Category: Enrique Tessieri

Karjalainen: Rasistinen rikos on suuri häpeä

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Joensuu-based daily Karjalainen is a bold example of how the Finnish media should treat racism and hate crimes. It writes:  “Believe me, the one who commits a hate crime is no hero but brings great shame on you, your relatives and to the whole town.” 

Migrant Tales reported Sunday about a serious hate crime incident in the town of Lieksa in the northern Pohjois-Karjala region. A group of Finns had attacked three Somalians at dawn. One Somalian received a knife wound and was treated at the local health center. 

The daily, which states that a small group of skinheads were responsible for giving Joensuu a racist label in the 1990s, writes that wiping off such a stigma is no easy job. The community suffers because students, skilled immigrants and foreign investment rarely want to locate in a city that has such a questionable label. 

Karjalainen writes that people in Lieksa are now of the opinion that immigrants that walk at dawn in town are only looking for trouble and therefore it was ok to attack them.  No matter what explanation is given for the attack – according to the daily – one matter is for certain: it was a racist act. 

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Markku Liikamaa

 Sunnuntaiaamuinen joukkopuukkotappelu Lieksan keskustassa ei liene kenellekään enää yllätys. Rasististen vahingontekojen, uhkailujen ja uhoilujen sekä kuntapäättäjienkin rasistisiin rikoksiin syyllistyneille osoittaman ymmärryksen jälkeen voi vain sanoa, että tätähän tässä on jo odotettukin.

Read whole story.

Finnish “culture and personality”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

I just looked over an ”adaption guide to Finland” for Russians that move to the Kymenlaakso region in the southeast of the country.

While these types of publications may have good intentions, they tend to generalize complex matters such as Finnish culture and personality. One of the matters that is surprising in the guide is how few – if any – social psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists were used. The guide states that Finland is a “feminist” country, although women still make about 20% less than men.

Under the part that attempts to show some traits on Finnish personality, I chose a few descriptions that caught my eye:

1. Statement: What is essential for the Finns? The most important matter that characterizes him/her is his/her patriotism. The Finns love their country.

(Mikä on olennaista suomalaisessa ihmisessä? Kaikkein olennaisinta on hänessä patriotismi. Suomalainen rakastaa omaa maataan.)

Comment: Is this something unique? Does it suggest that I should fear Finns and take special care not to offend Finland? Does it suggest that Finns may have difficulties accepting others because patriotism, or nationalism, gets in the way? Why is this attribute the most important for the authors?

How I would change the sentence: Finns, like other people in different nations, love their country. So? Are the authors suggesting that people in some countries are not patriotic?

2. Statement: Finnish culture can be described as individualistic.

(Suomalaista kulttuuria voidaan luonnehtia yksilökulttuuriksi.)

Comment: Is this a unique trait in a modern industrialized nation? How do we measure individualism?

3. Statement (this is one of my favorites): The Finns are bashful and quiet. He is not very social if he is around strangers.

(Suomalainen on ujo ja hiljainen. Hän ei ole seurallinen eikä hän ole kovin aloitteellinen juuri koskaan kanssakäymisissään, jos hän on tuntemattomien ihmisten seurassa.)

Comment: How do Finnish men and women meet at bars? How do they make friends?  What study proves that Finns do not take the initiative when they are around strangers? These types of affirmations, which are not true, only help to reinforce stereotypes about Finns. There are quiet, loud and medium-loud Finns. Some will take the initiative while others will shy away from it. It depends on the person. It is ridiculous to claim that it is “Finnish personality.”

4. Statement: Finns are quite stubborn and in that character he/she is incredibly steadfast.

(Suomalainen on harvinaisen itsepäinen ja siinä piirteessä on hän uskomattoman luja.)

Comment: Like with the above-mentioned statement, are there any studies that prove this? What percentage of Finns are stubborn and which are not? I have never seen a study that measures stubbornness. Isn’t pigheadedness a personality trait as opposed to a national trait – if there ever was one.

5. Statement (this is a “gem”): Finns tend to react slowly…

(Suomalainen on hitaanpuoleinen.…)

Comment: This is the stereotype of the stereotypes mentioned by the guide. Again, I ask, what studies do the authors use to back such a statement? What percentage of the Finns are “slow?” What do they mean by “slow” and compared with whom?

CONCLUSION: These types of statements about Finnish culture are not useful because they only confuse perceptions of Finnish culture since they are not based on any empirical study. If anything, they are subjective perceptions that reveal more the stereotypes and the prejudices of the authors — at the best they show how the authors want foreigners to “see” us.

Are you a target of racism in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This blog entry broke on June 25, 2019, the 12,000-visits barrier. Since it was first published in June 2007, it has got 1,557 comments. Even though it is a simple test that aims to shed light on a social ill in this country, it asks, like the one by Alcoholic Anonymous, some hard and unpleasant questions.

Thanks to your support, the Are You a Target of Racism in Finland post has turned into a very big thumbs down against racism in this country.

Are you a target of racism can be now read in Spanish.

Racism manifests itself in various ways. Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, Ku Klux Clan are some of its most terrible manifestations. Today, in Europe, some political parties are capitalizing on xenophobia in order to lure votes for their opportunistic and undemocratic political aims. Racism may happen in different ways in different cultures but one matter is for certain: its primary aim is to exclude, destroy lives and become underachievers.

In a country like Finland, racism happens through exclusion. Unemployment among foreigners in Finland is a good example. Immigrant unemployment is three times higher than the national average. The unemployment figure for foreigners in Finland is one of the highest in the EU.

When you are a victim of racism in Finland it’s clear that social exclusion is your temporary home. How long you stay in such a place depends on you. If you stay in such a place and marginalize yourself you’ll do exactly what the racists want you to do: be a nonperson.

The fact that you have to spend time figuring our your new home and learning your way around means that everything may take longer to attain like job opportunities and a career. Racism slows your progress because that’s what its aim is.

In order to challenge such dangers, it’s important that you adapt to your new homeland as soon as possible. Learn the language, the culture and society – educate yourself if you need to get a profession. Do these things because that’s what the racists don’t want you to do. Mingle with people and society.

A reader made an insightful comment about racism in Finland:

Finnish society, as I am sure you know, gives perhaps a rather misleading ‘public’ image at times. You probably know that Finns aren’t so great at being confrontational or saying what they think openly, thus I think sometimes things like racism are actually more prevalent than you would imagine – but fortunately mainly behind closed doors. People know it is wrong and don’t say it in public, but they still think it in private. The problem is, that in recent years the internet has let the ‘cat out of the bag.’ People can write often what they like without being traced. It’s definitely being used especially by the extremists.

Here is a short Migrant Tales “racism meter” for foreigners and minorities that can help you know if you are a target of discrimination in Finland:

1) I am self-employed (for some it is the only way of getting work)
2) I’m unemployed (generally jobless claims among foreigners totals about 26%)
3) Finns often give me strange looks
4) Public officials, like the police, drag their heels with me
5) The police consider me guilty before proving my innocence
6) A Finn treats me too nicely. (I don’t want special treatment, I want to be treated equally)
7) Finns distrust me
8 Finns are usually watching over me at work (I have to be twice as good as a Finn)
9) If I make a mistake, it’s a bigger deal than normal
10) In a debate, I always know less than a Finn

Here is a new one, number 11: I get attacked by comments on my blog for speaking out against racism.

If you answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are a target of racism in Finland. If you answered YES to three or more, you are definitely a target of racism in Finland.

Note: This was based on an Alcoholics Anonymous questionnaire.