Category: Enrique

The Halla-aho scandal raises disturbing questions

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Disquieting questions emerge in light of the Jussi Halla-aho scandal: Is pressure on the Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP to resign as chairman of the administration committee due to his dismissive reaction to the Supreme Court sentence or because of what he wrote about Muslims and Somalis, which got him in trouble in the first place?

When the PS won the April 2011 elections, it was well-known by many that the PS was an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party.  The question, however, at the time was how many politicians were ready to admit the latter about the PS.

Another important fact that Finland’s political establishment knew last year was that there were a few problem cases in the PS like Halla-aho, who was charged in 2009 by a lower court for defaming a religion.

In light of these facts, why was Halla-aho approved unanimously to chair the administration committee, which, among other matters, is in charge of immigration policy?

Would political parties be demanding the MP’s head today if he’d remained quiet and taken the Supreme Court decision with a drop of humility?

Legal scholars have reacted to Halla-aho’s provocative statements after the Supreme Court decision, who considered the ruling as “a personal interpretation by a few people.”

Halla-aho’s and the PS’ view of our judicial system is odd coming from a party that claims immigrants don’t follow and respect our laws.

Writes Husein Muhammed on Migrant Tales: “Now I grasp what the Perussuomalaiset actually mean when they demand that immigrants should respect the country’s laws. They don’t themselves respect Finnish laws/judicial system.”

If Halla-aho’s arrogant stand has surprised many, PS chairman Timo Soini’s decision to not do anything hasn’t helped matters either.

Soini said in 2009 that any person would get sacked from the party if that person were charged for a racist crime.

Soini has been forced to eat his words on a number of occasions. With a poker face, he claimed right after last year’s election that there wasn’t one racist among the PS and that if Halla-aho got  criminally charged he’d get the boot from the party.

Halla-aho plans to take up the matter before the European Court of Human Rights.

If there is anything positive about the scandal, it may be that political parties in Finland are starting to take a social issue  like racism more seriously.

Finland’s parliament may be making history tomorrow if the PS does not force Halla-aho to resign.  Parliament may decide Wednesday to dissolve the administration committee and appoint new members, which in turn would choose a new chairman.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS MP Halla-aho says he will not resign as chairman of the administration committee

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho announced Monday that he had no reason to bow out as chairman of the administration committee of parliament after he was fined by the Supreme Court on Friday for defaming a religion and inciting ethnic hatred. The PS MP said he would not resign because he considered the Supreme Court decision ”wrong and unfair,” according to a statement. 

I beg your pardon?! Incorrect and unfair?

Apart from revealing Halla-aho’s arrogance and disregard for our legal institutions, the PS MP should ask those people whom he has insulted, Muslims and Somalis, if the Supreme Court fine was “incorrect and unfair.”

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja criticized the PS chairman for not sacking Halla-aho from the party after the Supreme Court decision.

”Now Timo Soini, who three years ago threatened that anyone charged for racism had no place in the party, has eaten all of his words. This could be best understood if Soini openly supported Halla-aho’s opinions. In light of the [municipal elections], it shows instead a party leader giving in to opportunism and being morally bankrupt,” he said.

Finnish politicians should smell the coffee of far-right extremism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

After over a year of following countless scandals, fines for hate speech, racism and exposures of their far-right ideology, a question begs an answer of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party: Who is Timo Soini? 

If we asked Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, a social democrat, his answer would be moral weakness and opportunism.

Tuomioja writes a day after PS MP Jussi Halla-aho got fined by the Supreme Court for hate speech:  ”Now Timo Soini, who three years ago threatened that anyone charged for racism had no place in the party, has [now] eaten all of his words. This could be best understood if Soini openly supported Halla-aho’s opinions. In light of the [municipal elections], it shows instead a party leader giving in to opportunism and being morally bankrupt.”

I would go further than Tuomioja and claim that in principle Soini does agree with Halla-aho on a number of points concerning the perceived threat of our ever-growing culturally diverse society. A column by Soini reinforces the latter.  The big difference, however, between the PS chairman and the anti-immigration extremists of the party is diplomacy. Soini knows how to sugar-coat his words and play the good-cop role. How long will it take for mainstream politicians in this country to step up to the plate and admit what we’ve been saying all along on Migrant Tales: The PS is a racist, anti-immigration, anti-Islam and anti-EU party. In addition some members of the PS like Halla-aho want to turn the political clock of Finland back to the 1930s.

The sooner we understand the dark elements lurking inside the PS, where the far-right anti-immigration extremists are gaining strength over an embattled Soini, the greater our chances of saving our country from far-right nationlism.

One of the reasons why some still believe they can live with far-right extremists in parliament, who mock at our laws and institutions like Halla-aho did concerning the Supreme Court fine for hate speech, is because the PS isn’t still seen as a threat.

Why should they feel threatened by the PS? If you are a white Finn and have a stable job, the PS isn’t a threat because it is a party that excludes and victimizes immigrants and other minorities in Finland.

That’s now, but tomorrow may be a more perilous story if we don’t smell the coffee of  far-right extremism.

Halla-aho should resign as chairman of the administration committee of parliament

Posted on by Migrant Tales

In light of the Finnish Supreme Court (KKO) sentence on Friday fining Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho for defaming a religion and incitement against an ethnic group, the next step that the PS MP should take is to resign as chairman of the administration committee of parliament.  

PS  head Timo Soini was quoted as saying on YLE in English that it was up to the members of the administration committee to decide whether Halla-aho could remain as chairman.

The only party that has so far asked Halla-aho to resign is the Left Alliance.

Being fined for defaming a religion and incitement of an ethnic group should be enough grounds to show Halla-aho the door.

The greatest damage the PS has done to Finland after winning its historic election victory in 2011 is to the credibility of an institution like parliament.  Leaving Halla-aho to continue as chairman of the administration committee would be a further blow to credibility.

Social Democratic presidential candidate Paavo Lipponen said last year that clear boundaries should be drawn between democracy and those that believe in far-right ideology.  Our political leaders in parliament now have that opportunity to show leadership.

The sentence by the Supreme Court is an important precedent since it sets clear lines on what is unacceptable hate speech by unscrupulous politicians.

Criminal Law Professor Terttu Utrianen said the KKO sentence was a good one, since it reinforces our European way of life, which hinges on social equality and multiculturalism.

Soini was quoted as saying on YLE in English that the PS does not  intend to take any action following the ruling, since it was sufficient punishment for Halla-aho.

The PS MP said he may appeal the decision to the European Court of Human Rights.

Writes JusticeDemon of Migrant Tales: “A cynic might suggest that this newly discovered interest in defending human dignity as an end in itself comes at a rather convenient time [for Halla-aho]…”

 

Halla-aho gets convicted for defamation and inciting ethnic hatred

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Jussi Halla-aho was convicted today by the Finnish Supreme Court  (KKO) for defaming a religion and inciting ethnic hatred. Halla-aho, who was fined in 2009 for defaming religion, was now criminally charged as well for inciting ethnic hatred. 

The sentence dates back to Halla-aho’s blog writings of 2008, when he claimed that Islam is a pedophile religion and Somalis are genetically inclined to rob and live off welfare.

The latest ruling is another blow to the embattled and scandal-ridden PS’ credibility, which has seen its popularity plummet in recent opinion polls.

Migrant Tales applauds the sentence by the KKO to a politician who has made his questionable career on spreading hatred and racism of other groups in Finland. It is certainly an important ruling and warning to others. The sentence  reinforces our rejection as a society of racism and populism based on hate speech.

Kimmo Wilska writes on Facebook: “Personally I think that bringing criminal charges against Halla-aho was not a very wise move. Being able to portray himself as a free speech martyr was all he needed to win big in the Parliamentary elections.”

Halla-aho is chairman of the administration committee of parliament responsible, among other matters, for immigration policy.

As Finland learned from the April 2011 election, being complacent and silent on a social ill like racism is definitely the wrong way to go. Allowing such a social ill to roam freely in our society is like letting out a deadly predator.

The party’s chairman, Timo Soini, claimed to the media with a poker face after the April election that there was not one racist among the PS and that earlier that if Halla-aho got  criminally charged he’d get sacked from the party.

The ball is now in Soini’s court.

UPDATE:  PS chairman Soini said later today on Helsingin Sanomat that the party would take no action against Halla-aho since the fine imposed by the Supreme Court was sufficient punishment.

 

 

 

 

Eino Parkkulainen’s home in Argentina becomes a community library

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The late Eino Parkkulainen, a Finn who moved to Argentina in 1924 from Kitee, would be proud to see part of his former home  in the hamlet of San Martín being used as a library. Built in the mid-1930s, his home is probably the last one in existence built by the Finns that colonized Misiones province in northeastern Argentina.

Parkkulainen was a very enterprising man. One of the many things he accomplished during his lifetime was write a Finnish-Spanish dictionary. Unfortunately, the dictionary no longer exists.

Colonia Finlandesa was founded in 1906 by Arthur Thesleff.

Patricia Ocampo and Daniela Paola Friedl are spearheading a project to build numerous community libraries throughout Misiones. The first ones to open their doors to the public are the libraries of  San Martín and Puerto Leoni. Check out this video (in Spanish) of the inauguration of the San Martín Library on May 24.

The first picture I took of Pakkulainen’s home was in 1978.

Parkkulainen’s home in 2007.

One of the books on the shelves of the San Martín library is Lejana tierra mía authored by yours truly.

If you ever visit Misiones province and visit Colonia Finlandesa, you’ll probably pass by Parkkulainen’s former home.

In 1984, when I was taking pictures of the house, a fifty-year-old woman came out and asked me what I was doing. Everything was fine after I told her that I was  doing research on the Finns of Misiones.

“Send don Parkkulainen many regards when you see him,” she said. “Tell him that the house isn’t in such good shape. In a few years it may not be standing any longer.”

If you continue walking about 70 meters from the house you’ll soon hear the sound of rushing water of the Mártires River. If you stand on the wooden bridge that crosses it built by Artturi Heino about fifty years ago (in 1984), you’ll conclude that it too won’t last long.

After crossing the bridge you’ll be in Colonia Finlandesa.*

*Enrique Tessieri: Kaukainen maani. WSOY. Juva 1986. p. 33.

 

 

Second-generation Finns: Revealing society’s ignorance and arrogance

Posted on by Migrant Tales

If we look at the ongoing one-sided debate on immigration, immigrants and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity, one matter is for certain: It does not help dispel prejudices that encourage racism and social exclusion. 

While I am certain that most Finns are willing to make immigration and cultural diversity work, it is a totally different question how they think this should happen.

Finland has few immigrants compared with other European countries. In 2010-11, our foreign population stood at 167,954 (3.1% of the total population), up from 155,705 (2.9%) in 2009-10, according to the Population Register Center.

Our small immigrant population explains in part why a social ill like racism is still not seen by our society as a serious problem. Other factors discouraging action and debate on this front are ignorance and apathy.

When some Finns speak of language as the key to integration, only half of the issue is being debated. Stating to a newcomer that all he or she needs to do is learn the Finnish or Swedish language to be integrated is leaving out a crucial issue: acceptance.

I am always sadly surprised when I know an adolescent who speaks and writes Finnish proficiently but still feels like an outsider. The person in question has done part of his elementary and all of middle school in Finland.

A Somali who has lived two thirds of his life in Finland told Migrant Tales recently in perfect Finnish: “The worst thing in Finland is that if you have a different religion, culture and language, you are left on the  fringes of society. No matter how much you try to integrate you are always left outside.”

Certainly the exclusion that some second-generation Finns feel is partly due to the person but it does reveals where our integration program fails miserably as well as our propensity to colorblind racism.

Instead of accusing some immigrants of not wanting to adapt, being welfare shoppers or other insulting terms, shouldn’t we shift debate in a totally new direction that would promote real integration?

If racism and other social ills faced by immigrants are not debated seriously by our society, the biggest losers are the children of these newcomers.

For them we have nothing to offer except our ignorance and arrogance.

Finnish anti-immigration party seeks to ban begging

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Three Perussuomalaiset (PS) MPs plan to present a bill to Parliament that would ban begging in public places, according to YLE in English.  The aim of the bill has nothing to do with helping the Roma, a group that has suffered persecution in Europe for centuries. Its main aim is to reap political points for an embattled and scandal-ridden party, the PS. 

Scapegoating the Roma by banning begging will only exacerbate the problem by sweeping the issue under the rug. Such a law indirectly casts a shadow as well on Finland’s 10,000-strong Roma community and reinforces our collective suspicion of the group.

The proposed bill is a good example of how the PS are trying, with the municipal elections nearing in October, to capitalize on our xenophobia and racism.  

Why are Roma leaving Romania, Bulgaria and other eastern European countries to come to prosperous Finland? How many Roma are we speaking of? Are those begging on our streets a number-one national issue?  Why is an anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim party like the PS so interested in banning begging by the Roma?  

Behind all these questions you will find two factors orchestrating the rhetoric from behind: loathing for the Romany minority and political opportunism. 

The aim of the bill is what makes it especially suspect. Writes YLE in English: “The proposal states that begging has a negative impact on public safety and that permitting begging does not reduce the poverty and discrimination that foreign Roma face in their home countries.” 

Two of the PS MPs proposing the bill, Jussi Halla-aho and Olli Immonen, have made their questionable political careers by bashing Muslims and immigrants.  Now their attention has shifted to the Romany minority.  

The third PS MP is Tom Packalén, a policeman.


Prejudice discourages employers from hiring deaf people

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I read an interesting news story on YLE in English about how prejudice hinders deaf people from getting jobs. Sounds like a familiar excuse heard commonly by immigrants, right? 

The jobless rate of deaf workers and immigrants in Finland is about three times greater than the national average. Unemployment in Finland in April stood at 8.4%, according to Statistics Finland.

Writes YLE in English: “…Getting a foot in the employer’s door is a challenge for many members of the deaf community and as many as twenty percent don’t find work. The Finnish Association of the Deaf [FAD] is worried that hearing-impaired adults are being excluded from the workplace due to prejudice.”

FAD unit manager, Borje Hanhikoski, admits that attitude plays an important role when hiring deaf people. ”I think this is more about the attitude of employers, a question of prejudice,” he said

Greed, narcissism, apathy and fascism are the greatest threats to Finland today

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the matters I have admired most about Finland is its underdog spirit. When I grew up part of the year as a child and adolescent in Finland with my grandparents, that fighting spirit was ever-present. It was the fuel that led the country forward and turned it into a model society today.

Despite our successes as a nation, you don’t have to search far to see social ills like greed, narcissism, apathy, totalitarian far-right ideology and ineffective checks and balances threatening our society.

Finland’s anti-immigration sentiment, based on greed and collective jealousy, is a part of the general malice that has spread like cancer in our society.

I remember reading in the 1960s a National Geographic feature on Finland, which claimed that there were so few auto thefts in this country that all of them could be listed on a single sheet of paper!

That sheet of paper has, unfortunately, grown into many volumes. Tragedies at schools in Jokela and Kauhajoki, tragic family killings as well as Hyvinkää, which caused the death of two people, reveal the serious illness that has inflicted our society.

Helsingin Sanomat reports today that the general managers’ salaries and bonuses of Finland’s 43 largest stock quoted companies rose on average in 2011 to 918,000 euros versus 792,000 euros in the previous year.

How can any human being be so valuable that he or she can make twenty-four times more money than an average worker? Weak checks and balances are certainly to blame.

It’s difficult to say what is more shameful, the avarice of general managers like Finnair’s CEO Mika Vehviläinen or his insistent denial of any wrongdoing in a suspected bribery case.

A number of politicians who should know better have rightfully got their fingers burned. One of these is National Coalition Party veteran MP Ilkka Kanerva, who was convicted in April of aggravated bribery.

Like the Vehviläinens and Kanervas of the business and political world, far-right parties and politicians  capitalize on general discontent by repackaging and simplifying social, political and economic problems into 1 + 1= 2 terms.

In Finland the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is a good example of how far-right ideology bloomed in the April 2011 election.

Like the CEOs that make hefty salaries and enjoy fat bonuses, politicians like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others have struck gold with their racism and far-right rhetoric.

It’s so easy to attack defenseless people like refugees escaping war-torn regions and make up fairy tales about them. It is a shameful case of political opportunism, cowardice and chicanery.

Finland must and can do better than today. One of the ways of changing matters is to reinforce those very values that made us into a great nation today.

Those values are nothing more than social equality, empathy, modesty and patriotism, or a sense of community where everyone is accepted and included.