Ilta-Sanomat tabloid ad (lööppi) from July 22, 1993

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales publishes on and off Finnish tabloid ads* (lööppi in Finnish) from the 1990s. Taking into account that Finland’s immigrant population started to grow during that decade, it is easy at least through some of the main stories of tabloids like Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti to see how some of them reflected our xenophobic, prejudiced, racist or anti-Russian views.

The billboard below reports that the police raided a “gypsy” funeral. Unfortunately I don’t have the article but the interesting point about the ad is that the tabloid uses the term “gypsy.” The term, as we know, reinforces old stereotypes that people in this group are somehow always involved in some shady business.

Fortunately today we use the term Romany minority. Even so, the plight of poor Eastern Europeans belonging to this group in Finland shows not only our prejudice but how inept we are in dealing with these people.

*Migration Institute archive.

Are Hirvisaari and Eronen a mean Finnish version of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

If I had to draw a cartoon about suspended Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP James Hirvisaari and his aide Helena Eronen, I’d draw them as the legendary Spanish literary icons Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. If Hirvisaari were Don Quixote, would his windmills be “multiculturalism,” “Islamization” and the media? 

Contrary to Hirvisaari, Don Quixote was a kind-hearted impractical idealist that wanted to make right the incorrigible wrongs of the world.

Here is a painting by Pablo Picasso of  Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.  If Eronen were Sancho Panza she’d be much thinner. 

Alongside Hirvisaari Don Quixote is the always faithful Eronen Sancho Panza, listening to those far-right tales that would reinforce and encourage her to write demeaning blog entries of ghastly matters like female genital mutilation never mind about armbands. Here is a link to a young woman’s view [in Finnish] of Eronen’s blog post on female genital mutilation.

One of the matters that should worry sensible Finns about the Eronen scandal isn’t what she wrote but her boss Hirvisaari. It’s sometimes difficult to figure out what shines through this far-right PS MP: His ignorance of our democratic institutions like the media and/or his extremist views?

If it were up to Hirvisaari, he’d change the Constitution and our laws to censor and place limitations on press freedom directly from the annals of the 1930s but in a twenty-first century context.

By stating that the media intentionally lies and distorts reality, Hirvisaari exposes his far-right credentials and his contempt for our most cherished civil rights. What you are hearing in fact is a mean Hirvisaari Don Quixote charging at windmills.

Below is an excerpt of the PS MP’s latest blog post headlined Lies and power on Uusi Suomi. It sends shivers up one’s spine but you be the judge:

It is clear that the media has distorted the blog entry the truth by my parliamentary aide and blatantly lied to the public’s face. I have written in previous blog entries about the outrageous manner in which the Turun Sanomat staff  treated the ”armband” blog post.

Another monstrous lie: The media has falsely claimed for a long time that some members of the Perussuomalaiset parliamentary group are ”far right,” ”racists” and even ”Nazis.” The Perussuomaalist party does not have a ”racist wing.” This intentional demonizing [by the media] as well as all forms of distortion must stop in the name of truth.

…In the above-mentioned examples the issue is the power of the media. The people are deliberately fed lies. It is time that the media should look at itself in the mirror.

Look at itself in the mirror? Hmm.

Even if we pointed the mirror to Hirvisaari he’d have a difficult time figuring out which is the mirror and which are his demonic distortions of those institutions that shelter us from his extremist views.

Kyllä pistää vihaks!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Jouni Karnasaari

Kun tässä kaikessa mediamylläkässä ja ihan ympäristön seuraamisen myötä on tullut melko ilmeiseksi muutama keskeinen seikka jotka antavat luvan vihaan, päätin minäkin kunnostautua ja ryhtyä vihaamaan.

Ainakin suomalaisittain yksi suurimmista vihan aiheista on ihonväri. Mitä tummempi, sen pahempi. Näin ainakin olen päätellyt, sillä miten muuten on selitettävissä se, että vaikkapa saksasta suomeen tullut valkoihoinen maahanmuuttaja on “ihan kiva jätkä”, mutta jos ruotsista muuttaa siellä kasvanut, yhdysvalloissa syntynyt afrikkalaista sukujuurta edustava henkilö, on se saatanan somali täällä viemässä meiltä kaiken! Joulukuusia ja mummun perintögrammaria myöten!

Koska minun on annettu ymmärtää ihan virallisen poliittisen puolueen avustuksella että ihonvärin avulla todella voi jakaa ihmiset hyviin ja huonoihin, olen voittaja! Nimittäin minulla on vitiligo, valkopälveksikin kutsuttu oireyhtymä jonka seurauksena pigmenttini vähenee. Joissain tapauksissa väheneminen saattaa lakata tai pigmenttiä jopa alkaa kehittyä uudelleen mutta sitä en toivo! Vitiligon myötä minusta on pikkuhiljaa tulossa valkoisista valkoisin! Eräänlainen über-valkoinen! On vähintäänkin suotavaa että ainakin pahimmat rasistit korottavat minut jumalakseen, olenhan heitäkin ylempi vähäisine, ellei olemattomine pigmentteineni! Ja koska minulla oikeus vihata kaikkia minua tummahipiäisempiä, vihattavaa riittää!

Toinen vihanaihe on se, että aina joku perkeleen kikkalo tulee ja vie meidän naiset! Myöntäkää pois, niin käy kaikille joskus. Ja koska todennäköisintä on se, että sen naisen vie toinen heteroseksuaalinen mies, olen päättänyt ruveta vihaamaan kaikkia heteroseksuaaleja. Vitun heterot! Tulevat tänne ja vievät meidän naiset!

Kolmas vihan aihe on se, että kaikki jotka tulevat suomeen, tulevat viemään työpaikkani. Ehkä juuri siksi pikkukaupungin lyhyttukkainen, pilottitakkiinsa hellyttävästi intialaista alkuperää olevan hindujen pyhän symbolin kirjaillut rehti nuorukainen päättää rikkoa paikallisen kebab-ravintolan ikkunan. “Siitäs saitte perkeleet, kun veitte mun liikeidean!” Tässäkin haluan laittaa paremmaksi. Ensinnäkin Sauli Niinistö valittiin presidentiksi, ja minua ei edes kysytty! Ihan jo pikkupoikana unelmani oli olla presidentti, ja nyt joku kikkaratukka ruiskukkapuliveivari vei duunin! Laskeutukoon siis vihani paitsi Kokoomuksen, myös kaikkien muidenkin puolueiden päälle jotka ohittivat minut!

Taidan ottaa vihalistalleni myös lihavat ihmiset, ne kun vievät arvokasta lebensraumiani enemmän kuin ei-niin painorajoitteiset. Toisaalta laihoja on syytä vihata myös! Heitä mahtuisi lentokoneessa parhaimmillaan kaksi yhteen istuimeen, mutta ehei! Siinä vaan istutaan reteästi isossa istuimessa yksin! Perkeleen riistäjät! Ja entäs sitten “normaalipainoiset”, nuo niin erinomaiset juuri oikean BMI:n omaavat ihmiset! Aina niin erinomaisina karppauksineen ja tasapainoitettuine ruokavalioineen että! Normaalipainoiset ovat kansaterveydellinen riski sillä he saavat muut masentumaan, mielialalääkkeiden käyttö kasvaa ja itsemurhaluvut synkistyvät aina vaan! Vihalistalle vaan!

Suomi kuuluu suomalaisille, sanovat mm. ne jotka osaavat ihan itse kirjoittaa “wihte pover” tiiliseinään. Siispä olen päättänyt vihata myös kaikkia niitä jotka eivät alkuperältään ole suomalaisia. Jäljelle tosin jäävät silloin vain saamelaiset jotka olivat täällä “meitäkin” ennen, mutta sittenpä saan vihata heitäkin! Saatanan saamelaiset, omat sukujuureni ovat vissiin jostain Puolasta ja nyt te perkeleen poronpurijat olette työntämässä meitä maahanmuuttajia pois!

Kyllä vain, niin paljon vihattavaa ja niin vähän aikaa. Onneksi tuli aloitettua näinkin aikaisin!

Pitää vielä tehdä muistilistaa että mitään ei unohdu:

  • Kaljut ja ne joilla on tukka (kaljut muistuttavat minua siitä että minulla ei ole tukkaa ja ne joilla on tukka, muistuttavat minua siitä että minulla ei ole tukkaa. Perkele!)
  • Rikkaat ja köyhät, rikkaat siksi että ne on varmaan jotenkin kepulikonstein saaneet rahansa ja köyhät siksi koska ovat todennäköisesti niin kepuleita etteivät edes rahaa saa tienattua. Ja sitten tietenkin ne keskituloiset jotka on niin ketkuja etteivät uskalla olla rikkaita tai köyhiä!
  • Naapurit
  • Naapurin Esko jolla on isompi pippeli kuin minulla. No vittu kaikillahan niillä on! Lisätään tähän nyt vaan sitten että muista vihata kaikkia joilla on penis.
  • Ruotsi
  • Hauskat ihmiset, ne kun saavat aina muut tuntumaan tylsiltä. Ja ei-hauskat jotka pilaavat fiiliksen.
  • Älykkäät, mitä vittua nekin on olevinaan?! Häh?!
  • Tyhmät. Häh?
  • Heteromiehet tulikin jo mainittua mutta sitten tietenkin lesbot! Helvetin lepakot, nekin vie meidän naiset!
  • Homomiehet. Niiden takia TV:stä ei tule kuin Innoa ja Strömsötä (Strömsökin on homo-ohjelma koska siinä puhutaan ruotsia)
  • Lätkäpelaajat. Ne vitun laatikossaluistelijat vie meidän naiset, ja just ne hoteimmat!
  • Euro. Ilman euroja minulla olisi 5,94 kertaa enemmän rahaa pankkitililläni! Markka takaisin. Paitsi että vihasin niitä helvetin rumia seteleitä!

Ai niin, varmuuden vuoksi… “vitsi vitsi”!

PS MP Hirvisaari gets suspended for five months for not sacking Eronen

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Helena Eronen scandal, the parliamentary aide that infamously suggested in Finland that foreigners should start wearing armbands to help police profile ethnic groups, took a new turn Tuesday when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) parliamentary group decided to suspend MP James Hirvisaari until September 15 for not sacking his aide.

It is clear that in the face of  Eronen’s and Hirvisaari’s open defiance, the PS will end up paying a costly political price taking into account the October 28 municipal election. This latest political fallout is taking place a year after the PS won its historic election victory and at the time when Anders Breivik is testifying in Oslo for killing 77 people.

While it was expected that the police will not investigate Eronen’s complaint to sue Turun Sanomat for defamation, it may well turn the other way around with criminal charges brought against her for what she wrote as a parliamentary aide, according to Turn Sanomat.

In many respects Eronen’s and Hirvisaari’s insistence that we must read what she wrote as satire reveals what is wrong with the thinking of these public servants and their anti-immigration ideology.

Just like their free-for-all to insult any ethnic group or nationality, they have no limits, no shame, no morals, no respect and no empathy. They are political liabilities to our democracy because of their shameful disregard for our civil rights.

They are the far-right ogre that has entered parliament in sheep’s clothing.

As Breivik speaks out against multiculturalism the more damage he inflicts on anti-immigration parties

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

As Anders Breivik,who killed 77 people on July 22 on his crusade against multiculturalism, takes the stand and speaks out against immigration and Islam the more damage he inflicts on anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region like the Perussuomalaiset (PS).  After his rampage in Norway, nothing was ever the same for parties like the PS because Breivik  put them on the defensive.

Writes the BBC: “Breivik’s comments have ranged from vehement criticisms of liberalism and multiculturalism to claims that he ‘supports the model in South Korea and Japan.'”

Breivik was quoted by the BBC as telling the court he had “carried out the most spectacular and sophisticated attack on Europe since World War II” and  would do it again.

Certainly far-right anti-immigration PS MP Jussi Halla-aho would have wished that Breivik would have never existed. He if anyone has done more damage to Halla-aho’s and his Counter-Jihadists’ rhetoric.

In a story published today Migrant Tales writes:  “He [Halla-aho] says on the [Tom Enbuske talk] show that Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer is a mentally ill lone wolf, despite the fact that he quoted him in his anti-Islam manifesto.  Certainly it’s convenient for Halla-aho to single out Breivik as a madman because it permits him to wash his hands of the probable impact his xenophobic rhetoric may have on others [like Breivik].”

You don’t have too bright to grasp that if you let out a social ill like racism and feed it with your hate it’s going to hit back one day.

That is exactly what Breivik did.

He is no madman nor loan wolf but a shameful anti-social miscreation our society gave birth to.

Halla-aho says ghettoization spreading in Finland’s major cities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho said on a popular talk show that he stands by everything he said and doesn’t regret anything. He does, however, admit that sometimes the timing of what he said was wrong. He then tells us that ghettoization is taking place ” full steam ahead” in Finland’s biggest cities.

As Migrant Tales has warned and as scandals continue to rock the PS whiile opinion polls show voters turning their backs on the right-wing populist party, the anti-immigration message of the PS will start to pick up.  Halla-aho didn’t lose such an opportunity on the talk show, claiming that our biggest cities are turning into ghettos.

Some analysts see, however, that his far-right anti-immigration rhetoric are the problem that will cause social exclusion and ghetoization.

With the usual poker face, Halla-aho tells us that all he want to do is avoid the problems that immigration brought to Sweden. He says on the [Tom Enbuske talk] show that Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer is a mentally ill lone wolf, despite the fact that he quoted Halla-aho in his anti-Islam manifesto.  Certainly it’s convenient for Halla-aho to single out Breivik as a madman because it permits him to wash his hands of the probable impact his xenophobic rhetoric may have on others.

On a more positive note, the anti-immigration message that spread like wildfire in Finland before the parliamentary election appears to have met greater scrutiny today by the media, some politicians and the general public.  A case in point is the Helena Eronen scandal that suggested   “armbands” for foreigners.

One typical debate and public-relations stunt used by Halla-aho and his far-right group is profiling themselves as white Finland’s saviors and victims of the media.  He claims that in Finland one cannot have a different opinion concerning immigration despite the fact that it was his anti-immigration message got him elected to parliament in the first place.

Below are two classic videoclips that Halla-aho doesn’t regret. On the one immediately below he warns “most Finnish cities will be surrounded by a ring of burning ghettos.”  Finland’s foreign population in 2010-11 totalled 167,954 people, or a mere 3.1% of the total poulation.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&NR=1&v=30SSbpq-o_A]

Here is another one that was used in last  year’s parliamentary election. The campaign ad asks if multiculturalism is a “too hot potato” for Finland? Note the turban on the potatoe. Isn’t it from India?

Multiculturalism means for Halla-aho an immigration policy that permits Muslims and Africans from moving to Finland and Europe.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L0zgxL8l_xg]

These videoclips were taken from Jussi K. Nieminen’s Facebook page.

The Eronen “armband” scandal reveals healthy accountability by the media

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Helena Eronen scandal exposes an important watershed in Finland. It is a similar turning point as we saw on July 22 with the mass killings in Norway by Anders Breivik and in February, when Tommi Rautio suggested decoarating a white Finn for killing a Muslim in in cold blood in Oulu. The latest scandal reveals something equally important: accountability.  

Back in the so-called good old days before last year’s election, politicians could say just about anything they pleased against immigrants and visible minorities without being held accountable. Times have changed since then and the Eronen scandal is a case in point.

What would happen if Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Jussi Halla-aho published today a fraction of the quotes he made last decade? What would happen if Eronen published her infamous column on sleeve emblems in 2006 or 2008? Would she experience anything close to the criticism she is getting today? Probably not.

The magic word is accountability. Politicians, and especially those who gained prominence with their racist and Nazi-spirited language before last year’s election are now being held accountable for what they write by the media, some politicians and the general public. This is good news for Finland.

Accountability can do wonders. An association like Kansainvälinen Mikkeli sent an email to all those candidates before last year’s election who were strongly in favor of cutting back funds to immigrant associations and tightening immigration policy. You’d be surprised by how apologetic some were when they answered back.

It shows that if we ask questions and let politicians know that we are watching, listening and ready to act they will think twice what they say in public.

The media can play an important role. Leadership was shown by Turun Sanomat last week, when it picked up Eronen story on Uusi Suomi. The Turku-based daily merely did its job by asking her a question and, most importantly, held her accountable for what she wrote.

It’s still unclear whether Eronen will be able to keep her job as PS MP James Hirvisaari’s aide. In the meanwhile the scandal will continue to grow.

Turun Sanomat reports that apart from Sweden, Russia and former IVY countries, the column that suggested sleeve markings for different national groups has now spread to Holland, Iceland, Italy, Poland and Romania. To add more fuel to the fire, Johan Bäckman asked the police to investigate whether Eronen’s column is guilty of inciting ethnic hatred, according to Turun Sanomat.  

Finland’s interior minister wants to make begging illegal

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Christian Democrat (KD) Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen was quoted as saying on MTV3 that she is in favor of making begging illegal in Finland.  Just like many past suggestions by the conservative Räsänen, like her provocative views on homosexuality that caused last year an exodus from the Lutheran Church, her views on begging and how to deal with a group like the Roma of Eastern Europe doesn’t come as a surprise. 

While Räsänen uses the term “organized” begging, it’s clear that she is targeting Roma beggars from Eastern Europe that come to Finland.

In order to understand the dynamics of the Finnish government’s tough stand on immigration and its views of certain ethnic groups, Kokoomus Prime Minister appointed last year Räsänen to head the interior ministry in charge of immigration policy.

Her appointment was a clear attempt by the government to not only calm the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, which had gained a historic 39 seats in last year’s election, but to rob it of its anti-immigration thunder.

Räsänen’s stand on gay rights and marriage reflect her conservative views on immigration and Finland’s ever-growing cultural diversity.  Last year she said there are plans to tighten once again family reunification laws, which were tightened by the previous government.

Her views on immigration are pretty well summed up on a blog entry she wrote on Uusi Suomi:  “Our country’s culture, values and morals have been built around Christian ethics and we must not abandon them starting from our homes, day care centers and when bringing up children.”

What Räsänen is saying in the quote is that she doesn’t believe in cultural diversity but that immigrants should assimilate — not integrate — to Finnish society.  Assimilation is one-way integration, or something like sitting on your behind and requiring immigrants to adapt to your culture while you do nothing except watch.

Some have criticized Räsänen’s double standards. On the one hand she claims to uphold Christian values concerning the family but doesn’t appear to be bothered by minors who are refugees in Finland that are forced to live without their parents because of strict reunification laws.

While Räsänen likes to give the public simple answers to complex problems, her latest view on begging will not resolve anything but complicate the problem even more. We will soon see pictures of the Finnish police rounding up, arresting and deporting women and children from Finland. It will reveal and reinforce the image that we are an intolerant country that doesn’t have a clue on how to deal with a social problem like begging in our society.

It prefers instead to brush the problem under the rug by making “poverty illegal” by patronizing to parties like the PS.

Nipping fascism, Nazi-spirited and far-right ideology in the bud in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

After most of the Finnish media was taken for a long and extensive ride by the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, Migrant Tales  has warned on numerous occasions about the threat the party poses is not only to immigrants, visible minorities and Finns with international backgrounds, but to our whole society. The Helena Eronen scandal, when she wrote about sleeve emblems, is another case in point. 

Tuomas Muraja, Turun Sanomat’s foreign editor, the daily that published the story on Eronen’s column, says outright that history will see PS chairman Timo Soini as the man who brought the “aggressive far-right” to parliament.

The whole scandal reveals a lot about what Eronen thinks about our democratic institutions and institutions like the media.  After the attraction that her blog entry caused in Finland and abroad, Eronen is now planning to sue Turun Sanomat for defamation.

Her writing about sleeve emblems and her boss, PS MP James Hirvisaari, who was fined by a court for hate speech in December, say a lot about Eronen. She used to advertise openly on her Uusi Suomi blog profile belonging to the anti-immigration Muutos2011 party.

Another factor that sheds more light on her far-right anti-immigration ideology is that she visited Auschwitz in 2007 and knew where people were some exterminated during the Holocaust. Here more on the topic by Ossi Mäntylahti.

Jews were forced by the Nazis in Germany and occupied Europe to wear a yellow Star of David. This is satire, right?

As if missing totally the point, Eronen blames the Turku-based daily for the bad press she attracted. She conveniently forgets that it was what she wrote that was unacceptable, especially coming from a parliamentary aide.

Those who visit our blog regularly have noted by now that every month  there is a scandal coming from the PS. The lion’s share of the scandals hinge on racism, homophobia, offering medals to cold-blooded killers, as well as an eerie fascination for fascism, Nazi-spirited and far-right ideology.

Muraja correctly states that the whole Eronen scandal and what she wrote wasn’t satire at all but exposed far-right or Nazi-spirited ideology with humor or as a joke. Spreading fascist, Nazi-spirited and racist jokes are nothing new by these groups. Such writings are primarily meant for their followers even if they are published online.

Another important aim of this type of questionable satire and jokes by groups like Suomen Sisu is to move the goalposts in order to make racism, and the ideology that supports it, “normal” to common voters.

Will they succeed depends on our reaction and how deeply we want to bury our heads in the sand.  The only reason why there are far-right MPs in parliament is because we have given them a mandate. It is now our job to take it away from them.

How? The answer lies in our democratic institutions and most importantly in our values: independent media, vigilant public, and leadership.

In many respects what happened in April 2011 is due to many factors: the financial scandals that rocked the Center Party, the EU financial crisis and the bailout of Portugal a week before the election, but most importantly traditional parties lacking courage and leadership to challenge the PS.

Migrant Tales writes shortly after the election:  “Another factor that spurred the PS to new heights was a watershed statement in March 2010 by Kokoomus chairman Jyrki Katainen, who stated that being critical and debating immigrant issues in this country didn’t make you a racist. After that green light to racism was given, the Social Democratic leadership gave the PS another pat on the back with their infamous saying, maassa maan tavalla.”

Even if we respect the election result we can passionately express our opposition to the political agenda of a party like the PS.

Unless we want to turn Finland into a country where fascism, far-right and Nazi-spirited ideology have a clear mandate, our media, politicians and the general public will have to do much better.

Our Finnish national identity in the new century

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Glancing through a pile of documents and certificates my late grandfather (1892-1979) had is like entering a time machine. Two certificates catch my attention: a Finnish-language test in 1925 and another one when he changed his surname from Hantwargh to Harvo.  Both documents offer us a glimpse of how a social construct like Finnish national identity was forged in the last century.

Taking into account how some Finns define it today an ever- globalized world, it’s easy to see that their definition of a Finn has its roots in those two documents.

Being a Finn had little to do with your place of birth but is due to jus sanguinis, right of blood. Your citizenship is not determined by place of birth but by having one or both parents as citizens of that country.

The first document proving that my grandfather spoke perfect Finnish is understandable in the jus sanguinis context. The second one, which was from 1931, states at the following:

In light of the petition made by military instructor Harald Vilhelm Handtwargh, the governor of the province of Mikkeli grants his family permission to change their  surname to Harvo; this is backed by statements from the vicar [of the Lutheran church], Suomen Sukututkimusseura [Finnish Genealogical Society] and the Suomalaisuuden Liitto [Association of Finnish Culture and Identity]…

Taking on a new national identity was relatively  easy in the last century as long as you were white, nationalistic and didn’t make too public your foreign roots. In the case of my grandfather it was his Jewish background.

Today there are totally new demands placed on our society with respect to inclusion and “us.”  How we included and excluded people and groups in the last century is, I believe, what is causing us to fall flat on our faces and hindering us from seeing the bigger picture of what Finnish identity is in the new century.

Since we are a young nation with a young identity there is time to make it more inclusive. But for that change to happen it requires us to see the world in a radically different way than today.  A good example is some of our feelings towards the Russians and that fear of being a small nation constantly under threat.

It’s clear that in order to build a more inclusive and culturally dynamic society, we have to break away from our past hatreds, prejudices and myths.

But let’s not fool ourselves, breaking free from them will be a long process that will take a concerted effort and generations.

This document gave my grandfather the right to change his surname from Handtwargh to Harvo in 1931. 

One good way to become a more inclusive society today would be to change Section 5 of the Constitution from jus sanguinis to jus solis, right of the soil, nationality or citizenship granted to a person born in country.

The whole idea of jus sanguinis is deeply rooted in how ethnicity and nationality were defined in the nineteenth and greater part of the twentieth century.

While I am happy that Finland is an independent country today, we cannot escape the fact that it was built on nationalism and racism that was ever-present in Europe before and even today.  Thus our independence was in many respects an ethnic thing. We didn’t like the Russians never mind Russification.

The racism and nationalism that existed in Europe in the nineteenth century had a clear role: It justified the colonization and exploitation of other people in Africa and Asia. It was very ethnocentric as well. We thought that we were the epitome of civilization and therefore it was our right to  exploit others because they were less “advanced.”

As we know, World War I exposed the barbarism of our “civilized ways” and was pretty good reality check.

Hopefully our culturally diverse identity will not resemble an excerpt from Heikki Waris’ “An introduction to Finnish history” on page two:

“A fourth aspect is the high degree of homogeneity of Finnish society. Racial homogeneity particularly characterizes the Finnish people who have practically no racial minorities, the less than three thousand Lapps in the northernmost arctic communities making up the largest racial minority group. Consequently, racial prejudice and discrimination are nonexistent.”

Apart from avoiding mention of the Roma of Finland and Finnish expats and those with international backgrounds, Waris’ affirmation are quite humorous from today’s perspective.