Helsingin Yliopisto: Populismin juuret ovat kaukana historiassa

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Inari Sakki of the University of Helsinki, who was one of 16 new  academy research fellows on the Research Council for Culture and Society, has focused her research on current support of the far right in Europe and Finland. 

Sakki states that it is important to study those factors give far-right parties their support. While the Sweden Democrats reject Islam and multiculturalism and want to return to a Sweden of the 1950s when there were few if any immigrants, the rhetoric of the Perussuomalaiset is based on values like nationalism.

The PS  have not only shown to be unfit to govern, but are keeping the whole country and the political establishment hostage of their anti-EU stance.  Is their anything “patriotic” about this stance or is it just another opportunistic ploy to score political brownie points with other euroskeptic parties in Europe?

The reluctance to take part in government is also an indication that the PS doesn’t have the experience to sit on government. It could reveal the PS is a lot of talk and little action.  

Do you agree?

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“On selvää, että äärioikeiston kannatuksen kasvu on yleiseurooppalainen ilmiö”, sanoo Suomen Akatemian tuore tutkijatohtori Inari Sakki. Monien muiden Euroopan maiden tavoin populistipuolueet ovat moninkertaistaneet kannatuksensa viime vuoden aikana myös Suomessa ja Ruotsissa. Vaikka ilmiö on näkyvä, Inari Sakin mielestä uutta tietoa aiheeseen tuo sosiaalipsykologinen näkökulma.

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PS’ recipe for failure: nationalism, xenophobia and isolationism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

It is pretty incredible how a minority like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) that got 19.1% of the votes are blackmailing the rest of the country with their anti-EU policies. It not only wants the majority to join its anti-EU bandwagon, but has among its ranks MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, who are trying to  give bigotry a respectable name in Finland. 

But can any sensible person in this country play down what the PS hope to achieve politically? One of the main stands of  Timo Soini and the PS is Finland’s withdrawal from the European Union and slap more restrictions on immigration.

Has the EU impacted Finland negatively? Have the 2.9% immigrants living in this country formed a threat to our way of life? Why all this obnoxious nationalism? What gives?

If I had the opportunity to interview Soini, one of the questions I’d ask him is how Finland is going to succeed outside the EU? Of course he’ll never give me a satisfactory answer because he is a politicians. Politicians rarely reveal all their playing cards.

Here is one PS politician who likes to bash immigrants on the net, city councilor  Hemmo Koskiniemi of Rovaniemi, on how the PS will give Finland back to the Finns.  This is what he writes in Uusi Suomi. Scary stuff.

While Soini and the PS may look like foxes  in sheep’s clothing, another menace to Finland is Halla-aho and his Suomen Sisu followers.

Here is a good link (in Finnish) of the provocative statements he’s made throughout the years about immigrants. One of the many that ring out was in 2007 when he wrote that, “I am against immigration and I hope a growing number of Finns are against it.”

The fascination of some Finns with Halla-aho and Soini, who opportunistically uses him to lure votes to his party, is a good example of how low politics has stooped in Finland.

Taking into account the problems the PS has already inflicted on Finland through its populism, anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric, you don’t need to be an expert to grasp that Finland is on a perilous path.

The PS view of the future of Finland hinges on nationalism, xenophobia and isolationism. In plain English it means recipe for failure.


A PS city councilman’s “justified” racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset Rovaniemi city councilman Hemmo Koskimies is a good example of how some politician have lost touch with  fairness and become the leaders of social-media lynch mobs. In a blog entry headlined, “Justified racism – an ‘n-word’ lives alone in a 75 m2 home,” is an example of how low a PS politician can stoop to promote hatred.

Migrant Tales got in touch with the editor-in-chief  Markku Huusko and later on with producer, Jarmo Koponen, about Koskimies’ claims. A well-respected publication would ask the blogger to put out a correction.

I phoned the City of Rovaniemi as well to verify Koskimies’ claim that an immigrant was abusing the system. The answer I got from a city official strongly suggests that Koskiniemi took the lazy route by not verifying his facts meticulously.

Racism has not only spread in Finland thanks to people like Koskimies’ blog entries but with the silence and inaction of the Finnish media. Their passivity has given racism an ever-greater foothold in Finnish society.

Every one has the right to express himself. Even so, one does not have the right to spread misinformation. When this happens, the publication and journalist have the responsiblity of putting out a correction.

I recommend the following procedure if you read a blog or story that is similar to what Koskimieni wrote: (1) Get in touch with the source and find out if what the writer is claiming is true; (2) write or phone the editor or news editor and point out the mistake or wrongful claim; and (3) if the publication does nothing, get in touch directly with the Council for Mass Media in Finland (JSN).

Unfortunately, the PS’ victory in April has given some politicians the mistaken notion that it is now perfectly ok to insult and spread misinformation against immigrants.

The contempt for the Finnish media of some PS politicians like Jussi Halla-aho reveals how distant their values are to two crucial pillars of the real journalist and writer: ethics and fairness.

With a little bit of our own investigative reporting we can challenge some of the malarkey being published on immigrants and refugees in this country.


Iltalehti: Tutkijat: Rasistiset teot kumpuavat myös politiikasta

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Comment:  Tabloid Iltalehti spoke to two researchers who believe that the present anti-immigration climate in Finland and the Perussuomalaiset (PS) victory on April 17 has lowered the bar for racist acts, according to sociologist Anna Rastas. “The general atmosphere is more permissive of this type (racist) behavior,” she said.

Researcher Teivo Teivanen believes that the election result made anti-immigration more acceptable.

Looking at the recent hate crimes reported by the media and on Migrant Tales, it’s not that difficult to figure out there is a connection between the rise of racism in Finland  all the way up to the election.

The election result has emboldened racists to come out of the closet.  Such people think it is now ok to go around harassing and attacking immigrants in public. 

The situation Finland is today one of the worst in its history for immigrants and minorities. 

Can the situation escalate further? Sure it can. 

Who is then responsible? The assailant of the hate crime or the politician that fill his head with hatred and  fuelled his racism?

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STT

Tutkijoiden mielestä poliittisen kentän uudet tuulet ovat vaikuttaneet ihmisten asenteisiin maahanmuuttajia kohtaan. STT:n haastattelemat rasismin ja politiikan tutkijat näkevät yhteyden, jota on eduskuntavaalien jälkeen spekuloitu kahvipöytäkeskusteluissa ympäri maan.

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Ten fallacies of the PS’ anti-immigration arguments

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

When I was a kid growing up in California we used to say phony baloney when a fellow classmate exaggerated or lied. If we look at the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party’s mindset and claims on immigration, I would certainly be one of the first to let out a vociferous cry: “Phony baloney!”

Here are ten common phony why-we-should-not-trust-the-anti-immigrant arguments by the PS:

1. The people voted for us because they want tighter immigration laws.

Counterargument: Eighty-one percent of Finns voted for traditional parties. Anti-immigration PS candidates like Jussi Halla-aho and others got a fraction of the total votes. When the PS states that it is the “will of the voters” to punish immigrants they are really pushing it. A minority (19.1%) voted for them. They speak, however, as if the majority of Finns have the same opinions as the PS.

2. Tighter immigration laws will solve the problem.

Counterargument: Talk of tighter immigration laws is a red herring used by the PS to hide their contempt for groups like the Somalis. When they bash one group it ends up spilling over on all the rest of us. It poisons the air.  Tightening family reunification rules are one underhanded attempt to make life as difficult as possible for certain immigrant groups living in Finland. A 150 years ago when Finns emigrated to the United States, they brought their families and friends. Building social networks is vital for immigrants.

3. Our integration program is a failure.

Counterargument: Is it a failure or do too few have access to Finnish-language courses? A Mipex survey (www.mipex.eu) showed that Finland’s integration program was the fourth best after Sweden, Portugal and Canada. Anti-immigration groups are unimaginative. They use the same arguments in every country they churn public opinion. Some of their favorite adjectives before the word immigrant or immigration include: uncontrolled, mass, unadapted, illiterate, barbaric etc.  They are, however, making the following argument: Since this group of people are so different from us they can never live in our country. Our hatred and racism is therefore justified.

4. Islam is a religion of violence.

Counterargument: As mentioned, anti-immigration groups are intellectually lazy. One of the things they like to do is over-generalize about groups. Even though they claim that they have individuality and freewill, people from other groups supposedly don’t, according to them. They just walk around and receive orders from their culture like zombies. They even stay that way for generations!

5. I can insult any ethnic group I please. I would never speak this way to my people. I am exercising my right to freedom of speech.

Counterargument: Since when was insulting and acting rudely exemplary behavior never mind protecting freedom of speech? Anti-immigration groups hide their racism with this argument. What they are not telling you is that if they were ever in power, they’d be the first ones to silence you by force or with the help of social- media lynch mobs that roam the net today.

6. We are against multiculturalism.

Counterargument: What does multiculturalism mean to the PS? Does it mean that they are against our cultural diversity? If they are what do they plan to replace it with? All you hear is whining but no concrete proposals. Why? Because they have none to offer or because their proposal(s) if ever known to the public would frighten sensible people.

7. We must stop the growth of cultural diversity. There is no racism in Finland.

Counterargument: Here is the mother of all arguments used by some anti-immigration MPs like Jussi Halla-aho. They are not only denying who we are but encouraging hostility towards people who are immigrants or multicultural Finns. They read people like Alfred Rosenberg and David Duke because they are the antithesis of cultural diversity.  Since Finland isn’t culturally diverse there can’t be any racism, right?

8. We are not racists!

Counterargument: Just like anti-immigration groups don’t recognize that Finland is already culturally diverse, they similarly deny that they are racists. Behind their destructive ideology you will find a person who is challenged on many fronts, especially living in a culturally diverse society.

9. Racism is patriotism.

Counterargument: Racism and insulting behavior towards immigrants and minorities has nothing to do with patriotism never mind showing our respect to our fallen veterans. Their racism, which is dressed up with the help of quaint words and arguments, is nothing more than nationalism. For some, patriotism means a sense of community and acceptance. Nationalism, on the other hand, is a hostile ethnocentric view of the world.

10. We are natives and immigrants the colonizers.

Counterargument: Believe it or not, this is one argument used by some Finns in 2011 Finland. What they don’t know is that every time they speak of themselves as a tribe they are flirting with racism. Finns are not a tribe!

We must stand up against racism in Finland for the sake of future generations

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

If the Perussuomalaiset (PS) enter the next government what will it mean for Finland and for the immigrant community in particular? Will anti-immigration rhetoric start to pick up and the attacks against anyone who is not white reach alarming heights?

If there is one quality of the PS that raises concern it is their hostility to immigrants. Everything is quiet now but PS MPs like James Hirvisaari are getting impatient and are starting to smell blood.

In his latest blog entry, Hirvisaari, who is one of the few PS MP members of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association, assures us that his party’s success on April 17 was due to its anti-EU and anti-immigration stance.

Since 19.1% of the population voted for the PS for these two main reasons, Hirvisaari believes that he and the party now have a carte blanche to tighten immigration policy further and make life harder for immigrants in this country.

Even if Timo Soini has said that the anti-immigration vote played a minor role in the election, Hirvisaari is one of the most eager Muslim and immigrant bashers of the PS. He, if anyone, leads social media lynch mobs against foreigners on the net with his xenophobic writings that normally demonize Muslims.

A good example of his enthusiasm to discredit refugees and immigrants in Finland was an alleged rape case of a seventeen-year-old girl last year by a suspected asylum-seeker.  In his blog entry, Hirvisaari wastes no time in pointing the accusing finger and conveniently forgets that in Finland people are innocent before proven guilty.

Even if the Lammi rape case appears to have been a fabrication by the girl, it shows how racism and eager politicians wast no time to feed their followers with xenophobic theatrics.

The finger-pointing and pseudo-theories put out by some politicians who seek political profit from spreading stereotypes of immigrants make life harder for immigrants who work, pay taxes and raise families. They reinforce everything that is questionable in Finns.

If the PS sit on the next government, it is doubtful that they will change their ways  and their anti-immigration stance. Shouldn’t the racist outbursts of PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen have been enough proof that the party is unfit to govern. Racism does not ruin political careers in Finland but seems to help them.

While everyone has the right to express his opinions in this country, the rhetoric put out by some PS MPs is not conducive to building bridges between the immigrant community and Finns. They create, instead, resentment.

Taking into account the possibility that the PS may form part of the next government, it is vital that immigrants and Finns of all backgrounds join hands and challenge one of the darkest periods in history for immigrants in this country.

We will have ourselves to blame if we allow the likes of Hirvisaari and others turn Finland into a shooting gallery against immigrants and minorities.

We aren’t standing up for ourselves but for our children and grandchildren so they may live and be treated with dignity in this country.

Immigrants in Finland must rise up and challenge the ogre of indifference

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

What can be done if Finland’s third-largest party in parliament is not only anti-EU but strongly anti-immigration? One of the things you should not do is stay home and gripe. Many immigrants and multicultural Finns had it worse in the early 1980s, when the then Aliens’ Office could throw any foreigner they pleased in jail or deport him from the country. 

That was before Finland got its first Alien’s Act in 1983, or 65 years after independence. Immigrants had few if any rights at the time. If you were a foreign resident, the Restricting Act of 1939 made sure that you could not own land and set up businesses in many sectors like forestry.

If you asked the police leadership at the time why Finland had such a restrictive policy against foreigners, their argument is bascially the same even today: To keep criminals from moving to Finland.

With public officials having that kind of attitude, that foreigners are potential criminals, it’s pretty clear why xenophobia and racism have grown strong roots in this country.

Rodolfo Walsh was a radical journalist from Argentina who was killed for speaking out against the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina in 1976-83.

Even if Walsh’s quote below has a 1970s spirit in it, the message is still applicable to immigrants and multicultural Finns: Our dominant classes have made sure that the worker has no history, doesn’t have a doctrine, any heroes or any martyrs. Every struggle has to be started from scratch, separated from previous struggles; the collective history is lost, their lessons are forgotten. History appears as it if were private property, whose owners are the owners of everything.

One will find that immigrants and multicultural Finns have hardly any history in Finland. Why? Because this group hasn’t been acknowledged. But if we look a bit closer, there is a lot that can be brought to the surface like that very important and symbolic march of October 19, 1982.

Hopefully it will inspire new immigrants and Finns from all backgrounds to march and demand their rights in a Finland that is still struggling to accept us.

This picture of the 1982 march was published on the front page of HYY=Peli.

As one can see from the picture that appeared on the front page of Kansan Uutiset (20.10.1982), the march attracted many people. It was also the main story on the 8:30pm news on television.


Who is responsible for the rise in hate crimes in Finland?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Enrique Tessieri

Apart from the usual social-media lynch mobs roaming the net, we have now seen since the April 17 election a worrying rise in hate crimes in Finland. The matter has escalated to such proportions that President Tarja Halonen expressed concern this week over the problem.

One important matter to keep in mind when battling a foe like racism is that we can never underestimate its devastating power never mind run away from its challenge.

Finland must do the same. It is pretty clear that we cannot any longer pretend that racism isn’t a problem in our society.

An important question to ask is what is fuelling it.

Even if we cannot blame a single party or group we can, however, demand parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) as well as others to address the menace with much greater resolve.

The same worrisome trend we are seeing in Finland is also present throughout Europe. Right-wing populist parties have grown in size in past years and are pointing the finger at immigrants for all of the country’s problems. This questionable style of politicking is unacceptable and should be strongly condemned by sensible people.

Another indication that matters may be spiralling out of hand was an attack this week of the speaker of the house, Ben Zyskowicz. The assailant tried to hit the Kokoomus MP before calling him a dirty Jew.

What can be done? Is their enough political will to tackle this problem? Would a party like the PS, which bases much of support on anti-immigration rhetoric, openly condemn racism and isolate MPs like Jussi Halla-aho and others that are members of the Nazi-spirited Suomen Sisu association?

Would the PS be the same party if it abandoned its strong anti-immigration stance?

Despite these serious challenges for Timo Soini’s party, it is pretty clear that the PS does not consider racism a big enough problem to condemn without conditions. The party lost a good opportunity to set the record straight in their statement against racism. Instead of condemning racism and discrimination, the PS preferred to make a case against so-called positive discrimination.

It would be naive to suggest that only the PS is responsible for the escalation of hate crimes in Finland. We should look at parties like Kokoomus and Social Democrats. A definite sore spot for Kokoomus has been Wille Rydman. Eero Heinäluoma has claimed, among other things, that hundreds of thousands of Estonian workers will invade and steal jobs from Finns.

The PS’ statement against racism, Rydman’s toughened stance against the treatment of immigrants and Heinäluoma’s scare tactics are not racist but they fuel a climate of suspicion and resentment of immigrants in Finland.

But who is the culprit for the recent spate in hate crimes in Finland?

One of these is poor economic growth and rising unemployment. Even so, an even bigger one are public officials who fuel it directly or indirectly with their statments and actions.

If we don’t nip racism in the bud in Finland it will end up nipping us.

Skilled labor, foreign investment and innovation rarely flourishes in hostile and bigoted environments.

Iltalehti: Suomalaisnäyttelijä joutui oudon rasistisen hyökkäyksen kohteeksi

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: After reading of the hate crime against Kokoomus speaker of the house, Ben Zyskowicz, it was now Chike Ohanwe’s turn. According to tabloid Iltalehti, a man tried to drag Ohanwe into the water at the Finnish science center Heureka.

Ohanwe starred in Neil Hardwick’s movie Jos rakastat. 

The young actor was quoted as saying on his Facebook page that “these clowns do not represent Finland but themselves.”

With government talks going nowhere and the possibility of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) forming part of the next government, one only wonders how many more closet racists in Finland will be emboldened to attack innocent people. 

The PS would have done a service to themselves and Finland if they would have come out last week with a credible public statement against racism.  The problem of hate crimes and the rise of racism in Finland has become so alarming that President Tarja Halonen has expressed concern about this social ill, according to Iisalmi Sanomat.

What to do? Keep on writing and possibly organizing a huge march in Finland if the situation continues to escalates further.

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Irene Naakka

Jos rakastat -musikaalista tuttu näyttelijä Chike Ohanwe joutui rasistisen hyökkäyksen kohteeksi tiedekeskus Heurekan liepeillä Vantaan Tikkurilassa keskiviikkona.

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Migrant’s life: The call to ancestral homes

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

There are many types of countries but there is one quality that unites them: They are full of contradictions. No other person sees and feels these antagonisms so markedly than the immigrant.

My late father, who travelled and lived in many countries during his short lifetime, told me once that the best way to get to know oneself is by moving to a foreign land.

His words reminded me of Buck, the main character of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. Buck was “dognapped” from its comfortable and warm home in California and ended up in the harsh days of the Yukon Gold Rush.

London writes: “The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck, and under the fierce conditions of trail life it grew and grew. Yet it was a secret growth. His new-born cunning gave him poise and control. He was too busy adjusting himself to the new life to feel at ease.”

The rigors of late-nineteenth century Yukon played a key role in turning Buck into a formidable dog. Buck even found its long-lost freedom when it joined other wolves to live in the wild.

While London’s book is about a dog, it could well be a story of any migrant or refugee that moved to Finland.

Buck’s example shows as well that some countries can bring out the best in people while other ones can reinforce the worse.

Ancestral Finland

Our fascination with our ancestry explains why some of us continue to be drawn by a country where a relative was once from many generations ago. What is it exactly that we are so mesmerized by? Possibly the answer lies in the yearning, ideals and hope of the late relative.

Some of these sentiments are so powerful that they refuse to die. The secret code of such compelling feelings could be described as gut wisdom inscribed on a torch passed from generation to the next. The torch, which you receive at birth, may contain wisdom, even maps to assist you in your future travels.

The feeling, the interest, the fascination of where a relative was from remains inside some of us like a strong unexplainable force.

Time travel

If you ever get a chance to visit a residential neighbourhood of Buenos Aires like Flores, where I lived briefly as a child, you’ll still find those early twentieth-century Parisian-style two-story houses adorning the oak-lined cobblestone streets.

Many Argentineans still remember fondly their European grandparents and great grandparents. Some cherish their memory with so much respect that they have even succeeded at almost stopping time.

The residents of the neighborhood have ingenious methods of slowing the passage of time: They park vintage cars like Fords from the 1930s in front of their homes, some even keep portraits of ancient heads of state like King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy and Czar Nicholas II hanging on the walls of their homes.

Uncle Horatio once told me why time had to be slowed: “The faster time moves the faster we travel further from who we were. In other words, time is the migrant’s worst enemy because it distances us from who we were and shapes us by force into nationals of new countries and circumstances.”

Horatio tried to slow the past and the present to such a degree that they’d be perfectly balanced. He then tried to search for an answer to the following question: What did his migrant parents search for in new lands?

My uncle never found the answer but as a consolation his parents did find – as my father pointed out – who they are.