YLE: Yhä useampi rasistinen rikos tutkitaan

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Here is an interesting question: Why don’t some immigrants report hate crimes to the authorities? The YLE story claims that one reason is the fear that justice will not be served.

If YLE and the police are to be believed, Finnish law enforcement officials have the proper training and the will to treat immigrants as equally as Finns. “In my opinion, our media functions effectively enough (in reporting hate crimes),” said Maila-Katriina Tuominen, a journalist. “It (the media) not only brings to light those problems that have to be addressed, but does investigative journalism, which is needed for these types of cases.”

Even though a nice picture is being painted of the police and Finnish media without interviewing one journalist with an immigrant background, I would treat the YLE story with tweezers.

Does Finland want to raise the credibility of the police among immigrants and non-white Finns? Then make the police more ethnically diverse. I personally would ask the police to let their hair grow a bit so that some wouldn’t give the appearance of being skinheads.

For some immigrants, their appearance is already an issue.  Would you want to report a crime to a policeman who looks like a skinhead? 

Another problem that immigrants have in reporting hate crimes is that it is simply too difficult of a process. Calling the police and reporting the crime can be a long and winding road.

Migrant Tales was told in May by a policeman Pieksämäki that it wasn’t worth getting in touch with the police if they are harassed in public. Contrarily, the Ombudsman for Minorities said that harassment should be reported the police.

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Rasistisen rikoksen uhriksi joutunut tekee liian harvoin rikosilmoituksen. Yksi syy tähän on pelko siitä, että ei saa oikeutta. Tilanne on kuitenkin parantunut. Poliiseilla on edellytyksiä, haluja ja koulutusta toimia tasavertaisesti myös maahanmuuttajien puolesta.

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Timo Soini: “The PS do not hate anybody – not anybody”

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Can Perussuomalaiset (PS) party head Timo Soini claim that his party does not “hate” anyone? I wonder if Soini, who made such a claim on Saturday when he was chosen near-unanimously to be the PS’ presidential candidate, ever heard of Freddy van Wonterghem, James Hirvisaari, Olli Immonen, Teuvo Harkkarainen, Juho Eerola, Reijo Tossavainen never mind Jussi Halla-aho and others?

If we look at Soini’s political balancing actbetween the extremists of his party and those that like populism, it’s clear that the PS head is playing good-cop-bad-cop with the public. Soini may want to portray himself to the public as the “good cop” but one fact remains: he is a cop, or the head of the PS.

Does the right-wing populist party hate anyone? Does Soini conveniently forget what he has said?

PS city councilman  van Wonterghem wrote in June that it is a good matter when a Muslim girl is killed because there is one less to give birth to a new Muslim. Hirvisaari shed crocodile tears shortly after the mass killings in Norway but blamed poor immigration policy probably fueled killers like Anders Breivik to commit mass murder.

Even though the PS’ election victory on April 17 was historic, we cannot prove conclusively that it has fueled more racism in Finland. However, I don’t believe it has helped to undermine it either.

Soini claimed on Saturday that it was “ludicrous” to suggest that the PS was an extremist party since it has over 20% support. I wonder if the PS head has read history. There are many extremist parties that have gained power with over 20% support.

The PS’ greatest enemy are not as the party claims “the media and elitist political establishment” but itself. It’s own example and double-talk will cause it the greatest political damage.

Imagine what would happen to Finland if Soini were prime minister? Imagine what kind of society we’d turn into if the PS had its way?

Finland would turn into a shooting gallery with Soini’s cronies taking political potshots at immigrants, minorities and anyone else who doesn’t fit in their narrow-minded view of society.

As the shooting and laughs go on, Soini will assure us with a poker face and in colorful rhetoric that “the PS do not hate anybody – not anybody.”

Kymen Sanomat: Muslimivastaisuus toi syytteen van Wonterghemille

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment:  Migrant Tales reported back in June a blog entry that got Perussuomalaiset (PS) Kotka city councilman Freddy van Wonterghem in hot water. He not only will be charged by the state prosecutor for incitement of racial hatred, but PS head Timo Soini was apparently annoyed as well. 

What did van Wonterghem write on his Uusi Suomi blog? “In my opinion the Saudis can do what they please in their country, it’s none of my business,” he wrote. “Maybe one good thing about this is that whenever a Moslem girl is killed then one possible Moslem mother is eliminated.”

Van Wonterghem has played down the role of the Holocaust. 

Can you take seriously a person who has such a low regard for another human being’s life? Or are some PS politicians fighting to be in the public spotlight by making these types of crude and offensive statements?  

How much self-respect do people like van Wonterghem have for themselves? Are they from another world? Imagine for a moment what would happen to our country if they ran things.

It would be like opening the Gates of Pandemonium.  

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Valtakunnansyyttäjänvirasto on määrännyt nostettavaksi syytteen kotkalaista kaupunginvaltuutettua Freddy van Wonterghemia vastaan. Syyte tulee kiihottamisesta kansanryhmää vastaan.

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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.

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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.

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