WARNING RACIST CONTENT: Helsingin Sanomat survey exposes the DNA of Finland’s racism

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THIS STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED

Helsingin Sanomat’s survey published on Monday after another questionable story on “model immigrants” was widely criticized on social media as outright racist. Even so, I would like to thank Finland’s largest daily for exposing the DNA of Finland’s racism and the continued low caliber and racism of its journalism on topics related to asylum seekers and migrants. 

The latest survey, the daily does not cite any sociologists or other experts and gives a clear picture of Finland’s racism without the daily taking any stand on the issue. Instead, Helsingin Sanomat cites as an “expert source” Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson, Jussi Halla-aho, convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012.

One of these sources that were not cited is Gavan Titley, a University of Helsinki docent in media and communications.

“These poll questions are so badly constructed they would fail a first-year research methods module,” he said. “Given that they are constructed by a professional polling company, and a national newspaper, we can only assume that this bad method is deliberate. In other words, HS has decided to gain publicity, hits and clicks by shit-stirring about ‘migrants’ in an already tense situation. Debating this strategy, of course, only amplifies it – the only response is to cancel your subscription and tweet to them why you are doing so. There has always got to be some cost for this crap, no matter how minimal.”

As long as the media continues to see Halla-aho as an “expert” on migration issues, the ongoing debate will regress into a swamp of hearsay.

Here are some of the questions the survey asks:

  • Do you believe that the main factors for sexual assault crimes hinges on the migrants culture and religion? 65% answered in the affirmative;
  •  Politicians have done enough to awaken Finns to the news about the sexual assault cases (in Oulu by asylum seekers). The far-right PS were the most critical and believed that politicians had not done enough to raise awareness;
  • The best way to thwart sexual assault crimes is to tighten laws (26%); educate foreigners on Finnish laws and values (19%); lower the number of residence permits granted on humanitarian grounds (10%); and lower migration in general to Finland (10%).

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How a ban on asylum seekers visiting schools/childcare centers in Oulu, Finland, should work in order for it not to be illegal

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THIS STORY WAS UPDATED

One interesting question about the ban on asylum seekers visiting schools and childcare centers is if it is legal. Even if this only applies to guided tours, it does raise some problematic questions about discrimination. 

Migrant Tales has heard from sources in Oulu that the ban on asylum seekers also includes public swimming halls of that city. The City of Oulu denies that the ban on asylum seekers applies to public swimming halls.

Section 6 of the Constitution states the following:  “Everyone is equal before the law. No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.”

This is pretty clear, right?

Can somebody find the statement by the City of Oulu about the ban on asylum seekers? The city never put out a statement about their plans to ban asylum seekers from visiting schools and childcare centers.

What does Section 6 mean? It means that if there is a ban, like the one in Oulu, it must apply to everyone.

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WARNING RACIST CONTENT: The “successful” Chinese, Vietnamese versus the “unsuccessful” Other

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Remember the myth spread by the Finnish media from the 1980s  that the Vietnamese were a model of adaption in Finland? The latest story published by Helsingin Sanomat about well-adapted Chinese is a repeat of a story that the daily published in 2015 about the Vietnamese. 

How does Finland’s biggest daily measure success of a particular ethnic or national group? In the Chinese story, it is business startups and “the willingness to adapt to Finnish culture” whatever that means.

At the time when Helsingin Sanomat wrote about the “successful” Vietnamese, the latest unemployment figures for that national group was 26.9% in 2013 compared with the national average jobless rate of about 8.5%. I doubt that unemployment rates for the Vietnamese have dropped dramatically since 2013.

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Let’s challenge the City of Oulu’s decision to ban asylum seekers from visiting schools and daycare centers

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A question: Is it legal for the City of Oulu to ban asylum seekers from visiting schools and daycare centers? 

Whatever way you look at this temporary ban, it is suspect. What about if these asylum seekers and refugees want to send their children to a school or daycare in Oulu?

I believe that this is beyond discrimination and a legal case should be brought against the City of Oulu.

Would it be possible to get a group of lawyers, NGOs and other activists to lodge a complaint to the parliamentary ombudsman?

Non-Discrimination Ombudsman Kirsi Pimiä’s response in Yle News is dodgy. She said we should be careful in generalizing but adds: “However, Oulu’s decision is not discriminatory because there is no common right to visit schools or daycares,” Pimiä added.

Could someone tell me what she saying?

If you are interested, get in touch with [email protected]

Warning: Islamophobic content – schools and daycare centers in Oulu to temporarily ban visiting rights by asylum seekers, refugees

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Here is a story you would never expect to read in a country like Finland, which bases its values on social equality, human rights and mutual respect. The decision to ban asylum seekers and refugees from visiting schools and daycare centers in Oulu due to the suspected sexual abuse cases raises a lot of questions. 

Writes Yle News: “Mika Penttilä, the city’s Head of Education and Cultural Services, said the decision was driven by parental concerns. ‘We have agreed with the organisers that no such visits will take place at the moment. People have approached us about these visits to find out whether they pose a security risk,’ he said.

Penttiläs cites “parental concerns.” Does this mean that in the future I can exclude whole groups that are innocent from going to schools and daycare centers? Can I exclude white teenage Finns because they have participated in school shootings?

One of these questions that the decision by the City of Oulu raises is if it isn’t outright racist to exclude whole groups due to the suspected crimes committed by a few people who have the same religion or come from the same country?

It is not only racist, in my opinion, but outright counterproductive. What we are witnessing is another tragic chapter of the racist history of this country.

A question: If an asylum seeker becomes a resident, can he or she visit schools and daycare centers? Why doesn’t the City of Oulu show an ever bolder racist face by banning all Muslims from going to such places? That is what they are really saying, right?

If you want to know what it feels like being singled out and banned from society, why not ask Finland’s 10,000-strong Roma community.

If the racism that the Roma suffered before impacts their lives today, imagine the harm city officials and society in general cause on Muslims in Finland with the ban.

We know from the Oulu police, politicians and city officials that they have gone to great lengths to racialize what happened in that city.

Do they understand, never mind care, how their actions impact Finland’s Muslim and migrant community?

We have heard that matters are in such a questionable state in Oulu, in great part by the statements of the police and politicians, that Muslims avoid going to the city center at night. Why isn’t anyone bringing up this issue?

Read the full story here.

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Islamophobia and xenophobia on steroids: Jussi Halla-aho’s latest column in MTV

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The Islamophobic Perussuomalaiset (PS)* chairperson, Jussi Halla-aho, convicted of ethnic agitation and breaching the sanctity of religion in 2012, is a columnist for television station MTV. Two matters emerge when skimming through his latest column: The media is part of Finland’s racism problem; and the PS is the first modern Finnish party to capitalize exclusively on immigration, especially Islamophobia.  

Another MTV columnist, Ivan Puopol, is in the same anti-immigration league as Halla-aho.

Both of them have one aim in their writing: Immigration is a problem but Muslims are even a worse problem.

When reading their Islamophobic opinions, one asks what is their end game?

If they want to make migrants and minorities feel hated and socially excluded, then that could be an aim of their writing

Will they be able to kick migrants and Muslims out of this country? Will they succeed at keeping Finland white?

In light of their racist worldviews, they will fail because Finland is becoming more culturally diverse, not less.

Our writing should concentrate on how to gain a louder voice and more power in Finland.

Unfortunately, too many Finns, like Puopol and Halla-aho, believe that their privilege and power is eternal.

 

Read the full text here.

* The Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017 into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. Despite the name changes, we believe that it is the same party in different clothing. Both factions are hostile to cultural diversity never mind Muslims and other visible minorities. One is more open about it while the other says it in a different way.

A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.

Esperi Care reveals a wider problem: Lack of effective regulation and political will

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THIS STORY WAS UPDATED.

What does scandal surrounding Esperi Care tell us about problems plaguing private elderly homes in Finland and how regulators don’t their jobs? This, I believe, is not a problem that just faces the nursing home sector, but the whole of Finnish society. 

Matters are in a pretty dire state at Esperi Care as well as at Attendo and Mehiläinen, which also run elderly homes.

Writes Yle News: “According to the Regional State Administrative Agencies for Southern and Western Finland, Esperi Care staff members without medical licenses have administered medicine; the company’s nursing homes have been dirty and in disrepair; and nurses have even abused their elderly customers by arbitrarily commanding them to bed or not letting them visit the outdoors.”

Read the full story here.

The Esperi Care case boils down to insufficient regulation. Regulators, who should regulate, don’t and lack political backing.

Possibly the problem lies in our wrong sense of exceptionalism and in those dumb studies that claim that we are the happiest nation in the world.

Since we are the happiest nation in the world, there is nothing to worry about in our society, right?

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(Racism Review) Swedish racism: Engineering a false image of democratic solidarity

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When I, Masoud Kamali, arrived to Sweden as a political refugee from Iran in 1987, I had heard a lot about Sweden. While serving time as a political prisoner in Iran, one of my first images of Sweden came from an article that I had read in the Iranian Iran’s major newspaper, Keyhan. when I was in jail in Iran in late 1970s. It was about the Swedish Sweden’s charismatic Prime Minister Olof Palme. The article contained a picture of Palme walking his bicycle on the grounds of Stockholm’s famous Citadel and gathering money for the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua. As a leftist believing in a socialist revolution at that time, my prison-mates and I were very impressed by a country in which the Prime Minister dared openly support a leftist/Marxist movement.

At the time that Palme was assassinated in 1986, I had been arrested and jailed in Turkey for trying to leave the country illegally, since I did not have a valid passport and visa. I remember that I could not control my tears since he had become a symbol of democracy and solidarity for me. Though Palme was remarkable for many reasons, his anti-Vietnam war campaign and strong opposition to Apartheid in South Africa were among his impressive political stances.

 

Read the original story here.

A few years later in 1989, I began studying Sociology at the University of Linköping in Sweden. Initially and for the first time, I felt that I had another identity instead of just being a “refugee.” Given my student status, I envisioned that my peers with Swedish backgrounds and I would be treated as equals. However, I would quickly learn that (GWF) Hegel was wrong; the abstract could not be understandable if it turns into concrete human action. On the contrary, in many cases quite the opposite is true. Abstract declarations of “Human Rights” and “equality of human beings” propagated by the Swedish government become meaningless when actualized as concrete action. I was not welcome to my Swedish classmate’s “after work” gatherings and to other “student activities.” I realized very soon that even questions such as “Do you like Sweden?” or “Are you happy to be in Sweden?,” were not neutral inquiries and should not be answered in accordance with your actual feelings and genuine sentiments. Such questions are master narrative scripts to be answered subserviently with responses like “Absolutely” (as in “Yes, sir boss!”) in order to “fit in” not as part of a Swedish group but rather in the token role of an “immigrant” who is a symbol of Swedish generosity and solidarity.

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