The Finland we all want

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By many standards, Finland is an exceptional country. Newsweek magazine recently named it the best country in the world to live according to education, quality of life, economic dynamism as well as other factors.

One of the greatest threats to our well-being and international reputation are xenophobia and racism. If the Newsweek staff would have looked more closely at this social ill, would Finland have been named the best country in the world?

Is it possible that a country that is so innovative and dynamic has immigrant unemployment many fold higher than the national average?

What would the newsmagazine say about the Social Democrats’ maassa maan tavalla policy, which thinks that nothing should or will change and that immigration should be a one-way process? Such catch phrases from a party that fought for social justice and our social welfare system is quite incredible to put it lightly.

What would it say about other political parties that instead of showing leadership against racism are starting to use adjectives like ”hordes” and ”uncontrolled” before immigration and accuse a pretty defenseless group of ”taking away our jobs?”

The best way to defend Finland’s image is to treat everyone who lives here with respect. Our laws and way of life guarantee that this can be achieved.

A lot of work has to be still done to build those vital pathways of incorporation to our society for people who have made Finland their new home.

One of the greatest threats to Finland in the new century is not immigration but xenophobia and racism.

RPT-Swedish govt still short of majority after recount

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This election is going to be a real nail-biter…

(Reuters) – Sweden’s centre-right government was still just short of a parliament majority after a preliminary recount of Sunday’s election, though it picked up one more seat.

The election commission said in a statement that the preliminary result of the recount, which included overseas and postal votes not counted on election night, gave Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt 173 seats in the 349-seat parliament rather than the 172 announced on election night.

A total 175 seats are needed for a majority.

The new centre-right seat was gained from the Social Democrat-led opposition bloc, which went down to 156 seats.

The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, shunned by both blocs, stayed at 20 seats and still held the balance of power, the count showed.

Swedish center-right wins ballot, loses majority (Reuters)

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STOCKHOLM, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Fredrik Reinfeld became Sweden’s first sitting center-right prime minister to win re-election, but was deprived of a majority by the first-time entry into parliament of an anti-immigrant party.

Analysts had said before Sunday’s election that a hung parliament, with Reinfeldt’s center-right Alliance coalition having no overall majority, would unsettle investors and the Swedish crown weakened in early trading on Monday.

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Click here to inform yourself on who the Sweden Democrats are.

If there is a comment that can be made concerning Sunday’s elections in Sweden, it is how much it will encourage Finns to vote for the anti-immigration True Finns, which have five members in parliament.

Islamization and Islamophobia in Europe and Finland

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There was a letter to the editor in Saturday’s Mikkeli-based Länsi-Savo about the Islamization of Europe, while Time magazine asks in its August front cover if America is Islamophobic? The two headlines, although from vastly different publications, shed light on how some Europeans and USAmericans see Islam: a threat or over-reaction.

As in the letter to the editor, the writer uses one of the favorite arguments of Islamophobists to prove how much under threat Europeans are: high birth rates.

Any sensible person with a limited understanding of the social sciences understands that demography, even though it may have a bearing, is not the most crucial factor that determines the shape of societies. Values and inclusion are.

Moreover, if we could predict the shape of societies of the future with the help of a simple calculator,we would have to be plants without free will or robots guided by culture that never changes.

Demography is not the most crucial factor, excluding groups through suspicion and hatred from our culturally diverse societies is a far greater threat than high birth rates.

The demographic argument has its roots in deep fear and is a slap in the face to those Muslims that want to live among our ranks as citizens and consider this continent their rightful home.

Arsonists attack Buddhist temple in Finland

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The attack by arsonists on Friday of a Buddhist temple in Turku’s Moisio’s district is another worrisome sign of how a deranged group of people can undermine Finland’s good name. If there is any finger-pointing for what happened, it should be at some Finnish politicians who, owing to the April 2011 elections, have fuelled such acts by their populist statements and shameful lack of leadership.

Immigrants who live in Finland and those that will come to work here are being singled out by some opportunist politicians as scapegoats for the country’s economic woes. Social Democrat MP Eero Heinäluoma and MP Kari Rajamäki are good examples of how their anti-immigrant statements spill over into racism.

Heinäluoma, for example, made the incredible remark recently that immigrants will fuel racism because they will take jobs away from Finns.  Rajamäki likes to call asylum-seeker to Finland “refugee shoppers.”

Why haven’t Heinäluoma and Rajamäki condemned acts of racism in Finland forcefully? The answer is disturbingly obvious.

These politicians should not forget SDP’s roots and how the party thanks to Väinö Tanner (1881-1966) played a critical role in not permitting Finnish Jews to be deported to Nazi concentration camps during World War 2.

The vice president of the Vietnamese Buddhist Community in Finland, Ari Vuokko, told Finnish Broadcast Company (YLE) that it wasn’t the first time Buddhist families in this country have been the target of attacks by racists.

Swastika signs had been sprayed on traffic signs near the temple.

“This is shocking and worrisome,” he said. “Do worshippers dare use this temple, can people practice their faith in Finland?”

Finland was recently named by Newsweek as the best country in the world in terms of health, economic dynamism, or openness of its economy and the breadth of its corporate sector, education, political environment, and quality of life.

With attacks of the Buddhist temple serving as a rude reminder of what racism can do to a minority community and society, we should ask Newsweek to include in their survey how open a society is to cultural diversity.

The ceiling of the Buddhist temple that was attacked Friday night by Arsonists. Photo: YLE The ceiling of the Buddhist temple after it was attacked by arsonists. Damages are estimated in the tens of thousands of euros. YLE

Immigration reveals what Finnish political parties are made of

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The political field is pretty lopsided in this country these days: left-wing parties that were “progressive” in their approach to society have now become conservative and those that were on the “right” appear to be more open to the outside world.

If one looks at the recent statements on immigration by Social Democratic Party MP Eero Heinäluoma and  Kokoomus’ Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb one can conclude that the ideological tables have turned quite radically.

Even the Center Party, which has tradictionally been nationalistic and conservative in its view of the outside world, has under the leadership of Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi become a more middle-of-the-road party.

Even though the Social Democrats have open-minded people such as Liisa Jaakonsaari and Erkki Tuomioja, the anti-immigrant hardliners like MP Kari Rajamäki spoil the day. Rajamäki’s stance on immigrants and refugees is on the same wave length as the True Finns.

Certainly one cannot conclude that all of the members of Kokoomus want to make immigration work for Finland.  Wille Rydman and Kai Pönttinen are sore examples of how  some politicians want to use the immigration card for political gain.

How exploited are immigrants in Finland?

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I spoke with an SDP MP recently about how Finland had turned into a two-tier market, where small- and medium-sized companies were allegedly exploiting on a grand scale immigrant employees by overworking and grossly underpaying them.

I asked why there haven’t been any big cases in the media about this type of exploitation and why the SDP is so passionate about the matter before  elections? There has been some news in the media about how some fast-food establishments do underpay and overwork immigrants but it does not suggest a national trend.

An important question that one should ask is how widespread it is and why the authorities have done so little? If it is widespread, it is further proof of how disenfranchised immigrants are in this country.

I say if because I have not seen many cases published in the media only the concern of the Social Democrats, who point the finger accusingly more at immigrants than employers.

Do you know of any cases of immigrants being exploited by employers in Finland?

The mea culpa of a former Finnish immigrant basher

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There was a very interesting interview of former anti-immigration Muutos 2011 president, Juha Mäki-Ketelä, in Suomen Kuvalehti, who surprisingly resigned from his post in July. Muutos 2011 is close to registering as a political party to take part in the April 2011 election. Its campaign platform is strongly based on the usual anti-immigration rhetoric found in similar xenophobic and ultra-nationalist parties in Europe.

Even though the interview sounds like a mea culpa by Mäki-Ketelä, one gets the impression that his hardline stance against immigrants scared him because of the  people that rallied around Muutos 2011’s cause.

The Suomen Kuvalehti journalist asks Mäki-Ketelä if he was surprsied that ”racist-oriented” people were attracted to his party.

“Yes…  I did not understand how many crazy people gathered (around the party),” he said, adding that he was ignorant of ultra-nationalistic groups like Suomen Sisu and admitted having read a few times Jussi Halla-aho’s blog.

Muutos 2011, which has effectively imploded, is a good example of how the majority of Finns don’t want to join the let’s-bash-immigrants bandwagon.

Muutos 2011 aims to win three seats to Parliament in next year’s election.

A disfavor to Finland’s future

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With the April 2011 election approaching, parties in Finland are feverishly scrambling on ways to lure voters. One campaign issue that has the ability to move voters and inflame passions is immigration.

One important matter to keep in mind in the ongoing debate on immigration is to understand its parts: immigrants living in Finland, labor immigrants from the EU and elsewhere, and refugees (quota and asylum-seekers). When political parties and their representatives debate immigration, try to find out which of these groups they are talking about.

Which parties are using the immigrant-bashing card to lure votes? Of the one’s that have MPs in parliament, the True Finns are the main culprits. Their party’s position on immigration is pretty clear: xenophobic, ethnocentric and off the wall. Other parties like the Social Democrats aren’t too far off; in all parties you will find people who have anti-immigration stances.

Here are some points that should help you figure out the double-talk and baloney that some parties put out concerning the subject:

(1) We want to do away with multiculturalism (True Finns). Political parties use this term multiculturalism to mean a society with many cultures. When they state that they want to do away with multiculturalism, what do they mean? Kick out all the foreigners in Finland? Kick out the foreigners who are different from us? Close our borders and don’t allow immigrants to move to our country? Ask dark-skinned immigrants to dye their hair and get plastic surgery?

(2) The state should not finance multiculturalism in order to speed integration (Wille Rydman, Kokoomus). This is one of the best examples of double-talk I have seen by a Finnish politician. Rydman is suggesting that we should not allow immigrants to cherish their identity and background since he thinks that this will speed their integration into Finnish society. Rydman should look at studies on the subject that show the total opposite. He should visit Amerindian reservations in the United States that tragically show what consequences ripping a person’s culture and identity have.”

I could go on with a long list of other incredulous affirmations that will knock you on your back.

One important matter to keep in mind: Immigration is a political issue. Some groups, like the True Finns, may place ludicrous expectations of how immigrants are supposed to adapt to our society. The question, however, is if such expectations are realistic.

Having a successful immigration policy requires a long-term perspective so that immigrants may become productive and dynamic members of our society. Being only focused on the 2011 election is doing Finland a disfavor.

If I were an ultra-nationalist immigrant basher in Finland

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If I were an ultra nationalist and enjoyed bashing immigrants for fun and political profit, Finland is the country to be in today.

I could open my mouth and say almost anything I please no matter how offensive and absurd my statements would be to other cultures and groups. Nobody can call me a racist because I am only exercising my right to free speech and being “critical” of immigrants and immigration to this country.

In the process of  “defending free speech” and requiring immigrants to follow new xenophobic  laws, which I would never dare enforce on myself never mind my constituents, my popularity would soar to stellar heights. I could get a lot of votes by spreading distrust and hatred of people who are different from me.

There are so few immigrants in Finland, never mind Muslims and Roma from Romania and Bulgaria, that I can actually name those that I am bashing. The countries biggest dailies allow me to print my xenophobic statements because some of them stand behind, albeit silently, with what I say.

Yes, it is an excellent time to be an ultra-nationalist immigrant basher in Europe!