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Category: Enrique
Per-Looks: A taste of one’s own medicine for the PS of Finland
I’ve been reading with some interest the ongoing debate on social media about the Per-Looks blog that has outraged some Perussuomalaiset (PS) party members. The blog shows a number of PS candidates running for office in the October 28 municipal elections.
Just for the record, I don’t like to make fun of people due to their ethnic background, religion, culture or looks and dress as is the case with Pers-Looks.
While the pictures published on Per-Looks aim to give an image that the PS are a bunch of Finnish hillbillies, the blog does offers the anti-immigration and anti-Islam party a taste of its own medicine.
Possibly those who feel offended by Per-Looks now understand how it feels to be a visible immigrant attacked in the Finnish media by politicians of parties like the PS.
Blaming the social democrats for the prank, Matti Puukkonen of the PS said that Per-Looks was “a cowardly act made by losers who are in politics.”
Just like former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who commonly blamed negative media coverage on communists, the PS like to criticize eco-socialists for the critical coverage they receive in the Finnish media.
The person who made Per-Looks was quoted as saying on Nelonen TV that the aim of the blog was not to ridicule the PS candidates.
“The [purpose of the] Per-Looks blog is not to make fun or to make a political statement with the pictures,” the person said in a statement sent by email. “The pictures on displayed are just as they are found on different web sites [of the PS].”
Since the publishing of Per-Looks, other ones have appeared such as one for the National Coalition Party (Kok-Looks), Pirate Party (Pir-Looks) and Greens (Vih-Looks).
The PS’ shameful and opportunistic stand on refugees
The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s municipal election program recommends that municipalities should not accept refugees because the best way to help people fleeing strife is in refugee camps bordering these war-ravaged countries.
This stand by the PS is so extreme that many PS municipal candidates have not endorsed it except for Counterjihadists like PS MP James Hirvisaari (see question 3).
The fact that the PS recommends municipalities not to accept refugees is a clear example of how the party uses opportunistically and shamelessly the immigrant-refugee card to lure votes. Like its anti-EU line, its anti-immigration and anti-Islam stands attract votes.
Dadaab in Kenya is the world’s biggest refugee camp that houses over 400,000 refugees.
Using PS populist election rhetoric about refugees, the question we should ask is if refugee camps are effective and humane places to help people.
Take a look at a video clip of the Dadaab camp to arrive at your own conclusions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlHWHLG_pds
Eritrean refugees in Sudan are another sad reminder of people who have lived in camps for 30-40 years.
Click here to see video clip on the forgotten Eritrean refugees of Sudan.
Ajankohtainen kakkonen: Four immigrant candidates
There’s an interesting news documentary this week on Ajankohtainen kakkonen about immigrant candidates taking part in the October 28 municipal elections. One matter that bothered me about the program was the use of the word mamu by the reporters when referring to the candidates.
Mamu is the shortened word for maahanmuuttajia, or immigrant. There are mixed opinions among immigrants about what the term implies.
Another matter that the program lacked was that we didn’t get any clear idea what these candidates stand for on major municipal issues like health care, pensioners, high unemployment and social exclusion of young people.
As immigrant candidates, I would have been interested in knowing what their stand was on the role of cultural diversity in Finland.
There was, however, one Romanian candidate of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, Cristian Tudose, who said he was running because Finns were too naive to protect their culture.
”Finns need foreigners to protect their culture because Finns are too naive and cannot say loudly enough that, ‘hey, now we do things our way here.’”
One of the matters that has always worried me about some immigrants who move to this country is how their own prejudices find a cosy home in Finland. Romania is far from being a model country for cultural diversity if we take into account the shameful plight of the Romany minority there.
In the last municipal elections, 96,373 immigrants were eligible to vote but only 19.6% did so. Today that number has grown by about 40,000 to 137,005. How many will vote is a good open question.
Linus Atarah, iCount campaign coordinator, said that the big problem concerning immigrant voters is that many do not know enough about the parties never mind for which candidate they should vote for.
Some 400 immigrants are running for office in the upcoming municipal elections.
New World Finn: Open the doors
Twenty-five years ago, when I worked briefly for the Buenos Aires Herald as a young reporter, I wrote a column about how Argentina’s past could come to haunt it in the future. The last military regime (1976-83) that ruled the country was one of the most ruthless that Latin America had seen during the last century. Tens of thousands of people disappeared in a civil war that was characterized by habeas corpus writs and the silence of cemeteries.
The same concern I wrote about in that column a long time ago has resurfaced in Europe today.
New World Finn is a quarterly exploring Finnish culture in the New World.
The column, Open the doors, raised the following points: “True, there is in present-day Argentina a consensus against military-run governments. However, even though these last years of democracy have instigated a new political era, there are still precious little questions being asked not only about our past – how different sectors such as politicians, unions, member of the clergy, historians, journalists, the U.S. embassy, among others, colluded in making a mockery of democracy and human rights – but most importantly, where we’re supposed to go from here.”
Could history be repeating itself again in Europe and Finland?
As our economic woes deepen in this part of the world, the louder we’re hearing the diatribes of far right and right-wing populist groups. We saw in Finland last year the rise of the Finns Party, which is anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam. The Finns Party, which only got 5 seats in 2007, won 39 seats in the last election!
The next hurdle for the Finns Party will be the municipal elections of October 28. A recent poll by YLE revealed that the Finns Party would be the biggest winner of the municipal election. If the party gets 15.8% of the votes as the poll suggests, it will be a big leap from 5.4% that the party got in the 2008 municipal elections. The poll sees that the National Coalition Party getting in October 22.7% compared with 23.5% in 2008. That would be followed by the Social Democrats with 18.7% (21.2%), and the Center Party with 16.6% (20.1%).
While all political parties in Finland are officially against all forms of racism and discrimination, it’s not clear what their real views are on the issue. How do they promote cultural diversity and how often do they speak out against racism? You will find in all Finnish parties members who are for or against immigrants and immigration. Even so, no other party has so many openly anti-immigration members like the Finns Party.
The Greens and Swedish People’s Party, and even the Left Wing Alliance with some reservations, appear to be the most open to immigration and cultural diversity, according to some polls.
“Intolerance is taking root throughout Europe and Finland. We witnessed with shock last year its ugliest side, when Anders Behring Breivik went on his murderous rampage killing 77 innocent victims. Europe witnessed this spring intolerance form a young Arab in Southern France who gunned down Jewish schoolchildren.
Contrary to North America, some claim that our view of ourselves as ethnic groups in Europe hinges too much on “race and blood.” The concept dates back to 1935, when a Jewish doctor in Germany was sent to a concentration camp for saving a patient’s life by donating his blood. This same idea, that blood and ethnicity are related, is how some Europeans see themselves ethnically today.
In order not to repeat the mistakes of the past, we have to look at our history. Finland, which was ravaged by internal and external wars during the first twenty-five years of its independence, built a model society based on respect, acceptance and social equality. The fruits of those efforts are everywhere today. In order to build the same type of society in this century, we must take great care not to exclude different ethnic groups.
We could look across the Atlantic as well for good cultural-diversity models. Even if racism is an issue in many parts of the Americas, countries like the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and others understand that racism and discrimination are social ills that must be challenged.
The last paragraph of the Buenos Aires Herald column I wrote stated the following: “There are a lot of pending questions and, as long as Argentina does not accept the difficult challenge of answering them, the door of this country will remain closed, isolation will prevail, and despotism will one day flourish as it always has in the past. It will not come from abroad, however, as many would have us believe, but from our backyard.”
The column appeared in the autumn 2012 issue of New World Finn.
Record number of immigrant candidates take part in Finnish municipal elections
A record number of immigrants are candidates in Finland’s municipal elections of October 28, reports YLE. The highest number of immigrant candidates can be found in the Social Democratic Party (118) followed by the National Coalition Party (81), Left Wing Alliance (56), Green Party (55) and Center Party (around 50).
Most of the immigrant candidates can be found in the Social Democratic Party.
In the list used by YLE, the fewest number of immigrant candidates can be found in the Perussuomalaiset Party (27).
Even if Timo Soini said that the PS has immigrant candidates, it is very small taking into account that the PS is Finland’s third-largest party.
The number of immigrant candidates isn’t too high in the other parties as well.
KHR writes: Percentages of immigrant candidates for the same parties (source).
SDP: 1,69%
National Coalition Party: 1,18%
Left Wing Alliance: 1,60%
Greens: 2,39%
Center Party: approx 0,6%
RKP: 3,04%
KD: 1,93%
PS: 0,61%
So it looks like PS and center party have the lowest proportions, and it is essentially the same for both of them. This seems to fit the observation that PS is largely invading the political space that was occupied by the center party for decades.
Conversely, RKP and the greens have the highest proportions of immigrant candidates; No surprises there.
Helsinki PS municipal candidate Belle Selene Xia didn’t consider her party racist or anti-immigration.
“They’re only people’s stereotypes against the Perussuomalaiset,” she said. “The Perussuomalaiset are strongly against racism. Moreover, the Persusuomalaiset are in favor of labor immigration.”
The PS campaigns for closed-door policy for refugees
I was surprised to read the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s municipal election program on refugees. It states that municipalities should not accept refugees because the best way to help these people is in refugee camps bordering their country.
Finland holds municipal elections on October 28. The PS are expected to be one of the clear winners of the election, according to some polls.
Read the PS municipal election program here (in Finnish).
It isn’t surprising that an anti-immigration party like the PS believes that refugees would be “culturally closer at home” in such camps.
The PS solution to the refugee problem is to keep them as far as possible from Finland no matter how desperate their situation. Source: Benedict Wachira blog.
On top of this, PS chairman Timo Soini said today on YLE that he’s not against immigration but suggested that only super immigrants should move to Finland.
Soini said that his party wants to help Finland’s needy such as the poor, pensioners and marginalized people. For the PS, refugees do not belong in the latter group.
In his usual populist style, Soini said that Finns should not change their way of life because of immigrants.
Enrique Tessieri: Why I write about racism
I write about racism and social exclusion in Finland because it affects me and those I care about. I should know because I used to live marginalized from this society for decades.
I didn’t live marginalized because I was maladapted. I was marginalized because I was well-adapted.
Too many didn’t consider me a “real” Finn for a number of reasons. Was it because I wasn’t white enough or was it because the name I carried made me stick out ethnically like a sore thumb?
But what could I have done in 1978, when I moved back permanently to this country? There were so few immigrants never mind people of my ethnic background that you were culturally and ethnically unimportant and out of the loop.
It is a paradox, but the very matters that I loved and admired the most about this country back then were the very things that marginalized and excluded me from this society.
The prototype Finn is a case in point. This social construct of the so-called model Finn that was taught and reinforced in the last century is being challenged as our society becomes more culturally diverse.
Finnish society’s lack of inclusiveness was and still is the main obstacle to equal integration and acceptance.
If you want to find where racism grows its roots in this society, you will find it in the arguments that some white Finns use to exclude you from society. If you want to challenge Finnish racism, the best place to begin is to contest the arguments and actions that reinforce white Finnish exclusiveness.
I write a lot about racism and social exclusion on Migrant Tales. I write about this topic because Finland is my home and because I want a better future for visible and invisible minorities. In cultural diversity we will find strength.
I am grateful that I have found such a platform and opportunity to be a part of an ever-growing national debate and social movement that aims to make our society inclusive to all groups.
We will win the battle against hate speech and intolerance
Much is at stake as Finland and Europe speeds into the depths of the new century. One of the greatest threats to our way of life and society today is hate speech and far-right ideology. Our resolve to identify and challenge these menaces is crucial during these times.
Even if the media, politicians and public opinion have preferred to remain largely silent in the face of these threats, it is an encouraging sign that our reaction as a society to such hazards is an ever-growing reaction.
Source: P.a.p.-Blog. Human Rights Etc.
One is off track if he or she believes that hate speech and intolerance only have an impact on immigrants and minorities. It would be naive to believe that the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) hasn’t impacted our country.
The shadow of the PS is clearly evident in our country: in the government’s EU and immigration policy we well as in our attitudes.
A debate taking place on social media about male circumcision is a case in point. Who else but the anti-Islam hardliners of the PS would be behind a bill to criminalize circumcision of under-fifteen-year-old male minors.
Like most arguments by a party that is openly anti-Islam, they are nothing more than red herrings and slippery slopes towards more radical measures like prohibiting Muslim women from wearing Islamic veils.
Every time a party takes steps to undermine minority rights, cultural diversity and our right to make lifestyle choices, we are eroding our civil liberties.
It is one good reason why we should challenge hate speech and intolerance.
The Rautiainen scandal: The PS’ short and selective memory
The Amon Rautiainen* scandal, the Perussuomalaiset (PS) municipal council candidate in Kotka who suggested on Facebook that Muslims should be boiled alive, reveals the Finnish anti-immigration party’s short and selective memory.
Freddy Van Wanterghem, the PS chair of the local association in Kotka, is a good example of the party’s double talk, or first I will say something vague to the media and then erase it vaguely and offer you a snow job instead.
The PS city councilor is quoted as saying on YLE in English:
“He [Rautiainen] is a candidate, and voters can make up their minds who they want to vote for.”
He first hints in the quote above that it is sort of ok to write that kind of hate speech on Facebook, but then disassociates the party form Rautiainen’s controversial posts.
For those who might have forgotten, Van Wonterghem was sentenced for inciting ethnic hatred in March for suggesting that it was good matter that a Muslim woman would be killed because ”it would be one less Muslim giving birth.”
Sorry Van Wanterghem but you’ve been caught with your hand in the double-talk cookie jar.
*Does anyone know if Amon is Rautiainen’s original first name?