Ihmisiä muuttoliikkeessä: Susanna Niinivaara: Muisti Pätkii

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Comment: One of the most incredible claims made by the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party is that Finland  should be thankful to them for opening up the debate on immigrants and immigration to Finland. The immigration topic has been debated in Finland for decades but if there is something we can be thankful to the PS is for making racism public.

The opinion-piece below by Susanna Niinivaara shows how the debate began in the early 1990s when the first Somalians arrived from the former Soviet Union.

Even Niinivaara arrives at almost the same conclusion as I: “The Perussuomalaiset (party) has brought to the debate (on immigrants and immigration) an angry tone that does not tolerate  contrary opinions.”

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Susanna Niinivaara

Ensin perussuomalaiset onnistuivat brändäämään itsensä maahanmuuttokriittisenä puolueena, ja sitten puolue onnistui sumentamaan meidän toimittajien muistia. Perussuomalaiset toistavat sitkeästi, että Suomessa maahanmuuttoon liittyvistä ongelmista on vaiettu ja varsinkin näitä ongelmia on hyssytellyt media. Viestimissä on väitteelle annettu tilaa ja perussuomalaiset ovat saaneet kiitosta siitä, että he ovat nostaneet vaietun aiheen keskusteluun.

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Ilta-Sanomat: Fazerin karkeista nousi rasismikohu Ruotsissa

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Comment:  When I saw this story on Ilta-Sanomat about a racist drawing of a Chinese on one of its chocolate-covered wheat puffs brand, I wondered if Fazer had learned anything after it was forced to remove a Golliwog from its famous licorice brand in 2007.

The latest uproar came in Sweden after Patrik Lundgerg criticized in his column the drawing of a stereotypical Chinese man on the bag of  Fazer Kina candies. 

Fazer has taken the criticism seriously and said that it would change the package.

You would think that a large company like Fazer would have enough sensitivity never mind brains to make such a mistake as depicting a foreign group in a stereotypic fashion. 
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Fazer vaihtaa karkkipaperikääreet rasismisyytösten takia. Fazerin “Kinapuffar” -karkkien pussinkylkeen piirretty kiinalaismies on herättänyt rasismikohun Ruotsissa.

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Le Monde Diplomatique: Lessons from Norway

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Comment: The box story below in the September issue of Le Monde Diplomatique (LMD) is a good read that attempts to see what lessons can be learned from Norway after Anders Breivik went on the rampage on July 22.

One matter that we must accept, according to the story, is the rise of far-right radicalism, anti-immigration and Islamophobic sentiment in Europe. Even so, we cannot say that they will automatically produce more Breiviks.

Writes LMD: “These ‘radical’ views are not the sole preserve of a disparate violent fringe — they are becoming legitimised as part of the political discourse. The ‘one long scream of resentment,’ in the words of the late historian Tony Judt, ‘at immigrants, at unemployment, at crime and insecurity, at ‘Europe’ and in general at ‘them’ who have brought it all about” is being heard by more people than ever before. Yet there is a danger of reading too much into these opinions as the catalyst for an individual atrocity.'”

One matter we should keep clear, however, is that far right or right-wing populist views are deteminental to our society. “These (far-right) parties should be opposed not because they may have tangentially ‘inspired’ individual acts of symbolic violence, but because their programme is dehumanising, sectarian and threatens the basis of a stable, cohesive society,” concludes LMD.

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By K Biswas

What do the tragic events in Utoya and Oslo tell us about the status of far-right, anti-immigrant or Islamophobic politics in Norway, Scandinavia and the rest of Europe? Commentators and “security experts” — many of whom were initially convinced of the Islamic nature of the attacks — have spent the past month speculating.

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Ilta-Sanomat: Tässä ovat perussuomalaisilta kielletyt sanat

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Comment: Professor Erkki Havansi, who is a card-carrying Perussuomalaiset (PS) party member, has been advising Timo Soini’s party on what is hate speech and what terms should not be used when speaking of immigrants and minorities.

Laws on hate speech were tightened in Finland in June. According to Havansi, some no-no words that should not be used include the n-word (neekeri), camel driver (ählämi), Ruskie (ryssä) or Rutabaga (hurri). For some strange reason, Havansi does not consider the word mamu, the shortened term for  immigrant, as offensive. 

He thinks that it is ok to call immigrants mamus because he hasn’t even bothered to ask any immigrant association a second opinion.

There was an extensive debate on Migrant Tales in January on the usage of the term mamu.

After MPs in the PS learn what is the appropriate term to use when addressing an ethnic group, racism will disappear from Finland right? Wrong.

This lesson in basic communication skills with ethnic groups to the PS shows at what level the whole debate on immigration is in Finland and why some members of Soini’s party don’t have a clue what racism is.

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Professori Erkki Havansi on ohjeistanut puoluetovereitaan vihapuhelainsäädännön suhteen. Nettiin laitettua muistiota voidaan pitää selvänä ohjeena varsinkin Jussi Halla-aholle, joka viime viikolla erotettiin kahdeksi viikoksi ryhmän toiminnasta.

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PS’ far right threatens our society and values

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By Enrique Tessieri

The sooner we comprehend as a society that the far-right wing of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party led by MP Jussi Halla-aho and his cronies are a threat to our Nordic way of life the better. There are already clear signs that this group of MPs in the PS has not only become a thorn in Timo Soini’s side but is being shunned by other political parties and the public.

Who would have thought that a groups of anti-immigrant fanatics that twirled the Finnish media and dazzled the public with the racist statements before the April election would see their wings severely clipped today?

Former Prime Minister and Social Democrat presidential hopeful, Paavo Lipponen, blasted Sunday Halla-aho and his followers, which he called “far-right extremists.”  Center Party head Mari Kiviniemi was quoted as saying on Monday’s Helsingin Sanomat that cooperation in the opposition with the PS has been “spoiled” by the far-right wing of that party.

Apart from being under close scrutiny by the Finnish media and public, these group of far-right extremists probably never imagined the stiff opposition they’d face as MPs especially after the mass killings in Norway by Anders Breivik on July 22.

Halla-aho’s style is pretty easy to predict: He enjoys jolting the public by surprise with his provocative statements. Before his suggestion that Greece should install a military junta to quell protesters, he had said that “multiculturalism sucks ass.”

Certainly Halla-aho, who is chairman of the important administration committee of parliament, which sets among other matters immigration policy, “multiculturalism” is only a policy that permits Muslims and non-Europeans from moving to Finland and Europe. He does not tell you that multiculturalism is a social policy used in Canada, Britain and Australia to integrate immigrants.

One of the biggest mistakes that Halla-aho and his followers have made is that they believe in their own racism and lies.

The so-called immigrant-critical group of the PS led by Halla-aho is made up of the following MPs: James Hirvisaari, Juho Eerola, Olli Immonen, Ari Jalonen and Maria Lohela.

Finland: Enter at your own risk or beware of dog!

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By Enrique Tessieri

Rabbah Boussuira is an artist and an old friend that was able draw a snapshot of the hostility that inflicted Finnish society in the early 1980s. What is sad is that that same drawing could apply today. About 25 years ago, anti-foreign sentiment was all around but today it has found a home in the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. 

Instead of inviting immigrants to work to Finland, why not avoid problems and put up a sign like the one below at the border?  The sign could read in all the major languages: “Beware of dog” or “Enter at your own risk.”

Even though Finland's immigrant population has grown by ten times since 1984, when Strange Days was published, the ongoing one-sided debate on immigrants makes this drawing still valid by Rabbah Boussuira.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YLE in English: Lipponen condemns Finns party statements

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Comment: Of all the Finnish presidential hopefuls, Social Democrat Paavo Lipponen has been one of the most outspoken against the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s far-right wing led by MP Jussi Halla-aho. In May he said that this far-right group should be isolated from the PS.

The attack against the PS by Lipponen comes after Halla-aho was suspended for two weeks from the party for suggesting on Facebook that Greece should install a military junta to quell protests. Halla-aho is chairman of the administration committee of parliament.

“The Finns party’s parliamentary group and the party leadership don’t seem to realise what kind of issues they are joking about,” said Lipponen. “What kind of significance does the minimum punishment have, if the parliamentary group leader still calls dictator comments “humour” even after the “punishment” has been handed down?”

PS head Timo Soini strongly criticized Lipponen’s comments on his blog. He said that he did not accept such smears about the PS “even from Paavo Lipponen.”

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SDP Presidential candidate Paavo Lipponen has warned the Finns party not to joke about basic democratic values. In Lipponen’s opinion it is now time to create clear boundaries for the hard right both in politics and in wider society.

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Verkkolehti: Maahanmuuttokielteisyys on Suomessa vasta alullaan

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Comment:  This interview with researcher Pertti Joenniemi on this week’s Verkkolehti left me concerned. Joenniemi believes that the anti-immigration sentiment we are witnessing in Finland today is only the beginning and will get worse.  Joenniemi has lived in Denmark for the past 15 years.

According to the researcher, Denmark does not have any outside enemies and in order to bolster their national identity, some Danes have found that new “enemy” in immigrants and refugees.

In Finland the situation is different since we have a defined enemy. “Thank God we have such an enemy in Finland,” he said. “There is a mutual agreement (among Finns) that Russkies are Russkies full stop. We don’t have the same problem as Denmark since there is a foreign other. Our identity as Finns is clear since we know what does not and what does presumably threaten us.”

Joenniemi believes that the anti-immigrant sentiment will get worse in Finland before it improves. “In order to understand what is happening and to get ready for what awaits, it would be important to get acquainted with (what is happening) Denmark,” he said. 

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Jarkko Mänttäri

Tanskan kokemusten pohjalta erikoistutkija Pertti Joenniemi ennustaa, että maahanmuuttokielteisyys on Suomessa vasta alullaan. Pahempaa on tulossa.

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NCB confirms arrest of two suspects in Finland for supporting terrorism

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By Enrique Tessieri

The National Bureau of Investigation (NCB) have confirmed to have arrested two people suspected of supporting terrorism abroad, reports MTV3.  The two suspects are speculated by evening tabloid Ilta-Sanomat to be Somalians with Finnish citizenship although this was not confirmed at a press conference Saturday by the NCB.

The skimpy information that the NCB has released suggests that Finland was not a target but terrorist groups operating outside the country.

I took a quick look at some popular blog sites in Finland right after noon like Uusi Suomi and the finger-pointing has started. One of these bloggers thanked former minister for immigration and European affairs, Astrid Thors, for bringing terrorism to this country.

While some members of the Persussuomaliset (PS) party and others are ready to round up a lynch mob before these two suspects are tried in a court of law, terrorism does not only arrive from abroad but within our own ranks like Anders Breivik demonstrated.

Are Norwegians being accused of being mass killers due to what happened on July 22? Certainly not.

Those whose worldview is tainted with prejudice and who cannot find anything good to say about certain immigrant groups will try to use this opportunity to give more credibility to their Islamophobic opinions. It will be as well an opportunity to pile more justified hatred and hostility towards certain immigrants.

Terrorism is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly. Even though this is the case, in our world people are innocent before they are proved guilty. We should now allow the law to take its due course.

HS.fi: Pekka Haavisto: Rasismi pilaa Suomen maineen

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Comment:  When looking at a social ill like racism, we have to ask a very simple question:  Will we grow richer or poorer because of it? Green Party MP and presidential hopeful, Pekka Haavisto, answers that timely question. According to him, racism and its growth in Finland will not only ruin our image abroad but will scare off skilled people that we need to keep our country growing and prosperous.

Finland is competing for skilled labor with other European nations. Why would a newcomer want to set foot on this country if he or she knows that their children will not be accepted? Why would foreign investment come to Finland, a country with an adverse anti-foreign climate? The end-result is clear: our own racism will impoverish us economically, politically and socially.

Denmark is a perfect example of what can happen to Finland. There, the far-right populist Danish People’s Party (DPP) has played a key role in tightening the country’s immigration laws for the past decade while former right-wing governments have promoted a pro-business environment. Anti-immigrant and pro-business have not helped turn Denmark into a model of economic growth.

Writes Bloomberg: “The smallest Scandinavian economy is struggling after emerging from a recession in 2009 amid declining employment, a slump in real estate and widening deficits,”

The question we should as in Denmark today is if it is today a Nordic democratic model of social and economic prosperity or a society that has turned inward and spiteful of others?

The Perussuomalaiset party has hailed the DPP as a model for Finland. If we set on that path which Denmark is now leaving, the result will be the same: economic, political and social impoverishment.

Haavisto said in the HS.fi interview that having a negative image abroad will end up hurting businesses.

“The majority (of Finns) must fix this (racist) image in Finland as well as abroad,” he said.

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Vihreiden kansanedustaja ja presidenttiehdokas Pekka Haavisto on huolestunut suomalaisten arkuudesta rasismin ja syrjinnän edessä. Hänen mielestään Suomessa on tullut luvalliseksi sanoa mitä tahansa, kenelle tahansa, kenenkään siihen puuttumatta.

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