Category: Enrique Tessieri

Yes Swiss vote against “mass migration” will impact MEP elections in May

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Switzerland voted on Sunday to narrowly approve a referendum proposal to stop “mass migration,” reports The Independent. The immediate impact of the referendum, which the “yes” camp won with a slim 50.3% majority, will mean an end to the free movement of people and goods between Switzerland and the EU.

Apart from having an immediate economic impact on Switzerland, the really bad news is that the referendum may boost anti-immigration sentiment, which is one of the campaign issues of right-wing populist and far-right political parties throughout Europe, in the May 25 MEP elections.  Kuvankaappaus 2014-2-11 kello 0.45.51

Read full story here.

In Finland, the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) must be jumping for joy about the Swiss referendum outcome since they see the vote as a boost to their negative stand on cultural diversity.

One of the most incredible claims of the Swiss right-wing populist Democratic Union of Center (UDC) during the campaign to stop “mass migration” was that housing, health, education and transport services would collapse under the pressure from the “foreign invasion.”

There are a lot of loaded words that are common in the anti-immigration vocabulary like “invasion” and “mass immigration” that were effectively used by the UDC. The “yes” campaign posters even showed black legs walking purposefully over a Swiss flag.

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A poster of the “yes” camp against so-called “mass migration.” Source: www.thelocal.ch

The most recent referendum in Switzerland is part of a worrying trend that is gripping Europe. While some may claim it has to do with the recession, the real reason behind the undercurrent of intolerance throughout the region is our own doing since because a part of our education teaches us national and ethnic superiority over other groups.

If we aren’t careful, we will fall victim to the horrors we saw in Nazi Germany from 1933 and in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s to name a few conflicts that have gripped Europe.

Migrant high unemployment in Finland is a good way to measure discrimination and social exclusion

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Apart from Jim Crow laws and centuries of discrimination, one of the many social issues that the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s addressed was high unemployment among blacks. In a country like Finland, which sees work as a crucial pathway to inclusion and acceptance, it’s clear that unemployment is an effective to way to socially exclude and subjugate groups from society.

The expectations of some Finns about migrants is so low that they are willing to accept them to work in low-paying jobs that they would never take.

According to a Helsingin Sanomat article, the jobless rate among migrants rose by one fifth to close to 30,000 migrants compared with a year ago. Migrant unemployment in 2012 totaled over 22%.

As long as unemployment is 2-3 times higher than the national average, it means that migrants, and especially their children, will be denied a better life in Finland.

Why isn’t abysmally high unemployment among some members of the migrant community in Finland an issue? It not only shows, in my opinion, the little social consciousness of some migrants but our little interest in tackling social ills like intolerance and discrimination.

The present situation reveals as well how Finland has benefited from high unemployment among migrants. Not only does it keep certain migrant groups in check, it keeps social workers employed and anti-immigration politicians from parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) in the headlines.

One answer that sheds light on the above-mentioned is that racism makes people and groups invisible.

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Read full story here.

Attempting to answer the question, why we’re not paying enough attention to an issue like high unemployment among migrants, is the problem.

Certainly I can give you a long list of excuses why a migrant is unemployed. What I’m not doing is dealing with the many causes of the problem, like structural racism, or how unemployment and social welfare are used to socially exclude migrants.

True, language and the ability of a migrant to adapt to a new country play crucial roles in that person’s adaption and integration.

Guess Helsinki: Saleswoman gets fired for wearing headscarf to work

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A Muslim woman who wore a headscarf to work on her first day was fired, reports Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily. Even if the managers of the Guess clothing store deny that the women was fired because she is a Muslim, prosecutor Jaakko Tapala is filing a charge for job discrimination.

The two managers said that the reason why the woman, who was hired to work as a temporary employee for six days, was fired was because the veil didn’t fit the clothing store’s brand.

The incident has received wide coverage on social media.

Michaela Moua said on Facebook below: “Shocking…’doesn’t fit the clothing store’s brand…’ should the brand be racism and discrimination? Not a good look…

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Read full story here.

 

Finland had 3,238 asylum seekers in 2013

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A total of 3,238 people applied for asylum in Finland compared with 3,129 people in the previous year, according to the Finnish Immigration Service. The largest single group of asylum seekers was Iraqis (819) followed by Russians (226) and Somalis (217).

The number of asylum seekers coming to Finland oscillated between 1,500 and 6,000 over the 5-year period from 2006 to 2010.

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Read full story here.

”The situation has been stable for a few years,” Esko Repo, head of the FIS refugee unit, was quoted as saying in Helsingin Sanomat.

A total of 4,055 asylum decisions were made by the authorities last year.  Forty-five percent (1,827 applicants) were given asylum while the rest were rejected.

The average processing time for asylum applications was 190 days, with 80% of  applicants processed in 156 days.

Meanwhile in neighboring Sweden, the total number of asylum seekers in 2013 was 54,259 persons, or whom 24,498 were given asylum, according to the Migration Board of Sweden. This compares with 11,983 asylum seekers in Norway in 2013 and 3,896 in Denmark during the first three quarters of the year.

 

We can do it and send Halla-aho and the PS to where they came from

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I still remember April 2011, when the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam Perussuomalaiset (PS) party opened a gloomy chapter in Finland’s history by getting 39 MPs elected to parliament. The election was impressive to say the least considering that only 5 PS MPs got elected in 2007.

yes we can

Source: www.youthventure.org

While some were surprised by the election result, some played it down. They felt that the PS would blow over and that it’s only a question of time when the party would implode, like the Rural Party of the 1970s, due to internal differences.

While the PS does well in opinion polls, the presidential and municipal elections were a far cry from the historic result that the right-wing populist party gained in the 2011 parliamentary elections.

With two crucial make-or-break elections in May and April 2015, the million-euro question is how well will the PS fare.

Certainly a lot of things can happen from here to May and April of next year, there are signs that the public is getting tired of the PS political scandals and the racism that continues to plague the party.

While there was a definite honeymoon with the PS’ chairman, Timo Soini, the media and public have started to lose interest in the charismatic leader.

And this is quite understandable considering that the PS have not given one credible solution to put the Finnish economy back on a healthy path of growth. It’s MPs are more interested in whining and machismo, which has a heavy dose of intolerance, nationalism and bravado, instead of offering credible solutions.

One of the biggest mistakes that the PS is making at this moment is that it believes its election good fortunes of 2011 are eternal, which reveals why the party has become arrogant and power-hungry.

I believe that we’ll see big surprises in the following MEP and parliamentary elections and that the election of PS MP Jussi Halla-aho is still undecided. Certainly the misfortunes of the PS rest on themselves and how well Finland’s traditional parties can expose Soini’s political antics and double-talk.

Finland took a clear swing to the populist and far-right three years ago. Finnish voters in 2012 gave an inconclusive show of support to the PS in the presidential and municipal elections.

The next two elections will decide whether the PS will be sent or not back to the minor political leagues.

 

Uncle Toms, or mamus, are used to control minority groups

Posted on by Migrant Tales

It’s interesting to read how some white Finns get all jumpy when you speak about Uncle Toms, or mamus, in Finland. One such blogger, Veli-Pekka Leivo, claimed that labeling someone a traitor to his ethnic group fuels and supports victimization. 

Victimization? How much harm does an Uncle Tom do to members of his community by ensuring that a certain migrant or minority group becomes passive?

As our society in Finland become more culturally diverse and social ills like racism are exposed, the more vigilant we have to be against mamus. They, if anyone, are the ones holding their people back because their job is to keep their group passive and accept the status quo.

Malcolm X said in the 1960s that the same old slave master today has Negroes who are modern Uncle Toms, or 20th century Uncle Toms. “…to keep you and me in check, keep us under control, keep up passive and peaceful and non-violent. That’s Tom making you non-violent…”

As migrants and minorities struggle for greater rights in Finland, it is important that we have a term that can be used against those who betray the cause and their people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDWZWSPUX1k

Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen is on the anti-immigration warpath again

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Anti-immigration and anti-gay hardliner Christian Democrat interior minister, Päivi Räsänen, said on YLE in English that she’s in favor of tightening immigration policy further by closing a “loophole” for asylum seekers. Under the present law, those asylum seekers whose application has been turned down, can get temporary residence for two years before acquiring a permanent residence permit. 

While we’re speaking of a “huge” number of asylum seekers – about 200 in all – it’s these types of laws that not only reveal our suspicion of asylum seekers and migrants in general, but ensures that skilled migrants will not move to Finland in significant numbers.

And why would they? Migrants want to move to countries where other migrants live – not some cold place that is unsure about its ever-growing cultural diversity and where too many politicians treat refugees like “welfare shoppers.”

What’s wrong if a person wants to move from a country where he has no future to one where there’s opportunity? Isn’t that what over 1.2 million Finnish emigrants did between 1860 and 1999? Can you punish somebody for seeking a better future?

In order for Finland to begin accepting its ever-growing cultural diversity, it has to revisit its history and ask why during most of the last century until 1995, when Finland became an EU member, did it do everything possible to hinder migrants and foreign investment to the country.

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Read full story here.

Räsänen’s get-tough stand on a handful of asylum seekers isn’t surprising since it’s the same policy and attitude that many politicians have about refugees, migrants and our ever-growing cultural diversity.  It’s a good example of the usual overkill by them.

According to YLE in English, the change in the law would affect asylum seekers especially from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, which are ravaged by war.

“A person that does not voluntarily leave to a country seen as safe gets a temporary residence permit, that after two years becomes a permanent residence permit,” Räsänen was quoted as saying on Yle in English. “We propose that the law is changed so that temporary residence permits are no longer granted on that basis.”

Some human rights associations believe that the new law will encourage asylum seekers to become undocumented migrants.

Should Finland’s Uncle Toms be called mamus?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Alarm bells go off inside of me whenever I hear migrants, who should know better, claim that racism isn’t a major issue in our society many times standing next to or speaking to white Finns. There are many reasons why a migrant may play down such a social ill. These may include ignorance, prejudice, lack of courage and outright opportunism. 

Whatever the reasons may be, one matter is needed in Finland’s migrant terminology: A Finnish equivalent of Uncle Tom.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, Uncle Tom’ Cabin debut in 1852 as a play that aimed to raise awareness against slavery in the United States.

Despite its noble beginnings, the meaning of Uncle Tom has changed to mean today a black man who will do anything to appease his white oppressors, even betray his race or ethnic group, according to Urban Dictionary.

Migrant Tales had a lively debate in 2011 about what Uncle Tom is and what it would be in Finnish. @HelsinkiObs was kind enough to offer us the following older and new versions of the term: Setä Tuomas and Tuomo Setä, respectively.

While the latter two are good terms that have been directly translated from English, Finland should have its own Setä or Täti Tuomas term. One candidate that would, in my opinion, be a perfect translation is mamu, the shortened word for maahanmuuttaja, or migrant.

Since such a label is shameful, mamu should be spelled in lower case.

The purpose of this column is not to release a social media lynch mob on anyone but to raise awareness of a serious problem that the migrant and visible minority community faces. Betraying a group for personal gain and opportunism is just as bad when a person sells secrets to a foreign country.

How do you spot a mamu?

  • Excessive subservience to white Finns
  • Some mamus claim to be migrants but in fact are Finns since they have lived most of their lives here
  • He or she is a mouthpiece of the arguments used by white Finns to maintain migrants and visible minorities as second- and third-class citizens
  • Plays down and denies, like some white Finns, racism
  • Underestimates the destructive power of racism
  • Never speaks of systemic racism
  • Claims to be against racism but has the same opinions as the worst racists in Finland about minorities in his or her own country
  • Believes that a social ill like racism can be beaten with kindness and understanding

While there are many mamus, one that readily comes to mind is Fija Saarni, MP James Hirvisaari’s aide. Nasima Razmyar’s rebuttal to Perussuomalaiset MP Teuvo Hakkarainen is a good example of mamu-spirited writing.

Razmyar wanted to have an honest discussion over coffee with Hakkarainen after he claimed that Muslims were taking over Finland and Europe.

Moroccan-born Junes Lokka, who’s lived most of his life in Finland, is another sad example of how some with migrant backgrounds become white and spread racism. He’s a member of the Muutos 2011 party with MP James Hirvisaari, one of Finland’s most notorious racists.

Glenn Robinson is editor of Community Village whom I have great respect because his postings shed strong light on how intolerance operates in our society.

A recent posting by him, Moving the Race Conversation Forward, offers us – and especially mamus – valuable food for thought about the weapons used to maintain racism in our society.

According to Moving the Race Conversation Forward, there are four levels of racism that we should keep in mind. While internalized and interpersonal racism are individual forms of racism, the one that the media, politicians and the public forgets is systemic racism.

Says Jay Smooth of Race Forward (see video clip here): “Once you get past those individual levels, first of all you have to deal with institutional racism: The racist policies and discriminatory practices in schools and world places and government agencies that routinely produce unjust outcomes for people of color. And when you step beyond that level you have structural racism: The unjust racist patterns and practices that play out across the institutions that make up our society.”

How does systemic racism work in Finland? Ask yourself how many black professors do we have at our universities. What about policemen who are visible minorities? Look at the television ads that bombard us daily and ask how many minorities are in them.

Why is it that when white Finns speak of migrants in the employment market, they usually speak of low-paying like cleaning?

Why are unemployment levels among migrants 2-3 times higher than the national average in Finland?

Why isn’t there any debate in our society about systemic racism in Finland?

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Extremist Suomen Sisu is extremist Suomen Sisu no matter how you word it

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the characteristics of extremist groups in Finland is that they want to convince you that they’re “mainstream and normal.” A good example of the latter is Suomen Sisu, a Finnish white supremacist association, which announced on Yle that it wants to sharpen its mission statement, which it claims leaves too much room for interpretation.

One of the reasons why Finland still hasn’t woken up fully to racism and fascism is because the media, politicians and public permit groups that represent intolerance to dictate the terminology. Suomen Sisu wants, for example, to be called a nationalistic association instead of far right, extremist never mind racist and Nazi-leaning.

One matter is expectations and another is reality. Certainly the far-right association would like to have a more mainstream image but such a task would be like taking Nazism and selling it as something “normal” to the Jews.

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Read full story here.

What exactly does Suomen Sisu want to change in the mission statement? Does it believe that with the help of a few words and sentences it can erase its white supremacist and extremist label that it has rightfully won?

At the beginning of the 2000 and 2006 mission statements, Somen Sisu leaves no doubt what its aims are in the opening paragraph:

 All people, races and cultures are in themselves valuable and their natural development must be ensured. Doing away with humankind’s natural [ethnic and cultural] diversity with the help of misleading terms [like multiculturalism] must be stopped. Different [national] groups should not be mixed and thereby destroying and replacing naturally advanced cultures with an array of global subcultures.

Suomen Sisun paita
This is Suomen Sisu’s world view of cultural diversity.

No matter what Suomen Sisu does to change its mission statement, it’ll be the same association no matter how you slice it.

It’s the job of the critical press to ensure that the public is not fooled by these type of publicity stunts.

What does Mesolithic man, who had blue eyes and was dark-skinned, reveal about our European ethnicity?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Our obsession with ethnicity or race is always exposed when our myths and cultural wise tales are exposed by science. DNA taken from a molar of a European hunter-gatherer, who lived around 7,000 years ago, showed the Mesolithic man to have blue eyes, black or brown hair and dark skin, according to the Guardian.

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Read full story here.

Apart from supporting the theory that primates like us originated from Africa and migrated to Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas, it reveals how much we are still bound by social constructs like ethnicity and the importance of skin color.

Arguing, like some racists do so often, that somehow ethnic groups have never mixed and that people who lived in Europe were “white” from the onset is, to put it diplomatically, pure rubbish.

Any sensible person understands that one of humankind’s secrets of survival has been migration and intermixing genetically and culturally.

Even so, you’ll find too many who argue that the later isn’t true. That somehow the Garden of Eden wasn’t in Babylonia but existed in some secret place in their own country. Those people that emerged from that fictitious Garden of Eden “just appeared” and never mixed with any outside group.

So-called interracial marriage and migration are the best examples  and living proof of what primates like us have been doing since we became bipedal. We migrated because we were curious and hopeful that the grass is always greener on the other side of the hill.

Who are those that feel threatened today by migration and cultural diversity? Aren’t they the one’s who are trying to maintain myths about our “whiteness” and “superiority” over other people?

Risto Laakonen, who have done a lot to promote greater acceptance of Finnish migrants in Sweden and of migrants in general in Finland,  said that whenever a group starts to speak of itself as a tribe, that’s when we start to flirt with racism.

593-Etela-Savon_maakuntaliitto_logo
 This used to be the logo of the regional council of South Savo.

While it is perfectly fine for any group to be proud of its heritage, can anyone claim the Mesolithic man and those hunters and gatherers that lived in these parts thousands of year as their exclusive cultural property?

Not really because those that wandered so far are nobody else but us today.