Enrique Tessieri Archives - Page 49 of 246

Exposing white privilege in Finland #84: Suomineidot offers refuge to privilege, white power, whitewashing, the far right and racism

Posted on March 26, 2022August 27, 2023 by Migrant Tales

Comments about the Yle television series on far-right young women, Suomineidot (Finnish Maidens), went viral, and for a good reason. Apart from revealing how much in the dark Yle is about racism and the far right, it also exposes white privilege in Finland.

In a nutshell, the series is about three young women:

Meri Kartta is a far-right ethnonationalist who hangs out with neo-Nazis.
Jasmin Ollikainen is an avid follower of Pentti Linkola, an ecofascist.
Liisa Siira is a member of the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.

One of the best arguments against the program is that it lacks context. The journalists who did the series acted as obedient stenographers instead of critical reporters.

Despite the criticism of the program, Yle defended the program in a tweet below:

“Improving our understanding of each other and the world is one of Yle’s aims. By confronting different points of view, we increase our understanding and empathy and challenging confrontation. If we understand the reasons behind a particular point of view, we may feel that it isn’t so threatening.”

Source: Twitter

Source: Yle

Suomineidot is another example of how much Yle is in the dark about racism and the far right

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Here is the plot of a new TV series Suomineidot (Finnish Maidens):

Meri is a far-right ethnonationalist who hangs out with neo-Nazis.
Jasmin is an avid follower of Pentti Linkola, who promoted population decline.
Liisa is a member of the Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party.

Apart from the radical political views of the three participants, YLE launched the television series during the UN week of the elimination of racial discrimination (March 21-27).

Great timing, Yle, I know it was intentional.

It’s not the first time that the state-owned national broadcaster, Yle, has fallen flat on its face due to its shoddy programs.

Below, are two recent examples of programs on racism and the far right that backfired:

So what gives?

If a program promotes or tries to understand what racist and far-right people think, there should be an opposite opinion.

With minorities having a pitifully illegible voice in the media, programs such as Suomineidot normalize and only strengthen institutional racism and thinking. A lot of historical whitewashing happens as well. We forget how our hatred and racism led us to terrible wars.

The TV series is another example of shoddy journalism driven by white Finnish privilege that don’t have a faint idea about racism and its harm.

How will we treat Ukrainian refugees in Finland?

Posted on March 20, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The interior ministry estimates “tens of thousands” Ukrainians moving to Finland as a result of the war in that country, according to Yle News. There are about 7,000 Ukrainians in Finland, but Anna Rundgren, a ministry of interior senior specialist, believes that the actual figure is several times higher.

In 2015, the country saw a record influx of people coming here. Thirty-two thousand four hundred seventy-six asylum seekers, mainly from Iraq (20,485) and Afghanistan (5,214), came to Finland in that historic year. The country’s first wave of refugees was in 1921 when some 6,500 Russians from Kronstadt island in the Gulf of Finland fled the Bolsheviks.

Any sensible person should understand that the Ukrainian newcomers are an important human asset to the country. If we want to make Finland their new home, we must also treat them with respect and be vigilant so they will not fall prey to human trafficking and exploitation.

The treatment that some Iraqis, Afghans, and other non-EU asylum seekers received in Finland from 2015 was shameful in some cases. In May 2016, Migrant Tales, Rovaniemi-based daily Lapin Kansa, and the asylum seekers of the Kolari asylum reception center forced the Red Cross to fire the deputy manager of the camp Jari Sillantie.

Hitting refugees below the belt

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Migrant Tales

I talked to a group of students from different national backgrounds today. Two things unite them: they are mostly Muslims and present or past asylum seekers in Finland.

While Europe is opening its arms to 2.809 million refugees from Ukraine since Sunday, according to the UNHCR, the two sets of rules for refugees reveal how little Europe has done to tackle racism.

In November, Finnish politicians talked about constructing a razor-wire fence on the border with Russia to keep keep out asylum seekers from crossing the Polish Belarus border.

Even if our insincerity, or hypocrisy, is upsetting to some of us, it has riled some asylum seekers who have waited for seven years to get a residence permit in Finland.

How do you tell such a person why Ukrainians are granted automatic residence permits, work permits and access to social welfare? Will you be sincere and tell them what James Baldwin said below?

Despite our understanding of the problem, there must be a lot of resentment among those asylum seekers who have waited for up to seven years for their residence permits.

How long will our good will and patience last while millions of Ukrainian seek refuge in the EU?

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Migrant Tales

On Tuesday, 2.011 million refugees have fled Ukraine since February 24, according to the UNHCR. Some sources speculate that up to 4 million refugees may flee the war in Ukraine.

In light of Europe’s bleak history and the worst human rights abuses, atrocities, and wars in all of history, one wonders how long our goodwill lasts.

The goodwill of the EU has been shown by granting Ukrainians special protection status. Contrary to asylum seekers who came to Europe in 2015 and faced a long and grueling asylum process, Ukrainians receive automatic residence and work permits and access to social welfare.

Even if such a policy is a step in the right direction, we can ask for how long our goodwill towards Ukrainians fleeing war will last?

If we compare what happened to asylum seekers who came to Europe in 2015 from countries like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia, our goodwill ran out pretty fast.

Ahti Tolvanen, a historian and member of the Migrant Tales editorial board, tackled the question.

“It is high time that we reform the structural abuse in our labor market to make sue that these people [Ukrainians and others] aren’t exploited,” he said.

The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS)* is already chipping away at our goodwill and patience towards Ukrainians.

The chairperson of the PS, Riikka Purra, is already attacking Ukrainian refugees by fear-mongering. She tweets: “NOW WE HAVE TO ACT. It would be easy for Russia engulf Finland with immigrants. The government must make sure that our border can keep [refugees] out.” **Thank you @nopersu and @Reija_Harkonen for the heads-up.**

The racist slogan by the PS is an example of how desperate the party is and that it has nothing to offer Finland except to polarize with injections of xenophobia.

Exposing white Finnish privilege #83: War doesn’t give a hoot if you are white or black

Posted on March 6, 2022 by Migrant Tales

The war in Ukraine is like a sinister brew boiling over death, destruction, tragedy, hatred, and xenophobia.

Apart from the shock and horror, our double standards and jingoism stand out as a stark reminder that we have done little to challenge the very social ills that caused the deaths of tens of millions of people in World War 2.

I’m talking about accomplices like the Holocaust and Stalin’s purges. And to our silence and inaction.

White Finnish privilege #82

“Rather than being a movement to turn on each other, this refugee crisis should be a reminder that ‘refugee’ is not synonymous for ‘brown person.’ Anyone could become a refugee. It’s a thing that happens to you, it’s not who you are.”
Trevor Noah

Will we learn anything from this war?

Will the tears of the dead and the living awaken us from what Henry Miller called the air-conditioned nightmare?

We are all hardcore nationalism junkies.

Detoxification now.

See also:

The EU’s double standards on the treatment of refugees are out of step with its alleged values

Posted on March 4, 2022 by Migrant Tales

There is mounting evidence about how Polish and Ukrainian border guards openly discriminate against non-Ukrainians and minorities like the Roma fleeing war as well as attacks by Polish nationalists. The commissioner for home affairs and migration, Ylva Johansson, has only words of praise.

“We can expect a lot of EU unity and EU solidarity towards Ukrainian if the situation deteriorates significantly,” Johansson was quoted as saying last month in Euronews.

The commissioner does not mention last November’s inhumane treatment of asylum seekers on the Belarus border or the discrimination that Africans and people of color are facing at the border.

While such hypocrisy is visible for everyone to see if they wish, it shows not only how racist Europe is but how little it has done to combat this social ill.

In light of the discriminatory and racist treatment by Polish and other EU border guards of non-EU citizens, I was surprised by a tweet from the Polish ministry of foreign affairs denying and slamming it as “fake news.”

I wonder what the Polish chancellery has to say about an African Union and other statements that claim that racist and discriminatory treatment at the border isn’t fake news?

Länsi-Savo: Kuinka tulla toimeen eri kulttuurien kanssa

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Suomessa puhutaan paljon, kuinka ihmisten eri kulttuureista pitäisi tulla toimeen toistensa kanssa. Perustuslakimme antaa siihen hyvät eväät: syrjintä on kielletty, ihmisille on oikeus omaan kulttuurin ja kieleen, on myös uskonnonvapaus.

Mielestäni nämä periaatteet ovat oikeita ja tärkeitä, jos haluamme rakentaa ja elää yhteiskunnassa, jossa kaikilla riippumatta taustoista on yhdenvertaisia oikeuksia ja velvollisuuksia.

Nykyään enemmistö suomalaisista nuorista ei ole ennakkoluuloisia. Nuoret ovat oppineet ymmärtämään, että maailma on moninainen ja Suomi on osa tästä maailmaa. Tähän on auttanut muun muassa sosiaalinen media, matkustaminen ja eri tv-ohjelmat.

Olen opiskellut Otavan Opistossa yli puoli vuotta. Suurin osa lähiopiskelijoista on muualta kuin Suomesta. Itse olen syntynyt ja kasvanut Suomessa. Olen 17-vuotias.

Olen oppinut paljon kouluaikana, erityisesti kuinka eletään moninaisessa yhteisössä ja rakennetaan hyviä suhteita. Mielestäni ymmärrys, uteliaisuus ja kiinnostus toisia ihmisiä ja kulttuureita kohtaan auttavat paljon luomaan hyvät ja toimivat suhteet.

Ymmärrys on yksi keskeisistä asioista, koska se luo pohjan ja mahdollisuuden kunnioitukselle. Tämä ei kuitenkaan toimi, jos ymmärrys ja kunnioitus ei ole molemminpuolista.

Ymmärrys on yksi keskeisistä asioista.

Kuten kerroin, tietynlainen kiinnostus tai halu tietää toisesta on tärkeää, jos haluaa elää ja tulla toimeen toisten kanssa. Jos ei ole kiinnostusta tietää toisesta mitään, ei kyseinen henkilö pysty ymmärtämään toisesta tai hänen kulttuuristaan mitään. Tämä antaa tilaa ennakkoluuloille.

Jos nämä ohjeet ovat toimineet minulle, ne voisivat toimia myös muille.

Suosittelen.

Leevi Mikkonen

Mikkeli

Lue alkuperänen kirjoitus tästä.

Millions of Ukrainians are coming. How long will it take before our goodwill turns into open hostility?

Posted on March 3, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Remember 2015, when some 1.3 million million asylum seekers came to Europe from countries like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia? Europe says welcome! Tervetuloa (welcome)! Meillä on tilaa (there is room for you)! After the initial outpouring of support and understanding for these people fleeing wars that we had started, attitudes took an abrupt turn for the worst.

New soundbites emerged: Go back to your countries! Social welfare bums! Illegal “refugees.”

Behind those sinister phrases were plans to make life as difficult as possible for these asylum seekers, who were mainly non-white and Muslims.

Today, Europe is ready to grant Ukrainians and foreigners fleeing war in Ukraine special protection status. If approved, it would give such refugees automatic residence permits, work permits, and access to social welfare for up to three years.

**In 2016, the EU was welcoming, sometimes with open arms, asylum seekers from outside the EU. Photo: Enrique Tessieri**

Other casualties of Ukraine are European far-right parties like the Perussuomalaiset of Finland

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Migrant Tales

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, we are seeing the restructuring of Europe’s security structure and political landscape. The new landscape is bad news for Europe’s far-right and populist parties like Finland’s Perussuomalaiset (PS)*.

The new situation may explain why PS chairperson, Riikka Purra, offered a new image with new glasses that makes her look more sensible and not her usual angry self? Is it why she did not mention once on the talk show her favorite pet word she likes to exploit: migrants?

Simultaneously, Finland’s staunchly anti-immigration party showed no objection to the millions of Ukrainian refugees [the media is now calling them by their proper name] who would settle in the EU and have access to a residence permit and social welfare.

PS MEP Laura Huhtasaari, a Donald Trump admirer and leading Islamophobe in Finland, tweeted: “Refugees welcome.”

The dismal performance and showing of the PS in January’s regional elections and recent opinion polls force the party to reorient itself and find a new path to voters. Understanding that anti-immigration rhetoric won’t fly in the same way as in the past, the party has asked its former leader Jussi Halla-aho to the rescue.

Halla-aho, convicted of ethnic agitation in 2012 and is the country’s most vociferous Islamophobe, was appointed as the new chair of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee after PS MP Mika Niiko’s abrupt resignation.