Tag: immigrants and minorities

Migrant Tales Literary: Death

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Dana

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Death is calling me, caaall calling

Because my life is a bore, booore bore

Death is teaching me, hooow… why

That i may enjoy Mama’s company, hiiigh high.

Death is calling my name, oh that’s well

Because in Finland i have nothing to heal

Death is calling my heart, wow its dark

Finnish law biting at my flesh, it’s a big shark

Death is calling my soul, ding dong dalang

Racist working trampling my rights, they are a gang

Death is telling me to come, give me your hands

I cannot leave my bro, he is my chance

Death is showing me its face, moon and space

I cannot come with you now, light is my case

Death is dancing here full of a joy

But my dad is shouting at me…stay in world

Death is singing to me inside a bird

My Mama kisses my head tells me, darling girl

Death is in everywhere, I’m a refugee

The system gave me problems, sharp and huge

Death is coming to me in my dreams

Oh please leave me alone, i have to sing

Death is jumping around, it is in a jail

Finland is a wolf in my life, listen to my wail.

Migrant Tales Literary: Migrant Tales

Posted on by Migrant Tales

MT comment: A woman called me and wanted to share a poem about Migrant Tales. We’re honored that people like her have found strength through the many stories, opinion pieces and poems we publish. Welcome aboard, Hamid, and thank you for your kind words! 

______________________

By Ms. Anonymous

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

Migrant Tales the blog of migrant tales

Captures reality of migrant lives

not fairy tales

offers forum for all ages

female and male.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

Hailed for interesting fresh stories

not stale

give their struggle a voice

in a tit-tale

that will never leave you drained and pale.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

Enthusiasm seeps

as you peruse articles of Migrant Tales

for lively exchange of views

which attracts many to Migrant Tales

fascinatingly flows in a stream of threads like whale.

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enriches the mind and soul

of an audience without scale

in a mixture of colorful blend

and taste of variety not for sale

for Enrique, Dana, Mark, and JD

offer a special menu of Migrant Tales.

Migrant Tale delight is served in the blog

to brighten your day like ginger ale.

And leaves you something to look forward to tell.

While it jogs your mind forgetting you are in Finland and not in Wales.

Migrant Tales, Migrant Tales here we come!

That is why we’re inspired by the blog Migrant Tales

without fail from dawn to dusk

we leave our tasks

in rush to catch up to stories

in Migrant Tales.

Long live Migrant Tales!

Long live Migrant Tales!

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Lip service and inaction water poisonous plants like racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Instead of debating whether racism and prejudice are serious problems or not in Finland, why not look at the factors that permit their existence in our society? A good starting point could be asking oneself the following question: Is our reaction to such social ills a reaction? 

Kuvankaappaus 2013-1-10 kello 11.33.37

Inaction, be it in the form of lip service or silence, is one of the main causes why racism exists in any society. If racism were a poisonous plant, complacency would be the water and fertilizer we’d use to feed it.

Here is an example of the latter. Your friend and/or peers agree that what happened to you is racist but the only thing they will do is agree with you. Life continues the same way as before. Nothing has changed because nothing has been challenged or questioned.

Just like when doing a good interview, it’s what the interviewee doesn’t say that is the most revealing.

If over 1.2 million Finns emigrated from this country between 1860 and 1999, why is so little mentioned about them at school? What values, myths and social constructs does it help to maintain in Finland?

The debate on immigration, immigrants and cultural diversity is lined as well by a generous amount of complacent statements followed by the word but…

Here’s a classic example: I’m not a racist but…

Another classic strategy by those who don’t want to question racism in this country is that they neutralize such a social ill with the following affirmation: If there is racism in Holland it’s ok to have racism in Finland.

Another example of the latter is the reverse-racism argument or claiming that immigrants are more racist than white Finns.

Both above-mentioned affirmations aim to make racism justifiable in our society.

Here is a universal red herring used by anti-immigration groups. No matter where they are from, what their ideology is, it’s always the following point behind their intolerance: “They are so different from us that they can never adapt to our society. Our intolerance is therefore as a result justified.”

Many more examples could be citied. For me, however, one of the most worrying is the close relationship our inaction has with institutional racism. Our oppressive and discriminatory behavior against other groups is sealed and approved thanks to our silence and inaction.

Since racism is learned we can unlearn it.

Writes Julian Abagond in a recent blog entry: “Racism is something you have to unlearn on purpose. Not by trying to not see color but, as a first step, by understanding how racism works and how it has affected you.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pepper spay attack against gay-pride event in Oulu, Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What kind of worlds live inside the heads of people who make political statements by attacking an event like North Pride, a sexual-diversity festival organized through Sunday in the northern Finnish city of Oulu?  

Writes YLE in English: “A discussion event in Oulu on the situation of gay asylum seekers was the target of a pepper spray attack that led one speaker to be hospitalized on Thursday evening.”

The hospitalized speaker was Left Alliance blogger and city councillor hopeful Dan Koviulaakso, who was rushed to hospital after an attacker pepper sprayed his face.

“It was no doubt a strategic attack against us as we oppose the persecution of gay, bi and transgender people. We’re against far-right extremists and racists,” said Left Alliance Oulu city councillor Juha Tapio,  adding that security would need to be stepped up in the coming days.

Apart from condemning such an attack, it is a sad example of how intolerance roams freely our streets and mocks at our civil liberties and democratic institutions. The consequences of the attack become more ominous if we consider that on Sunday it’ll be a year after Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway.

Two tragic deaths of Muslims took place in Oulu this year as well.

Far-right anti-immigration/anti-minority groups should know that intolerance has no master. Nobody can control it if you let it out of the cage. It can bite back hard as we saw happen in Norway on July 22.

Finnish MPs, Jani Toivola (Green Party) and Silvia Modig (Left Alliance), are the official patrons of the event.

 

Social inclusion is vital to a well-functioning society

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Why are we so passionate at Migrant Tales about immigrant and minority rights? Because such groups are effective yardsticks that reveal the state of civil rights and democracy. The more social inclusion we succeed in promoting, the healthier our society is. 

There are clear examples in some recent elections in Europe that blaming immigrants and minorities for a country’s problems has become the trend.

We have even seen the rise of political parties that are keen on promoting social exclusion. Naturally they will not tell you this outright but may resemble the neo-Nazi Golden Eagle of Greece, which won 7% of the vote on Sunday.

This video clip of the party’s leader, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, is a good example of what a financial meltdown can bring. And it’s not at all pretty.

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

In a very common style, Michaloliakos pointed his guns at Greece’s undocmunented immigrants: “Out of my country, out of my home! How will we do it? Use your imagination.”

Do we have far-right groups in Finland? What does it say about the state of our society if a right-wing populist party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) sees its support rise fivefold in last year’s election?

One thing that is clear about the PS is that it is anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam.

The way of thinking in anti-immigration parties, “this is our country so leave if you don’t like it,” is one of the reasons why integration isn’t working as effectively as it should.

One of the worst lies told about immigrants is that they do not want to adapt.

A Somali I met on Monday while interviewing the father of Abdisalam Mohamed Abdulahi revealed what we know but don’t want to admit. He speaks Finnish like a native. He’s lived in this country two thirds of his life.

“The worst thing in Finland is that if you have a different religion, culture and language, you are left on the  fringes of society,” he said. “No matter how much you try to integrate you are always left outside.”

Spreading an urban myth like “immigrants don’t want to integrate” is a very effective way to exclude whole groups and build high walls around them.

Why do we do this?

To control resources like wealth and jobs by excluding other groups.

It is no myth that excluding others and promoting social inequality is the costliest approach in social and financial terms.

The PS and the municipal election: Vicious campaign against immigrants and minorities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

There are already clear signs that the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party has kicked off  its vicious campaign and instigated social-media lynch mobs against immigrants and minorities as the October 28 municipal election nears. The Eronen-Hirvisaari scandal as well as publishing the names of two minors found guilty of rape are some recent examples of  who the PS hopes to boost its depressing poll results.  

Teuvo Hakkarainen even declared war on prison inmates Monday by stating on Iltalehti that Finnish prisons are resorts where people can rest and eat good food.

Some may think that Hakkarainen’s shenanigans may be innocent small-town red-neck fun but there is more than what meets the eyes. The near-constant statements aimed at victimizing certain immigrant groups and minorities are a concerted campaign.

By attacking minors found guilty of rape and claiming that convicted criminals are on holiday in prison, Hakkarainen aims to boost his standings among voters.

Another sore thumb that sticks out is PS MP James Hirvisaari, who made his political career on hate speech and far-right anti-immigration rhetoric. Finland has created its share of social-media political Frankensteins.

In his latest blog entry on Uusi Suomi, Hirvisaari attacks immigrants in Finland by stating that this country was made for  Finns. Finland has no obligation to give social welfare to immigrants and especially refugees.

“Finland is no Red Cross. Finland is for the Finns,” he writes.

When you read blog entries and statements made by some PS MPs, don’t forget that very few things are left to chance in politics. The real motive behind ongoing efforts to victimize immigrants and minorities in Finland is nothing more than a vicious campaign boost the PS’ sagging popularity.

Finnish PS hardcore far-right MP gives a kick in the gut to the Romany minority

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Olli Immonen represents the worst of the worst when it comes to the acceptance of our ever-growing culturally diverse society. Apart from predicting a war between Islam and white Christian Europe, Immonen never loses the opportunity to kick the most vulnerable members of society in the guts. 

Migrant Tales warned recently that the PS in general and its far-right anti-immigration wing in particular will begin a new round of vicious attacks against immigrants and minorities to boost their sagging popularity in the polls as the municipal election nears on October 28.

Immonen said Monday on his Facebook page that the only way to deal with Roma street beggars in Finland from Romania and Bulgaria was to make begging a crime and  forcibly deport them back to their home countries.

Pekka Tuomola of the Helsinki Deaconess Institute asked Tuesday on MTV3  if it is even legally possible to make poverty a crime.  He said that Finland cannot close its eyes to the poor. The Romany minority problem is a European issue and  solutions must be found together with other countries, said Tuomola.

PS MP Immonen from Oulu, who has been strangely quiet concerning two tragic deaths of Muslims that took place in the northern Finnish city in January and February, appears to have a passion for the fascist Lapuan liike movement (1929-32) and its predecessor, IKL (1932-44).

One of the matters that the Lapuan liike movement did during its short-lived  heyday was kidnap its enemies like communists to the Finnish-Soviet border. The fascist party once even kidnapped a former president, Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg (1919-25), to the border.

When speaking of Romany beggars from Eastern Europe, Immonen uses the same term, or muiluttaa, that the Lapuan liike movement used when it kidnapped, beat up and sent its enemies to the Soviet border.

A tabloid Iltalehti reporter asked Immonen why he used the same term that the fascist party used when speaking of Eastern European Roma street beggars.

“I certainly did not mean that [term used by the Lapuan liike movement],” he said. “I have myself used the term muiluttaa [forcibly transport] as a synonym of transporting [them out of the country]. Does this mean specifically that [street] beggars should be escorted with the help of the authorities from Finland, if necessary even by force.”

Immonen, like other hardcore Suomen Sisu association members of the PS like MPs Jussi Halla-aho and James Hirvisaari and Juho Eerola, all belong to the same party that chairman Timo Soini claimed “doesn’t hate anyone.”

One of the aims of Suomen Sisu is to discourage white Finns from marrying foreigners.

Wikileaks document warns of neo-Nazi (far-right) anti-immigration groups in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

A Wikileaks document reveals a disturbing perception that Migrant Tales has expressed concern in the past: the threat of  far-right anti-immigration groups in Finland like the Finnish Defence League, Suomen Kansalinen Vastarina (SKV) or the Suomen Sisu faction of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party. In the presidential election, all of the candidates except for PS’ Timo Soini, Sauli Niinstö of Kokoomus and Christian Democrat (KD) hopeful Sari Essayah, stated in an MTV3 poll that the far right does not pose a threat to Finland.

Even if there isn’t a clear distinction made by the authorities on what is far right, neo-Nazi or a Nazi-spirited association, such groups have one matter in common: their loathing for certain immigrant groups like the Muslims. A key term like “mutual acceptance” would be like consuming political cyanide for them.

One of the questions we must ask when speaking of anti-immigration and extremist groups in countries like Finland is who considers them a threat? A white Finn may see them less of a danger than an immigrant, who may be a visible minority.

This compromise made by some Finns, whether a far-right or right-wing populist group is a threat, is the political slippery slope that Finland was on and which permitted the PS to score a historic election victory in April. The reasoning must be something like the following: I can accept, even support a nationalist party like the PS as long as they are hostile to immigrants and minorities but don’t mess with me.

Those who may have played down the PS and especially its Nazi-spirited members  have now seen the consequences of their compromise:  polarization of society, crimes against immigrants and a threat to those very values we consider sacred in our society like social equality for all.

The most recent scandal caused by PS councilman Tommi Rautio is the latest proof of the face of the PS and its far-right faction despite assurances of the contrary by the party.

What we are seeing as well within the PS is an ideological battle for power: On the one side we have the far-right Suomen Sisu faction led by MP Jussi  Halla-aho and others and on the other the Soini populists.

Fortunately Finns do not buy as much as before the anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Muslim message of the PS as we saw in the presidential election. Even so, the PS is still a major party in Finland despite a sharp fall in popularity.

But bare no mistake: The PS would not only spell disaster for Finland if it ever became the biggest party in the country but would punish harshly  immigrants, their children, Finns with international backgrounds, minorities and sensible Finns.

CEO Whalroos claims the social welfare system marginalizes Finns

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Björn Wahlroos, chairman of the board of banks Sampo Group, Nordea and forest group UPM-Kymnmene, was quoted on Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat as stating that the   present social welfare state system is the main culprit for marginalizing Finns. He said that outgoing President Tarja Halonen had put a dent in the credibility of the executive branch by polarizing Finnish society. 

“During Halonen’s mandate the [credibility of] presidential institution has suffered,” he said. “I wouldn’t [go as far as to] state that she was not fit to be president, but her position has been different from what the people expressed in the parliamentary election.”

What is Whalroos implying? Does he claim that while 81% of Finns did not vote for an anti-EU and anti-immigration party, the Perussuomalaiset (PS), the president should jump on the populist bandwagon and echo what 19.1% of Finns voted for?

Since Whalroos represents the conservative model of our society, or the epitome of capitalist greed for some, his views have a lot of relevance to Finns but especially to immigrants and minorities.

If more social inequality is going to occur in Finland in the years ahead due to the diminishing role of the welfare state, the impact on Finns, immigrants and minorities will not only come in benefits but in a totally new set of values. This, I believe, is the central issue. What are those new values that will guide us in an ever-growing dog-eat-dog society?

One of the first matters to fly out of the window in Whalroos’ economic model for Finland is social equality (tasa-arvo).

But concepts such as social equality have little meaning for immigrants, minorities and Finnish with international backgrounds if they do not exist in practice. Even if we have to take Wahlroos’ claims with a pinch of salt, he is right in claiming that the present social welfare system does marginalize some people, especially immigrants.  City officials and politicians use social welfare services to sweep under the rug serious social problems like acceptance of immigrants.

Moreover, Whalroos, a former activist of the communist party when he was a student, simplifies things and stumbles on the same problem that other conservatives make: Less control of the economy will resolve all of our society’s problems.

If you want to see what kinds of societies economic liberalism has created, visit the United States and other countries like Argentina. You will rapidly get a good idea of how neo-liberal capitalism  has fueled social inequality, poverty at the cost of higher dividends for shareholders.

While Whalroos speaks highly of President-elect Sauli Niinstö, it is unclear if the new president will be as outspoken as his predecessor on issues like social inequality and racism.

A poll by MTV3 of the presidential candidates showed that Niinistö agreed with PS chairman Timo Soini and Sari Essayah of the Christian Democrats that the far right did not pose a threat to Finland.

Politicians in Finland who "shop" for your anti-immigration vote

Posted on by Migrant Tales

By Enrique Tessieri

Everyone needs to think, first of all, of themselves when it comes to education like an immigrant. How does an immigrant think? He thinks, nothing is owed me. I don’t have a place waiting for me at Harvard. I better understand the world I’m living in and boy, I better work harder than the next guy because I’ve got nothing else going for me. Thomas L. Freidman

The level of debate in Finland concerning immigrants and cultural diversity is still far from Freidman’s quote. Politicians who denigrate and insult immigrants and refugees as “welfare shoppers” hide the real motive behind their ludicrous claim: They are shopping for your vote.

What has happened to some of us? Those very values that made our country a good place to live in weren’t certainly built on greed. I personally enjoy being a member of my community and helping others. Many people in this country feel the same way as I.

One of the matters that I have noticed in the ongoing one-sided debate in Finland on immigrants and immigration is that some take criticism personally. They may ask: “How dare this person, who isn’t even a white Finn, dare criticize my country?!”

Nothing could be further from the truth. People who debate openly and question a social ill like racism and prejudice are should be seen as this country’s true “patriots.” Since when was apathy and spreading racism a constructive society-building process?

Such attitudes not only reveal the person’s low self-esteem but their arrogance. Some of them picture Finnish culture and Finland as something frail ready to wilt and die if it comes in contact with the outside world.

The crucial matter that stops some from overcoming their reactive arguments is acceptance of  “others.”  As we have stated on this blog previously, acceptance should be a mutual process.

A warning to all those that continue to spread urban tales about immigrants and minorities. What they write today will be read in the future. Do some of them want to look like a Finnish version of the Klu Klux Klan or someone who had a vision of the future?

We at Migrant Tales have chosen the latter route.