Enrique Archives - Page 5 of 152

Red herrings, code words that help sanitize and make more acceptable our intolerance

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Even if I have written for years about Finland’s anti-immigration groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), you have to learn to detect the red herrings in order to understand their real views on the topic. What you may uncover behind these red herrings is far scarier than ever imagined.

A red herring is “something intended to divert attention from the real problem or matter at hand; a misleading clue.”

It’s not easy to figure out what politicians think on a certain issues, especially if it has to do with a hot topic like immigration.

Why is it so difficult to get a plain honest answer? Because those that spread intolerance know that it’s morally wrong and therefore sanitize their views with red herrings and code words.

Any sensible person understands – or should know – that intolerance is morally objectionable and wrong. If it weren’t, why do so many anti-immigration groups use red herrings and code words to hide their real views?

If you asked PS MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, or why not James Hirvisaari of Muutos 2011 as well, what their anti-immigration views are, they’d probably reply that they aren’t against immigration. What they are really saying is that they don’t object to foreigners as long as they’re white Europeans, Christians, conservative and heterosexuals.

The lie exposed above is that if their criteria were used to accept immigrants in Finland, nobody – or very few – would move to this country. Thus their real aim, which is to keep Finland immigrant population to a minimum, would be accomplished.

It would be wrong to claim that the PS and Muutos 2011 are the only anti-immigration parties in Finland. There are others. Check out Wille Rydman’s and Susanna Koski’s vies of the Youth League of the National Coalition Party.

Another good example is Social Democratic Party head Jutta Urpilainen’s infamous maassa maan tavalla statement in 2011, which means in Rome do as the Romans do. What Urpilainen suggested is that this is my country, not yours. In order for it to be yours you must be like me.

Irrespective if a politicians or supporter belongs to the Left Alliance, neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta or anything in between these two extremes, they are all united by one factor that is rarely if ever mentioned by the Finnish media: What are their real views of people who are different from them? Are they for or against greater cultural diversity?

Some common red herrings used constantly by anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity politicians include:

This group is so different from us that they’ll never adapt to our society. (What they are really saying is that since they are so maladapted in their opinion they must not be allowed to live or move here).
Immigrants don’t want to learn Finnish and therefore don’t want to adapt. (The truth is that it’s very difficult to meet Finns and becoming their friends. If you disagree, ask another Finn).
I’m not against immigration. (Right. All I want are white brain surgeons to move to this country. We don’t need any immigrants).
If we bring the right type of immigrants, we won’t be required to change. (Immigrants should be judged by the skills they bring to the country not by their ethnic and religious backgrounds).
I’m not allowed to express my opinions freely about Muslims and immigrants. (Google the word “Eurabia” or “Immigrant threat” and see if this is true).
There’s no racism in Finland. (Right, a white person speaking for a black person is like a man speaking for women and claiming that there is gender equality).

So what’s the solution?

Recognize the red herrings and code words so you can tackle the real issues facing our ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Do it relentlessly.

The Roma blonde girl in Greece and the shadow of intolerance

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Migrant Tales

When I first read about Maria, the blonde girl that was discovered in Greece belonging to an unrelated Roma couple, a number of disturbing questions arose. One of these was an obvious one: Why so much interest by the media?

It would take a while for the red herring to be exposed. It eventually became clear for all of us to see: We don’t really care about the plight, poverty and the least about Roma children except if they’re white.

A comprehensive article on Maria and anti-Roma sentiment in Europe. Read full story here.

If anything, the incident is not only a wake-up call to our intolerance, but another reminder how little we have done to come to terms with our racism and history.

Racism is a social ill and it functions in a pathological manner. It has a Dracula effect that makes us sicker as it is passed from one generation to the next with the help of denial.

If we were serious about challenging this foe, we would have beaten it, or at least put it on the defensive, a long time ago.

The question we should be asking, then, is why we haven’t yet struck a stake through the heart of such a social ill?

And why couldn’t we? We have made tremendous scientific breakthroughs in many fields but in one, like racism, where we are still anchored in a time warp immobile.

The case of the girl in Greece not only exposes deep anti-Roma issue in Europe, but everything that is wrong with us. In the little girl you will find the shadow of European colonialism and megalomanic greed that gave birth to the slave trade in the sixteenth century all the way to the rise of fascism and Stalin’s purges in the 1930s in which millions perished.

It’s nothing more than the same ogre mocking at us.

Dana: Why doesn’t President Sauli Niinistö care about immigrants? What’s his stance on racism?

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Dana

Finland is a small country but a very proud one about its political and legal system. Some Finns believe they are, however, so different from other people on this planet and they can’t explain why.

For example…in Finland the law functions like magic; they believe that the law is so comprehensive that no-one in this country can behave in a racist manner and make the same mistake over and over again.

You can ask questions about the political and legal system but no-one will answer your questions…the Finnish system is supposed to respect human rights and give you a lot of freedom but still there’s a reject stamp on each question you ask, especially if it’s about family reunification.

This blog entry is about Sauli Niinistö, the President of Finalnd.

I have never seen him once organize a seminar or meeting with our immigrant community. Have you?

Why hasn’t he??? Is there a Finn that can answer this question? What about a foreigner?

What does Niinistö think about immigrants, refugees, or about me as a foreigner who lives here?

Who knows? Come on! Hands up! Speak up! Why doesn’t anyone ask this question to Niinistö: “Why don’t you speak up and defend our ever-growing culturally diverse society? Why haven’t you shown any interest in us, immigrants and refugees alike?

IS IT FEAR MR PRESIDENT???

Or is it because we are still such a small community that you still haven’t noticed that we’re here?

Small in size maybe but in which respect? In values, in will?

Do you have any news or information about the president’s new, even old thoughts about foreigners?

Can Niinistö understand my suffering – or aren’t I worthy of his attention?

He’s been president of Finland for some time. During his mandate he has hosted Independence Day celebrations at the Presidential Palace. He’s been seen dancing among supermen and superwomen on that day. Everyone has their eyes on him. The media watches him like white on rice but they don’t speak about anything else except how he’s dressed.

I believe the media in this country is materialistic because it is more interested in expensive clothes than in the suffering of others never mind growing social problems like poverty.

Niinistö went on official trips abroad, here and there; he spoke about different things but he NEVER EVER noticed our community, us foreigners, his neighbors who live in same country.

Tell me WHY??????

The rich people of the UAE are just like him. Since the Finnish governments needs money, they only respect rich foreigners from countries like the UAE.

No-one can call me a second-class citizen of this country. I am first-class and will always be no matter what anyone does.

In a nutshell, this is the course of humanity in Finland: Some treat me well while others look down on me.

Those that want to relegate me to the lower human leagues make my blood boil!

Well-groomed politicians and making racism in Finland “normal”

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Migrant Tales

In general terms, there are two types of politicians in Finland that spread intolerance: those that let it all hang out and another type that speaks to you politely and is well-groomed. In the latter group, you’ll find PS MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, Juho Eerola, Teuvo Hakkarainen, Juho Eerola, even Timo Soini; James Hirvisaari is a crude example of the former group.

These types of politicians, who inhabit as well the National Coalition Party, Center Party, Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, Greens, Swedish People’s Party and the Left Alliance, believe it’s perfectly fine to attack immigrants and refugees in this country.

If you took away the rhetoric and double-speak of their so-called impeccable well-groomed arguments, you’d end up with two embarrassing revelations: intolerance and anti-cultural diversity.

These types of politicians hate immigrants, but especially Africans and Muslims.

How they manifest their hatred and racism is the trick. They have to figure out how to sanitize it. In other words, how to make their racism look “normal.” Wearing suits and flashy ties help give their message more credibility.

Eerola, the PS MP who admitted to be attracted to fascism, is a case in point. Before Eerola’s election, he sometimes looked like a poorly dressed hippie with a beard but then cleaned up his act.

One of PS MP Eerola’s many images.

Image plays a crucial role for any politicians, never mind his or her political message. If you look like a slob, your message will lose strength.

Another important matter you must learn as well is the language of institutional racism and political correctness. It’s like learning manners at the table. You can be a slob in real life, but at a public table you have to know the fine art of etiquette.

Immonen, in a recent column on Uusi Suomi, an online newspaper that has become a platform for the PS, wrote that he’s against Africans and Muslims applying for asylum in this country.

Note PS MP Olli Immonen’s tie and nicely folded handkerchief.

Using PS leader Soini’s twisted logic, it’s fine for Immonen to attack immigrants as long as he says publicly that he’s against hate speech and not a racist. The person defending, or spreading hate speech, is naturally wearing a suit and a tie.

Sometimes matters take a turn for the worse irrespective of our well-groomed public image. Soini, a devout catholic, went through a scapegoating ritual this month when he sacrificed Hirvisaari and fed him to the political dogs.

The PS leader is now keen to tell us that the party doesn’t have any longer any issues with racism.

Like a person learning etiquette at the table, the PS is learning how to appear “normal” but without changing. It’s still the same party with the same message of hatred, same loathing for immigrants, especially Africans and Muslims.

When I was Colombia bureau chief of a U.S. news agency, I was responsible for the people I hired. My boss in New York used my hiring abilities to assess my performance as a manager. If I hired the wrong person, I’d be the first to hear about it from my boss.

Soini is directly responsible for the racism in the party for taking on board the Hirvisaaris, Halla-ahos and Hakkarainens. Even if he claims to object to racism, he’s just as responsible.

Alex Andreou gives a great quote on a Guardian opinion piece about how the far-right. Apart from changing form constantly, “the far-right throbs and expands, blooms, then folds into itself and subdivides like an amorphous but sentient blob from a 1950s B movie.”

While part of the PS’ convoluted ideology and make up has far-right elements, it is clearly an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party. A B horror movie can make us laugh or put us to sleep but it can never match the treachery and devastation that a political movement like the PS can inflict on others, like immigrants.

Magneettimedia editor and owner fined 45,000 euros by court for anti-Semitic writings

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Magneettimedia editor and owner Juha Kärkkäinen has been fined by a Finnish court 45,000 euros for publishing anti-Semitic writings of Ted Pike, David Duke and others as well as cartoons that bear a striking resemblance to the former Nazi tabloid, Der Strümer (1923-45), reports Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat.

Read full story here.

The court ruled that the writings published fall in the category of hate speech and propaganda against Jews.

Kärkkänen, however, denied the charges. He said the writings weren’t libelous or defamatory.

Numerous anti-Semitic articles have been published in previous issues of Magneettimedia. These include:

The Jews Who Control the Media
Who Owns the Media in 2012?
A Great Video Shows What a Cheat Albert Einstein Really Was!
Zionist Terrorism in Norway
CNN, Goldman Sachs and Zionist Control
How to Break Down and Dominate the Zionists

Meanwhile, former Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP, James Hirvisaari, accused on a blog entry the Finnish government of committing genocide against its people.

“Multiculturalism is one of the death weapons [to commit genocide],” he wrote. “With crude lies like “internationalization,” “aiding,” and – which is ridiculous – “to save Finnish jobs,” Finns are clearly misled to believe that the only option is the death of Finland.”

This kind of writing is being spread by the Muutos 2011 MP.

While Hirvisaari is one of a few MPs with far-right anti-immigration views, how much hostility spills to the street from his racist diatribe? How many Finns, with low self-esteem and multiculturally challenged like him, are “inspired” by his message of hate?

There is no reason why anyone living in this country should take sitting down Hirvisaari’s and Kärkkäinen’s call to hate minorities.

Our reaction to intolerance should be first and foremost a reaction.

Migrants’ life in Finland: Some endure intolerance better than others – some hit back, others don’t

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The ocean is a desert, with it’s life underground
And a perfect disguise above.
Under the cities lies, a heart made of ground,
But the human will give no love.

A Horse with No name, America

Intolerance, bigotry, racism, prejudice and a list of other social ills strike their victims in different ways. Some of us can endure such hostility better than others, even when it lashes out at you at the right moment when you make the wrong move.

You can get in trouble with the order of things when you question your hapless predicament. If you choose the normal route, or not to rock the boat, some recommend that you grin and bear the situation and remember that you are the one being watched, not the thing that is watching you and giving you the short end of society’s stick.

It’s like being on a horse with no name in the desert with not even a shred of evidence to make a case in your defense. Under the perfect disguise of the desert above, lies concealed the source of the loathing and prejudices, deep underground.

Listen to full song with lyrics here.

Dana is one of Migrant Tales’ frequent visitors. She has contributed beautiful poetry and shared her grief, when her mother and father died in May and July, respectively.

She blames the system for “killing her parents.” The system, which makes family reunification in this country like winning the lottery, didn’t even grant her the opportunity to see and feel the warm embrace and love of her parents before they died.

Those who have been victims of racism and discrimination, understand what is meant by sensing hostility. It’s like bad karma, telepathic messages from Pandemonium, a defense mechanism that warn you that you are now under attack.

No, you don’t understand what I mean. You cannot feel Dana’s pain or that of others like her because too many of us are too white to grasp that kind of pain.

Some of us deny its existence if we can’t feel other people’s suffering. Denying racism is the new racism.

Writes Dana: “If your mind is dirty, how can u make peace with anyone? If ur mind is dirty, how can you make peace??? If I think my color, my race, my blue eyes are better than your black and darker ones, then I’m a very sick person. That sickness will poison your blood and make you cranky, sick and put you at war – that’s the problem. Why can’t you see that a black person is also a human. What’s wrong with a black person???”

Dana told me that for the last six years she has been fighting back. Whenever she feels that people attack her with their hostile looks or comments, she doesn’t run away in silence but turns to her attackers and calls them, “racist.”

The reaction she gets is mixed and people either ignore her, threaten (and sometimes do) call the police and security guards, or call her a “terrorist” who should be kicked out of the premises and Finland.

“I’ve learned a lot from the time that the police arrested me at the social-welfare office,” she says. “I make an escape before anyone can detain me. I won’t take this kind of hostility any longer. I always fight back in public.”

Cultural diversity is unstoppable – it exposes Finland’s white privilege and intolerance

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Migrant Tales

A Silminnäkijä television program exposed Thursday something we all knew: how you are treated in Finland depends on the color of your skin and ethnic-national background. Should this surprise us?

What is more incredible? Is it the indifference of the police, bouncers and near-silence of society as people are openly discriminated right before our very eyes? Answer: all of the above.

How we got to become a society that condones intolerance and open discrimination isn’t difficult to understand. Look at the Romany minority, which has lived here for five centuries, the Saami and study closely our history. When you read our history, read it critically and don’t allow yourself to be spoonfed by the codewords that hide our intolerance.

Outright denial is the oxygen that intolerance, prejudice and Finnish white privilege use survive. No matter how qualified and how big the scoop you have on this issue, it will rarely receive the needed public attention and, most importantly, a long-overdue public response. Why? Because we’re still in denial mode.

Because too few really care enough about your rights in this society if you are an immigrant or visible minority, it means that you will be relegated to second- and third-class status. No matter how much you try or how qualified you are, you will never be able to compete, be treated equally and feel at home.

In the process you may become a mamu, a modern Finnish Uncle Tom, and rise a notch or two in status but never ever be equal and enjoy the privileges of white Finns.

Is it your fault that Finland is becoming a culturally diverse society? Is it your fault that white Finnish society has defense mechanisms to show its hostility and loathing for you in the form of politicians like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Susanna Koski, Wille Rydman and many others including the media and the whole establishment?

Certainly it isn’t your fault. The cards are stacked against you in this society because that’s how they are meant to be.

And why wouldn’t they be? The police service is white, political parties are white, the media is white, universities are white, our history is painted with strong brushes of white paint that constantly remind “us” against “them.” Add to this mix the element of denial and self-righteousness at the cost of others, which drown out the New Finland, and we begin to understand the severity of the problem.

Do you have to be a social scientist to grasp that Finland is having a hard time accepting cultural diversity? Check out the Restricting Act of 1939, which made Finland a closed country to foreign investment, and the fact that immigrants got their firs Aliens Act in 1983, or 65 years after independence.

A Helsingin Sanomat article on Finland’s largest-ever march for immigrant rights in 1981 wrote the following: “Moreover, foreigners should be given the right, among other things, to join a political party, to be a member of a union, and the right to own a home.”

Folks! This article was written 32 years ago!

The Restricting Act of 1939 prohibited foreigners from owning real estate and acquiring a majority stake in Finnish companies – limiting this to 20% normally and 40% under special permission. The Act stipulated that foreigners could not own shares in sectors such as forestry, securities trading, transportation, mining, real estate and shipping.

Imagine how a society must educate its children and how it must maintain and feed certain prejudices in order to justify such a closed model of society?

Like it or not, Finland is a growing culturally diverse society. No matter how extreme and hostile the arguments become against the acceptance of other groups as equal members of society during this century, our culturally diversity will continue to grow. Nothing will stop it. Those who attempt to, will look like modern Finnish Don Quixotes charging against windmills.

As our cultural diversity grows and as our voices become louder and put intolerance on the defensive, the closer we’ll be to making this country a just place for everyone.

The ogre of racism in Finland is learning how to wear a three-piece suit and tie

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Matters appear to have changed after the April 2011 election, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) rose from relative obscurity to become the third-largest party in parliament. The well-known scandals and publicized vicious attacks by the racists of the PS against immigrants and visible minorities appear to have changed their tune.

Apart from the row that former PS MP James Hirvisaari caused when he took a picture of a man making a Nazi salute in parliament, we haven’t heard or read recently about any racist outbursts in Teuvo Hakkarainen’s crude style.

Muutos 2011 MP Hirvisaari believes that the PS is becoming a more mainstream party by abandoning its openly racist and hostile views of immigrants and visible minorities.

In his fourth blog entry as a Muutos 2011 MP, Hirvisaari writes that “the party is shaping into an odorles, tastless and colorless mass.” He warns that “the collapse of the party is imminent” and support will “fall to under 10%” if the PS’ anti-immigration stance is brushed under the rug for fear of being labelled racist.

While the next parliamentary elections will take place two years from now, a lot can happen during that time on the political front. PS chairman Timo Soini’s gamble to apparently weed out loose canons like Hirvisaari from the party and keep other ones like Hakkarainen quiet, it’s pretty clear that the PS is putting its convoluted house in order so it can form part of the country’s next government after the 2015 elections.

Even if the PS wants to look more mainstream, can MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, Juho Eerola, Olli Immonen and others take on a new image? Certainly they can but can a leopard change its spots? What will the voters think? Didn’t they vote for 39 MPs in 2011 because they weren’t mainstream and because they were openly hostile to immigrants, Muslims and the EU?

There’s an important question that Soini dreads the answer: Would the PS commit political hara-kiri if it forced its racists and hardline nationalists to chill out?

An story in The Guardian shows how far-right parties are constantly changing and reinventing their image to appeal to mainstream voters:

This is exactly the modus operandi of such factions. From the British Union of Fascists to the British People’s party, the Action party, the National Front, the Flag Group, the New National Front, the BNP and the EDL, the far-right throbs and expands, blooms, then folds into itself and subdivides like an amorphous but sentient blob from a 1950s B movie.

A good example of the new image that the PS wants to sell to voters is PS Helsinki substitute councilwoman, Belle Selene Xian. She is the exact creation that the PS wants to sell to voters: she’s Chinese but white and who says all the right sweet things that win over some but makes her obnoxious to others.

The PS is like an ogre that is trying to learn how to speak and learn new ways, wearing a three-piece suit and tie tie trying to say all the right things without saying anything.

Jussi Halla-aho gets cold feet – another lie exposed

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho announced that he will not take part in a live A2 televised debate on Islam, reports YLE. The MP, who has been convicted for ethnic agitation, said that the debate doesn’t serve the issue. He would, however, be ready to take part in a debate with fewer people.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Just like Helsingin Sanomat helped senior lecturer Kyösti Tarvainen to spread fear about Muslim birth rates, another important fabricated story of the far right and anti-immigration groups is that they are not allowed to speak openly about Islam.

See Facebook wall here.

The A2 program gave Halla-aho an opportunity to speak his heart out if he wished about Islam but he turned it down.

Why?

Because the arguments used by anti-immigration groups and personalities like Halla-aho hinge on prejudice and gross exaggerations. There’s very little truth in them.

Politicians like Halla-aho and anti-immigration groups live in bubbles. Their biggest fear is that their constantly changing arguments, which say the same thing, hate group x and y, will be exposed.

National Coalition Party city councilman, Mohammad Azizi, wasn’t surprised by Halla-aho’s decision.

”It’s easy to speak behind [the vail] of a blog and screen about anything, but he doesn’t dare to take part in a face-to-face debate,” he said. ”I am ready to talk about everything related to Islam, including the most difficult issues like circumcision.”

Even if it will take some time for Finland and Europe to wake up from its present far-right anti-immigration menace, it’s unlikely that Halla-aho’s arguments will be revered 20-30 years from now.

These code words of hate used to attack immigrants and visible minorities will be remembered with shame. They will look just like the arguments used by white racists in Southern United States to justify Jim Crow Laws during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Zuzeeko’s blog: Finland’s population registry website excludes visible minorities

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng*

Finland is still very much a racially homogeneous country — predominantly made up of white Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking people. The homogeneous nature of the population is reflected in most walks of life in the country where people of African descent or visible minorities are not represented or are relegated to the background. A look at the homepage of the population registry’s website supports this assertion.

The website of the Population Register Centre (in Finnish: Väestörekisterikeskus) portrays a complete lack of racial and ethnic diversity in Finland. The last time I checked, photos displayed on the home page (see screenshot) of the website showed diversity in terms on gender, sex and age — which is good. But ethnic or racial diversity was completely out of the picture despite the fact that Finland has visible minorities registered in the population register.

Finland has a total population of over 5 million people and it is estimated that the population will hit 5.5 million in 2015. As a member of Finnish society, I can attest to the fact that the country’s population is racially diverse — although a first look at the website of the population registry suggests otherwise. Even the website of Kela, the social insurance institute, shows a racially homogeneous Finland.

The population of Finland increased by 13,050 persons between January and July 2013 and the main reason for population growth was immigration. According to Statistics Finland’s statistics on population structure, every tenth person aged 25 to 34 living permanently in Finland in 2012 was of foreign origin — approximately 12 per cent of all persons with foreign origin were of African descent and about one-quarter were of Asian origin.

In my view, Finland’s non-whites or so-called people of color have been relegated to the background and are not portrayed as part of the society. Many do not occupy prominent positions in public life as journalists, police officers, lawmakers, ministers or teachers. Visible minorities are not even portrayed as part of the society on national and governmental websites like that of Kela and Väestorekisterikeskus. It might take some time for visible minorities to occupy elevated positions in public life — but I am convinced that simple changes in graphics and photographs on national and governmental websites will go a long way to show visible minorities that they are welcomed and accepted as part of the society.

In this age of information technology websites send resounding messages. The last time I checked, the website of Finland’s population registry sent a disturbing message, in my interpretation, that visible minorities are not part of Finland’s population structure. The population registry’s home page should be updated to include racial and ethnic diversity that is representative of Finland’s population structure.

Read original blog entry here.

*Zuzeeko Tegha Abeng is an associate editor of Migrant Tales.