Reading posts and getting information on immigration in general in dynamic multicultural societies, one can pick out the myths that some Finns still use to claim that immigration is a bad thing. Myths 1) Immigration takes away jobs from Finns. 2) Immigrants come to Finland to take advantage of the welfare system. 3) Immigrants have…
Is the sauna a good integrator?
If a person asked me what is one of the most important cultural institutions enjoyed by a great number of Finns, I’d respond: the sauna. The sauna is more than a room where people bathe and sweat naked in 80-100 Celsius (176-212 Fahrenheit) temperatures. It’s a way of life for some Finns – so much…
The aim of the Migrant Tales blog
Owing to the traffic that this blog has generated, I have decided on the following code of conduct: 1) This is NOT a forum to further the mistaken causes of racism, xenophobia, cultural nationalism and stereotypes of ANY group irrespective of their background, nationality and/or creed. 2) The blog aims to become a forum that…
Placing Finnish immigration policy on an effective path
I never thought that a few posts trying to look at such an issue like discrimination in Finland could inflame debate. If anything, it shows that there is a problem in this area. I have lived long enough in Finland and studied its culture since a child to know the challenges facing this country. If…
The Finnish integration model that is doomed to fail
Ever since I moved to Finland thirty years ago, I have watched how immigration officials and their planners have attempted to deal with foreigners. When I came to Finland in the late- 1970s, there were so few outsiders living in the country that some sociologists like Heikki Waris claimed that there was no racism as…
Finland’s multicultural challenge in the 21st century
Just like when Finland won its independence from the former Soviet Union in the last century, the country will face new challenges to its cultural identity. In the 20th century, after December 6, 1917, when Finland gained its cherished independence, there was a lot of work done to exert Finnish culture and wipe out the…
Some good advice about Finnish culture
Some people who move to Finland for the first time may suffer from a generous dose of culture shock like in any country. In the thirty years that I have lived in Finland on and off, the best advice I can give you and the Finns is the following: What is normal in your culture…
Foreigners will help Finns see who they are
My father, who moved to Europe from Argentina at the age of 21in the early 1950s, told me that he never learned so much about himself except when he became a foreigner. In the same manner, and as more foreigners move to Finland, can they help us see the positive and negative aspects of our…
Some questions about immigration to Finland
Many thanks to all of you that have taken so actively part in the debate on immigration to Finland. There have been a wide spectrum of opinions over the issue. The most positive matter that these comments have shown is that we can debate them in a civil fashion. But there are some questions that…
Illegal immigration in Finland and the European Union
The approval on June 18 by the European Parliament (click on T6-0293) of a common EU policy on illegal immigration is going to fail for a very simple reason — there is a market for these types of immigrants and because they provide bad employers a chance to cheat the system and slash overheads. The…