Category: Enrique

Harassment and abuse of Somalis in Finland picked up after the election

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

In many respects, the treatment of Somalis in Finland sadly reminds me of how blacks in the United States were excluded from society in the 1960s, when the civil rights movement was in full swing. Like in the United States, racism in Finland not only threatens our values as a society but questions who we are as a nation and people.  

Probably one reason why some Finns still deny that racism is a problem in this country is because it would be a costly matter to admit. For one, it would suck out much of the questionable credibility of some political parties and their politicians, who have made their political careers on spreading fear and suspicion of immigrants and minorities.

Contrary to popular belief, parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which have capitalized politically by appealing to that anti-outside world and anti-immigrant streak in some Finns, are weakening not strengthening us as a country.

How can a nation that fought so nobly in the Winter War (1939-40) and created an exemplary social-welfare state that has today one of the best educational systems in the world have discrimination issues with a group like the Somalis? It is not only shameful but disgraces our society.

A story on Kainuun Sanomat claims that racist abuse and attacks on the Somali community in Finland started to rise after the April election, when the anti-immigration PS became the third-largest party in the Eduskunta (parliament).

Refugee of the year (2011), Saido Mohammed, said: “After the parliamentary election [Somalis that live in] Helsinki have said that they are spat at daily.”

Researcher Marja Tiilikainen reinforces Mohammed’s claim, stating that the election gave permission to people to harass Somalis in public.

The real enemies of this country are not immigrants but those who claim, with a poker face, that they aren’t racists.

Debate on racism against the Somali community in Finland resembles a dead battery

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Taking into account the hostility and racism that Finland’s Somali community suffers, the news isn’t about racism that such nationals experience but how little has been done to address the issue. A story on YLE news Monday brings to light (again) what we all know about the country’s fourth-largest immigrant community: racism and exclusion are the rule, not the exception. 

One could ask a simple question concerning the situation. What has been done in Finland after an April 2009 survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) made its disturbing conclusions?  Let’s see…Yes, now I remember! We had an election in April which prized some in the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party with a ticket to parliament for spreading racist myths about groups like the Somalis.

It would be unfair to pin blame only the PS. What is even more shameful is that traditional parties that knew better hopped on the PS bandwagon and began to echo their rhetoric.

Helsingin Sanomat wrote the following after the FRA study was published almost two years ago: “When it comes to treatment at a bank or a shop, Finland’s Somalis emerged among the groups most discriminated against. However, compared with other countries’ minorities the Finnish Somalis were more informed of competent authorities who could give them support or advice. Yet some 69% of the interviewed Finnish Somalis said that they did not know of any organization that could offer them support services to victims of discrimination.”

If Finland is going to deal with racism it will have to address the discrimination that Somalis face in our society.

Showing the problem on national television is a step in the right direction. Even so, the YLE story is nothing more than jumper cables that attempt to kick start a dead battery of a car in -30C temperature.  Even if the car’s engine will start, we still haven’t resolved the problem, which is the existing battery.

Finland needs a new battery when debating and finding proactive solutions to the role of ever-growing racism in our society.

Migrant Tales 2009: Being an immigrant in Finland – a letter from Ida

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The Migrant Tales blog gets emails from people who speak with hand on heart about the challenges they face as immigrants or Finnish with international backgrounds in our society. Here is one of these published in November 2009. The real name of the person has been changed. Here is a letter from Ida:

The underlying problem in Finland is that [white] Finns can never fully understand what racism is if they have never played that role of being a minority. They can fill all the facts and knowledge of the books in their heads but still can never understand what the true meaning behind racism is.  And there is no arguing with them because they already know all the facts and figures.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I can’t change people’s minds about certain things [like racism]. They have their own mindset of things. Hell, it took me pretty long time to re-wire my brain to think differently after all that brainwashing in Finland. Imagine, I used to have prejudices against [my own group the] Chinese. It would take a lot more for  Finns to think more open-mindedly.

I spent almost all my adult life [trying] to find acceptance and proving to myself that I was one of them. I did all this at the expense of my identity. Well, now I am just tired. I am who I am and I don’t need their acceptance. I don’t need to be one of them. And I am happy that I have found a country where otherness is cherished and celebrated and where I don’t need to hide or be ashamed of being Chinese. Finland can never be my home because I can never feel comfortable enough to be myself there. And they will never see me as one of them either. So, that’s that.

If you see racist abuse in public, film it and send it to Migrant Tales

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

It’s pretty clear that silence is an ineffective way to address a serious social ill like racism.  We can do a lot more. Filming  victims of racist abuse, like those published on Mail Online,  is a good way to drive home the message that we won’t tolerate this type of behavior from anyone.  

Migrant Tales would like to publish such video clips on our blog. The first and foremost matter to take into account is, however, your safety when filming. We don’t want to put you in harm’s way.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=710qYgDm3DM]

Here is some good advice that was given to me when I went to work in Bogotá as Colombia bureau chief for BridgeNews:  “No story is worth your life.”

Racism is a problem in Finland as it is in other European countries. Fortunately, there are many of us who are outraged by this type of anti-social behavior.

Don’t forget that there is far much more to the affirmation, racism isn’t an issue in our country, than meets the eye. When a person makes such a statement to you, he or she is saying you don’t effectively exist. If you don’t exist you have nothing to complain about.

It is a good way to make a social issue go away.

We, however, are not going to allow racism and bigotry get off the hook so easily. Send your video clips or get in touch with us by email,  [email protected].

Migrant Tales wants to hear your story

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Thanks to you, Migrant Tales has achieved one of its most important aims: “To be a voice for those whose views and situation are understood poorly and heard faintly by the media, politicians and public.” In order to continue to be heard, we need more voices on Migrant Tales. 

We aim to publish stories in English, Finnish and any other language.

Do you have a real-life story to tell? Do you want to do it anonymously or with your real name? Then Migrant Tales is the blog where your voice will be heard by many.

Migrant Tales wants to continue as well to publish more scoops like we did with the tragic death of a Somali in Oulu.   If you know of a story and want to alert us, please write to us: [email protected].

We are interested as well in publishing poetry, short stories about life in Finland on our very own online “little magazine,” Migrant Tales Literary.

Thank you for your support.

Kokoomus' Sauli Niinistö is Finland's next president

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Kokoomus presidential hopeful, Sauli Niinistö, won by a wide margin his rival Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party, according to YLE. With all of  the votes tabulated, Niinistö won 62.6% of the vote compared with 37.4% for Haavisto. 

The biggest losers of the election were not only the left but anti-EU candidates such as Paavo Väyrynen of the Center Party and Perussuomaliset (PS) party chairman Timo Soini. Both candidates came in third and fourth place, respectively, in the first round of voting.

Soini only captured 9.4% of the vote, which was a far cry from the 19.1% that his party won in April.

The biggest humiliation for the PS was that a Green Party candidate, who is openly gay, made it to the second round. Apart from being an anti-EU and anti-immigrant party, some PS members condemn homosexuality.

Some analysts see Soini’s poor showing as a tipping point for the PS as they face the crucial municipal election on October 28.

Even so, there are some in the PS like MP Reijo Tossavainen who can come up with some Twilight Zone explanations for the poor showing of the party and how the Green Party bubble burst. Tossavainen’s world on the Uusi Suomi blog entry reveals crudely who the PS are.

Tossavainen’s explanation sounds like what Soviet spies informed Stalin about Finland being a cakewalk before the Winter War (1939-40) broke out.

Another big loser of the election was Paavo Lipponen, a veteran Social Democrat politician who captured a mere 6.7% of the vote in the first round.

Finland has had after President Urho Kekkonen (1956-82) four Social Democrat presidents that have ruled the country for 30 years.

That has now come to an end.

Finns vote today for their next president

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

While the biggest victor of today’s presidential election in Finland is democracy, I cannot help but look way past the awaiting fanfare of Sunday evening , when we’ll be hearing the victory speech of either Pekka Haavisto of the Green Party or Kokoomus’ Sauli Niinistö.  

In many respects, Finnish voters decided in the first round  of the election that they do not want a cliffhanger repeat of what we saw in April nor a president that is anti-EU, anti-immigration and colorblind with respect to our country’s ever-growing cultural diversity.

During the past ten-odd months, Finns have not only come to know racism, homophobia and anti-democratic credentials of some of the PS MPs, but the lame excuses justifying such shameful examples.

Few will deny that Finland faces many big challenges in the next six years. In many respects, our values will determine how we address those challenges. What kind of leadership will Haavisto and Niinistö offer Finns and immigrants living in the country on how to tackle ever-rising poverty, social inequality, streamlining costs that will weaken our social welfare state, and our general view of the outside world?

Should we invest more on programs that fuel social equality or on fear of ourselves and the outside world through institutions like the police and defense forces?

When I go to vote today, I will be weighing these issues.

Irish Examiner: Anti-immigrant or racist political rhetoric ‘must not go unchecked’

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Compared with Finland, Ireland appears like a distant world when it comes to anti-immigration groups and their hate rhetoric.  

Both countries have seen a lot of emigration since the nineteenth century. In Finland over a million people emigrated to other parts of the world during 1860-1999. A study in 1978 showed that since 1820 over 4.723 million people emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland alone. 

Apart from such similarities, there is one big difference: Ireland lacks an anti-immigration party whereas Finland has the Perussuomalaiset (PS), which became the third-biggest party in the April election.  

There may be many reasons why Ireland doesn’t have an anti-immigration party. One of these could be tolerance. In Ireland such anti-social behavior isn’t seen favorably by politicians and the public while in Finland it is. 

How many politicians would be forced to resign in Finland if they followed Ireland’s example? The Irish Examiner writes: “Last November, Mr [Darren]  Scully was forced to resign as mayor of Naas, after saying he would no longer deal with, as he described them, bad-mannered, aggressive, black Africans. The party has not taken any decisive action.” 

If we cited the comments made by many Finns concerning the death of a Somali in Oulu this week, we could conclude that too many think that racism is acceptable.

To show how serious the problem is in Finland, a Finnish-language teacher I spoke with on Saturday from Kouvola said that no politician would ever carry a sign in public stating that we should give more financial support to refugees and immigrants. 

One important lesson that we could learn from Ireland is that racism must be seen as something unacceptable in our society. 

Why? Because it is a direct threat to our society, our values and our common sense of decency. 

Racist political rhetoric must not go unchecked. 

___________

By Jennifer Hough

An example needs to be made of politicians who make negative comments about immigrants if Ireland is to avoid going down a route of an “accepted rhetoric or racism”, Integration Ireland has warned.

Read whole story.

A letter from the brother of the Somali victim of Oulu, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Migrant Tales was surprised Thursday evening to get a message from the brother of the Somali victim who died tragically in Oulu, Finland, this week after trying to flee from three people who barged into his home with a metal pipe. At the most, the three suspects will be charged with manslaughter (kuolemantuottamus). 

The incident touches a sensitive nerve of the immigrant and  Somali community, the fourth largest in Finland. Even if what happened was not a hate crime, according to the police, it brings out the despair, futility and muffled outrage of some Somalis who live in this country.

If the victim’s tragic death, whom his brother calls Abdirashid, can shed light on the plight of Somalis in Finland and the hardships they face, the better.

By writing about what happened in Oulu we are showing respect to the Somali community. Their sadness has a voice in Finland even if many would like to drown it with colorblind arguments.

It should be also mentioned that sensible Finns are just as saddened by what happened as some members of the Somali community.

Abdirashid’s big brother, Jirde, sent the following letter* to Migrant Tales and a picture of the victim:

Jirde’s two brothers. The baby is Abdirashid. 

My little brother was born in Ethiopia in a refugee camp to the second wife of my father in 1989.  During the civil war between the Siad Barre regime and northerners [of Somaliland], my brother was taken to Dijibouti to be treated for rubella by my father’s first wife [Jirde’s mother].  

I am the eldest brother [of a large family]. We contacted all the physicians in Dijibouti [to treat my brother]. We had to go to Europe. My brother had lost his sight due to cataracts.  We managed to get him to Germany. His big brother, who lived at the time in Paris [, France], and with the assistance of God and Germany, the operation on his eyes was successful. 

Four months [after the operation] and after the end of the war [against Siad Barre] my father requested the government of Germany to return his family to the country [Somalia]. My little brother [Abdirashid] returned… 

We request this great nation of civilized people to do justice for my little brother. 

Signed: Mr. Jirde, the big brother. 

*The letter has been edited.