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Can Finland deal with the challenge of immigration?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Some claim that Finland is at an important juncture concerning immigration and its role in our society. There are already clear signs that the Finns want to deal with this challenge in a civil manner without the usual dose of  fear-mongering and nationalistic bravado.

How can I make such a claim? Because Finns from all walks of life want to make immigration work.

Even if the anti-immigration True Finns win a few percentage points in the next election, it will not be enough to turn them into a major party. Their xenophobic views of the world are only shared by a minority in this country.

One of the most interesting matters worth pointing out  is that for the first time in our history we are debating and challenging  racism openly. By debating this social ill we are also giving the thumbs down to a minority of Finns that want to take the country down the same questionable path like Denmark and the Netherlands.

Those that are not buying the anti-immigration rhetoric are giving the following message: Finland is independent and self-reliant to deal with immigration in positive and effective ways.

The biggest losers in the next elections will be those that use immigration as a scapegoat for all of our woes and opportunistic tool to win over votes. Even if a few get into parliament, there will never be enough of them to have a simple majority never mind two-thirds majority in the Eduskunta (Parliament).

Finns are pretty intelligent and have learned how to survive during trying times before. Spreading hatred and revenge as a justification to attack another country or group never worked, even if some want to take us down that path again.

Finland: A taste of one’s medicine

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Can an immigration policy of country take us on the right societal path if it hinges on suspicion of other groups? With the April 2011 elections nearing, some are asking if a big election victory for the anti-immigration True Finns will take us down the same questionable path as Denmark, which has the tightest immigration controls in the European Union.

Does Finland have the potential of turning into a Denmark? Wandering down such a path would be a perilous mistake because basing an immigration policy solely to exclude one group would lay down the foundations for failure.

In many respects the rise of xenophobia in Finland is self-inflicted. While great improvements have been made in teaching and accepting cultural diversity at schools, racist views of other cultures and ethnic groups still prevail because they were/are actively promoted.

This picture (apologies for the racist content) which was used before in books to teach children to  claims: The Negro washes his face but it does not whiten at all.

There are many sad examples of how racist ideas have entered the minds of Finns from the backdoor. Here is an excerpt from a book on “European races”* published in 1929 by Professor Rolf Nordenstreng:

You cannot expect exceptional children from a Gypsy horse thief and a light-minded Negro wife; but I have heard that French fur traders, who were excellent men that took as wives the Indian chiefs’ daughters, bred splendid children…*

Unfortunately, too many in Finland and Europe still see other cultures with the help of antiquated and racist concepts taught not too long ago. If we do not study today directly Nordenstreng or one of the eugenics master minds of Nazi racial policy, Eugen Fischer, their ludicrous claims of “different races” still live deep inside some of us.

Education, therefore, has to and must play a key role in how we model new Finns irrespective of their background to be the defenders of our values.  If we do not face racism and grab it by the horns, our xenophobia will always be self-inflicted and destructive.

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* Rolf Nordenstreng: “Euroopan ihmisrodut ja kansat.” Kustannusosakeyhtiö Kirja. Helsinki 1929. p. 48. The original Finnish text reads: Mustalainen hevosvarkaan ja heikkomielisen neekerivaimon lapsista ei voi odottaa juuri erinomiaisia; mutta olen kuullut sanottavan, että ranskalaiset turkismetsästäjät, jotka olivat oivia poikia ja ottivat vaimoikseen intiaanipäälliköiden tyttäriä, saivat mainioita jälkeläisiä.

The Finland we all want

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By many standards, Finland is an exceptional country. Newsweek magazine recently named it the best country in the world to live according to education, quality of life, economic dynamism as well as other factors.

One of the greatest threats to our well-being and international reputation are xenophobia and racism. If the Newsweek staff would have looked more closely at this social ill, would Finland have been named the best country in the world?

Is it possible that a country that is so innovative and dynamic has immigrant unemployment many fold higher than the national average?

What would the newsmagazine say about the Social Democrats’ maassa maan tavalla policy, which thinks that nothing should or will change and that immigration should be a one-way process? Such catch phrases from a party that fought for social justice and our social welfare system is quite incredible to put it lightly.

What would it say about other political parties that instead of showing leadership against racism are starting to use adjectives like ”hordes” and ”uncontrolled” before immigration and accuse a pretty defenseless group of ”taking away our jobs?”

The best way to defend Finland’s image is to treat everyone who lives here with respect. Our laws and way of life guarantee that this can be achieved.

A lot of work has to be still done to build those vital pathways of incorporation to our society for people who have made Finland their new home.

One of the greatest threats to Finland in the new century is not immigration but xenophobia and racism.

RPT-Swedish govt still short of majority after recount

Posted on by Migrant Tales

This election is going to be a real nail-biter…

(Reuters) – Sweden’s centre-right government was still just short of a parliament majority after a preliminary recount of Sunday’s election, though it picked up one more seat.

The election commission said in a statement that the preliminary result of the recount, which included overseas and postal votes not counted on election night, gave Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt 173 seats in the 349-seat parliament rather than the 172 announced on election night.

A total 175 seats are needed for a majority.

The new centre-right seat was gained from the Social Democrat-led opposition bloc, which went down to 156 seats.

The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, shunned by both blocs, stayed at 20 seats and still held the balance of power, the count showed.

Swedish center-right wins ballot, loses majority (Reuters)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

STOCKHOLM, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Fredrik Reinfeld became Sweden’s first sitting center-right prime minister to win re-election, but was deprived of a majority by the first-time entry into parliament of an anti-immigrant party.

Analysts had said before Sunday’s election that a hung parliament, with Reinfeldt’s center-right Alliance coalition having no overall majority, would unsettle investors and the Swedish crown weakened in early trading on Monday.

More

Click here to inform yourself on who the Sweden Democrats are.

If there is a comment that can be made concerning Sunday’s elections in Sweden, it is how much it will encourage Finns to vote for the anti-immigration True Finns, which have five members in parliament.

Islamization and Islamophobia in Europe and Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There was a letter to the editor in Saturday’s Mikkeli-based Länsi-Savo about the Islamization of Europe, while Time magazine asks in its August front cover if America is Islamophobic? The two headlines, although from vastly different publications, shed light on how some Europeans and USAmericans see Islam: a threat or over-reaction.

As in the letter to the editor, the writer uses one of the favorite arguments of Islamophobists to prove how much under threat Europeans are: high birth rates.

Any sensible person with a limited understanding of the social sciences understands that demography, even though it may have a bearing, is not the most crucial factor that determines the shape of societies. Values and inclusion are.

Moreover, if we could predict the shape of societies of the future with the help of a simple calculator,we would have to be plants without free will or robots guided by culture that never changes.

Demography is not the most crucial factor, excluding groups through suspicion and hatred from our culturally diverse societies is a far greater threat than high birth rates.

The demographic argument has its roots in deep fear and is a slap in the face to those Muslims that want to live among our ranks as citizens and consider this continent their rightful home.

Arsonists attack Buddhist temple in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The attack by arsonists on Friday of a Buddhist temple in Turku’s Moisio’s district is another worrisome sign of how a deranged group of people can undermine Finland’s good name. If there is any finger-pointing for what happened, it should be at some Finnish politicians who, owing to the April 2011 elections, have fuelled such acts by their populist statements and shameful lack of leadership.

Immigrants who live in Finland and those that will come to work here are being singled out by some opportunist politicians as scapegoats for the country’s economic woes. Social Democrat MP Eero Heinäluoma and MP Kari Rajamäki are good examples of how their anti-immigrant statements spill over into racism.

Heinäluoma, for example, made the incredible remark recently that immigrants will fuel racism because they will take jobs away from Finns.  Rajamäki likes to call asylum-seeker to Finland “refugee shoppers.”

Why haven’t Heinäluoma and Rajamäki condemned acts of racism in Finland forcefully? The answer is disturbingly obvious.

These politicians should not forget SDP’s roots and how the party thanks to Väinö Tanner (1881-1966) played a critical role in not permitting Finnish Jews to be deported to Nazi concentration camps during World War 2.

The vice president of the Vietnamese Buddhist Community in Finland, Ari Vuokko, told Finnish Broadcast Company (YLE) that it wasn’t the first time Buddhist families in this country have been the target of attacks by racists.

Swastika signs had been sprayed on traffic signs near the temple.

“This is shocking and worrisome,” he said. “Do worshippers dare use this temple, can people practice their faith in Finland?”

Finland was recently named by Newsweek as the best country in the world in terms of health, economic dynamism, or openness of its economy and the breadth of its corporate sector, education, political environment, and quality of life.

With attacks of the Buddhist temple serving as a rude reminder of what racism can do to a minority community and society, we should ask Newsweek to include in their survey how open a society is to cultural diversity.

The ceiling of the Buddhist temple that was attacked Friday night by Arsonists. Photo: YLE The ceiling of the Buddhist temple after it was attacked by arsonists. Damages are estimated in the tens of thousands of euros. YLE

Immigration reveals what Finnish political parties are made of

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The political field is pretty lopsided in this country these days: left-wing parties that were “progressive” in their approach to society have now become conservative and those that were on the “right” appear to be more open to the outside world.

If one looks at the recent statements on immigration by Social Democratic Party MP Eero Heinäluoma and  Kokoomus’ Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb one can conclude that the ideological tables have turned quite radically.

Even the Center Party, which has tradictionally been nationalistic and conservative in its view of the outside world, has under the leadership of Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi become a more middle-of-the-road party.

Even though the Social Democrats have open-minded people such as Liisa Jaakonsaari and Erkki Tuomioja, the anti-immigrant hardliners like MP Kari Rajamäki spoil the day. Rajamäki’s stance on immigrants and refugees is on the same wave length as the True Finns.

Certainly one cannot conclude that all of the members of Kokoomus want to make immigration work for Finland.  Wille Rydman and Kai Pönttinen are sore examples of how  some politicians want to use the immigration card for political gain.

How exploited are immigrants in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I spoke with an SDP MP recently about how Finland had turned into a two-tier market, where small- and medium-sized companies were allegedly exploiting on a grand scale immigrant employees by overworking and grossly underpaying them.

I asked why there haven’t been any big cases in the media about this type of exploitation and why the SDP is so passionate about the matter before  elections? There has been some news in the media about how some fast-food establishments do underpay and overwork immigrants but it does not suggest a national trend.

An important question that one should ask is how widespread it is and why the authorities have done so little? If it is widespread, it is further proof of how disenfranchised immigrants are in this country.

I say if because I have not seen many cases published in the media only the concern of the Social Democrats, who point the finger accusingly more at immigrants than employers.

Do you know of any cases of immigrants being exploited by employers in Finland?

The mea culpa of a former Finnish immigrant basher

Posted on by Migrant Tales

There was a very interesting interview of former anti-immigration Muutos 2011 president, Juha Mäki-Ketelä, in Suomen Kuvalehti, who surprisingly resigned from his post in July. Muutos 2011 is close to registering as a political party to take part in the April 2011 election. Its campaign platform is strongly based on the usual anti-immigration rhetoric found in similar xenophobic and ultra-nationalist parties in Europe.

Even though the interview sounds like a mea culpa by Mäki-Ketelä, one gets the impression that his hardline stance against immigrants scared him because of the  people that rallied around Muutos 2011’s cause.

The Suomen Kuvalehti journalist asks Mäki-Ketelä if he was surprsied that ”racist-oriented” people were attracted to his party.

“Yes…  I did not understand how many crazy people gathered (around the party),” he said, adding that he was ignorant of ultra-nationalistic groups like Suomen Sisu and admitted having read a few times Jussi Halla-aho’s blog.

Muutos 2011, which has effectively imploded, is a good example of how the majority of Finns don’t want to join the let’s-bash-immigrants bandwagon.

Muutos 2011 aims to win three seats to Parliament in next year’s election.