The racist harassment that children are exposed to in Finland is either played down or sidelined completely, according to a statement by Save the Children (Pelastakaa Lapset), an association founded in 1922 that aims to improve the lives of children in Finland and abroad. You can read the Save the Children statement (in Finnish) here….
Tag: identity
Sandhu Bhamra: If you are not White, you are not-Canadian-enough
By Sandhu Bhamra* Are you Canadian? I am not talking legality on right to vote and accessing free healthcare, but the sense of being, being Canadian. Let me walk you through a mini questionnaire to help you understand where I am going with this: When you think of Canadian identity, what do you think of?…
RACE FILES: Blinkered By Race
By Race Files No, I don’t mean car blinkers. I’m referring to the kind of blinkers that are used to keep race horses looking straight ahead at the jockey’s goal while blinding them to the distractions on either side. Racism blinkers us. It imposes a kind of tunnel vision, causing social problems to appear to…
Kun Suomi ei ole oikea vastaus
Olin mennyt viettämään koulujen päättäjäisiä yhteen puistoon. Kun olin jo jonkin aikaa jutellut yhden lukiolaisen kanssa, hän alkoi kysyä mistä vanhempani ovat tulleet. Vastasin Suomesta. Se on teknisesti totta koska olen adoptoitu. Sitten hän kysyi missä heidän vanhempansa tulevat. Vastasin Suomesta tietty. Sitten hän jatkoi juttelua muista asioista. Itselleni jäi ikävä tunne suuhun siitä….
Our Finnish national identity in the new century
For some anti-immigration groups, my background as a Finn must be a nightmare. The bad dream these groups dread to see is nothing more than the present and future staring back at them. It is the new Finland of the twenty-first century looking, together with others from our ever-culturally diverse society, confidently at the future.
Milloin minusta tulee suomalainen?
”Olenko suomalainen?” on niitä kysymyksiä, jotka yhdistävät kaikkia toisen polven maahanmuuttajia. Mutta kaikista kipeimmin se koskettaa värillisiä. Kantasuomalaisten keskuudessa kuuluu välillä lausahdus maassa maan tavalla mutta mitä tämä sanonta oikeasti tarkoittaa.
Migrant Tales 2009: Being an immigrant in Finland – a letter from Ida
The Migrant Tales blog gets emails from people who speak with hand on heart about the challenges they face as immigrants or Finnish with international backgrounds in our society. Here is one of these published in November 2009. The real name of the person has been changed. Here is a letter from Ida:
Are you in favor of “mamu” or “maahanmuuttaja” – or none of the above?
What type of feelings does the term mamu, the shortened form of maahanmuuttaja, or immigrant, awaken in you? Fortunately mamu is less commonly used today than before but you can still see it peppered in the media. A fresh example is the Green Party’s Vihreä Lanka.