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Denial is a time-tested method to make a social issue go away

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What do people really mean when they claim that racism is a minor problem in Finland and elsewhere? Are they stating that since racism is a small problem, politicians and public opinion should not concern themselves too much with the issue? If a white Finn claims that racism is not a problem, is he or she stating that immigrants hardly exist in this country?  

Debating Finland’s cultural diversity can be an exercise in opening up old wounds.  Denying the historicity and existence of a group is an effective way of making  a social problem disappear.

I lived in Argentina during the dirty war from 1976-1978, when the country was ruled by a ruthless military régime responsible for the disappearance of some 30,000 people.

The video clip below is a speech by then de facto President Jorge Rafael Videla, who offers excuses to the media on why the military régime cannot do anything about the tens of thousands of people that have gone missing.

Like the debate on racism in Finland or in Europe, General Videla brushes the issue of the disappeared under the rug. He says in effect that since a missing person does not exist he cannot make any demands. A missing person is a question mark.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MPZKG4Prog]

Videla states at the end of the video clip: “The person who is detained without any rights and the one who went missing is another (case). With respect to the one that went missing, there is a question mark because he’s disappeared. If that person would appear he would get treatment x (by the authorities), and if he appeared and were dead he would get treatment z. But until this disappeared (person) doesn’t appear he cannot be treated in any special way because he is a question mark. He is a missing person. He doesn’t have an identity. He doesn’t exist. He isn’t dead or alive, he’s gone missing.”*

* El hombre que está detenido sin proceso es uno o al desaparecido es otro.  Frente al desaparecido en tanto este come tal es un incognita el desaparecido. Si el hombre apareciera, bueno tendría un tratamiento x y si la aprecion se convirtiera en certeza de su fallecimiento, tiene un tratamiento z. Hasta que este desaparecido no puede tener ningún tratamiento especial porque es un incógnita. Es un desaparecido. No tiene identidad. No está. No muerto o vivo, está desaparecido. 

Bilingualism will supercharge your brain or is it that easy?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

My blood pressure rises every time I hear people state nonchalantly that travelling enriches. If this were the case, why are some societies hostile to some people like immigrants who are growing up in two or more cultures? I was brought up in three national cultures and spoke three languages as a child.

I learned, however, at an early age in Finland and in middle-class Los Angeles that it’s advisable to keep your Otherness at bay. It’s better to fit in rather than to stand out.

This link will take you to an interesting article and video clip on the benefits of bilingualism. What is it and what life-long benefits can a child get when he or she learns at least two languages? Princeton Neuroscientist Sam Wang, co-author of “Welcome to Your Child’s Brain,” claims that bilingualism will supercharge your baby’s brain.

Wang states: “…the benefits of bilingualism go far beyond the ability to order convincingly at Maxim’s in Paris, or to read Dostoevsky in the original. Bilingual toddlers have an improved ability to resolve ‘conflict cues.’ In other words, their minds are more flexible – better able to unlearn previously learned rules in light of new, conflicting information.”

Even though it is clear that speaking more than one language can “supercharge” a child in many ways, a lot depends as well on how society sees diversity.

My three national cultures and languages, which lived inside of me as one whole, appeared to be in harmony with the outside world until I went to catholic school.

One afternoon the history teacher gave us one of those  usual “America-is-great-and-communism-is-evil speeches.” Since I had lived in three countries before moving to Los Angeles and traveled every year to Finland to visit my grandparents, I naturally had a different take of the world than the history teacher never mind my classmates.

At the age of thirteen and in eight grade I was still too young to have a defined political ideology.

I raised my hand after the teacher told the class that  all of the Russians would flee the Soviet Union if they let them move out of the country.

The teacher and class listened attentively to my candid question: “If the Russians have never visited any countries outside of their own, don’t you think that they consider their country the best in the world?”

My question caused a knee-jerk reaction from the teacher. His glance at me turned hostile. He asked pointblank if I were a communist. “If you don’t like America,” he continued in an enraged voice, “go and live in Moscow!”

He expelled me from the room and grabbed my attaché case and threw it out of the door.

On the brighter side of things, I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in three national cultures.

My advice to those that are growing up in two or more cultures is what a Multicultural Finn told my students this fall: “The first important step is accepting yourself. Extend your hand of friendship if possible to those that may loathe you.”

Those wise words once changed the United States in the 1950s and 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King said back then: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Why the PS are a threat to immigrants and Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, a member of Suomen Sisu and well-known for his anti-immigration views, wants to do away with the Ombudsman for Minorities office, according to Oulu-based daily Kaleva. Apart from slashing the budget by 50%, Immonen plans to draft a law that will make the Ombudsman for Minorities redundant. 

Immonen’s reasoning? He claims in Kaleva that “the present and former ombudsman have tried to limit freedom of speech guaranteed in the constitution.” He doesn’t consider his rhetoric about Muslims as hate speech nor offensive.

Immonen would be happy for immigrants and minorities to be part of a shooting gallery where people like himself could shoot at targets for political profit and fun.

Immonen reiterated in August on tabloid Ilta-Sanomat  that “a war of cultures” will eventually overtake Europe. Much to our horror, we saw this “war” on July 22 in Norway, when Anders Breivik on a mass killing rampage

“Due to the present trend of multiculturalism, I believe we will see in the future of Europe a number of terrorist strikes and civil war in which the other warring adversary will be notably the representatives of Islam,” he was quoted as saying on Ilta-Sanomat from a 2009 blog entry.

The PS are not in government today but they may be in the future. If they form part of a future government, how much will the PS heed to extremists like Immonen?

Immigrants, minorities and sensible Finns should take a strong stand against any politician that wants to water down civil rights and take Finland back to an eerie repeat of the 1930s in the 2010s.

This is why the PS are a threat to immigrants and Finland.

Brain drain from Finland set to get worse as anti-immigration sentiment grows

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri*

Think tank Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (ETLA) states in a report that Finland already suffers from brain drain “to some extent.” With the backdrop of the April 17 election and a more negative atmosphere towards immigrants, coupled with the cooling of the economy, suggest that brain drain will continue to get worse.  

Even if Finland’s educational system has received high global marks, it is a totally different story how Finnish labor markets tap those that have studied in the system. If we look at the vocational school level, it’s pretty clear that Finland squanders such resources.  Unemployment among  people who are under 25 years old was about 20%  in August compared with 6.6% for the whole country, according to Statistics Finland.

A lot has been debated in Finland about how difficult it is for immigrants to get jobs after they take a university degree.  Here is one link  that shows the plight of Sub-Saharan refugees that received higher education in Finland.

Even though certain groups are quoted more often in the media than others, it is rarely acknowledged that the largest group of people who move to Finland are return migrants; half of all immigrants in Finland are EU citizens. The number of immigrants from Africa and Muslims, the favorite political punching bag of anti-immigration groups, are small in comparison.

Having a distorted view of the outside world and the imagined threat it poses can be hazardous to any country’s economic and social health. It’s pretty clear that Finland needs skilled immigrants to fill jobs in this country left by an ever-growing army of pensioners. Instead, anti-immigration groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party win a big election victory in April on an anti-EU and anti-immigration platform.

If the irresponsible and populist statements of parties like the PS were to be believed, it is only a question of time when we will be overrun by certain foreign groups and converting to a new religion.

Spreading these type of urban myths and populist rhetoric are questionable for many reasons. For one, they build real and spiritual walls around this country. They scare away those immigrants we need. Why would any skilled immigrant want to move with his family to Finland if it has a reputation for intolerance and racism? Why would a foreign company want to invest in such a country knowing that their foreign workers could run the danger of being harassed by the local population?

Taking into account challenges like plugging a falling workforce in numbers and creating more jobs in the next two decades, Finns should see parties like the PS, and especially its most extremist anti-immigration wing, as a direct threat to our future economic and social livelihood. Breeding nationalism and suspicion of other groups and the outside world will impoverish Finland in many ways.

These groups in the PS  have not only declared war on future immigrants but those living in the country. PS MP Olli Immonen was quoted as saying in Oulu-based daily Kaleva that he wants to do away with the Ombudsman for Minorities because it “hinders free (hate?) speech,” according to him.

Of all the developed countries, only Finland, United States and Germany have a lower educational level than the local inhabitants, reports Helsingin Sanomat quoting an OECD study.

Is Finland is taking advantage of its university educated workforce? What concrete steps must be taken to attract skilled and higher-education immigrants to our country?

The answers that will surface from these questions will certainly reveal the major challenges our society faces in the first half of this century.

*Thank you Hans Zwaga for bringing this issue to my attention. 

YLE Pohjois-Karjala: Lieksa haluaa sanoutua irti rasisimista

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  It’s pretty incredible after all the bad press that Lieksa has got recently for attacking its small immigrant population, the city is alas waking up to the damage that racism has inflicted on the city’s reputation. Lieksa is a city of 12,670 inhabitants located in the Pohjois-Karjala region of eastern Finland.  

After numerous problems with the 200-odd immigrants mostly of Somalian background, the city organized Thursday a meeting between the immigrants and local inhabitants. “We want to hear those people in Lieksa who are against racism,” said Irma Nykänen, an organizer of the event.  

Nykänen told YLE that the event gave us courage that we can win the fight against racism in Lieksa. 

Meanwhile, HS.fi writes on an editorial that at the worst tensions in Lieksa between the immigrants and locals could reach a point of no return. “It’s still not too late, Lieksa can succeed and we wish the city luck,” writes the Helsinki-based daily. 

Migrant Tales wishes as well the city luck in such an endeavor.  We are not, however, as optimistic as HS.fi since eradicating racism in Finland will be along struggle.

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Rasisminvastainen keskusteluilta herätti paljon mielipiteitä Lieksassa. Keskustelijat pohtivat muun muassa maahanmuuttajavastaisuuden syitä. Paikalla olleet myös korostivat, että on tärkeää tutustua maahanmuuttajiin.

Read whole story.

An about-turn by the PS on racism?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Tom Packalén expresses concern on an Uusi Suomi blog about the recent hate crimes in Lieksa that have hit the national news. The former policeman appears to be excited by an article he read in Helsingin Sanomat quoting Muqtar Moalin Nuurin, head of the Somalian association of Lieksa, who said that Somalians are to blame as well for the tense situation in Lieksa. 

While it is a positive matter that a PS MP wants to meet a Somalian leader from troubled Lieksa to discuss how to defuse the situation in that city, it is totally a different story whether Packalén understands the problem.

Packalén may express good intentions, but the blog entry on Uusi Suomi shows the problem that the PS has to to come to terms with racism in Finland: They are part of the problem.

The PS MP from Helsinki writes: “The core of the problem in Lieksa is a faulty immigration policy (an old PS claim why racism occurs in Finland). Too many people, from a very different culture in a small area has caused problems.”

Certainly it is a positive matter that a representative of a party like the PS, made up of anti-immigration MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Teuvo Hakkarainen and others, takes a proactive stance and states at least publicly that he wants to defuse tensions in Lieksa between refugees and the local inhabitants.

Packalén said that he plans to invite Nuurin to Helsinki to talk about the situation.  If the PS MP and the Somalian representative can find ways of creating better ethnic relations in Lieksa, it is welcome news.

However, no matter how noble  Packalén’s intentions are, what concrete steps can be taken to improve the situation in Lieksa? Can racism go away at the click of a finger? If racism were such an easy matter to smother, Finland’s attitude towards Russians and Russia would have vanished decades ago.

Are about 200 refugees, accounting for about 2% of the population of Lieksa, a threat to the population? These refugees, who are mostly from Somalia, have brought  employment and economic benefits to a community.

It is ludicrous that since things are bad economically in Lieksa that gives some inhabitants a carte blanche to attack refugees.

Am I confident that Packalén will find a solution to the problem in Lieksa? No.

Is it a positive step by the PS to come to terms with their racism? Yes, maybe, but nothing will change.  The party is ideologically too heterogeneous.

Is it a further thumbs down to the extremist anti-immigration wing of the PS? Yes.

Is it possibly a stunt to show the Finnish public a more credible face of a party that has been identified by its strong anti-immigration and racist stances? Possibly.

Aviisi: Lopullinen totuus: Turvapaikanhakijoista pitäisi järjestää kansanäänestys

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Rajkumar Sabanadesan, a consultant who sought asylum in Finland in 1994, writes that even though the authorities claim that asylum seekers are fighting to get into Finland, there are few (1,000-9,000) compared with 20,000 to 40,000 in Sweden. 

This is try about immigration as well. Even though we are constantly speaking about the need for skilled immigrants to move to Finland as more Finns retire from the workforce, there are few takers. 

Sabanadesan says that nothing has changed in the ongoing debate on immigrants and refugees in Finland. It has been dominated by “ostentatious, greedy and manipulative politicians and civil servants who think too much of themselves and care little about those in need.”

He states that even Minister of Economy Jutta Urpilainen has stated that foreigners must respect the laws and live like Finns. “Asylum seekers cannot live like Finns since this type of an opportunity hasn’t been given to them,” writes Sabanadesan. 

Sabanadesan suggests that a referendum should be carried out on asylum seekers.  Finland can take two roads: help people (refugees) in need or turn its back on these people and be self-centered and egoistic. 

Do you agree?

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Turvapaikanhakijat tulevat vaikeista oloista. Monet ovat menettäneet kotinsa, perheensä, kokeneet kidutusta ja kohdanneet kuolemaa, sekä mahdollisesti tulleet raiskatuksi. Heidän ongelmansa ovat erityislaatuisia.

Read whole story.

HS.fi: Jopa puolet Pohjois-Karjalan rasismirikoksista tehdään Lieksassa

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Here is an example how a few or too many bad apples can ruin the reputation of a town with hate crimes. HS.fi claims that as many as half of all hate crimes in Pohjois-Karjala region are made in Lieksa, a small sleepy town of 12,670 people were 220 immigrants live. Most of the foreigners in Lieksa are from Somalia. Of the 62 hate crimes last year 29 were made in Lieksa, according to HS.fi.

Migrant Tales has been reporting on the constant harassment of refugees in Lieksa. On Sunday an undisclosed number of Finns with knives attacked three Somalians. 

A Joensuu-daily Karjalainen writes Tuesday: ”Believe me, the one who commits a hate crime is no hero but brings great shame on you, your relatives and to the whole town.”

Lieksa has become a visible dark spot on the Finnish map.

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Rasismi on keskittynyt Pohjois-Karjalassa tilastojen mukaan vahvasti Lieksaan. Kaupungissa asuu alle kymmenesosa maakunnan asukkaista, mutta rasistiseksi epäillyistä rikoksista siellä tehdään peräti puolet. Poliisin mukaan maakunnan rikoksista 62:ssa oli viime vuonna rasistinen motiivi. Niistä 29 tehtiin Lieksassa.

Read whole story.

An “honest police debate” about rape with the help of an Islamophobist PS MP

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What would you say about a policeman who wants to begin an open debate on Facebook about rape crimes committed by immigrants? He uses as one of his sources Islamophoibist Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, who believes that it is only a question of time when there will be a “war of cultures” in Europe with Muslims. 

In order to understand this “open debate” on a grave crime like rape by policeman Marko Forss, we have to ask a few questions: Why is this type of debate important? What does it bring to the table? What is its probable aim?

Forss states that he wants an “open debate” about this hush-hush topic even though it has been a long-time favorite of the anti-immigration wing of the PS led by Jussi Halla-aho never mind Immonen.

Some police, who are known for their reticent views of certain immigrant groups in Finland, appear to sidestep some important issues whenever they bring on the table a crime like rape. They forget, for example, to ask why rape is allegedly higher among immigrants when compared with Finns? Moreover, how reliable are the rape statistics if they include foreign tourists that come to Finland?

When they speak of rape cases are they talking about actual sentenced cases? It does not become clear in the story.

In order to make such a debate fairer, what issues could we discuss? Family unification, which police authorities are happy to tighten, could be one of the causes behind rape cases. Young men have fragmented social networks in this country that are weakened by discrimination and the lack of meaningful opportunities.

What, then, is the probable aim of such an article and quoting an anti-immigration critic like PS MP Immonen?

In my opinion, it sheds light on the probable ideology of the policeman and the direction the “open discussion” should take.  The debate cards and issues are stacked in such a way that they can never permit an open and honest debate without fueling stereotypes that all foreign men that cross into Finland become gang rapists.

People like Immonen, who loathe publicly “multiculturalism,” believe that Finland should stop immigration and refugees from coming to Finland from the Arab world, Africa and other parts outside of Europe. This, I believe, is one of the underlying messages of the “open debate” by Forss.

Probably in twenty years, when there are more Multicultural Finns on the police force, these types of “debates” that label wholesale whole groups will have little merit and will serve at best to shown how not to handle a serious crime and issue like rape.

The message should not be: Let’s label all foreigners and then have a frank debate about rape.

Phantoms that haunt us from history in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

 When I moved back to Finland over thirty years ago I left behind a troubled world: the scars of the Vietnam War, Watergate, dog-eat-dog capitalism, and the dirty war of Argentina (1976-83), which wiped out a whole generation including me.  

When I came back to live in this country in December 1978, Finland was a scarred nation using its nationalism and muffled pain to cure its wounds. The country had suffered four wars since its independence in 1917 and was in the midst of a long one, the cold war.

Even if those wars had left deep scars on the people of my mother’s country of birth, I felt back in the late-1970s that Finland would still be the best country to build a home and raise a family.

Due to my naivety and romantic views injected in me by the unforgettable summers I spent with my grandparents in the woods of eastern Finland when I lived in Southern California, the culture shock I endured during those first years upon my return were harsh to say the least.

The first shock that I encountered was that I was officially  a foreigner to the authorities. There was no law (until 1983)  that regulated immigration policy at the time. Finnish citizenship was only granted to children with Finnish fathers.

In 1984 the law changed to include mothers.

During my thirty-odd years in Finland, I have led a rewarding life but I have spent most of those years as an outsider looking in.

An eerie sense of déjà-vu has, however, come to haunt me these days in Finland: McDonalds, USAmerican greediness, globalization, the streamlining of the social welfare state, polarization of our society and, worse, the rise of a right-wing populist party that has declared war on people like myself.

Should I have paid more attention to history and attempted to understand the circumstances why my great grandparents left the Old World and never returned?

If I look at the ever-growing strife and polarization in our society especially after the April 17 election, I am certain that many of the signs in the air today (in a different historical context) explain why my late relatives left Europe and never came back.

Listening to the hate speech of people like Jussi Halla-aho and his ideological cronies and extremist followers, it’s pretty clear that something is not only very wrong in Finland but in Europe as well.

Massive emigration from Europe to the Americas will not save us from ourselves as in the past.  That is why we must face the threat and challenges here unless we want to repeat the horrors of past generations.