Finland Archives - Page 259 of 359

Finland’s response to extremism should be more openess and democracy

Posted on April 4, 2013September 10, 2023 by Migrant Tales

An editorial on Thursday’s Helsingin Sanomat comments about Anjem Choudary’s visit to Finland last week. It points out correctly that hate speech should be condemned irrespective who makes it. Living in a culturally diverse society requires more mutual acceptance, not less acceptance and respect.

Some of the controversial statements made by the cleric was that it was only a question of time when the flag of Islam would be waving on our parliament building. It was an interesting coincidence that on the same day of Choudary’s visit, Image magazine exposed a Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman from Vaasa who gave a clock with Adolf Hitler and swastikas to a neo-Nazi club in that city.

Which of the two are the greatest danger to our democracy? Choudary or the Vaasa councilman who appears fascinated by a dictator who dragged Europe into World War 2, unleashing mass war that claimed an estimated 60 million lives?

How seriously should we take Choudary’s threats? If we react to them violently by censoring them, or as PS youth leader Simon Elo suggested that the cleric should be banned from coming to Finland, we’d do a favor to their causes.

It’s unfortunate that too many editorials like the one in today’s Helsingin Sanomat sideline the big picture: Why does radical Islam exist? If we look at the West’s colonial history with the Arab World as well as in other parts of the world, there are a lot of arguments and grievances to justify radicalism. Even so, our democratic system offers us the opportunity to challenge and correct those past and present injustices.

Just like radical Islam, we have to look at the causes of far right and right-wing populist anti-immigration sentiment in Europe these days. On this front, we have a lot of historical and sociological information on their causes. One of the most frightening of examples is the rise and fall of Nazi Germany.

We were horrified by 9/11 but some of us were even more alarmed by our reaction to it. Former President George W. Bush’s so-called war on terror fueled greater radicalization among Muslims. If anything, the attack on the WTC Twin Towers showed the United States as a perpetrator of violence and not as a victim of terrorism.

Our reaction to terrorism and radicalism should be the total opposite to Bush’s. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg showed the way after Norway was mourning 77 victims murdered in cold blood by Anders Breivik. Contrary to Washington’s reaction after 9/11, the Norwegian prime minister said that his country’s response to the mass killings will be more openness and more democracy.

We must be on our guard against those politicians and groups that demand less democracy during these difficult times, when far right anti-immigration radicalism is raising its head throughout Europe. What is especially worrying is that such opinions are being echoed by the mainstream media as well.

YLE now ensures that it will be easier to distinguish news from opinion pieces

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has received an email from YLE regional and radio current affairs director, Teijo Valtanen, ensuring that the broadcaster will make sure that the blog entries of MPs published Fridays are clearly separated from news.

If we look at the opinion piece by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen, which was published on Friday, the headings don’t separate clearly enough news from opinion.

We’ll see on Friday if there is any change, indicating that the blog entry being read is opinion, not news.

PS MP Olli Immonen’s opinion piece published as “news.”

PS MP Immonen’s opinion piece appearing briefly as “opinion” before changing back to “news.”

Taking into account that there are many politicians in this country who are ready to compromise freedom of speech, it is important that the newsroom stays off-limits to politicians and other interest groups.

Meanwhile, PS youth leader Simon Elo suggested on his Uusi Suomi blog that Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary should be barred from entering Finland.

It is surprising that a party that champions for hate speech like the PS, is so eager to censure others.

It’s pretty clear that if the PS ever ruled Finland, the first matter to fly out of the window would be our civil rights.

The repackaging and marketing of hate by anti-immigration parties and groups in Finland

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales has shown on a number of blogs how neo-fascist groups like Golden Dawn of Greece, Hungary’s Jobbik and our own Finnish version of the latter, the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party, are examples of the growing intolerance in Europe. Any sensible immigrant, visible minority and European should be worried by the situation.

In Finland, our collective denial of racism is so deeply rooted that even in our history we deny being allies of Nazi Germany during the Continuation War (1941-44). Officially, we were a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany, but not minor allies like Hungary, Bulgaria or Romania.

Instead of going around in circles with such nuances that aim to hide the real fact, that we were at war with Nazi Germany against the former Soviet Union, we must find the courage to look at the issue closer at hand so we can free ourselves from the chains of the past.

Why were we allies of Nazi Germany? The explanation that you’ll hear boils down to revenge for the Winter War (1939-40) and our deep hatred of our old foe and master, the Russians. We went to bed with Germany in 1941 because Finland believed the Nazis would win the war.

What kind of world would we live in today if Nazi Germany would have triumphed in Europe? For one, this writer would not be here today because part of my family was Jewish.

We can already see how extremist groups like Suomen Sisu and parties like the PS have changed their tactics on how they attack immigrants and our ever-growing cultural diversity. Many don’t have to make inflammatory racist statements as before because they have today much more power than before.

A good example is a Suomen Sisu statement, where the far right anti-immigration association, which holds pretty much the same ideas about cultural diversity as the Ku Klux Klan and the U.S. American Nazi Party, calls for immigrants to integrate by learning Finnish, getting an education and a job.

Should we believe them? Certainly not. It’s only a red herring to hide their hate agenda, which is now being repackaged and marketed for a wider audience.

Two videos below of skinhead, neo-Nazi and anti-immigration groups throws back a disturbing question at our faces: Would this be possible on a much greater scale in Finland?

Certainly there’s such a danger and potential for our intolerance to escalate into further violence. The PS and the silence of other political parties are the best indication of our xenophobia and our opposition to cultural diversity. Certainly there’s also the euro crisis that brought voters to the the PS, but how do you explain its April 2011 election victory, when it received 19.1% of the vote (39 seats in parliament) versus 4.05% (5 seats) in 2007?

Such a major shift in the political paradigm in Finland doesn’t happen by chance. It comes from somewhere and buds at the right time.

Matters will unfortunately get worse in Finland before they improve.

The only way that immigrants, visible minorities and Finns can challenge the menace that Finland faces today is by reacting to it.

Complacency and silence to intolerance is waving a white flag at those who seek to not only defeat you but change our society permanently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLUxuq-E9yA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=IuOVgx3Zh6E&NR=1

Suomen Sisu and its red herrings: Radical Islamists are now gaining a foothold in Finland

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Suomen Sisu, a far right anti-immigration association, said in a statement today that it was concerned about “radical Islamists” gaining a foothold in Finland after Anjem Courdary’s visit to Helsinki on Thursday.

Is the extremist association were honest, it would take a good look at itself in the mirror and warn us as well about neo-Nazi groups like Golden Dawn of Greece, Hungary’s Jobbik and other far right anti-immigration groups threatening Europe these days. In that group it should include itself.

While Suomen Sisu speaks in the future tense of an oncoming threat to Europe by Muslims, these don’t hold water. According to the EU Terrorism and Situation Report 2012, most terrorist attacks in 2011 were carried out by ethno nationalist and separatist terrorist groups. Who could forget Anders Breivik?

The Suomen Sisu statement reveals beyond any doubt that the association is the same group it used to be. It still holds the same views on cultural diversity like the Ku Klux Klan and U. S. American Nazi Party.

The most recent scandal suffered by the Perussuomalaiset (PS) is by Vaasa councilman Risto Helin, who gave a clock with Hitler and swastikas to a neo-Nazi club in that city.

Olli Immonen, Suomen Sisu president, is a PS MP.

Suomen Sisu attempts to pull a fast one at the end of the statement with a Timo Soini stunt.

What is a Soini stunt? Stating with a poker face, and sometimes even with crocodile tears, that you’re against racism. It’s something like Heinrich Himmler telling you that he’s not anti-Semitic even if he leads a vast network of mass murderers working overtime at concentration camps.

The statement claims at the end: “The best way to ensure that immigrants don’t radicalize is to get them to adapt to Finland’s society by teaching them [our] language, education and by getting work…The only way to maintain stability in society is by immigrants adapting to our society and not staying outside of it..”

Can we believe such a claim? Is there any logic in it? Has Suomen Sisu turned over a new leaf?

Not really. Just like racism, it’s logic is an irrational and immoral social construct.

Could Finland and the Nordic region see Golden Dawn-like fanatics in the future?

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Migrant Tales

The news from Greece is getting more distressing as Golden Dawn neo-Nazi thugs continue to terrorize sensible Greeks, immigrants and other minorities with the collusion of the police. An investigative report by The Guardian exposes how bad things are in Greece at present and why matters will get far worse. Could we see something similar happening in Finland and the Nordic rgion?

A policeman wearing a Golden Dawn t-shirt under his uniform. See original post here.

Writes the Independent of London: “Actual fascists in actual black shirts are actually marching around Athens waving swastikas and burning torches, and maiming and murdering ethnic minorities, and world governments appear frighteningly relaxed about it as long as the Greek people continue to pay off the debts of the European elite.”

For a person who saw military dictatorships come and go in Latin America in the 1970s like I did, the ever-worsening situation in Greece is a cause for concern.

The fact that up to 50% of the police is some districts of Greece voted for Golden Dawn, shows how volatile and dangerous the situation is in that country. Taking into account that many Greeks have lost confidence in their rulers and democracy, a blow to the credibility of the police is another straw on the camel’s fragile back.

Migrant Tales wrote in September about the round up of 16,836 foreign nationals were brought for questioning during the first month that Xenios Zeus was instigated. Xenios Zeus means “god of hospitality” in Greek.

Here’s one recent case of those many beatings taking place in Greece daily by Golden Dawn thugs and the police on I can’t relax in Greece blog.

Just like the Jews were persecuted by the Nazis after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, the same is going in many parts of Europe and especially in Greece. Apart from Jews, refugees, immigrants, gays and Muslims are the new scapegoats.

While we erroneously believe in scapegoating the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society because they have no political and economic power, we will end up the losers. How? By watering down and putting into cold storage our civil rights to deal first with imagined menace x and then menace y.

The political culture in the Nordic region is different from Greece. Even so, it doesn’t mean that we couldn’t have our own Nikolaos Michaloliakos running amuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4AXJx3IzdY

While some far-right politicians may not speak like Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos, they hold the same thoughts on immigration, minorities and anything too foreign or non-European for their tastes.

Without a doubt, one of Michaloliakos’ political soul mates in a Nordic context is Pia Kjærsgaard of the Danish People’s Party (DDP). Other ones include the Suomen Sisu faction of the Perussuomalaiset (PS): Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari, Olli Immonen, Juho Eerola and other hardliners, who are openly neo-fascists or flirt with neo-fascism.

Taking into account the election successes of anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region before, there was one person that stopped them on their heels for the time being: Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 victims on his crusade to save Europe from Muslims.

With the economic crisis worsening and the election victories of anti-immigration parties in the Nordic region before 22/7, parties like the DDP, Progress Party of Norway, Sweden Democrats and the PS would have been riding the crest of a wave of popularity.

Without Breivik, they would today reveal their same racist arrogance in the same way as the Golden Dawn does in Greece.

The attack by neo-Nazis of a book event on the far right in Jyväskylä in January, the rise in hate crimes in 2011, police indifference to racism, the political rise of the Perussuomalaiset in the 2011 election are just a few signs that matters are heating up in this part of Europe as well.

Migrant Tales (March 10, 2011): Is Finland a safe country for non-whites?

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Scores of stories have been published recently in the Finnish media on how non-white Finns and people with immigrant backgrounds have been harassed and attacked in broad daylight. Even though it is a positive sign that the media has pointed out this worrying trend there is still a lot of work to be done on this front.

It should not come to any surprise that these attacks have something to do with the rise of the Perussuomalaiset in the April 17 election.

I once asked the bloggers who visit Migrant Tales what should be done if one is harassed and attacked in public. Here is one case that happened recently:

An African was on the bus in Jyväskylä and a young man shoved and then hit him on the back. Nobody on the bus reacted. The African walked away shaken from the incident.

After numerous calls to the police, a policeman finally told the African what he should do if he were attacked in public the next time by a stranger.”I have been on the force for 35 years and my advice is to walk away,” the policeman said. ”It’s not worth (reporting the crime) because we’ll never catch the person. My advice? Just walk away.”

Certainly the walking away part is fine because the victim should do everything possible to get out of harm’s way. We weren’t, however, convinced about not reporting the incident.

Not satisfied with the policeman’s advice, we called the Ombudsman for Minorities. A woman who spoke to us did not have a ready answer. She did, as promised, call back and said we should report the incident. ”It should be reported to the police because they may catch the suspect one day,” she said.

The African decided to call the Jyväskylä police and report the incident.

He recommends you do the same.*

*Update (June 26, 2011): After encouraging the African to get in touch with the police to report the harassment incident, the person decided not to apparently due to fear of the police. We had to call the police a number of times to speak to an offiicial in Pieksämäki who told us that it was better not to report the case because nothing could be done to catch the culprit.

This case shows very clearly why some hate crimes in Finland go unreported.

It’s official: The PS doesn’t mind racists, Nazis and neo-Nazis among its ranks

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Migrant Tales

A Perussuomalaiset (PS) party statement, giving Vaasa councilman Risto Helin a warning about a Hitler clock he gave to a neo-Nazi club in Vaasa, is a good example of political deception. If you read the statement carefully, it says that the party doesn’t mind racists, Nazis and neo-Nazis among its ranks as long as you do this dirty stuff before becoming a party member.

Read full statement here.

The PS states: “According to Vaasa’s Perussuomalaiset, racism, Nazism or neo-Nazism have not place in the values of the Perussuomalaiset. The association has given a warning to Helin for what he did two years ago.”

The PS are quite an incredible group. The fact that they become the third-largest party in parliament after the 2011 election from relative obscurity, reveals that they too are capable of Superman feats. Some of their members like Helin become “in a single bound” model politicians and examples to the rest of the community.

The PS could stand for PerusSuperman. Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s PerusSuperman!

Risto Helin: The PS says it’s ok to hang around neo-Nazi groups

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

As Migrant Tales correctly predicted on Thursday, Vaasa Perussuomalaiset (PS) councilman Risto Helin got away with a warning from the party for giving a clock with Hitler to an anti-immigration neo-Nazi group, reports tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.

The PS sends a loud and clear message with this decision: It’s ok to hang around neo-Nazi groups and even have the same racist ideas as them concerning Jews, undesirable minorities, real and imagined enemies of the Third Reich.

What the Nazis did was ok.

Vaasa city councilman Risto Helin posing with his neo-Nazi “blood and honor” t-shirt during the municipal elections. Source: Facebook.

Helin was quoted as saying that he was happy with the decision from the party leadership.

“I have given as a present said clock but it happened way before I was a candidate for councilman,” he said. “You can give Nazi clocks to Nazis and to Stalinists Stalin clocks.”

What kind of message does the PS send when it approves members who openly support neo-Nazi groups? The answer is simple: We don’t have an issue with Nazism and it’s perfectly fine to give Nazi clocks by PS members to neo-Nazi clubs.

Considering the terror and mass-murder that Hitler’s Germany brought on Europe between 1933 and 1945, the decision by the PS to do nothing to Helin is like a slap in the face to the victims that perished under Nazism.

Jane Elliott’s blue eyes and brown eyes experiment in racism

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

After the death of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, an elementary school teacher called Jane Elliott of Riceville, Iowa, carried out an experiment on her third-graders to demonstrate the destructive force that racism and discrimination unleashes. Since the small farming community had no blacks, she divided her students according to the color of their eyes.

Source: Chantellemorrison’s blog.

One of the matters that surprised her was how rapidly each group learned to adapt to their roles of discriminator and discriminated.

The point is pretty clear: Racism exists because it gives you power to control other groups. Those groups that weiled power over other minorities use a destructive and immoral social construct like racism to ensure that your victims conform and “play the game.”

Elliot said at the end of the three-part video on her blue- versus brown-eyed experiment that if you aren’t a racist by the time you graduate from high school, you failed social sciences.

If we put Elliott’s experiment in a Finnish perspective, it’s pretty clear to see where the problem lies: Denial. Add to the latter the social construct of Finnish national identity and it becomes clear that what we have learned about who we are is in conflict with living with other groups that are different from us. This is one of the biggest challenges facing Finland and which will eventually revolutionize the way we see ourselves as a country in this century.

Elliot blames racism and discrimination on ignorance and because we’re conditioned to the myth of white superiority.

She concludes: “I don’t care what people think. Did I make a positive difference in the area of racism and that’s what I want to do.”

Steverp’s blog: It’s official….. Helsinki, here I come!

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Migrant Tales

Comment: For those who have followed Stephen’s life know that he’s been longing to live near his child in Finland. This will now happen. We wish you the best of luck in your new life in Helsinki.

Here are Stephen’s previous blog entries published on Migrant Tales:

Where I need to be (hopefully with some help from some Finns!)

Immigrant employment: Pessi Ilmari, job hunting & a possible future in Finland

____________

By Steverp

The decision was taken over a month ago & the flight was booked a number of weeks ago …… but yesterday it became ‘official’.

Yesterday I handed my notice in at work, so I officially now have less than 5 weeks at work & exactly 5 weeks (at the time of writing) until I land in Helsinki to start a new chapter in my nomad-like life!

Over the last couple of weeks there have been many a sleepless night, & I’m sure there are many more to come. The worry about the lack of money, finding somewhere to live, looking for a job, the thought of having to get myself in countless places once in Finland so that I can obtain a residency permit & then be able to claim benefits etc should I need to – which, looking at the current job situation, is quite likely.

But, despite the worries & challenges, it feels like a weight off my shoulders. Things will no doubt be tough for the first couple of months & maybe even beyond that, but the thought of being near Pessi & actually seeing him properly every week completely outweighs all the possible pitfalls.

Over the last few weeks I’ve ramped up my search for a new job & somewhere to live. Finland is still a place where contacts & networking mean an awful lot, so I’ve made a conscious effort to get in touch with certain people in certain companies/industries for work, as well as opening lines of engagement through various blogs, forums & groups in the hope I can find somewhere decent & cheap to live initially. The joys of the internet have led me to meet some great people who have offered advice, information, help & even a helping hand when it comes to somewhere to stay – all very much appreciated! The ex has also been a great help – offering information, answering random questions, being a translation service & also agreeing to pick me up from the airport on my arrival & letting me stay at hers on the the first night – all of which will make my arrival that much easier & more enjoyable. I’d probably be lost, or at least panicing & stressing more, if she wasn’t being so helpful.

The moving preparation began last week. I moved out of my place & have come back to my mum’s place for the remainder of my time in the UK. Money is one of my main worries, so doing this saves me a good couple of months rent, so although it can at times be a bit of a struggle, it’s well worth it. Over the last week I’ve spent time in the loft getting rid of all the stuff I’ve been saving in case I ever needed it again. The de-cluttering process is liberating in some ways – getting rid of all the crap you hold on to for no real reason. Huge amounts have been given away to people & charity & binned. I’ve replaced a few key things & tried to down-size where possible. My life now consists of a suitcase & a holdall that I’m living out of, & a few more things that are still in the loft & that I may see again one day once settled etc in Finland.

So, for now, back to the loft to shift another box & then back to what seems like endless emails to companies & people to sort out somewhere to live & keep plugging away at trying to find that elusive job that I so desperately need/want!

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.