Tag: Finland

The PS’ lame stance on neo-Nazism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The resignation of Perussuomalaiset (PS) party aide, Ulla Pyysalo, didn’t come as a surprise. One of the most incredible matters about the Pyysalo case is the silence of the party and how PS MP Juho Eerola played down the Nazigate affair. Has Eerola and the PS made it clear that they will not tolerate neo-Nazi organizations? One wonders. 

Let’s look at the sequence of events.

At first Eerola, who belongs to far-right associations like Suomen Sisu and who has praised Benito Mussolini’s economic system, plays down the whole affair by claiming that Pyysalo joined the neo-Nazi associaiton, Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta (SKV), when she was a member of the Center Party.

The PS’ Nazigate scandal takes on a new twist on Thursday when Pyysalo decides to “sacrifice” herself by resigning as Eerola’s aide only if she finds a new job, according to YLE. Irrespective of her apparent neo-Nazi sympathies, she plans to remain a card-carrying PS member.

Does the Pyysalo case draw a clear line between neo-Nazi associations the the PS?

Sadly it does not, even Ossi Mäntylahti asks in his Uusi Suomi column if its ok to be a Nazi and a PS member.

The “big far-right fish” are still members of Timo Soini’s party and in parliament. Even though these PS MPs like Eerola may not directly belong to a neo-Nazi association, they do belong in Nazi-spirited ones.

The whole Pyysalo case reinforces as well that the PS is a wild card ideologically that can transform itself, self-destruct or inspire others to far-right causes.

Eerola’s aide is no stranger to the racist and homophobic world, when she published a “joke” in July on Facebook about Green MP Jani Toivola, who is black and gay.

Otavan Sanomat: Monikulttuurisia suomalaisia*

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Teksti Anna Kornienko 

Mitä tarkoita olla nuori ja niin sanottu maahanmuuttajataustainen Suomessa? Miten, jos olet asunut melkein koko elämäsi Suomessa ja yksi tai molemmat vanhemmistasi ovat siirtolaisia? Kuulutko silloin tähän maan?

Joillekin nuorille nämä kysymykset voivat tuoda ristiriitaisia tunteita. On kiusattu koulussa ja on koettu eriasteista syrjintää.

”Kun olet lapsi haluat ystäviä ja olla samanlainen kun muut,” sanoo tämä artikkelin kirjoittaja. ”Mitä teet jos sinut ei hyväksytäkään koulussa? Se on hyvin kipeä paikka. Tuntuu, että sinussa olisi joku vika, vaikka asiaa ei todellakaan ole niin.”

Bändilinjan opiskelija Ariela Patterson, jonka isä on yhdysvaltalainen ja äiti suomalainen, uskoo yhden syyn ala-asteella kiusaamiseen olleen se, etteivät opettajat eivät puuttuneet asiaan tarpeeksi vakavasti.

”Minun piti puolustaa itseäni, koska kukaan ei välittänyt,” sanoo Ariela. ”Ikävin on, että myös jotkut aikuiset ovat olleet yhtä tyhmiä kadulla. 1990-luvun alussa oli Suomessa hyvin vähään tumma-ihoisia suomalasia.”

Media-kymppi opiskelija Aune Rugojeva muutti Suomeen Venäjältä, kun hän oli vastaa viisi vuotta. Hänellä oli myös joskus vaikeaa koulussa.

”Liperi on pieni kyllä Pohjois-Karjalassa ja siellä ei asunut paljon venäläisiä kun muutimme sinne,” hän jatkaa. ”Yläasteella oli joskus hyvin vaikea olla koulussa, koska luokkakaverit haukkuivat ja eristivät minut porukasta. Se oli kipeä ja yksinäinen paikka.”

Aune sanoo, että Otavan Opistolla on mukavaa opiskella koska täällä saa olla oma itsensä ja erilainen.

”Täällä kunnioitetaan erilaisuutta, koska on paljon kaikenlaisia opiskelijoita,” Aune sanoo.

Aune, Ariela ja minä olemme samaa mieltä yhdestä asiasta: Erilaisuus on voimaanlähde.

*Tämä juttu julkaistiin Otavan Sanomissa (toukokuu 2011).

YLE Kymeenlakso: Juho Eerola ei tue Pyysalon erottamista

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Is it a surprise that Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Juho Eerola, who has far-right ties to associations like Suomen Sisu, does not want to fire his aide, Ulla Pyysalo, for belonging to a neo-Nazi organization? 

Eerola was quoted as saying on YLE Kymeenlakso that the whole Pyysalo affair has taken “comical proportions.”

The PS board will take up Pyysalo’s case on November 19. It will be interesting to see what the party will decide.

If Eerola’s aide isn’t banned from the PS, what kind of a message does it send to others? The obvious answer is that it is ok to belong to a neo-Nazi organization and be a PS member. 

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Kotkalaisen kansanedustajan Juho Eerolan lappeenrantalainen avustaja Ulla Pyysalo haki 2 vuotta sitten kansallissosialistisen Suomen vastarintaliike -järjestön jäsenyyttä. Juho Eerolan sanojen mukaan olisi mieletöntä erottaa Pyysalo puolueesta vain sen vuoksi, että hän on tullut järkiinsä ja jättänyt liittymättä natseihin.

Read whole story.

Helsingin Sanomat’s mea culpa on immigration issues

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Is lack of knowledge about living in a society with a small foreign population an excuse for poor and deficient coverage of Finland’s ever-growing immigrant population? The editor of Finland’s leading daily, Helsingin Sanomat, told Lahti-based Etelä-Suomen Sanomat that it has aimed to raise immigrant, racism and tolerance issues since society and the political atmosphere has changed in the country. 

Editor Riikka Venäläinen states that immigration is a relatively new phenomenon in Finland and therefore offered a sort of mea culpa. “…our job is to give background information, analysis and develop the story from a certain angle,” she said, “When that is done  on a tight schedule, it’s pretty certain that we are guilty of very short-sighted conclusions. I accept the criticism that has to do with reporting on immigration issues.”

I am surprised by Venäläinen’s comment. Don’t Helsingin Sanomat reporters ever travel abroad? Don’t they have foreign spouses? What about foreign correspondents?  Don’t they have any relatives who emigrated to countries like Sweden, Canada and the United States in the past 140-odd years? Haven’t they read our history?

Venäläinen’s admission sounds more like a poor excuse for doing a shoddy job. It reveals as well the lack of reporters with immigrant backgrounds covering such an important issue like cultural diversity in Finnish society. In a way it’s as if 99% men were reporters covering women’s rights issues.

But she does ask a good question at the end of the story whether the children of immigrants, who may speak perfect Finnish, should be called immigrants anymore.

Such a comment exposes, in my opinion, a bold statement by Helsingin Sanomat and how exclusive Finnish society is. How does Venäläinen think Finland could be a more inclusive society? Maybe that would be a good editorial that Helsingin Sanomat could write and show leadership.

Not all dailies in Finland appear to be as much in the dark about immigration and cultural diversity issues as Helsingin Sanomat. Some good examples are Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, Aamulehti, Kansan Uutiset  as well as others.

Writing about immigration is like reporting on any social issue that takes place in our society. The benchmarks are the same: inclusion, social justice, equality, fairness and acceptance.

These are values we should already know at elementary school.

SVT: Arjen rasismi on lisääntynyt Suomessa

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: Countries like Sweden, of which about 14% of the population are immigrants compared with Finland’s 3%, asks why anti-immigration and anti-cultural diversity groups are growing in popularity. 

Even if there is no empirical data to link the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party to the ever-worsening atmosphere, we could say that the PS’ victory on April 17 did not help matters for immigrants and minorities.

One of the saddest matters about racism and prejudice is that it does not spare anyone, not even children. Too many schools in the past in Finland with the silent collusion of the teachers have been responsible for allowing racism to take place at such places. 

A Multicultural Finn tells of her ordeal at school in Otavan Sanomat, a student publication: “Lieksa is a small town in the Pohjois-Karjala region and there didn’t live a lot of Russians when we moved there,” she said. “It was tough being in middle school because my classmates made fun and excluded me from the group. It was a hurtful and lonely place (to be).”

The Multicultural Finn says that even to this date as an adult people make fun of her Russian background at Lieksa. 

The student quoted in Otavan Sanomat went to middle school in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

Even though teachers today try to confront racism at school, some feel that they are fighting a losing battle. “Certain terms and insults cannot be used at (Finnish) school but they are openly used publicly by members of parliament (like PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen)…” said researcher Anne-Mari Souto. 

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Maahanmuuttoa ja monikulttuurisuutta vastustetaan Suomessa yhä avoimemmin. Helsingissä järjestetyssä seminaarissa todettiin, että asenneilmapiiri on koventunut ja maahanmuuttajat kokevat arjessaan suvaitsemattomuutta entistä enemmän. Vihapuheet kohdistuvat myös maahanmuuttajataustaisiin lapsiin ja nuoriin.

Read whole story.

Journalism and Blog Writing for Immigrants and Finns (March 2012)

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When? 22.-23.3.2012 & 29.-30.3.2012                                                                                                                                          Where? Otava Folk High School

Journalism and Blog Writing for Immigrants and Finns is a course designed for those who have an interest in journalism/blog writing and who speak English as a second language. The course offers the participant an opportunity to learn reporting and interviewing techniques as well as writing news stories, editorials, and columns. Another important part of the course is to study the role journalism plays in guaranteeing civil liberties such as freedom of expression and furthering acceptance of minorities such as immigrants.  

Journalism and Blog Writing for Immigrants and Finns -kurssi on tarkoitettu englantia toisena kielenä puhuville henkilöille, jotka ovat kiinnostuneita vaikuttamaan kirjoittamisen kautta. Kurssilla tutustutaan journalismin maailmaan ja menestyvän blogin rakentamiseen. Haastattelun rakenne, uutisjuttujen kirjoittaminen, pääkirjoitukset ja kolumnit ovat tärkeä osa kurssia. Kurssilla tarkastellaan eettisiä kysymyksiä ja sananvapauden roolia yhteiskunnassa. Opetuskieli kurssilla on englanti.

For further information click here.

 


Using Finnish “fatherland” patriotism to justify neo-Nazism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

The Ulla Pyysalo case has turned some Perussuomalaiset (PS) party faces red. Her name came up on a membership list of a neo-Nazi organization Suomen Kansallinen Vastarinta (SKV) after hackers broke into the www.patriootti.com website over the weekend. 

When reading Pyysalo’s explanation on Uusi Suomi for being on the SKV membership list, it’s difficult to say what is more shocking: her membership in the neo-Nazi association or lame excuses.

Attempting to brush her SVL membership conveniently under the rug, Pyysalo asks on Uusi Suomi why she and PS MP Jussi Halla-aho are being punished but nothing ever happens to PS MP Teuvo Hakkarainen?

Her membership in SVL will be brought up at a PS board meeting on November 19, according to Nelonen TV.

Her boss, PS MP Juho Eerola’s explanation are just as ludicrous as his aide’s. He told the media that the case has no bearing since Pyysalo became a SVL member two years ago, when she was a Center Party member.

Eerola’s support for Pyysalo is understandable since he belongs to the far-right Suomen Sisu association. The MP from Kotka once wrote how he admired Benito Mussolini’s eonomic system because there was no unemployment.

Pyysalo is no stranger to the racist and homophobic world, when she published a “joke” in July on Facebook about Green MP Jani Toivola, who is black and gay.

Other politicians that have popped up on the SKV list are Tuomas Okkonen, a PS local politician from Oulu, and Nino Nevalainen, a Left Alliance (independent) councilman from the Häme region.

I am certain that sensible Finns are just as outraged as I am about how a far-right group within a right-wing populist party sits in our parliament.

There is nothing “patriotic” about racism and hating different minorities never mind glorifying Nazi Germany. Some 40 million people died in World War 2 due to Nazism.

It’ll be interesting to see how the PS handles the Pyysalo case. Will it slap her hand for being a member of SVL or show her the door?

The PS will never be a credible party as long as it houses extremists of the worst order.

People like Pyysalo have not only hijacked the term “patriotism” but have given it a bad name.

Hackers get far-right Kansallinen Vastarinta membership-request list

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Enrique Tessieri

The growing face of far-right Finland exposed itself Monday when some hackers succeeded at breaking into  www.patriootti.com’s  membership-request list. One of the red faces to appear was Tuomas Okkonen, a Perussuomalaiset (PS) party board vice president in Oulu.

Okkonen states on Facebook that he was “drunk” when he sought membership in the neo-Nazi association.

While the PS’ favorite excuses for their gaffes has been misinterpreted “satire” or “humor,”  Okkonen has taken such excuses to a new level: “I was drunk.”

Okkonen got caught lying: He said on his Facebook he sent his membership application a year ago when if fact it happened in summer.

UPDATE: Ulla Pyysalo, far-right PS MP Juho Eerola’s aide, was on the Suomen vastarintaliike (SVL) membership list as well, according to Ilta-Sanomat. Pyysalo apologized in July after making a racist and homophobic joke about Green MP Jani Toivola.

Eerola, who is vice president of the PS, how shown his far-right colors on a number of occasions. The Suomen Sisu association member has praised Benito Mussolini’s economic model because there was no unemployment.

This is what Okkonen wrote to the far-right association, SVL: “I am a city council member of the Perussuomalaiset party and I understand your ideology. You have my support!!!…After you hear what we (Perussuomalaiset?) have planned, (you’ll see that) we are both fighting for the same thing…I sent you my contact information. Please do not distribute it if you are fighting for the fatherland.”

Even though SKV is seen by some as a marginal extremist group, far-right extremism should never be underestimated.

Ossi Mäntylahti writes an interesting blog about the list that hackers got from www.patriootti.com. He reveals (in Finnish) the messages that these would-be members sent to SVL.

SKV is like many neo-Nazi ogranizations in Europe, who live in a delusional world about racial purity that date back to Germany and Europe of the 1930s.

Labor discrimination is openly advertised in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

I visited Tampere over the weekend and visited a popular beer tavern called Ravintola Plevna. One of the first matters that caught my eye was a sign on the upper-left-hand side of the entrance that read: “Finnish work.”* If you visit Plevna’s  website you will, however, find links of the establishment in English, German and Russian. 

The sign on the door, Suomalainen työ, is misleading for a number of reasons. First, it’s unclear if they are speaking of Finnish employees and/or products.

If we look at the Avainlippu logo means that a product has been produced in Finland.  But what does this imply?

While Plevena does not openly advertised that it hires only Finns, placing such a sign on the wall sends a mixed signal especially during this tougher times for immigrants and minorities in Finland.

Unemployment is an issue that affects all of us irrespective of our background. It is like a bomb that does not ask you where you are from before it tears you to shreds.

Finns and Finnish unions should understand that immigrants are in the same, or worse boat, than Finnish workers. Usually immigrants are the last one’s hired and the first one to get laid off from their jobs.

Migrant Tales would be very happy to publish pictures of signs sent by bloggers on establishments that have a policy of hiring only Finns.

*Suomalainen työ.

New York Times: A Son Returns to the Agony of Somalia

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Comment: This opinion piece on the New York Times is dedicated to those politicians in Finland and Europe who believe that Somalian asylum seekers are so-called “welfare shoppers.” Apart from a long list of Perussuomalaiset (PS) party members, Social Democrat MP Kari Rajamäki could learn a thing or two by reading the opinion piece by the Somalian musician and politician. 

“At 12 years old, I lost three of the boys I grew up with in one burst of machine-gun fire — one pull from the misinformed finger of a boy probably not much older than we were,” he writes. “But I was also unusually lucky. The bullets hit everyone but me.”

K’naan was one of the lucky ones to leave Somalia two decades ago. He returned back to his former country and wrote about some impressions it gave him. He was returning to where he was once from: “For miles along that coast, all you see are paint-like blue water, beautiful sand dunes eroding, and an abandoned effort to cap them with concrete. Everything about Somalia feels like abandonment. The buildings, the peace initiatives, the hopes and dreams of greatness for a nation.”

And continues: ” The final and most devastating stop for me was Banadir Hospital, where I was born. The doctors are like hostages of hopelessness, surrounded and outnumbered. Mothers hum lullabies holding the skeletal heads of their children. It seems eyes are the only ornament left of their beautiful faces; eyes like lanterns holding out a glimmer of faint hope. Volunteers are doing jobs they aren’t qualified for. The wards are over-crowded, mixing gun wound, malnutrition and cholera patients. “

If the scenes in Somalia are harrowing, equally disturbing is the indifference in Europe to the suffering in that country and to those that flee the horror.

Thank you Ronni for the heads up!

 

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By K’naan

One has to be careful about stories. Especially true ones. When a story is told the first time, it can find a place in the listener’s heart. If the same story is told over and over, it becomes less like a presence in that chest and more like an X-ray of it.

Read whole story.