has been reinforced by my work at a folk high school, where the majority of the students on campus aren’t white Finns.

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As Don Flynn of Migrants’ Right Network wrote, it’s crucial especially today that migrant community groups start working together to challenge the urban tales spread by opportunistic politicians in order to make a positive case for migration.

One such campaign he mentions is #MigrantsContribute!

He writes: ”[The group is] a social media-style name for a campaign that aims to bust into the mainstream with its core message that, far from being the unwelcome border crossers looking for a free ride so often presented by unscrupulous politicians and headline writers, migrants come to the UK full of hope and expectation that they will have the opportunity to contribute fully as fully rounded people in British society, and not merely exist as dehumanized factors of economic production.”

In order to get into the mindset of the far-right populist and those that spread anti-immigration rhetoric, it’s important to spot the red herring(s).

Since some politicians of the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* of Finland, an anti-EU, anti-immigration, homophobic and especially anti-Islam party, built their political careers on a message of intolerance, it’s clear that they seek today to find some kind of legitimacy.

An effective way of doing this is by giving a more mainstream image of the party and of oneself.

While such political parties and politicians may want to forge a new image of themselves, the context hasn’t changed at all.

They use underhanded and cheap-trick arguments to achieve a mainstream facelift. These arguments change constantly because they are based mostly on hearsay. If they stayed put, they’d be exposed as lies in many cases.

One typical argument used today by anti-immigration politicians is the following: We aren’t against immigration.”

The problem with this odd affirmation is that they are against immigration. It’s like the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. A white migrant Prince Charming appears, kisses the native Sleeping Beauty, she awakens and they live happily ever after in their white society.

If we dig a bit deeper into this claim by some anti-immigration parties and politicians, we’ll find another layer that is highly revealing. By wanting only white, or the right migrants, our real aim is to keep our society white. Thus anti-immigration groups are against non-white migrants because they loathe cultural diversity.

Another important matter that Migrant Tales has taught me is to be especially careful with those that offer simplistic answer to complex questions like integration.

One of the most common simplistic arguments used in Finland – in my opinion – is learn Finnish or Swedish and problem solved: You’re integrated!

Learning the local language is crucial and plays an important part in the migrants adaption to his or her new homeland, but it isn’t, however, a panacea to integration.

By giving into simplistic arguments like “just learn the language,” we forget other equally important issues like why integration should be the rule but too often everyone expects you to assimilate. There are many other factors we lose sight of as well: acceptance, inclusion, respect for cultural diversity, identifying pitfalls like poor performance of third-culture children at school, ethnic profiling, high migrant unemployment, poverty, health and social exclusion.

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names 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. 

 

Defining white Finnish privilege #3: No history, no doctrine, no heroes and no martyrs

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In many respects white privilege, or specifically white Finnish privilege, is a good way to understand some of the challenges that migrants and especially non-white Finns face in this country. Migrant Tales invites its readers to share their thoughts on the social ill.

Please send your comments on the topic to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

 

The Olen Suomalainen video clip says it all about making Finland a more inclusive country. Read full story here.
Are the days of white Finnish privilege counted or extended?

Understanding what white privilege is essential if we want to challenge intolerance in Finland. It’s pretty clear that the way white privilege works in the United States or in the United Kingdom shouldn’t differ greatly from white Finnish privilege.

Let’s look at some definitions of this social ill below.

Harry Brod states the following: “It [white privilege] is something that society gives me, and unless I change the institutions which give it to me, they will continue to give it, and I will continue to have it, however noble and equalitarian my intentions.”

Francis E. Kendall defines white privilege:

Privileges are bestowed on us by the institution with which we interact solely because of our race, not because we are deserving as individuals. While each of us is always a member of a race or races, we are sometimes granted opportunities because we, as individuals, deserve them; often we are granted them because we, as individuals, belong to one or more of the favored groups in our society.

Urban Dictionary defines it the following words:

The racist idea that simply being white benefits people in some unexplainable way, and that discriminating against white people is not only okay, but enlightened and necessary. The excuse some extremists use to justify pretty much any level of racism, as long as it is coming from people of color. A young American woman died because in college she was brainwashed into believing that her white privilege would protect her from being run over by a bulldozer.

And Time Wise says:

White privilege refers to any advantage, opportunity, benefit, head start, or general protection from negative societal mistreatment, which persons deemed white will typically enjoy, but which others will generally not enjoy.

If white privilege is detrimental to non-whites, the only way to challenge it is to expose and challenge it. This won’t be easy since who in their right minds wants to give up their privileges?

One way to start is to show the negative impact that white privilege not only has on minorities but on all of society.

A good question to ask if “since when was racism and prejudice good for society?”

____________

Definition #3

Rodolfo Walsh, an Argentinean journalist and writer, said something that we should never forget when we write our history.* Even if it was written in the 1970s and in Argentina, it still applies to immigrants and multicultural Finns and exposes how white Finnish privilege works:

Our dominant classes have made sure that the worker has no history, doesn’t have a doctrine, any heroes or any martyrs. Every struggle has to be started from scratch, separated from previous struggles; the collective history is lost, their lessons are forgotten. History appears as it if were private property, whose owners are the owners of everything.

In other words, as a migrant and Other in Finland, you have no history, no heroes or martyrs. Every struggle you begin starts from zero because you have no collective history. The only history that counts, and what you’ll be taught, is that of white Finns. You are unimportant and not taken into account.

*Wrote Alice Walker in her first published essay The Civil Rights Movement: What Good Was It? 

If the civil rights movement is ‘dead’, and if it gave us nothing else, it gave us each other for ever. It gave us history and men far greater than presidents. It gave us heroes, selfless men of courage and strength, for our little boys and girls to follow. It gave us hope for tomorrow. It called us to life.

See also:

What would you see if you looked in Jussi Halla-aho’s eyes?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Plans to give the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* a facelift and turn it into a mainstream party took another step in that direction when the new chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformist (ECR) group of the European parliament, MEP Syed Kamall, was satisfied with PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho’s explanation for his conviction for ethnic agitation.

What else could Kamall say after the PS and far-right Danish People’s Party, which have two “MEPs with criminal records,” joined the ECR?

If Kamall looked Halla-aho in the eye, what feelings would it raise among those migrants in Finland that the PS politician has insulted? What about Finland’s Somali community? What about the regular Immigrant Joe who works hard and pays his taxes in Finland but has to deal with the daily suspicion and discrimination that is reinforced by politicians like him?

Should they look him in the eye too and ask when this cat-and-mouse racism will stop.

If I looked in Halla-aho’s eyes I would probably see a troubled politician who is trying his hardest to justify the racism he wrote about in the past. His balancing act it living with the ghost of his past.

Here’s another big gamble that the PS and Halla-aho are talking in light of recent events. By trying to appear more mainstream, it’s the voters who will decide at the end of the day if they like the changes no matter how many times anyone looks Halla-aho and the party in the eye.

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Read full story here on YLE in English.

In Halla-aho’s words about the ECR: “They wondered a little bit about how something like this [writing he got sentenced for] could have brought a conviction.”

In Kamall’s words: “I sat down with him when I saw that issue reported, I looked him in the eye and I said ‘tell me about this…I’m satisfied by his explanation. Once again we are looking to parties that are looking to reform, we are looking for people…we don’t look at the past, we want to look at where we’re moving forward.”

Kamall said that if the Finns Party want to be a mainstream party and he’d be happy to help them with such a task.

Kamall is the same politician who justified the Danish People’s Party (DPP) membership into the ECR. He was quoted as saying on the Financial Times:

“The Danish People’s party is on a political journey. It now has a policy of controlled immigration and disagrees with those on the left who would allow uncontrolled immigration and benefit tourism.There is a clear distinction that the left-wing media often fails to make between a party that wants to control immigration and one that seeks to demonize immigrants. The DPP is the former.”

Possibly the MEP and head of the ECR should ask those migrants, Danes married with foreigners, and Muslims if the DPP doesn’t demonize migrants. The answers he’d receive could be highly revealing.

These types of statements by a Conservative Party MEP shouldn’t surprise us since they generally agree with the anti-immigration and anti-Islam stances of parties like the PS and DPP.

Thanks to the rise of an anti-EU and anti-immigration party, the UKIP, the Tories have preferred to mimic Nigel Farage’s message instead of challenging it. It’s the same story that happened in Finland before the PS’ historic election victory in 2011.

The United Kingdom has under Tory Prime Minister David Cameron become a more hostile place for immigrants in the form of giving space to intolerance through Go Home campaign and fear-mongering about hordes of Romanians swarming to the United Kingdom.

If you want to find out why Cameron has become so anti-EU and anti-immigration, all you have to do is look at Nigel Farage’s UKIP, which became the first party apart from the Tories and Labor to win an election since the early twentieth century.

The Tories are not a friendly party to migrants, which explains why the ECR has no problems with admitting xenophobic parties like the PS and DPP to its ranks.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names 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.  

World Café ponders if Porvoo, Finland, is a multicultural city

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales insight:  The World Café concept is an excellent way to empower and encourage people to participate and promote active citizenship. This World Café session, which took place in Porvoo on May 17, and asked participants to give their views on how cultural diversity is faring in the city.

One of the important findings of the event was that Porvoo needed to do more work in inclusion of migrants. Write the organizers: “All agreed Porvoo is a good place to live and the issues here are no different from any other city in Finland. There will be an even greater racial mix but this does not mean we will understand or communicate better with each other unless we take action now to make this happen.”

The event was organized by Citizens’ Forum, whose mission is to build civil society through culture and civic education offered by organizations.

___________________

The idea

The hearing was a part of the Participatory Community work –project of Citizens´ Forum. The project had two main elements; Identity work and active citizenship. The hearing in Porvoo concentrated on the latter. The idea in Porvoo was to build an open space for discussion of the people in Porvoo. The theme for the hearing was Porvoo – the city of many cultures. It was selected because we wanted to raise the issue that there are many people from other countries living in Porvoo who are not a problem or a threat but a possibility and a source for building a better Porvoo.

 

This video will give you an idea of how the World Café concepts works.

The basic work

We noticed that to be able to do participatory community work in the real sense of the word we had to find some way to get a position in the community where we can have a dialogue with the different actors (Finns, ethnic minorities, officials of the city, associations, educational institutions) who work with the theme of multiculturalism. One challenge for us was also to find ways to support the co-operation between the different institutions with common goals.

To do this basic work Alex McKie from Citizens´ Forum worked in Porvoo for three months before the Word Café Hearing. He also made tight co-operation with Kepa and the Mahdollisuuksien tori project group which was organising the Mahdollisuuksien Tori (Marketplace of Possibilities) event 2014 in Porvoo. To get the synergy effects there was a decision made that the Citizens´ Forum World Café will take place on the same day as the Mahdollisuuksien tori on the 17th of May.

In the process of making the hearing possible there were many actors working together with us. We have to mention some of the partners in the network. The Culture House Grand was giving us the possibility to use the culture house as a venue for the hearing. Amisto – ammattiopisto prepared a devising drama performance with which the hearing was opened. Luckan was helping us to connect us with many important actors eg. the ombudsman for minorities Eva Biaudet. Eva Biaudet sent a video greeting to the participants of the hearing. We also had contact with Mikaela Nylander, a member of the Parliament and the chair of the Porvoo city council. The Red Cross of Porvoo was marketing the event actively and they also had a work shop on Young people and voluntary work right after the World Café on the 17th of May.

The Word Café

It was a long process to choose the actual method for the hearing. We were first thinking of a panel on our theme but we decided that it was not deliberative enough to meet our needs. For a long time we were discussing whether the hearing should be organized as a World Café or as an open space discussion. As we didn’t know if 5 or 50 people would turn up or how many languages the discussion would include etc. , we decided to do it as a Word Café.

In the process we had four Café tables and for questions: Is Porvoo Multicultural? How has multiculturalism affected your life? How can people from different cultures talk together? How will my Porvoo look like in the year 2020? We also had four discussion rounds, so each participant could discuss all the themes.

We had a team of facilitators which reflected the cultural and language construction of the Porvoo community. About 20 citizens turned up. As all of them were able to communicate in English we decided to make the hearing in English.

The four discussion round lasted about one hour. Afterwards we had a feedback discussion where the facilitators of each Café table introduced the discussions which had taken place in their group. These introductions are presented beneath.

Café Table nr 1: Is Porvoo multicultural?

The initial response to this question was: yes, and this was given without hesitation. However, with each group there was also the same response that there are not many people from other cultures visible, at least not in the city centre. They also seem to keep a low profile wherever they are. A group of six young ethnic minority youth disclosed that if you are from an ethnic minority group you are more likely to be picked on. People know that what they are doing is wrong but they do it anyway. The young participants also felt that they are blamed for most things before their white counterparts. They especially didn’t feel listened to or understood by their teachers and their message to them was: “open your ears”.

Other group members who have had contact with newcomers to Finland stated that it is very hard for people from ethnic minority groups to access mainstream services and they gave sport as an example. People from ethnic minority groups are likely to live in two areas of the city and don’t tend to travel beyond these areas. They also spoke of young people who are acting as carers for the rest of the family due their language skills. They felt that many people from ethnic minority groups are isolated and especially they need courage to access anything mainstream.

All agreed that Porvoo is multicultural but only in the smallest sense. The mere fact that there are people from many cultures in Porvoo, doesn’t make Porvoo Multicultural in strict meaning of the word. What matters is the quality of the dialogue between the people and cultures. Some participants thought that there is an expectation for ethnic minorities to assimilate into Finnish Culture at the cost of their own.

There was a sense of disappointment. At the same time the Mahdollisuuksien tori (Marketplace for Possibilities) was taking place outside and candidates of the European election were campaigning and yet so few people were willing to discuss such important issues. They felt that we spend a lot of time in festivals and events, which are multicultural but there is no open discussion of the effects of multiculturalism. This dismay was expressed as to why there were no city officials taking part in the forum and why were these issues being avoided.

Café Table nr 2: How has multiculturalism affected your life.

All participants of this discussion felt that multiculturalism had affected their lives in positive ways. The overall view was that in last five years Porvoo has become a much better place for different cultures to live together. This cultural mix gives new ideas and freshens to the society. There were also positive ideas about what newcomers contribute to the economy and culture of the city.

Many of the white Finnish participants said they work together with people from ethnic minority groups on a daily basis and they feel it has improved their lives. They feel that the attitude is important and if you have an international view of the world it helps you accept other cultures. In their work they come across vulnerable people from other cultures and they feel that helping them is an important step in building mutual trust.
The participants felt that friendship between cultures is possible when we see the person as human beings. There can be some challenges, but if you do the work, it enriches every ones life.

Café Table nr 3: How can people from different cultures talk together?

The participants felt that one of the key obstacles to intercultural communication is language. People have to have some kind of common language to be able to communicate with each other. But this is not enough. We have to build a solid foundation for people to have an opportunity to communicate as equals. First of all there should implement a measurable integration strategy. This strategy take into account the holistic needs of individuals and their families (incl. questions of education, employment, social services and rights as citizens).

There should be education on multiculturalism in schools as early as possible and education for employers to recognize the skills and professionalism of ethnic minorities. The Media should also have a clear agenda in questions relating to multiculturalism. In this way we would get more of a balanced perspective and understanding about the underlying issues.

There are very good examples of cultural cooperation between people in Porvoo. But many issues that immigrants face in their every day lives are not spoken of. It was thought that there is not a good mix of the different cultural groups in Porvoo and people tend to stay within their own culture. This was one of the contributory features of isolation and creates barriers to positive interaction.

All agreed there was a need to empower and strengthen ethnic minority groups in positive ways which would include them in decision making processes. Some examples where this kind of participation could take place are decisions about social services, recreation and education. Sport was also an area of concern, because there are many young people who would like to take part in sports but don’t. They consider the main reason for this is an inadequate understanding of the needs of these young people by the coaches and the overall atmosphere which makes it difficult to join.

Café Table nr 4: What will my Porvoo look like in the year 2020?

Porvoo will become more international and less traditional due to the expansion of the Helsinki metropolis. There will be a greater cultural mix but this will not necessarily lead to better understanding of each other. Dialogue between cultures will become an even more complicated issue. Although we will be more aware of other cultures there may be little interaction between groups if we don’t take action to address this issue. The participants recommended that we take positive steps towards creating spaces for cultural interaction. This would be where different cultures can meet equally and take proactive action to strengthen cultural identity and encourage inclusion. They would like to see more meeting points where issues can be discussed and give Citeizens’ Forum World Café as an example.

The younger members of the forum also described Porvoo as the best place to live and expressed this in writing on the table cloths of the World Café: “Porvoo is best”. In the discussions there was a sense of optimism that Porvoo is a good place to live and that the issues raised are to be found all over the country. They feel that there are the resources and will to meet the needs of 2020 Porvoo. However, this needs openness and a place where contrasting views can be heard.

Conclusions and recommendations.

Porvoo is multicultural and that is not going to change. This gives the citizens many challenges and experiences that can improve the quality of our lives. For this to happen we need to listen and to learn from each other. The forum was described by its members as the first time they had been able to learn from others in this way about the themes of multiculturalism. One of the biggest issues that all expressed was the disappointment that city officials and politicians had not taken part in the forum. They also wondered why it is so difficult to talk about issues we are not so comfortable with like discrimination end exclusion.

On a positive note they think that they have now found their voices and a way to work together that can find a way forward. But for this to happen it needs greater awareness and understanding of how discrimination affects the quality of people’s lives. For attitudes to change there needs to be more forums like this Citizens’ forum World Café.

We had spoken of the need to break down stereotypes and to start to look at each other as people. This worked both ways and a need was identified for ethnic minorities to stop stereotyping our Finnish counterparts and to understand their situation and story as well. The forum had established trust between us as people free from institutional or cultural constraints.

We identified many issues but did not have the time to form actions. We felt that to do this we would want to give our decisions to the representatives of the local government of Porvoo to decide what action can be taken.

MP Olli Immonen reinforces that the PS is a xenophobic and racist party

Posted on by Migrant Tales

After the EU election victories of the National Front of France, UKIP and the Danish People’s Party, Perussuomalaiset (PS)* MP Olli Immonen lashes out against Muslims on a blog entry, claiming that Europe is being overtaken by Muslims. 

This latest attack by Immonen against Muslims, migrants and non-white Finns, is a good example that the PS is a xenophobic party with deep far-right roots that loathes cultural diversity. Immonen’s stance is no different from the ethnic war drums that politicians like Marine Le Pen’s National Front and Geert Wilders’ Party of Freedom are beating.

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While Immonen’s racist rants don’t surprise us, the silence of the PS, who claims not to be a racist party, the media and politicians is equally worrying.

There is very little value in what Immonen writes except that it exposes that racism is the same ogre in Finland as elsewhere in Europe.

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names 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. 

Defining white Finnish privilege #2: Third culture children versus “pupil with immigrant background”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In many respects white privilege, or specifically white Finnish privilege, is a good way to understand some of the challenges that migrants and especially non-white Finns face in this country. Migrant Tales invites its readers to share their thoughts on the social ill.

Please send your comments on the topic to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

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Do you live or kill time?
Are the days of white Finnish privilege counted or extended?

Understanding what white privilege is essential if we want to challenge intolerance in Finland. It’s pretty clear that the way white privilege works in the United States or in the United Kingdom shouldn’t differ greatly from white Finnish privilege.

Let’s look at some definitions of this social ill below.

Harry Brod states the following: “It [white privilege] is something that society gives me, and unless I change the institutions which give it to me, they will continue to give it, and I will continue to have it, however noble and equalitarian my intentions.”

Francis E. Kendall defines white privilege:

Privileges are bestowed on us by the institution with which we interact solely because of our race, not because we are deserving as individuals. While each of us is always a member of a race or races, we are sometimes granted opportunities because we, as individuals, deserve them; often we are granted them because we, as individuals, belong to one or more of the favored groups in our society.

Urban Dictionary defines it the following words:

The racist idea that simply being white benefits people in some unexplainable way, and that discriminating against white people is not only okay, but enlightened and necessary. The excuse some extremists use to justify pretty much any level of racism, as long as it is coming from people of color. A young American woman died because in college she was brainwashed into believing that her white privilege would protect her from being run over by a bulldozer.

And Time Wise says:

White privilege refers to any advantage, opportunity, benefit, head start, or general protection from negative societal mistreatment, which persons deemed white will typically enjoy, but which others will generally not enjoy.

If white privilege is detrimental to non-whites, the only way to challenge it is to expose and challenge it. This won’t be easy since who in their right minds wants to give up their privileges?

One way to start is to show the negative impact that white privilege not only has on minorities but on all of society.

A good question to ask if “since when was racism and prejudice good for society?”

____________

Definition #2

Why are third-culture children being called openly at Finnish schools pupils “with immigrant backgrounds,” or maahanmuuttajataustainen in Finnish? Is it to strengthen their identity and self-esteem or to let them know at an early age that they lost out in Finland because they’re the wrong ethnicity and background? Are our schools teaching them to challenge labels such as maahanmuuttajataustainen and white Finnish privilege when they grow up?

With the power white ethnic Finns have over migrants and minorities, it’s clear that we are educating such youngsters to be complacent and apathetic second- and third-class citizens.

See also:

 

Defining white Finnish privilege #1: I have it and you don’t

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In many respects white privilege, or specifically white Finnish privilege, is a good way to understand some of the challenges that migrants and especially non-white Finns face in this country. Migrant Tales invites its readers to share their thoughts on the social ill. 

Please send your comments on the topic to [email protected].

IMG_9141

Are the days of white Finnish privilege counted or extended?

 

Understanding what white privilege is essential if we want to challenge intolerance in Finland. It’s pretty clear that the way white privilege works in the United States or in the United Kingdom shouldn’t differ greatly from white Finnish privilege.

Let’s look at some definitions of this social ill below.

Harry Brod states the following: “It [white privilege] is something that society gives me, and unless I change the institutions which give it to me, they will continue to give it, and I will continue to have it, however noble and equalitarian my intentions.”

Francis E. Kendall defines white privilege:

Privileges are bestowed on us by the institution with which we interact solely because of our race, not because we are deserving as individuals. While each of us is always a member of a race or races, we are sometimes granted opportunities because we, as individuals, deserve them; often we are granted them because we, as individuals, belong to one or more of the favored groups in our society.

Urban Dictionary defines it the following words:

The racist idea that simply being white benefits people in some unexplainable way, and that discriminating against white people is not only okay, but enlightened and necessary. The excuse some extremists use to justify pretty much any level of racism, as long as it is coming from people of color. A young American woman died because in college she was brainwashed into believing that her white privilege would protect her from being run over by a bulldozer.

And Time Wise says:

White privilege refers to any advantage, opportunity, benefit, head start, or general protection from negative societal mistreatment, which persons deemed white will typically enjoy, but which others will generally not enjoy.

If white privilege is detrimental to non-whites, the only way to challenge it is to expose and challenge it. This won’t be easy since who in their right minds wants to give up their privileges?

One way to start is to show the negative impact that white privilege not only has on minorities but on all of society.

A good question to ask if “since when was racism and prejudice good for society?”

________________

Definition #1

White Finnish privilege requires me to near-constantly define my Otherness in order to make me unequal or be identified as a person who does not have full access to those privileges bestowed to white Finns. 

 

The PS of Finland makes its post-election debut in the European media with labels like “xenophobic,” “far right” and “MEPs with criminal records”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It has been quite a rough two weeks for the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party after the May 25 EU parliamentary elections: accusations of being far-right in the company of neo-Nazi parties like the Golden Dawn of Greece; and speculation by a senior Finnish official in the Financial Times that it was unlikely that the PS would join the European Conservatives and Reformists group of the European parliament because the party is xenophobic.

To add to the PS’ image problem, the Financial Times headlined the following story on Wednesday: “MEPs with criminal records join Tories’ euroceptic group.”

The two MEPs with criminal records are PS MEP Jussi Halla-aho and Morten Messerschmidt of the Danish People’s Party, who was convicted in 2002 for claiming that cultural diversity was linked to rape, violence and forced marriages.

The membership of the PS and DPP in the ECR reveals that UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his fellow conservative apparently consider shoplifting a worst crime to have on your political record than ethnic agitation.

Certainly the PS, which has tried its hardest to change its anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam image, wasn’t too happy about what the foreign media wrote and launched on Friday a witch-hunt to find the anonymous senior official that was quoted on the Financial Times.

PS party secretary, Riikka Slunga-Pitsalo, gave an ultimatum in a statement: “We expect an answer and clarification [from the ministry for foreign affairs] by Monday. We’ll consider what steps will take after that. The smear campaign of Finland’s third-largest party by the foreign media must end.”

Intended for mass consumption and portray the party once again as being unfairly victimized by the media, it’s clear that the anonymous source that the PS wants to lynch in public will never be uncovered.

Another interesting matter to watch after the EU elections is whether Marine Le Pen’s National Front will succeed in forming a new group in the European parliament. For that, the National Front needs at least 25 MEPs from 7 countries.

Members of the far right are, however, optimistic that they’ll succeed at forming a new far right anti-EU group, the European Alliance for Freedom.

“We hope to get more than seven member parties,” a source was quoted anonymously by EurActive.com. “This would reduce the pressure, for instance, if one party leaves. We’re soliciting the same MEPs or parties as the Europe for Freedom and Democracy [EFD] and even the European Conservatives and Reformists group.”

Another interesting group to watch from the anti-immigration and anti-EU perspective is if UKIP can get enough members to form the EFD.

 

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The former home of the PS, the EFD, looks like a sinking ship with former members defecting to the ECR or EAF camp. Read full story here.

 

Even if the PS has tried to make itself appear more “mainstream” by toning down its anti-immigration rhetoric, voters should not forget that it was anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam rhetoric that the party used shamelessly to lure voters.

We don’t have to waste our time accusing individual politicians of being racists. What should be done is never to forget the racist comments they’ve made in the past. That is evidence that will follow and haunt them throughout their lives.

Another matter we shouldn’t forget is that the PS can, like the UKIP did in the EU elections, metamorphose into a ever-hostile anti-immigration party. Considering their ability to ditch their campaign promises depending on the political winds that are blowing at the time, it would be wishful thinking to believe that the party wouldn’t ratchet its anti-immigration and anti-Islam rhetoric to secure votes.

In my opinion, it is the disgraceful political record and the PS’ chicanery that has estranged many voters from politics.

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names 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. 

 

The PS of Finland launches witch-hunt against the anonymous senior official who said it was a xenophobic party

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* have launched a witch-hunt against an anonymous senior official who said on the Financial Times that it was unlikely that the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group would want to team up with the PS  because it is a”xenophobic and backward-looking 1980s nostalgia [party].” 

Said the senior official: “I find it very difficult to believe that [David] Cameron’s Conservatives, with whom we work closely to promote innovative, open and competitive societies, would team up with the True Finns whose rise to large extent is on xenophobia and backward-looking 1980s nostalgia.”

PS party secretary Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo expressed rage in a statement  for what the senior official said.

“We expect an answer and clarification [from the ministry for foreign affairs] by Monday. We’ll consider what steps will take after that. The smear campaign of Finland’s third-largest party by the foreign media must end.”

Minister for foreign affairs, Erkki Tuomioja, questioned on YLE  if the senior official that was quoted by the Financial Times even worked at the ministry.

While the media has the right to quote anonymous officials, plans to find such a source by the PS reveals how little respect and ignorance of the party for press freedom and how the media works.

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Read full statement (in Finnish) here.

One of the most incredible statements that Slunga-Poutsalo makes in the statement is that the PS isn’t a far-right party but one that is center left.

Last week, the Huffington Post, news agency AFP, PolicyMic and others labelled the PS a far-right party in the company of neo-Nazi groups like Greece’s Golden Dawn and Jobbik of Hungary.

If the PS is center left, why did the PS team up with the ECR, which are pretty close to the Youth Wing of the National Coalition Party?

The Youth League of the National Coalition Party made 150 proposals last year that, if implemented, would turn Finland into a U.S.-modeled country where money is king. Some of the proposals made by the group are racist and xenophobic and in line with the most far right representatives of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party.

The youth wings of the PS and National Coalition Party have lobbied to demote the Swedish language to elective status in schools.

 

* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The names 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.