A rebuttal to Finland’s speaker of parliament concerning her claim of “high migrant unemployment”

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Ahti Tolvanen

Now a leading SMP person has slid from “immigration criticism” which has mainly focused on the large influx of asylum seekers to talking about all persons of foreign origin living in the country- probably also returning Finns.

This would include technical professionals, academics, students, managers and investors. The whole history of Finnish economic and industrial development shows that these kinds of immigrants played a large part in the making of modern Finland as the prosperous and developed society that it is. Madam Speaker also has her facts wrong. The overall employment rate in the last published statistics shows labour market participation among the foreign-origin population to be somewhat higher as well as earning higher average incomes.

Therefore, it might be said the average foreigner is paying more than the average Finn to keep a proportionately larger number of unemployable Finns on the dole (cf. Tilastokeskus). I think I speak for most immigrants when I say we don’t mind because we find Finland and Finns loveable, even the unemployables.

What we have now is a very noisy group shouting things like “close the borders” of Finland, which has gotten into this media bubble which exists in this country and is getting repeated coverage. Since many of these leading noisemakers belong to the same party as Madam Deputy Speaker, she can do the country a favour by telling them to shut up. Indeed, this is one of her jobs- at least inside Parliament.

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Finnish PS speaker of parliament blames migrants for high unemployment

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Anti-immigration party Perussuomalaiset (PS)* speaker of parliament, Maria Lohela, states in an interview in Helsingin Sanomat that the jobless rate among some migrant groups is many times higher than the national average. True. But the question the reporter should ask Lohela is “why” and “what she’s doing to change the situation” instead of parroting her views. 

The claim that there is no work for migrants is a way for parties like the PS to continue to spread their bigotry and suspicion of migrants. It’s an excuse by Lohela to do nothing and a hostile narrative that Helsingin Sanomat likes to rubber-stamp it.

Possibly one reason some of us don’t care too much to ask “why” or “how to resolve high unemployment” is because we’re not interested, or, at least, Lohela and the PS aren’t.

The whole idea that a person is to blame for being unemployed is a socially conservative notion. Doesn’t society play a role? What kinds of obstacles do prejudice and discrimination play?

A shadow report on Afrophobia in Europe by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) made the following recommendations on how to tackle high unemployment among migrants in Finland:

  • Establish an equality body responsible for dealing with discrimination cases within employment.
  • A plan needs to be developed and implemented to increase the ethnic diversity of the workforce in the public sector in particular within the non-discrimination Ombudsman’s office and the police service.
  • Government agencies and NGOs must improve their monitoring of discrimination in all areas and especially in employment.

It is incredible, to say the least that not one non-white Finn works for the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman’s office never mind the tiny number of those for the police service.

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Another factor that helps keep high unemployment rates among migrants and minorities is people like Lohela. Her anti-immigration and Islamophobic narrative encourage instead of challenge high unemployment rates.

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Canadian Aboriginal activist and cross-cultural expert Sandi Boucher visits Finland

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Ahti Tolvanen

There was a historic encounter in Finland last week when the first ever visitor of North America’s Ojibwe Nation, Sandi Boucher, came to meetings in Helsinki during UN Anti-Racism Week.

Ms. Boucher presented a new modern approach to constructive cross-cultural relations developed by Canada’s aboriginal community and scholars at Atlanta University, called the Alexis Principles. Key figures in developing the much-lauded method are Chief Alexis , a Sioux leader in Alberta, Canada and Leah Taylor, professor of cultural anthropology in Atlanta, USA.

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Sandi Boucher and Ahti Tolvanen visited the Suonsaari asylum reception center on March 20. Photo by Enrique Tessieri.

The Alexis method has been tried and proven effective in Canada, the USA and Australia, and last year drew considerable favorable attention in Hawaii at the World Conference on Aboriginal Education.

At a symposium in Helsinki’s Caisa Cultural Center March 23rd representatives of all the political parties were invited to meet Ms. Boucher and tell how they would address racism issues during the UN’s Anti-Racism Week. Only Green Party deputy city councillor Kati Juva , Social Democratic MP Erkki Tuomioja and Coalition Party membership holder Oge Eneh showed up. The evening’s theme was “silence on racism is not enough”. The Leftist Union, The Center Party, The Swedish People’s Party and the Christian Party presumably preferred to remain silent on racism as their representatives shunned the event.

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We are all responsible in Finland for feeding the ogre of racism and hate speech

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Those groups that are responsible for the rise of populism, racism and hate speech in Finland aren’t those that promote it but by those who stand by with their silence. They are the ones Martin Luther King Jr referred to as “the good people,” or “the silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of the bad people.” 

Not only is the silence of the so-called good people a factor but their expectation and hope that racism and hate speech can be kept on short leashes.

Parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)*, who openly promote racism and want to make permanently migrants and minorities second- and third-class citizens, could never become such big parties without the tacit support of the “good people.”

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Scores of asylum reception centers were targets of arson attacks. While we don’t know the motives of Saturday’s arson attack against a church in Ylivieska, mixed statements, silence and indifference have played a role in promoting such acts. Source: Ilta-Sanomat.

Violence and hostility towards people who aren’t white Finns have become more public in recent years. The so-called “good people” have let out this monster from the cage in the form of vigilante street gangs, fear-mongering and by encouraging, directly and indirectly, racism and hate speech.

Some “good people” I could mention are the Finnish police service, President Sauli Niinistö’s disingenuous and mixed statements about our ever-growing cultural diversity, and politicians who make careers by being racist and promoting hate speech. Others include the national media interested in its power and ethnic narrative, and an education system that still doesn’t promote enough cultural diversity at schools to reflect better the diversity of Finland in the 21st century.

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A formal complaint by five asylum seeker at Luona’s reception center sheds light on alleged “gross abuses”

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Abuses at the asylum reception centers run by Luona have come to light from the occupants who consider their alleged treatment by the staff of the private company as “gross abuses” and a breach of their “human dignity” and “rights.” 

The disturbing revelations in the complaint below show that Finland and especially Luona has failed these people miserably. The fact that we have an anti-immigration party in government and two other ones that turn a blind eye to such abuses and rising xenophobia in Finland is shameful.

Let’s hope that the Finnish Immigration Service and others resolve these injustices.

The complaint below is dated February 14, 2016:

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(The names of the asylum seekers have been omitted).

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Is Barona’s fast-track employment scheme “a joke?”

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Helsingin Sanomat, Finland largest daily, published a story this month about three Eritreans who had found work at a logistics company in Vantaa thanks to a fast-track employment scheme at Barona,  a private employment agency that owns Luona, a subsidiary that manages eight asylum reception centers in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Hyvinkää. 

Migrant Tales asked in a previous posting a question that Helsingin Sanomat should have asked:

How come a company that has come under media scrutiny for treating asylum seekers “like livestock” is now helping people to become model tax-paying members of society?

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Read full story (in Finnish) here.

According to a former asylum seeker at Luona, who got a residence permit to live in Finland, Barona’s fast-track employment scheme isn’t doing that well.

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More problems and issues at the Villa Meri asylum reception center of Rauma, Finland

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Migrant Tales reported Tuesday about problems at the Villa Meri asylum reception center in Rauma. We have now got a hold of the complaint made by the asylum seeker on hunger strike to the parliamentary ombudsman. 

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Read full story here.

One of the many complaints that the asylum seekers have at Villa Meri is that the milk and bread served at the reception center have past their sell-by date.

 

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Our response to racism, bigotry and hate speech in Finland should be first and foremost a reaction

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We’ve been overwhelmed as of late by Valtteri Saarinen’s story about how is harassed in a racist manner at school for such a long time that he doesn’t care to react any longer. There was as well Perussuomalaiset (PS) party chairperson for Tampere, Terhi Kiemunki, who wrote on Facebook that it was unfortunate that she didn’t have any condoms to give Muslim children trick-or-treating. 

Shame on the teachers at Valtteri’s school! How could they not notice what’s been going on right under their noses?

While it is a positive matter that the boy’s story got noticed by President Sauli Niinistö, is it disingenuous of him to state that he “was shocked” by it?

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Valtteri Saarinen told us something we know about racism but which we deny as a society. See the interview here.

Racism has been present in Finnish society for a long time. It’s denial, and how we play down this social ill, enables it to grow and see another day. I disagree with President Niinistö. We should “be shocked” by our denial of racism in this country.

In light of the mixed statements he has given in the past about racism, I disagree with what President Niinistö’s said. We should “be shocked” by our denial of racism in this country.

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An asylum seeker at Villa Meri reception center is on hunger strike protesting poor treatment by the staff

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One refugee at the Villa Meri asylum reception center in the western city of Rauma is on hunger strike denouncing the poor treatment by the staff. Hoivapalvelu Metsätähti, a subsidiary owned by Helsinki-based Mehiläinen, a private health care company, operates the reception center

Luona, another private company that runs eight reception centers in Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, and Hyvinkää, has been under media scrutiny for the poor treatment of its occupants. The case has raised questions about the role of such companies in the asylum reception “business.”

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The Villa Meri asylum reception center is located in Rauma, located 94km north of Turku. Source: Google.

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