Freedom of expression and religion
What does freedom of expression mean? For me it represents a Montesquieuian framework of society where all the parts watch over the other. These checks and balances are crucial to ensure that basic civil liberties enshrined in documents such as the UN Declaration of Human Rights are vigorously defended and encouraged.
Even though the law is pretty clear what ethnic incitement is, it is an important safeguard that won’t allow certain groups to go on a vigilante rampage against certain minorities.
Freedom of speech works in the same way in the United States but with a very big difference. US’ mosaic society, which comprises of many ethnicities, has learned to live in relative peace after the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Europe is still light years away from the United States never mind Canada. All we have to do is open our history books and read about the horrors that took place in the former Yugoslavia, the racism that groups like the Roma suffer, and the Nazi Germany regime that over-dosed on its own madness.
Some Europeans still live so far back in time that they believe that diversity and innovation are threats.
The aforementioned are stark reminders of how Europe is still having a difficult time coexisting with minorities. That is one reason why the rise of far-right groups in Europe are a cause for concern.
Motives are another aspect that puts into question those ultra-right nationalistic groups. Are they really interested in defending everyone’s civil liberties if the first thing they would do if in power would be to put minority rights in cold storage? Can you trust a group that claims to defend civil rights with one hand and bashes certain minorities with another?
Do you set a good example for others to embrace your culture if the first thing that you show them is your loathing?
Any sensible person with a strong sense of justice and equality would not go around insulting and inciting other ethnic groups because they are different.
There are certain practical rules of conduct on how you behave when with members of the same groups or with those belonging to another culture. These rules only require common sense and are there because they facilitate peaceful coexistence.
Rule of thumb number one: Treat others like you would treat people in your own culture.
I personally believe that as our societies become more diverse we will find the right balance between what is appropriate and inappropriate. Such a balance will help us understand what the real meaning of freedom of expression means.
Thank the immigrants of Finland!
While some parties like the anti-immigration True Finns boast that they are responsible for bringing the debate on immigration and refugees to the national spotlight, nothing could be further from the truth.
Those that have brought the issue to national attention are none other than immigrants and refugees of this country.
They if any have shown the weaknesses and the strong points about our society. In the process they have also revealed pleasant and unpleasant matters about ourselves like the role of racism.
Would there be such a big debate if only a handful of immigrants lived among our ranks?
Probably not.
The national debate on immigrants is nothing more than reaction to the ever-growing immigrant population and its future role in our aging nation.
Too many of those taking part in the national debate are busy reacting to immigration as opposed to taking proactive stances and asking how do we make it work.
If a country wants to be receptive to immigration it has to see it through many angles. Why would any sensible person want to move to a country that vilifies certain groups and has a schizopohrenic view of the outside world?
Thus some of us want to slam the door on Muslims but promote “good” immigraition to the country; we want Finland to be a springboard to the Russian market even though prejudice against Russians is a serious issue.
Handing Finland’s future immigration policy to groups like the True Finns or succumbing to a policy of fear to the outside world will be like shooting oneself in the leg.
These groups, and those that side with their cause, will be the ones that will end up creating those ghettos and social inequality that they claim to be defending us from.
The tale of two racist spray paintings in an eastern Finnish city
A new association called Kansavinvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli) was registered on September 23. One of its most important aims is to serve as a forum where Finns and immigrants can openly debate topics that affect each other and create a greater sense of community.
One of the first matters that the association tackled was racist graffiti on the walls of the Kattilansilta School and underpass in Mikkeli. To our surprise, the disturbing messages of both spray paintings had been there for months. The first one, at the school for children with learning disorders, had been noticed by one of the teachers in spring. The second one had been seen for the first time about seven months ago.
This spray painting was first noticed in spring by a teacher at the school for students with learning disorders. The school states on its website the following: We aim to foster the development of young people by meeting their needs and giving them the confidence and competence to lead independent, purposeful and enjoyable lives.
Even though the work of these spray-paintings is that of a deranged person, the most worrying matter is that some of the teachers didn’t think it was an urgent enough issue to address immediately.
Here is a discussion I had with one of the teachers of the Kattilansilta School in September:
“That sign has been there since spring,” he admitted. “They don’t represent my values.”
After a brief silence, the teacher continues: “Why is it that groups such as the (anti-immigration) True Finns and Muutos 2011 are labelled racist whenever they criticize immigrants for getting more social welfare than Finns?”
I asked him how he knew that some immigrants got more social welfare than Finns. He responded the local media as his main source.
This case at the school and my brief discussion with one of the teachers is, in my opinion, a case in point why racism is still acceptable among some circles in Finland. It is done through silent approval or disapproval. The reaction could be compared with what happens in countries where human rights violations are the order of the day. Nobody dares to say anything in the erroneous belief or fear that nothing will ever happen to them.
After a call to the principal of Vanamo Special School, the graffiti was pained over the next day. The principal has his office in Vanamo Special School, which reveals that the teachers of Kattilansilta School never brought the matter to his attention.
Here is one of the walls of the school where two of the three “white power” graffiti was sprayed.
The “Niggers Out” (apologies for the racist content of the photograph below) is still on the wall of an underpass after the association had got in touch in early October with the municipality.
This graffiti was first noticed on a wall of a Mikkeli underpass about seven months ago.These spray paintings appear to be the work of a neo-Nazi sympathizer(s).
Muslims are not the real enemy to European democracy
It is quite significant when EU heavyweights such as France and Germany take a stand on an important issue like immigration and diversity. Recent statements by German Chancellor Angela Merkel are a good example of the disturbing trend, when she stated that multiculturalism had “utterly failed” in Germany.
The statement by Merkel, which does nothing to promote greater integration between different groups in Germany, does not bring anything constructive to the table. At the best, it ends up polarizing Germans of different ethnic and religious origin even more.
A critical journalist would ask why Merkel is making such affirmations at this particular moment. The answer is simple: Germany will hold elections in a number of states in 2011.
Merkel’s statement even caused a reaction from UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon, who warned against a “dangerous trend” of intolerance emerging in Europe especially against Muslim immigrants.
“A dangerous trend is emerging, a new politics of polarization. Some play on people’s fears,” he said. “They accuse immigrants of violating European values. Yet too often it is the accusers who subvert these values and thus the very idea of what it means to be a citizen of the European Union.”
What is the danger of ever-greater intolerance and polarization in Europe? For one it paves the way for other minority groups to become targets and victims of intolerance. It would be naive to think that the only “enemy” are Muslims.
The greatest threat to Europe is not any particular ethnic or religious group but those who want to draw us apart from our diversity.
If the worrying trend continues in a global climate of economic uncertainty, it has the ability of impoverishing us in many ways. Instead of reaping benefits from our diversity we will be spending too much time hating each other.
As Nations Age, a Chance for Younger Nations (New York Times)
Here is a very interesting article published today in the New York Times of how rapidly industrialized nations are aging. For the sake of comparison, Statistics Finland forecasts that 27% of our population will be over 65 years by 2040 from 17% in 2009.
YOU MAY KNOW that the world’s population is aging — that the number of older people is expanding faster than the number of young — but you probably don’t realize how fast this is happening. Right now, the world is evenly divided between those under 28 and those over 28. By midcentury, the median age will have risen to 40. The read on click here.
Marvin Orellana/New York Times
Two questionable eras in Europe with the same message
Two posters (apologies for the offensive content) from different eras: One that is anti-semitic from Germany in 1940* and the other from a referendum in Switzerland in 2009 on a ban of building minarets on mosques. Even though these posters were printed in different periods, the message is the same: barbarization of a group.
*The first source I used claimed the film was released in 1937. It was released in 1940. If you wish to see this horrible film, click here. Note the claims that the German narrator makes: “Jews are lazy, criminals and incompatible with our Aryan way of life.” Sounds familiar, no?
If you still disagree, go to about 18 minutes of the film and pay close attention to these claims:
The parasite nation of Judah is responsible for a large part of international crime.
In 1932 the Jews, who made up only 1% of the world’s population, accounted for 34% of the world’s dope peddlers, 46% of robberies, 47% of crooked games of chance, 82% of international crime organizations, and 98% of dealers of prostitution. The most common expressions from the jargon of international gangsters and criminals… stem from Hebrew and Yiddish words.
At the end of the film the narrators affirms: Keeping one’s race pure is one of the legacies of the National Socialist movement leaves to the German nation forever. In the spirit the unified German people march on into the future.
Full assimilation in Bread and Chocolate
This is one of my favorite movies called Bread and Chocolate/Pane e cioccolata (1973) starring Nino Manfredi, who is an Italian immigrant that is trying to integrate at all costs into Swiss society. He even dyed his hair in order to fit in. Then there is a football match in a bar between England and Italy. The Swiss clients are watching the game as is Manfredi. Everything seems to be going well until Italy scores a goal…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5JdJangO60]
As one can see back in the early 1970s, Italian laborers were not in good standing in some parts of Europe. However, the discrimination that some groups face today is many times worse. Could they walk in a bar and watch a football game with the locals?
Can Finland deal with the challenge of immigration?
Some claim that Finland is at an important juncture concerning immigration and its role in our society. There are already clear signs that the Finns want to deal with this challenge in a civil manner without the usual dose of fear-mongering and nationalistic bravado.
How can I make such a claim? Because Finns from all walks of life want to make immigration work.
Even if the anti-immigration True Finns win a few percentage points in the next election, it will not be enough to turn them into a major party. Their xenophobic views of the world are only shared by a minority in this country.
One of the most interesting matters worth pointing out is that for the first time in our history we are debating and challenging racism openly. By debating this social ill we are also giving the thumbs down to a minority of Finns that want to take the country down the same questionable path like Denmark and the Netherlands.
Those that are not buying the anti-immigration rhetoric are giving the following message: Finland is independent and self-reliant to deal with immigration in positive and effective ways.
The biggest losers in the next elections will be those that use immigration as a scapegoat for all of our woes and opportunistic tool to win over votes. Even if a few get into parliament, there will never be enough of them to have a simple majority never mind two-thirds majority in the Eduskunta (Parliament).
Finns are pretty intelligent and have learned how to survive during trying times before. Spreading hatred and revenge as a justification to attack another country or group never worked, even if some want to take us down that path again.
Populist chatter and a tale of elk flies
There is a True Finns candidate in the April 2011 elections that spreads elk flies every time he opens his mouth to bash immigrants. His multicultural name, James Hirvisaari,* gets a lot of free publicity whenever blogs like mine comment on his extremist views.
Hirvisaari has a problem: He is another True Finn that has been charged for incitement of ethnic hatred.
His campaign catchphrase is: Finnish language, Finnish spirit, Finnish nature, Finnish flag. This phrase, in my opinion, shows how low xenophobic groups in Finland have stooped. They now use our sacred icons to drive home their racist views.
Hirvisaari’s first campaign promise, I support a Finnish Finland in a European Europe, is a phrase that looks sound at first glance but after closer study it raises disturbing questions. If he is so Finnish, why is his first name, James?
His second campaign promise, I support Western and Christian values, is another kick in the groin that leaves you with a question mark: What does he mean? Yes, true, James, spreading hatred, strife and insulting other European ethnic groups are part of our Western and Christian heritage.
If you go back to the Nazi Germany era, he may have a point.
Hirvisaari states in his third campaign promise that he is for local democracy and against European federalism. I am totally confused now: Why doesn’t he speak straight and state that he wants Finland to leave the EU?
I really “love” his fourth promise. He supports a selective immigration policy but would he, seriously, hand on heart, give a residence permit to a person person like himself from another country who shared the same extremist views?
In order to simplify things, why doesn’t Hirvisaari state in plain Finnish that he loathes a certain religious group? That his whole political ideology is based on this and nothing more.
* If you want to read some funny comments about Hirvisaari’s political ideas visit Facebook. His real names is Erkki Kalevi.