Cultural diversity Archives - Page 18 of 30

Isolationism, petty provincialism and nationalism: social ills with far-reaching consequences

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Migrant Tales

In the backdrop of Finland’s independence day celebrations Friday and as the world mourns Nelson Mandela’s death yesterday, our country is at a major crossroads contesting whether it wants to be a closed or open society. The historic victory of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party in 2011 is one example how this country has taken a perilous path that brought so much disaster and suffering to this country in the last century.

For the price of cheap sound bites drenched in nationalism and intolerance of every imaginable kind, some Finns are willing to forfeit everything we gained and worked so hard for in the last century.

Nationalism and intolerance never comes cheap. It caused Europe to go down a ruinous path that brought World War 2 to our homes and where an estimated 60 million people perished. The same arguments that led us to such ruin are being used today by short-sighted and opportunistic politicians: generalizing, over-simplifying and harshly victimizing other groups.

Compare anti-Semitism in the 1930s with Islamophobia and xenophobia in the 2010s.

While the time frame and historical context are different, the discourse is the same.

Since intolerance is nothing more than an exaggerated lie, parties like the PS of Finland are constantly required to make up new arguments to hid their prejudice, stereotypes and racism.

If you believe that the PS has toned down its xenophobia and loathing towards refugees, check out what they are doing in the municipality of Kouvola. According to the local daily, Kouvolan Sanomat, the PS wants the city council to stop receiving asylum seekers and quota refugees by 2016.

While the PS blame the economic situation and cost-cutting measures by the municipality for their stance, the truth is that this is a long-term plan by the anti-immigration party to stop Finnish municipalities from receiving quota refugees.

There are two types of municipalities in Finland today: open and closed. Those municipalities that opt for the closed model will struggle in the face of ever-growing poverty, while those that are open stand a better chance of making it.

One small indicator of our openness is our ability to accept refugees in our municipality. Accepting them is an important gesture and message to others because it shows that we are open to the suffering of others.

Finland’s map of shame. Only a handful of municipalities in Finland accept quota refugees last year.

Why would a company invest or a skilled immigrant move to a municipality that is hostile to other groups like refugees?

That is why those who claim to be patriotic while they spread hatred and racism are the real menace to our society. They are impoverishing our society economically, socially and robbing it off its greatest asset: the ability to help others in need.

Imagine that the third-largest political party in parliament in Finland is doing just that by inflating our nationalism to bash immigrants, the EU, and our ever-growing cultural diversity.

But the good news is that our ever-growing cultural diversity is here to stay no matter how much some try to exclude and make it invisible.

Maryan Abdulkarim: “Finland is a very racist country”

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Is there racism in Finland? In order to find the answer to that question, we’d have to ask visible migrants and minorities. Maryan Abdulkarim, 31, is a Finn who was born in Somalia, had the opportunity on Friday’s Helsingin Sanomat to answer that question. “Finland is a very racist country,” she said. “It always has been.”

She says that white Finns don’t notice racism in our society because this social ill doesn’t affect them directly. She compares the situation to with those that can’t walk. “If you have two normal-functioning legs, it never crosses your mind what it’s like to move about in a wheelchair in Helsinki,” she said.

And adds: “You have to be in a state of awareness to notice what happens around you. Some react in such a way that they believe they are a bad person if they don’t notice racism [in society]. Others again deny racism and think that acknowledging it makes them racists because they are members of this society.”

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

Abdulkarim, who moved to Finland when she was seven, says that silence isn’t the answer when challenging a social ill like racism.

“We have a very vocal racist group [in Finland],” she said. “Their speech isn’t criticism but heresy, oppression and racism.”

Abdulkarim said that it’s not an isolated incident if a stranger shouts in public at a person by harassing him or her with the n-word. Behind such racism is a culture that makes it possible to use such labels because the perpetrator believes he or she is superior.

She herself has been harassed in this manner and once even spat at for speaking out against such abuse.

Migrant Tales agrees and believes that racism in Finland is a much bigger problem than some Finns, politicians and public officials want to admit.

Such a social ill will continue to find refuge and grow in our society as long as we continue to underestimate and deny its presence.

The story publihed Thursday on Helsingin Sanomat about Maryan Abdulkarim was translated on Friday into English by Helsinki Times. Read full translation here.

Beating intolerance at its own game requires a reaction, leadership and a voice

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Beating intolerance at its own game is easier than you think. There are many good examples in Finland, like International Mikkeli Day (IMD), where people from a grass-root level take action and seek solutions. Since intolerance and racism are based on lies and generous quantities of ideological fools gold, truth is the light that exposes and puts intolerance on the defensive.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

The reception that IMD got Thursday in Mikkeli, a small city with about 50,000 inhabitants, proves that there are many Finns who don’t have any issues with cultural diversity. How can they object to it if over 1.2 million Finns emigrated from this land between 1860 and 1999?

In a nutshell, IMD is an annual event where people can celebrate and embrace our cultural diversity.

The International Mikkeli Day event was arranged for the first time on February 22, 2012. Its main aim is to highlight issues concerning internationality and multiculturalism as well as fuel debate on these matters in Mikkeli. Students are strongly involved in the planning and implementation of the event.

If one is going to challenge a social ill like intolerance, one not only needs leadership but empowering others as well. The video clip below by Saara Kolari and Mia Pesonen of Otava Folk High School is one example of how the event has become a proactive forum:

This video clip not only reveals what young people think about cultural diversity, but society on a much wider scale.

Part of the discourse that anti-immigration groups use is that their intolerance is shared by the majority. I wouldn’t be too sure about that. But since their arguments are based on their prejudices, they are obliged to constantly update their exaggerated and made up stories about other groups.

One way to challenge such intolerance is by stating in a civil manner that you disagree. You’d be surprised by how many people change the tone of their arguments when challenged with a question like: “I disagree with what you say.”

When we deny intolerance living space to plant its arguments, we effectively deny the person the comfort of making such a comment and, worse, allowing him or her to believe that its ok because nobody objects.

It’s clear that this type of approach is a sure loser in the ongoing debate on immigration, immigrants and our ever-growing cultural diversity. A lot more must be done by us. The most important thing we must do is that our reaction to intolerance must be first and foremost a reaction.

UK shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, said recently when visiting the Auschwitz Nazi death camp that in the fight against antisemitism in Europe, silence was the ”coconspirator of evil.”

Silence is not only the coconspirator of evil when challenging antisemitism, but when confronting all types of intolerance.

Possibly establishing an annual international even like IMD in your community could be a proactive solution to challenge intolerance.

Matters like mutual acceptance and respect are so important in our society, that we can’t leave the floor to those who still believe the world is flat ethnically.

Silence isn’t the answer. Leadership and clear goals based on our Nordic democratic society are.

They will help us attain a prosperous future.

Finnish bus company continues to prohibit Sikh employee from wearing a turban

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales reported in September a landmark case in which a Sikh busman could wear a turban while at work. Helsingin Sanomat reported Thursday, however, that matters didn’t turn the way that the Vantaa Sikh busman, Gill Sukhdarshan Singh, thought.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, the Sikh busman is still not allowed to wear a turban at work.

Migrant Tales attempted without luck to get in touch with Sukhdarshan Singh.

The Southern Finland Regional State Administrative Agency (Avi), which ruled in Junethat a turban ban by the employer was discriminatory, gave the bus company until the end of September to redress the matter.

Juha Nykänen of Veolia Transport let Helsingin Sanomat know that the company’s stand on the matter hasn’t changed despite Avi’s ruling and Sukhdarshan Singh’s hope that matters would change from the end of September.

Read full story here.

Even if Sikh busmen won similar rights in England in 1969, Viola Transport argues that using a turban ia a safety risk and does not comply with the company’s uniform.

Tuomas Ojanen, professor of constitutional law at Helsinki University, said that the bus company’s stand is difficult to defend in court since it violates Sukhdarshan Singh’s human rights.

Juhani Korteinen of Avi told Migrant Tales that it will give a statement “in a few weeks” concerning the matter.

Avi doesn’t have the power to fine Viola Transport if it doesn’t comply with its ruling. It can, however, ask the police to carry out an investigation for discrimination, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

The negative stand of Sukhdarshan Singh reveals a common attitude that some Finns have of immigrants and of cultural diversity. They incorrectly believe that adaption of people of different backgrounds is a one-way process.

Is silence an effective response to racism?

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Migrant Tales

One of the questions we should ask ourselves is what should our response be to those that are hostile to migrants, visible minorities and our ever-growing cultural diversity. Should silence be the answer?

One of the matters that I have learned through my many years of studying and writing about cultural diversity, is that silence should never be the answer to intolerance. What, then, should our reaction be?

Here’s a good answer: Our reaction to intolerance of any kind should be first and foremost a reaction.

There are many ways to react to racism and intolerance. On Migrant Tales we do it by writing.

Here are some things to take into account when you formulate a response:

Intolerance enjoys silence and intimidates people to be quiet. Silence is the water that feeds intolerance. Cut off its nourishment by cutting off its supply of silence.
React to intolerance in a firm but civil manner. Start of the discussion by stating, I disagree with you…
You’d be surprised how people change their views (at least publicly) when you make it known to them that racism is shameful and unacceptable.
Be informed by reading as much as you can about cultural diversity and intolerance.
Learn the language and arguments of those who promote intolerance. It’s not very difficult to figure out their arguments, which are simplistic and appeal to the racism of the listener.
One common argument used by racists is pointing out and grossly exaggerating “migrant problems” without offering any solutions.
An absolute favorite argument of the racists to justify their racism is: “They are so different from us that they will never adapt to our society.”
Racists like to generalize. It permits them to exaggerate and fear-monger.
No matter how much of an anti-racist you consider yourself to be, ask yourself “dumb questions” over and over again like why is racism bad.

It’s clear that some Finns are having a not only having a hard time accepting the fact that we are becoming a more culturally diverse society, but believe naively that newcomers who move to Finland are supposed to somehow become white like them.

Some denigrating terms and sayings used by the majority to impose their rule on minorities include maassa maan tavalla, or in Rome do as the Romans do. Other ones are maahanmuuttajataustainen, or person or pupil with immigrant background, and mamu, the nickname for maahanmuuttaja, or immigrant.

There are two good ways to figure out if a label for a certain group or minority is ok:

Is the label to identify a group or minority made up by majority to single out the minority or by the minority to identify itself?
Does the label promote social equality or inequality?

What we are seeing in Finland and elsewhere are microaggressions on a much wider scale against migrants and visible minorities. These microaggressions are nothing more than the unwritten rules imposed by the majority on different minorities.

Derald Wing Sue’s defines microaggressions as occurring unconsciously and underline inclusion-exclusion and superiority-inferiority. They are the everyday putdowns, insults that aim to undermine the dignity of those who are marginalized.

So what should our response to racism be?

It should be first and foremost a response.

What kind of a response?

We live in a democratic country. Use all the means open to you to create change.

Be brave.

Are you a perpetrator or victim of white Finnish privilege?

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Migrant Tales

One matter about intolerance is that it is universal. The social ill can manifest itself in different ways by speaking different languages and historical context but don’t be fooled by these deceptions: Intolerance is the same ogre.

White privilege is one of the many faces of racism and means automatic access or exclusion to the opportunities, social, political and economic capital a society offers due to your ethnic background.

Tim Wise, one of the most prominent anti-racist writers and speakers in the United States, defines white privilege as “any advantage, opportunity, benefit, head start, or general protection from negative societal mistreatment, which persons deemed white will typically enjoy, but which others will generally not enjoy.”

A good example of white Finnish privilege exposed in a recent YLE television program by Sam Kingsley, where an undercover group comprising of a Finn, Russian and Somali, attempted to see if they would be treated differently when applying for a job, seeking an apartment, asking complete strangers for help, and getting access to a night club.

If white privilege in the United States has an aim, so does white Finnish privilege.

How did white Finnish privilege ever come to these shores? One of its many roots is the colonial period, when European powers concocted excuses to pillage and exclude other groups in their colonial empires that weren’t white. These pernicious systems, which exist in Europe today, gave the colonial powers a moral pretext to not only commit genocide but ensure that the spoils went to them.

Click here if you want to read more about the roots or our racism in Finland and Europe.

One of the reasons why Are you a target of racism in Finland became such a successful posting in 2007 is because it exposed how racism would work in this society at a time when it was still strongly denied.

An article on BuzzFeed Community highlights, 17 deplorable examples of white privilege, not only sheds light on how it occurs in the United States but gives us the opportunity to create a “white Finnish privilege meter” that will help you know if you are the perpetrator or victim. Take the test blow and answer yes or no.

Because of white privilege, you’ll never have to worry about becoming the victim of law enforcement officers (US). One good example of this is the recent debate about ethnic profiling by the police (in Finland).
Because of white privilege, you’ll never have to inform your children of the harsh realities of systemic racism. True. Since you won’t have to inform your children in Finland about racism, they’ll grow up playing down or denying the existence of racism in Finland. Well, almost…

Read full story here.

3. White privilege means you can be articulate and well spoken without people being “surprised.” This means in a Finnish context that you speak the language like a native but still get asked: ”Where are you from” or “where did you learn to speak our language so well?”

4. Because of white privilege, you’ll never know what it’s like to have the following statistic looming over your head. In the Finnish context it means ethnic profiling and being victimized and labelled a rapist, terrorist and common thief. Ask Finland’s Romany minority if in doubt how this works so efficiently and systematically.

5. White privilege allows you to speak on any particular subject without being the sole representative for your entire race. Here’s a Finnish version of the latter: Mohammed, you’re a refugee. Is there racism in this country?

6. White privilege means no one questions why you got that really great job, it’s assumed you were just highly qualified. In Finland some may comment: You’re an exception or you got where you did because of you’re foreigner and therefore have certain privileges.

7. White privilege means not having to worry about your hair, skin color, or cultural accessories as the reason you didn’t get a job. Does this need any explanation?

8. White privilege means you don’t have to worry about being monitored in a store just because the hue of your skin is a bit darker than most. A common complaint by some people who aren’t white is that it’s played down in Finland. White people tell non-whites that racism is a figment of their imagination.

9. Having white privilege means people will never label you a terrorist. Some Perussuomalaiset MPs commonly victimize and label certain ethnic groups as rapists, criminals, social bums and terrorists.

10. White privilege means not being affected by negative stereotypes that have been perpetuated and ingrained so much into American society that people believe them to be fact. In the past years, how many negative stereotypes have been perpetuated and spread in Finnish society about immigrants, and visible minorities? So many that it helped an anti-EU and anti-immigrant party, the Perussuomalaiset, win 39 seats in parliament from 5 in the previous election.

11. White privilege means you never have to explain why cultural appropriation is a bad thing. This picture below says it all.

Aake Kalliala and Pirkka-Pekka Petelius reinforcing stereotypes and racism of the Roma in Finland.

12. If you benefit from white privilege, you’ll never be told to “get over slavery.” In Finland you’ll never be told to “get over racism.”

13. Benefitting from white privilege means you can walk the Earth unaware of your color. In Finland it means being in a colorblind bubble that enable you to deny that ethnic background does play a role in discrimination.

If you answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are a perpetrator or victim of white Finnish privilege in this country. If you answered YES to three or more, you are definitely a perpetrator or victim of white Finnish privilege.

A2 Islam debate: “We’re a very tolerant society but…”

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Two matters bothered me the most about the A2 Islam debate Tuesday night: how the cards were deliberately stacked against cultural diversity, and how Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen and PS Espoo city councilman Simon Elo did their utmost to spread fear-mongering of Muslims.

You can watch the full debate here until the end of November.

Wille Rydman, former chairman of the Youth League of the National Coalition Party, showed as well that he’s still pretty much in the dark about cultural diversity.

Rydman, who has been christened by some as the Halla-aho of the Naitonal Coalition Party, tried to tell the audience that the best way to adapt to Finland is to become culturally invisible. Who you were and are isn’t important. Therefore, throw away your identity and lets forget all this multicultural nonsense.

Just like far-right anti-immigration politicians in Finland and in Europe, Rydman criticized immigration policy as the culprit.

It there was something positive about the debate, it was Abdirahim Hussein, Mohammad Azizi, Sahra Ali and Seida Sohrabi, who held their own and didn’t allow Immonen and Elo to steal the show.

While it’s a positive matter that we can debate about religions like Islam on a television program, it revealed our deep-rooted prejudices of Muslims and of other minorities living in this country.

The program was heavily into underscoring problems instead of finding solutions and ways to further acceptance and respect in our ever-growing culturally diverse society.

The A2 Islam debate revealed:

That we still don’t understand Muslims never mind cultural diversity
We still see immigrants, especially Muslims, as a threat
We expect Muslims to pretty much assimilate (one-way adaption)
The program used maassa maan tavalla, or in Rome do as the Romans do saying, which could be summed up in the cartoon below:

About A2’s debate on Islam tonight…

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The A2 islam-ilta television debate Tuesday will reveal once again white Finnish ethnocentrism, how poorly we know our laws and, what’s important, how poorly we accept people who are different from us. Is the Finnish media giving once again racists inflated respectability and importance?

Will the A2 debate improve or undermine the situation of Muslims in Finland?

How many immigrants, or Finnish Muslims, won’t get hired tomorrow because of the program? How many will be attacked physically and psychologically? How many viewers’ Islamophobia and bravado will the program reinforce? How much self-esteem will it chip away from a child or adolescent who goes to school tomorrow and gets bullied because of his or her ethnic or religious background?

Why should anyone justify his or her religion and right to live in Finland? Why should we give a forum to those who demand such justifications? It’s absurd.

Would we want to have a debate on television why women should go back to the kitchen and serve men?

What can you expect from YLE if the nature of the beast is what it is? How does Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen give a sense of security to minorities in Finland when she openly victimizes and labels non-Christians, plays down ethnic profiling by the police, considers homosexuality to be an illness and drags her feet on family reunification?

Sometimes you wonder about Räsänen’s and that of other Finns’ statements. But mark my words, it’s the face of intolerance staring right back at us loud and clear.

Our problem is acknowledge it as such.

Headlines that raise questions and reveal a lot about our attitudes of other cultures

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Migrant Tales

If one wants to start a humorous blog in Finland, just check out the headlines that dailies use sometimes to write about immigrants and refugees. True, some of them aren’t funny at all because they are hostile and ostracize specific groups.

Read full story here.

Here’s one headline I read on Monday’s Helsingin Sanomat: ”[Syrian] Refugees [that will move to Finland] are warned about the Finns’ use of alcohol.”

Fair enough, but the following sentence in the lead surprised me the most: “Finland has started to familiarize itself more than ever before about quota refugees [that move here].”

Hasn’t this been done before? Does this mean that Finland is now starting to familiarize itself with those quote refugees that move here? Strange statement, no?

While it is a positive matter that values such as gender and social equality are taught to newcomers and that they play an important role in our society, are these refugees taught that Finland respects cultural diversity? Are they told about the important role that mutual acceptance and respect play in our society?

Do the teachers speak of our ever-growing cultural diversity or is the Finland they teach them only white?

One matter bothered me about the article and reinforced my worst suspicions when the teacher assumed that the people didn’t know how to use a toilet bowl.

Possibly the authorities organizing these types of courses could to a little bit of homework to familiarize themselves with the group they are teaching.

Instead of speaking of alcohol usage, Angry birds, rye bread and how Finns like silence, which are important, can one generalize about a culture in that way?When I speak to immigrants about Finland and Finns I use the word some Finns as opposed to everyone.

Did the orienteering course about Finland tell the refugees about the rise of xenophobia in this country and the role that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party has had in strengthening prejudices and racism especially against Muslims?

Migrant Tales wishes these refugees the best of success and happiness in their new home country.

Red herrings, code words that help sanitize and make more acceptable our intolerance

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Even if I have written for years about Finland’s anti-immigration groups like the Perussuomalaiset (PS), you have to learn to detect the red herrings in order to understand their real views on the topic. What you may uncover behind these red herrings is far scarier than ever imagined.

A red herring is “something intended to divert attention from the real problem or matter at hand; a misleading clue.”

It’s not easy to figure out what politicians think on a certain issues, especially if it has to do with a hot topic like immigration.

Why is it so difficult to get a plain honest answer? Because those that spread intolerance know that it’s morally wrong and therefore sanitize their views with red herrings and code words.

Any sensible person understands – or should know – that intolerance is morally objectionable and wrong. If it weren’t, why do so many anti-immigration groups use red herrings and code words to hide their real views?

If you asked PS MPs like Jussi Halla-aho, or why not James Hirvisaari of Muutos 2011 as well, what their anti-immigration views are, they’d probably reply that they aren’t against immigration. What they are really saying is that they don’t object to foreigners as long as they’re white Europeans, Christians, conservative and heterosexuals.

The lie exposed above is that if their criteria were used to accept immigrants in Finland, nobody – or very few – would move to this country. Thus their real aim, which is to keep Finland immigrant population to a minimum, would be accomplished.

It would be wrong to claim that the PS and Muutos 2011 are the only anti-immigration parties in Finland. There are others. Check out Wille Rydman’s and Susanna Koski’s vies of the Youth League of the National Coalition Party.

Another good example is Social Democratic Party head Jutta Urpilainen’s infamous maassa maan tavalla statement in 2011, which means in Rome do as the Romans do. What Urpilainen suggested is that this is my country, not yours. In order for it to be yours you must be like me.

Irrespective if a politicians or supporter belongs to the Left Alliance, neo-Nazi Kansallinen Vastarinta or anything in between these two extremes, they are all united by one factor that is rarely if ever mentioned by the Finnish media: What are their real views of people who are different from them? Are they for or against greater cultural diversity?

Some common red herrings used constantly by anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity politicians include:

This group is so different from us that they’ll never adapt to our society. (What they are really saying is that since they are so maladapted in their opinion they must not be allowed to live or move here).
Immigrants don’t want to learn Finnish and therefore don’t want to adapt. (The truth is that it’s very difficult to meet Finns and becoming their friends. If you disagree, ask another Finn).
I’m not against immigration. (Right. All I want are white brain surgeons to move to this country. We don’t need any immigrants).
If we bring the right type of immigrants, we won’t be required to change. (Immigrants should be judged by the skills they bring to the country not by their ethnic and religious backgrounds).
I’m not allowed to express my opinions freely about Muslims and immigrants. (Google the word “Eurabia” or “Immigrant threat” and see if this is true).
There’s no racism in Finland. (Right, a white person speaking for a black person is like a man speaking for women and claiming that there is gender equality).

So what’s the solution?

Recognize the red herrings and code words so you can tackle the real issues facing our ever-growing culturally diverse society.

Do it relentlessly.